ZAP! Pink Lemonade
Nickel Brook Brewing Co. - Burlington

 

At my lady Pamela's house; canned, from Nickel Brook's Chill Pack, from my favourite LCBO at The Roundhouse Centre in nearby Windsor. My third beer from the Burlington brewery.

473 mL can
Served in a stemless wine glass

This beer pours a murky amber hue. It is topped with a whole lotta beige head that leaves decent lacing.

Tart, lemony smell

Very tart with a refreshing lemon flavor.

Medium bodied with a semi dry mouthfeel

This beer was perfect for a hellishly, miserably humid day. Refreshing and thirst quenching. I have never called a beer "thirst quenching" before this one.

 

473 mL can from the LCBO; dated Apr 26 2022 and served slightly chilled.

Pours a foggy pale golden rose colour, producing two fingers of lumpy, foamy white head that lasts for the better part of five minutes. A wide collar of soapy, big-bubbled suds remains in place around a patchy cap, with gobs of beautiful, messy lacing thrown about in its wake - looks superb in the glass. Lactic sourness on the nose, with lots of lemon alongside hints of grapefruit, wheaty malt, pink lemonade and guava.

Immediately and relentlessly sour - I'm getting lemon zest and sour lemon juice, accompanied by grainy, wheaty malts and hints of guava. Suggestions of sweet pink lemonade, grapefruit and floral hops on the back end are squeezed out by the combined sourness of the lactic acidity and lemon zest; remains sour and acidic into the aftertaste. Medium in body, with moderate carbonation levels that feel crisp and prickly on the tongue, contributing to a somewhat refreshing mouthfeel. Not super drinkable - frankly, I'm ready to move on to something else.

Final Grade: 3.71, a B grade. I finished my glass eventually, but I still think ZAP! Pink Lemonade is forgettable - and, like the other ZAP!s, it's really not much of an IPA at all. I preferred the cranberry/ginger version: it was more even-keeled, whereas here, the lemonade just adds more sourness (and sugary sweetness) layered atop a base beer that was already too sour to begin with. Worse yet, the pink lemonade aspects are kind of lost in the mix, outranked and overpowered by the more potent lactic acidity. About on par with the original ZAP! - try it if you enjoy lemony kettle sours, but don't go into this expecting anything even close to an IPA.

473 ml can served cold into a pint glass. LCBO purchase for $3.50 CDN.

Appearance - Hazy pinkish yellow in color. A finger of off white head rests on top.

Smell - Lots of lemon, hints of raspberries an cranberries.

Taste - Quite tart initially with lemon mostly and some raspberries. Some bitterness in there too. Wheaty flavors mid sip. Transitions to some more lemon on aftertaste.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied, quite fizzy, pretty easy drinking and crisp finish.

Overall - Kind of like regular ZAP! the pink lemonade rendition doesn't really work for me either as the way the flavors, the sourness, tartness and bitterness all come together just doesn't quite work. I also don't really get a lemonade vibe from this which is another small downfall. Some will enjoy this, but not a beer I'd repeat.

Rosy pink colour, a little more of a reddish hue than what you might expect from a pink lemonade. Maybe it's the guava. Moderate and short-lived head that settles to a full film. Kind of an anonymous or generic sourness to the nose. Quite sharp with maybe some lemon lurking in there. Sour lemon to taste with a surprisingly noticeable flavour of guava at the back end. Bitterness from peel. Sharp on the palate. Overall, a bity to pushy on the sour side for me, nice hints of fruit, but could stand a bit more of that.