Step Child IPA
Troubled Monk Brewery

8oz glass at Beer Revolution YEG Oliver Square - this is apparently part of a parti-gyle brew concocted by Troubled Monk.

This beer appears a clear, bright medium copper amber colour, with one finger of puffy, finely foamy, and mildly creamy ecru head, which leaves a decent curtain of painted lace around the glass as things slowly move along.

It smells of rich tropical fruit (pineapple, guava, and kiwi), bready and doughy caramel malt, some damp minerality, and more leafy, weedy, and floral green hop bitters. The taste is gritty and grainy caramel malt, some muddled exotic fruitiness, further domestic citrus rind notes, and some zingy herbal, grassy, and gently lit-up floral hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly low-key in its innocuous frothiness, the body a so-so middleweight, and generally smooth, with nothing really causing any sort of misadventure here. It finishes trending dry, the blended hops holding the majority of the lingering cards.

Overall - this is a rather pleasant and engaging version of the style, with lots of robust frooty essences, which would be going down a lot faster if there weren't a strangely spell-binding World Cup penalty shoot-out going on right now.