Surround Sound (Columbus, Simcoe & Galaxy)
Collective Arts Brewing

473 ml can, as Collective Arts Liquid Arts Festival Series Surround Sound V.3 (Columbus, Simcoe & Galaxy), from Bestofbeers, Denmark. ABV is 8.2%. Hazy golden colour, moderate white head. Strong and pleasant hoppy aroma, notes of citrus, tropical fruits and pine. The flavour is refreshing (for its strength), notes of said fruits and pine again, balanced by a moderate malty sweetness. The bitterness is moderate though.

 

 

 

 

Got this one at the LCBO this past summer. Got lots of it.

From a 473ml can into a pint glass
Hops: Columbus, Simcoe and Galaxy
DDH DIPA

APPEARANCE: A hazy, opaque pour yields a one finger, medium looking, foamy white head with excellent retention. Small head with staying power. A very cloudy, almost muddy, amber yellow with no carbonation evident. Head very slowly recedes to a full wisp. A solid wisp remains until the end leaving touches of lacing down the glass as it empties. Good looking stuff.

SMELL: Honeydew melon, caramel, mango and pineapple on the nose. Hints of alcohol as well. Bold and enticing for sure.

TASTE: Honeydew melon, pineapple, mango, and lots of tropical flavors up front. Caramel sweetness is there too, with some alcohol and slight bitterness at the swallow as well. A bold finish of tropical fruits, pineapple, melon and piney bitterness lingers on the palate. A bit of alcohol as well. Really enjoyable.

PALATE: Medium body and medium carbonation. Creamy on the palate with enough weight, goes down smooth and finishes a bit dry. Some light bitterness lingers.

OVERALL: Excellent. Just great. This is a great example of the NEIPA style and comes across as almost totally authentic. Even if it’s not quite as muddy and frothy as they are from the east, this is a totally awesome IPA in its own right. More reason to believe that these guys are by far the best available at the LCBO. Sometimes I think I ought to just stop buying any other breweries from the LCBO and stick to these guys. They are consistently the best. Highly, highly recommended.

Appearance - Pours a hazy peach with two fingers of frothy white head.

Smell - citrus, tropical, earthy, and leafy hops, orange and citrus peel, peach, papaya, hint of mango, bready malts, and earthy yeast.

Taste - citrus, tropical, earthy, and leafy hops upfront. The orange and citrus peel, peach, papaya, hint of mango follow suit. The bready malts and earthy yeast round out the brew.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Finishes sticky with the tropical fruits lingering.

Overall - A nice treat a rare gem to find here in Cowtown. A very fruit forward and highly flavourful New England IPA from Collective Arts.

Tasted in a Spiegelau IPA glass from a one pint can on July 9, 2019. A delicious combination of tropical fruit, citrus and dank resin notes dominate this DIPA thanks to a huge dosing of 20 g/L dry hop load of Columbus, Simcoe and Galaxy.

16oz. can into Night Shift stemware.

Nose is papaya, starfruit and citrus. Dank. Almost a little sweet stinky. Beer opens dank tropical fruit hop presence. Hints of melon, cantaloupe, papaya and mango. Some starfruit and sweet citrus in the middle with a dry, slightly waxy hop bitterness in the finish. Delicious. Body is medium with moderate to ample carbonation. Slightly bubbly on the palate and goes down dry with a sticky, waxy finish that lingers.

Delicious! I'd like to try the other versions of this.

I am on a Collective Arts spree today as I discovered a number of their CANs in my backlog awaiting inclusion in The CANQuest (tm). As an artistic beer drinker, I really dig the shrink-wrapped labels, although I gotta say that they hoodwinked me at one point. One release may have multiple labels (!) & since I am not a CAN collector, I really have no interest in all of the variations. My ignorance led me to buy three (3) of the same one! 8=( As if the backlog were not deep enough! 8=(

From the CAN: "Liquid Art Festival LTD EDT Series"; "Art: Justin Lee, Halifax, NS, CANada"; "Hops: Columbus, Simcoe & Galaxy".

My CAN depicted an oversized, freckled, redheaded girl with forks for hands towering over her village of (gingerbread houses?) as a swarm of curious insects buzzed around.

Really! Either that, or I need to cut down on my drinking … Nah. Better to CANtinue with a Crack! & slow, gentle C-Line Glug. It is beginning to dawn on me that filtration is not a priority with these guys. Once I realized that my efforts were futile, I stepped up the pace to create just under two fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, eggshell-white head with decent retention. Color was a deeply-hazy/slightly-cloudy Golden-Amber (SRM = > 5, < 7). Nose smelled really good - a great admixture of tropical fruit, pine, & Simcoe the naughty kitty doing her business in the corner! Mmm. Mouthfeel was solid, creamy & just what the doctor ordered! I need a shot in the arm to really get me revved up this morning. The taste was not as tropical fruity as the nose had led me to expect, but the taste was citrus fruity with a hint of pine & there was Simcoe, scratching in her cat box, smiling at me. 8=( Actually, I really like the cattiness that Simcoe brings although I realize that such is not for everyone. It all added up to a veddy dry finish, the kind that I prefer, unencumbered by (usually) caramel malt. When the AIIPA/ADIPA style first appeared, I asked Tom Kehoe of Yards about the sweetness that seemed to take away from the hoppy bitterness & he explained that it was designed to a) ramp up the alcohol (!) & b) make it palatable since the level of hopping was absurd. I am glad that the style has evolved so that less-sweet malts CAN be used. YMMV.

L: Poured from a tallboy can to a snifter glass. Had a yellowish color and a very cloudy consistency. There was a half inch of foamy, somewhat long-lasting head. Fantastic lacing.

S: A very good aroma of hops, citrus fruit, a bready / biscuity quality, malt, and tropical fruit.

T: Tasted of a small amount of malt (mostly in the finish), a bit of tropical fruit (mango, passionfruit), a little of the bready / biscuity quality (more than expected), some citrus fruit (orange, in particular), and a good shot of hops (a dominant force). This is a sharp, hop-forward flavor. It's quite focused and well-balanced.

F: A good amount of carbonation with a dry finish. Medium-bodied.

O: A rock solid DIPA. Worth a try.

 

 

Collective Arts Brewing "Surround Sound (Columbus, Simcoe & Galaxy)"
1 pint can coded "06 MAY 2019 09:04 SS3" and sampled on 01 AUG 2019
$5.99 @ Total Wine & More, Cherry Hill, NJ

Notes via stream of consciousness: It's poured a cloudy golden body with a bit of an orange sheen beneath a finger-thick head of white. Well, just slightly off-white. The aroma is citrusy, peachy, and woody. It's not the boldest aroma but it's stronger than most double IPAs, and it's clear and bright. Well done on that I'd say. The flavor is more complex. The base malt is basic, just a little biscuity, but the hops have a lot going on with notes of citrus (mainly orange), peach, passion fruit, earth, spiciness, herbs, and pine. The beauty of it though is that everything is clear, and mostly on the same level. I've listed them in terms of what I find stronger to weaker but everything is still pretty well balanced - impressively done! It's nicely balanced with bitterness, and the alcohol has a presence but never really shows. In the mouth it's medium bodied and gently crisp then smooth once warmed a bit. Looking back it's got great head retention but only good to very good lacing. Odd. Maybe my glass isn't as clean as it should be. Overall I have to say I'm pretty impressed.

Review #6,633

Pours nice golden orange from can to glass. Really heavy on the candied pineapple aroma in a good way with notes of other tropical fruits. Plenty of juicy citrus hops on the palate with the return of those tropical fruits. Finishes beautifully.

I tried this beer at Slightly Toasted a new bar and pub near the Northwest train station in downtown Chicago. The beer poured a hazy orangish with white head that left a spotty lace. The scent had citrus peel notes. The taste was nicely balanced and easy to drink with tropical fruit peel presence. The mouthfeel was medium in body with good carbonation. Overall its a solid beer.

Poured from a can dated May 09, 2019. Looks hazy and cloudy. Smells of tropical fruits and grasses. Tastes of pineapple and peach. Feels full and flavorful as a DIPA should. Overall a strong and flavorful beverage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

473 mL can from the LCBO; dated Apr 15 2019 and served barely chilled. Part of their 'Liquid Art Festival Series', this is the third variant of Surround Sound to be numbered (distinguished by its Columbus hops, together with Simcoe and Galaxy).

Pours hazy goldenrod in colour, with roughly one finger of frothy white head that settles down to a smooth, creamy cap within three minutes' time. A fair sized collar of foam remains in place, with a fine coat of lacing also having been left behind - no complaints visually-speaking. It smells mainly of peach, orange and passion fruit, accompanied by some peppery, spicy hints and a few earthy, resiny hop notes.

Very well done - as if there was ever any doubt, given the brewer. Orange, grapefruit, passion fruit and peach combine together quite harmoniously, with shades of the grainy pale malt backbone being merely occasionally detectable. It remains juicy through to the finish, with some peppery, earthy, resiny hop notes wrapping the profile up nicely. Medium-full bodied, with middling carbonation levels that provide a gentle crispness; the overall mouthfeel is smooth and fairly soft. The alcohol is slightly noticeable, which limits this one's drinkability - but then again, it's a DIPA, so it's really not meant for that, is it?

Final Grade: 4.25, an A-. Surround Sound continues to provide fantastic results. I think this is a bit of an improvement over the #2 (Simcoe/Amarillo) predecessor, but that's just personal preference - the spicy aspects of the Columbus hops added some depth to this beer, but not enough to put any distance between this and Collective Arts' other extraordinary DIPAs. I still think IPA No.5 is their best work in this field, but SS#3 will make a more than adequate substitute for the time being.