12 Minutes To Destiny Hibiscus Pale Lager
Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery

At Gastropub on Erie Street East in nearby downtown Windsor; canned and chilled, 473mL in a pint glass. My sixteenth beer from the Barrie, Ontario brewery, and fourth for 2025.

 

 

 

Look: Pours the colour of watered down cherry Koolaid with a 1 finger pink head. Head has good retention leaving strong lacing at 5 minutes.
Smell: Floral notes with plenty of raspberries and sugar.
Taste: Floral, light, watery and refreshing with hibiscus from the front till the middle of this sip. The hibiscus gives way at in the middle when the raspberry tartness makes an appearance buiding till the end. Far less sweet then the smell had me expecting.
Feel: Sparkly and fresh. A little watery, but certainly refreshing.
I expected this to be like Belgium Kriek lambic. It was far more refreshing and less overwhelmingly sweet. I give this a solid B. This beer is a hot summer day in July in a bottle.

473 mL Can. ABV 4.1%.
Appearance: Fairly clear ruby red, Half a finger of fizzy light cream head, Under medium carbonation.
Aroma: Raspberry juice, Raspberry pie, Floral, Sweaty, Weedy hops, Rose, Light caramel malt (?).
Mouthfeel: Light body, Low-Medium carbonation.
Flavour: Watery raspberry juice, Sweaty, Gross, Grainy malt, Hibiscus.
Overall:

Review: 201

Wow. Very impressed by this beer while on a vacation to Toronto over the summer. Of almost 30 beers whilst in the locale this one by far left the most lasting impression. Color is somewhere between a dark pink and light red. Flavor and aroma are as stated very hibiscus and rose petal heavy with notes of citrus as the backbone. mouthfeel is excellent, carbonated to perfection. The perfect fruit/floral beer without being sour. Damn near perfect.

 

Appearance: Poured with a finger and a half of tame looking head that retained remarkably well and laced like crazy. The body is a slightly pale red showcasing ample carbonation in the body. A bit more rockiness in the head and maybe a bit deeper red would have got the perfect score, but it's not far off.

Smell: A bit too mild for my liking, but it does make its two primary items known, as raspberry and floral notes dominate the nose, in that order. There is a slight bit of doughy malt in the background but it's hard to make out. Warming didn't really help its case very much.

Taste: It's been a while since I've had a good fruit beer that wasn't a sour. There is certainly a Raspberry background to the entire beer, but it never steps out into the limelight, as it keeps to the background. It begins, backed by some doughy malt and then turns to a floral tea with low bitterness. It tastes very basic, but it's done well to the point that it's nature has taken it as far as possible.

Mouthfeel: The carbonation is that milder, sudsy kind of carbonation that for a playful fruit beer, feels appropriate. The aftertaste is a dry flowery sensation that has me lamenting the lack of a raspberry presence here. The transitioning, is good, but it doesn't exactly cover a lot of ground from raspberry mild malt, to raspberry mild floral notes. That and it is a bit watered down to be honest, which is hard to hold it against it, given it's low ABV.

Drinkability: This beer is a guzzler, there is no way around it. It's lighter then a wine cooler, even less aggressive with its moist and sudsy nature, and the fact most of the carbonation dedicates itself to head retention instead of sitting down means you could drink a growler of this without issue. It's good at what it does, but at the end of the day, it's a tamer vodka cooler with floral notes.

Final Thoughts: Well, as per my usual, whenever a brewer makes a fruit beer, I always ask why didn't you just brew a cider or some other kind of fruit beverage. What beer aspects did you need to contribute to the experience? Here the answer is "I wanted some mild malt, a more watered down but easier raspberry experience and a way of using hibiscus. The first, I can respect but it's presence is very light here. The second...well I don't, as if I wanted tame spiked juice, club soda exists for just that purpose. The third however, that's the odd one here. I don't know anyone who has a ready supply of hibiscus handy, or mixes with it, so that I like. The problem is the raspberry while there, is neutered, likely in part due to the hibiscus. Don't get me wrong, this is a great summer guzzler, and while it feels well done, it also feels like it could have been something far more. What I'd like to see is something along the lines of 8 Minutes to Destiny, meaning something a bit more in my face in terms of malt, raspberry and aftertaste. It gets a thumb up, but it needs more potency to move forward.

Pours ruddy pink, with some brass in there, with an off-pink pillowy head that lasts forever. Sweet raspberry and some tartness and malt in the nose. Cherry, raspberry, cranberry flavors and a light lactic tartness in the taste. Clean bready malts and some leafy, herbal hops in the back. The mouthfeel is light bodied with medium carbonation. Light bitterness and lingering berries in the dry finish.

This is a nice fruit lager, with enough complexity and not too much sweetness to make it a great summer quencher. Definitely worth a try.

 

 

 

 

 

 

From a 473ml can served straight from the fridge at 9 degrees Celsius into a pilsner glass. Canned on date: 4.8.2017.

Look: The beer pours a clear ruby red with 7cm of puffy, pink-ish head that settles into a craggy cap within 3 minutes. Great lacing and good overall retention.

Smell: Moderate strength and sweet. Floral, berry-like aroma with notes of raspberries, hibiscus, and rose. Clean.

Taste: Follows the aroma seamlessly with moderate strength and balancing towards sweet but not cloying. Strong notes of raspberry with faint hibiscus and rose. The finish is short, quite faint, and balancing towards sweet with a mild minerally character.

Feel: Medium-light body with lively carbonation. Crisp and drying with no perceivable alcohol. Effervescent.

Overall: A light and refreshing brew with the raspberry character running the show. Simple, one-dimensional thirst-quencher for the summer. I think it's well-executed and has a place in beer but I'll probably forget about it rather quickly.

 

Can: Poured a clear reddish color lager with a medium foamy head with light retention and no lacing. Aroma of raspberry with light hibiscus and subtle residual sugar notes is quite enticing. Taste is a mix of fresh raspberry with some hibiscus notes, light residual sugar with some very subtle tart notes. Body is light with medium carbonation. Refreshing with limited complexity and great summer beer.