Extremist
The Napanee Beer Company

 

473 mL can from the LCBO; no packaging date. Listed at 7.2% and served barely chilled.

Pours a hazy, translucent golden colour, topped with less than a finger of foamy white head that recedes within the next several minutes. A narrow collar remains in place, but there's no cap and little in the way of lace; looks fine, but nothing to write home about for a BIPA. I'm getting some spiciness on the nose, as well as notes of stone fruit, spruce needles, grapefruit and orange; the hints of crackery, grainy wheat are much subtler in comparison.

It's a tasty beer, though I suspect its combination of spiciness and bitterness won't appeal to everyone. There's a backdrop of grainy, wheaty sweetness, supporting notes of grapefruit, lemon, mango and apricot at first; these are soon displaced by an earthy, pithy, pine resin-y hop bitterness, paired with a pronounced peppery spiciness. The hops plow through the finish and linger on into the aftertaste alongside a hint of powdery yeastiness. Medium in body, with middling carbonation levels that prickle that palate continuously, remaining lively well into the glass; feels smooth and a little oily on the palate. The alcohol is reasonably well-integrated, though it does become vaguely noticeable as the glass approaches room temperature.

Final Grade: 3.75, squeaking out a B+. I think Napanee's Extremist is aptly named: consider that the antithesis of an extremist might be described as a 'moderate', a term that I don't think applies to this beer's hoppy, bitter flavour profile at all, really. Of course, "hoppy & bitter" is nothing out of the ordinary for this style. Belgian IPAs are not something I crave particularly often, but this is a respectable, competitively priced, semi-local interpretation that I'd recommend to other BAs. I'll return to it again sooner or later.

 

 

 

I've had a couple Belgian IPAs lately, but I'm afraid this one is not Belgian enough and drinks pretty much like a straight up IPA. It's missing the wheatiness and yeastiness that you get out of a Belgian, which is a big part of the attraction of this hybrid style. Not aggressively hoppy, a bit of lemony pith, pretty plain as IPAs go.

 

IPA to end all IPAs. Mega hop flavour and aroma. Just wow. Buuut if Belgians aren't your thing....There are spicy tones that just simply can't be ignored.
Light in colour. Creamy head leaves lots of lacing. Just an amazing IPA worthy of its name "extremist"

Pours slightly hazy old gold with a modest but stable head. Aromas tropical fruit eg mango with slight peper Flavour blends the bitterness - some pine / earthyness well with the peppery/fruity flavour from the yeast - well balanced. Slightly heavy at the end.

 

Dec 5 2018

473 ml can served fairly cold into a tulip. LCBO purchase for about $3.25 CDN. Canned November 20, 2018.

Appearance - Bright and rich golden color. Two fingers of fluffy, eggshell white colored head. Good retention and curtains of bright lacing. Minimal visible carbonation.

Smell - Earthy and also tropical like overripe mango and papaya, hints of grapefruit and a touch of pine. Possibly lychee as well. Not usually a fan of overripe mango aroma, but here it works. Some Belgian style yeastiness in the background.

Taste - Alternatively extremely earthy and piney bitterness with grapefruit pith and followed up by a sweet tropical fruitiness of mango and pineapple enhanced by candi sugar and Belgian style yeast. Not really a traditional Belgian IPA with the remarkable bready and powdery yeast flavors accentuated by hops, rather a traditional tropical IPA with Belgian enhancements, but it works. A weedy and dank horse blanket flavor going on in the background lends Extremeist to the Belgian roots.

Mouthfeel - Lighter than expected carbonation, medium finish and a heavier mouthfeel.

Overall - Different Belgian IPA, and less refreshing than the best, but this works for me as well in a different manner. Certainly nice to see more local-ish brewers getting in on the style. Not extreme as advertised but different in a good way.