Bystander
Innocente Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

Hoppy for a pale ale, just the way I like it. Quite citrusy, also notes of tropical fruits. Delicious!

 

 

Bottle from the lcbo for $4. Way too much carbonation.. ruins the beer.

 

 

 

 

Bottle: Poured a slightly hazy orangey color ale with a nice foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of tropical fruit and floral citrusy notes is pretty awesome. Taste is not as big as I was expecting on fruity tropical fruit ester with some citrusy malt notes. Body is full with good carbonation. Hops flavours was really big on aroma but seems to be not as dominant in the taste which is a shame.

 

 

Pours clear gold with a gigantic, rocky head that lasts an immense four fingers for most of the glass, coating it with foam. Citrusy and grassy hops and some cracker malts in the nose, Grapefruit and apricot mixes with floral hops and a solid cookie dough malt balast in the taste. Full bodied and highly carbonated mouthfeel. The moderately bitter finish shows lingering orange and lemon notes.

This a is a great American style Pale Ale. Complex, with a traditional hop profile and lots of complexity and balance. I'd recommend trying this.

 

Poured from a 500ml bottle. The label advertises Galaxy hops and German malts. I'm in.

Slightly hazy pale ale colour. A big foamy head that sticks around. Some decent lacing.

Nice big hop aroma. I'm getting citrus plus a whole lot of ripe strawberries.

Unsurprisingly, the Galaxy hops dominate. There's not a lot of bitterness or malty sweetness for balance, but the dominant hit-you-right-in-the-face flavour is so darn delicious I'm not really bothered by the lack of depth and complexity.

Crisp, dry finish.

In sum, this is a great addition to the (semi-)local APA rotation. Its got a big, bright, really distinctive hop aroma, which makes it a nice break from other Ontario offerings.

500 ml bottle served at cellar temperature into a tulip glass. Purchased from the LCBO for something in the neighborhood of $4-$5 CDN.

Appearance - An aggressive pour yielded a bright and clear golden colored beer with copper hues. Head poured was over two fingers good retention and plenty of lacing. Formed a rocky foamy froth on top that hung around for a while. Some sediment in the remnants of the glass.

Smell - This is different. Tropical with some grapefruit but even more pineapple and strawberry with overripe mango mixed in. Overripe mango and strawberry mix doesn't work for me there's something in that combo that makes me think of rotting fruit. At least the nose is big and while it doesn't suit my tastes, given a different sniffer I at least see how this could appeal to some people.

Taste - Different again with the dry grapefruit and passionfruit coming out as well as the strawberry. Heavy on the citrus and the combination again seems odd to my taste buds. Dry bitter conclusion.

Mouthfeel - Well carbonated, even a bit creamy initially with a bone dry finish, drier than virtually any othe rpale ale I have ever tried.

Overall - While this does not appeal to me and I won't pick up another, it's definitely good for local (ish) breweries to be pushing the box. Grapefruit, passionfruit, strawberry and pineapple all together in a pale ale. Sounds interesting an theory and the brewers deserve props for trying something new. Even though I really wanted to like this, I will be a bystander on any future Bystanders that come my way.