Whitney's Vintage Wet Hopped Ale
The Collingwood Brewery

Can from the LCBO. Hazy, with nice lacing. Aroma is estery, with banana, lemon candy, honey, and a bit of funk. The honey comes out more in the flavour, which is simpler than the aroma, but with a nice lingering bitterness on the finish. Light carbonation, maybe a bit too light.

Given the differences between reviews here, I get the sense that there's a good amount of variability, or maybe it just ages poorly (not unexpected for a wet hop). Still, according to the date stamp, my can is three and a half months old, and it's still pretty good. Some more hop character would have been nice, but it might have lost it over that time.

Amber and hazy with lots of champagne carbonation, and a finger of off white head.

Smells of caramel and creme brulee. Slightly fruity.

The taste is of caramel, creme brulee, Belgian phenols, and a hint of lemon tartness.

Medium, syrupy body, with moderate carbonation.

Got at LCBO, thinking this brew is old. Drinking on Muskoka, March 11th, 2018.

 

Hmmm... I've had this a few times in the past couple of months. Figured it was a rebadged "Vintage Ale", although here appears as a new beer. Enjoyed again and repeatedly while up at a tax course at Blue Mountain.

Appearance - Dark copper, good, multi finger off white head with impressive retention. Good clarity with a plethora of bubbles.

Smell - Malty with caramel and general bready goodness being the stars. Significant sweetness, yet simultaneously having an earthy aroma to it. Come complexity to be sure.

Taste - Just like the nose, plenty of malt, some graininess and a middling to high bitterness. Sweet and savory and definitely sufficiently yummy.

Mouthfeel - Smooth yet a medium-heavy feel, robust carbonation and yet pretty easy to drink.

Overall - A solid strong ale across the board as the malty aroma and flavors lead me to believe that this is more of an American Strong Ale than your garden variety APA. Nonetheless a tasty beer for $3.50 CDN. Nose has marginally improved relative to the prior years vintage ale.

 

Pours reddish bronze with a chunky, everlasting off white head. Wet grains, cookie dough, leafy hops and a hint of booze in the nose. Lemon, green melon, grapefruit, fresh mown grass hops in the taste. An abrasive bitterness and some booze spicyness too. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Light bitterness and some floral, citrusy hoppiness in the finish.

A nice fresh hop ale, but the hops aren't as dank and juicy as you'd expect and the alcohol is a bit immodest.

473 mL can from the LCBO; dated Sept 8 2017 and served slightly chilled. AFAIK there are only two other wet hopped pale ales that are distributed across the Ontario market each autumn, so it's great to see Collingwood Brewery joining the fray with this variant (or replacement) of their annually-released Vintage Ale.

Pours a hazy golden-orange colour, topped with nearly an inch of loose, bubbly white foam that fizzles off within a few minutes' time. As it disappears, some scant seafoam lace is splattered against the interior of the glass, with a thin collar and patchy film being the other eventual remnants. Clover honey and minty, flowery/floral hop notes come through on the nose, alongside milder hints of bready malts, apricots, apple skin and perhaps a touch of lemon zest. It's a pretty interesting aroma, actually.

A full flavoured pale ale, that's for sure - though at nearly 7%, I'd be shocked if it weren't. The malt presence is hefty -
particularly on the front end, where flavours of bready, doughy sweetness and honey dominate. Suggestions of orchard fruit and apricot briefly appear too, but are soon overcome by the hoppy, earthy bitterness that characterizes the tail end of the sip. It's herbal and leafy towards the finish, but also somewhat floral, with suggestions of mint leaf. Bittersweet aftertaste, with elements of honey, earthy hops and some lingering yeastiness; the ethanol is on the fringe of detection, integrating nicely. Medium in body, with moderate carbonation levels and a relatively smooth texture that combine to make this ale a satisfying sipper.

Final Grade: 4.02, a worthy A-. As was the case with last year's ('16) Collingwood Vintage Ale release, I find Whitney's Vintage Wet Hopped Ale to be a solid strong brew, though not necessarily a boundary-pushing beer. If you're seeking out a standard IPA/APA, you'll need to look elsewhere - this one's unusual, intriguing wet hop flavours and strong malt backbone make it drink more like a strong ale; one with both British and North American influences. A darn good beer that I'd encourage any curious BAs to try, and an improvement over last year's release IMO.

March 13 2019

Can, 2017 harvest - Pours a a clouded deep gold with a decent cap. Aroma is earthy, musty, woody with toasted cereal and fusel notes, light herbal sweetness. Flavor is layered and intriguing - earthy, herbal, bitter, stone fruit, leafy mint tones but well balanced with robust malts and a herbacious corsage from wild honey...but NOT sweet...goes to a long drying bittering finish - juicy hop alphas throughout with some mild complexity in the body - a really nice brew.