Swap The Hops
Bent Stick Brewing Co.

650 ml bomber purchased from brewery - released this past week - 2019 Wet Hop Edition. Had 8 oz at taproom couple days back.
Pours slightly less than clear (?chill hazed) burnt golden with scant foamy white head (think the head was part my fault as out of back of fridge where a bit too cold).
Aroma fruity, caramel malty - apple, honey, definitely some floral notes.
Taste grainy cereal malt, apple, pear, again a bit floral, honeysuckle - subdued hoppiness with just a bit of hop bitter on swallow.
Tame carbonation (again initial pour a bit too cold) - smooth and very easy drinking on medium mouthfeel with very pleasant bittersweetness at the finish.

This version is meant to be more of a crowd pleaser. I think they should try another name perhaps and keep the swap meet ing expectations. Great brews guys of all I tasted!!! But.......This one has a history and this particular version should be making it's own.

650ml bottle poured into Sam Adams pint glass.

Pours a clear golden yellow with an alarming head of rocky off-white foam that instantly overflows and leaves really cool coral reef lace as it recedes.

Smells of crisp grain, rising dough, chopped apple, muddled tropical fruit, cut grass and leafy floral hops.

Tastes of nutty bread, herbal tea, apple skin, peach flesh, melon and more leafy, grassy hops.

Feels fizzy and smooth. Medium bodied with ample carbonation. Finishes dry.

Verdict: Recommended. A lot of summer potential in this one.

 

I was thrilled to find this during my visit to Sherbrooke Liquor Store. It is a delicious, well made pale ale - on par with my personal favorite, Troubled Monk's Pesky Pig. I look forward to sampling more treats from another excellent Alberta brewer!

Finally got down to Etown and got to pick up some beers from their newest brewery Bent Stick! Pours a slightly haze golden colour, nice bright, soapy head. Flavours of apricot, peach some grapefruit and a nice grainy sweetness. Light, crisp mouthfeel. Really solid first offering from Bent Stick

650ml bomber poured into tulip 21/7/16

A slightly hazy orange amber. tiny suspended particles throughout, two fingers of foam has decent retention but oddly leaves no lace

S herbal hopes, iced tea powder, bready malt, mildly spice apple sauce, some wet tea bag, and a little soft caramel, and wet leaves

T again its herbal, a little spicy, not all that far from the nose, maybe more herbal, leafy, spicy hops and less bready malt

M medium bodied, silky upon entry and creams up, slick on the palate, herbal finish lingers for a while

O not a bad pale ale, could use some more hops but a little balance isn't a bad thing I suppose

Not sure what hops are being used for this one, I'm guessing English? reminds me of an English pale ale anyways and a decent on at that. Not a bad first crack for this new Alberta brewery, some room for improvement but perhaps just a hop swap is in order?

 

650ml bottle, one of a pair of brand-new releases from this nascent Edmonton brewery - the first since Yellowhead in our fair city - look it up! Swap the Hops is just what it says - a pale ale that will utilize whatever hops they have handy - how practical!

This beer pours a slightly hazy, medium copper amber colour, with three fingers of puffy, finely foamy, and somewhat creamy off-white head, which leaves some stellar random snow rime lace around the glass as it lazily subsides.

It smells of bready and doughy pale malt, a touch of biscuity caramel, juicy pear and ripe apple, a subtle generic melon fruitiness, and further leafy, weedy, and sort of floral green hop bitters. The taste is grainy and bready caramel malt, white breakfast biscuits, a faint earthy yeastiness, subtle mixed citrus and pome fruity notes, and more plain leafy, floral, and mildly herbal hoppiness.

The carbonation is quite light and fancy-free in its dialed-back frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and generally smooth, nothing really getting in the way of a slowly burgeoning creaminess. It finishes off-dry, the malt holding tough, alongside the fruity and very gently bitter hop acridity.

Overall, Swap the Hops is a very pleasantly rendered pale ale, at least in this initial iteration, where Herkules hops were added to the base Cascade to create this, well, 'sessionable' offering (Imma gonna have to stop using that term, even under duress, before it drives me mucho loco). Anyway, a well-made, and approachable (I mean that in a good way) debut, fellas.