Fireweed HoPHeAD Double Pedal
Tree Brewing Co.

 

Another confusing sort of product, but the gist of it, is that Tree Brewing Co, of Kelowna, BC, is now branding some of their stuff as 'Fireweed', their former holding company, or something, and have a sort of agreement to produce this in Vancouver, with Big Rock. I know, I stopped caring about 30 words or so back too.

This beer pours a slightly hazy, medium golden amber colour, with four fingers of puffy, rocky, and chunky off-white head, which leaves some stellar dissipating web chain lace around the glass, as it gently subside.

It smells of gritty and grainy caramel malt, some muddled domestic citrus rind, some Absolut Mandarin vodka, a damp minerality, and a plain leafy, weedy, and piney green hoppiness. The taste is grainy and crackery pale malt, some acerbic orange and red grapefruit pith, further indistinct tropical frooty notes, wet stone paths after an Edmonton 'monsoon', and more even-handed earthy, leafy, and herbal verdant hoppiness.

The carbonation is average in its palate-taming frothiness, the body a decent middleweight, and generally smooth, with only a touch of hop intransigence maybe spoiling the party of a bit here. It finishes off-dry, the malt and generic citrus notes having a further lingering soiree.

Overall - this is a very approachable, and enjoyable version of the style, much in the vein of Alley Kat's Dragon series, as I don't believe that Big Rock has ever attempted this particular style. But if any of the old brewers from the Kelowna location are involved in this operation, I can certainly see why.