FreeStyle Series: Strawberry Milkshake IPA
The Collingwood Brewery

473 mL can from the LCBO; dated Sept 2 2020 and served slightly chilled.

Pours a deep golden-amber colour; its fogged body is translucent, but strewn with quite a few sediment floaties. Situated atop is one finger of smooth, foamy white head that settles off within a matter of minutes - looks alright to me. The nose consists of grainy wheat malts, light strawberry sweetness, and fruity hops that provide hints of mandarin orange, passion fruit, stone fruit and some floral, vaguely grassy notes. Not bad so far, though I'm not really getting the 'milkshake' vibe - it smells more like a (gently) fruited IPA, if anything.

The flavour is a bit more along the lines of what I'd expect, with the lactose supplying a bit of milk sugar sweetness to the profile - and it pairs rather nicely with the mild strawberry flavours that can be discerned within this IPA. There's also a crackery, wheaty pale malt backdrop, with orange, passion fruit and some earthy, floral hop bitterness rounding out the back end. Medium in body with gentle carbonation that prickles the palate softly, contributing to this brew's luxuriously smooth, satisfying mouthfeel. I enjoyed my glass, but one was enough for me.

Final Grade: 3.78, a B+. I found Collingwood's Strawberry Milkshake IPA to be a serviceable brew, but that means there's room for improvement - and I'm not sure strawberry is an ideal candidate for an IPA, milkshake or otherwise. I can't quite put my finger on any specifically dominant problem... it's more like a bunch of minor ones that prevent the beer from coming together as well as I'd hoped - the strawberry is a bit too muted, the milkshake/lactose element is also a little underplayed, and the earthy bitterness at the finish is somewhat jarring when juxtaposed with the rest of the flavour profile. Still worth a spin while you can find it.

473 ml can served cold into a tulip. LCBO purchase for around $3.75 CDN. Canning date of September 10, 2020.

Appearance - Hazy dark peach colored brew with copper highlights. A small half finger of frothy head on top, above average head retention. A small, soapy collar clings to the edges of the glass.

Smell - Strawberry and possibly some other stone fruit mixed in like peach, but heavy on strawberry. Perfumey and floral. Fairly intense aromatics.

Taste - Strawberry for sure, some smooth creamy qualities to the flavor and then finishes bitter. So it does taste like a strawberry milkshake briefly before finishing bitter with indistinguishable earthy strawberries and general citrus, lemon and hints of grapefruit. Those flavors profiles clash and do not make a cohesive beer.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied, creamy at first carbonation seems low, but finishes hot and acidic with some booze kick as well.

Overall - Interesting concept, but it's one that practically doesn't work too well. Certainly not a bad beer, but the clash in flavor profiles makes it a beer I'm not terribly interested in returning to. Strawberries, milkshakes and IPA's are simply too far apart in terms of general characteristics to make it a great beer. Milkshake IPA's or Strawberry IPA's or Strawberry Milkshake Beer may all work but the three together, not quite.