Apocalypso
The Collingwood Brewery

Oct 24 2023

473 mL can from the LCBO; dated Mar 2 2023 and served slightly chilled.

Pours a bright, clear medium golden hue, sporting nearly two fingers of soapy, foamy white head that lasts for the better part of five minutes. It leaves behind a couple rings of sticky lacing, with a creamy quarter-inch cap and collar lasting a little bit longer. Fruitier aroma than your typical pils, which can be traced to the Calypso dry-hopping - I'm getting whiffs of lemon, lime, citrusy tea and orchard fruit, with hints of doughy, grainy pale malts and floral hops.

Lemon zest flavours at the forefront, with grainy, bready pale malts and doughy sweetness close behind. The latter half of the sip adds some spicy, grassy hops and black tea bitterness, with hints of citrus peel dissipating into a slightly earthy, herbal aftertaste that lingers. Light in body, with aggressive carbonation that feels crisp & sharp on the tongue, frothing up ever so slightly with each sip. Reasonable drinkability, but it's quite bitter for a pilsner, dry-hopped or not.

Final Grade: 3.73, a B grade. The highlight of Apocalypso is its aroma, as the Calypso dry hops add a unique fruity element to this pilsner. Unfortunately, they don't carry over into the flavour profile effectively, so this beer doesn't actually taste all that much better than Rockwell. In fact, if you were hoping for a traditional pilsner, you could easily argue that it's a step or two back - that bitter finish will not be for everyone. I enjoyed this beer and would consider picking it up again, but there are better Ontario-made DH pilsners out there.