Pinball Wizard
Clifford Brewing Co.

At my lady Pamela's house; canned and chilled, 473mL in a pint glass. From the University Avenue West LCBO in nearby downtown Windsor. My second beer from the Hamilton, Ontario brewery, and first for 2025.

Hazy bright golden with foamy two fingers white head dipping to creamy fine bubbles.
Citrus and floral hops on the nose, cereal malt - notes of pine and grapefruit with a hint of lemon.
Pithy grapefruit admixed with sweet grainy malt and ripe orange on the palate with mildly resinous hop bitterness; floral and piney finish.
Crisp medium mouthfeel with active carbonation - mildly pithy and resiny bitterness sits at the back of the palate.
Really good American pale ale - a style that needs more hype.

 

Got this at the LCBO this past summer

From a 16oz can into a snifter
IBU: 55

APPEARANCE: Pours a small, ½ finger, medium white head with okay retention. Hazy gamboge orange with no carbonation. Head recedes to a faint wisp and clings to the glass. A faint wisp remains until the end leaving lots of lacing down the glass.

SMELL: Citrus fruits, some passion fruit, piney notes and a hint of caramel and bready malt sweetness. Okay.

TASTE: Some grainy malts, piney flavors and hints of caramel sweetness up front. Bitterness at the swallow with a bold and harsh finish of grainy malts and lot of bitterness lingering on the palate. Some soapy qualities too.

PALATE: Medium body and medium carbonation. Creamy on the palate, goes down smooth and finishes dry. Lots of bitterness lingers.

OVERALL: Nothing special. Harsh bitterness, grainy and very little character in the hop department. It’s certainly palatable but it’s not worth writing home about either. Pass.

 

Pours a pale clear gold with a fluffy head of about two fingers. Not much left behind after break, though surprisingly there is some okay lacing.

Smell is mild. I get both piney and citrus hops along with some caramel and biscuit malts.

Flavor is also a little bland. The hops come first, pine leads then tropical/citrus. Malts on the end give a balance.

Feel is light ish with good carbonation. Not a lot going on with finish.

I'm pretty sure that deaf, dumb, blind kid preferred another beer.

 

A decent enough APA with a good look. Golden, very slightly hazed under a moderate head to a heavy film. Lots and lots of lace. Grapefuit hops, appetizing, not overbearing. Bitter up front, sweet malt to follow up. A somewhat pungent, sharp finish. Pretty decent brew.

 

Picked up due to the arcade type can. It turned out to be a decent beer.

 

 

 

Hazy gold with substantial head. Nose is off style, should be citrusy. Sweet corn on nose. Taste is bready malt with light pine hops finish.

 

Initially, this seemed like it had all the makings of a decent little APA. Poured a nice golden colour with decent head and lacing. Some nice astringent citrus hop aromas and flavours... and then at the end there was an overwhelming wave of diacetyl, which completely ruined this one for me. I seem to remember having had this when it first showed up at the LCBO and enjoying it, so I'd like to think they just had a production/quality-control issue that led to one bad batch.

 

Pours straw colour with a fluffy white head which fades rather quickly for the style & leaves only minor lacing. Some beautiful hop resins fall lightly to the bottom as the beer settles. Aroma is of mild citrus hops but also a sharp, almost lagery odour. Taste is light with some citrus & pine from the hops, but only light with again a lagerness to the taste, with some creamy breadiness from the malt & a light astringent lingering bitterness. As have some others, I too had a hint of buttery diacetyl, & could catch it on the nose as well after giving it another good sniff. Not a great APA, & not one I would turn to again unless I were in a place where the only other options were macros.

 

Can from the LCBO for around $3.