Longest Day White IPA
Yukon Brewing

 

Appearance - Pours a clear yellow gold with three fingers of foamy white head.

Smell - Spicy Belgian yeast, citrus and floral hops, biscuity malts, lemon peel, hint of grassy/hay aromas.

Taste - Starts with the spicy notes of the Belgian yeast, followed up by citrus and floral hops and rounded out by the malts and lemon. Light to moderate level of bitterness.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied with moderate carbonation (very delicate bubbles). Finishes slightly sticky and dry with lingering bitterness.

Overall - A white IPA with a good level of hops, but it could use just a touch more of that hoppy goodness, as well as yeast flavours. Good quality balance and very enjoyable.

 

 

1L howler from the 7 Degrees liquor store in North Edmonton - looks like they inadvertently ran into this one due to Yukon's lazy SKU labeling habits. Anyways, made with Belgian yeast, and Eldorado and Mosaic hops.

This beer pours a slightly hazy, pale golden yellow colour, with three fingers of puffy, chunky, and somewhat bubbly dirty white head, which leaves some chockablock webbed lace around the glass as it evenly blows off.

It smells of grainy pale and wheat malt, estery yeast, muddled domestic and tropical fruit (citrus the conjoining metric), white and black peppercorn spice (which override the purported coriander adjunct), and a bit of earthy, leafy, and herbal green hop bitterness. The taste is bready and doughy pale malt, a more laid-back edgy yeastiness, orange and white grapefruit zest, somewhat sugary coriander that turns the tables on the waning table-top pepper mill dust, and more leafy, dank (sorry!) weedy, and gently perfumed floral hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly tame in its dialed-back frothiness, the body a decent medium weight, and mostly smooth, the yeast and hops alike taking a page from their 'how to win friends and influence people' manual, apparently. It finishes well off-dry, the malt kicking it up a notch, while the fruitiness of the hops keeps on a' ticking.

Overall, one of the more pleasantly rendered versions of this so far unrecognized style (at least on BA) that I've yet to come across. The yeast shows up, collects its appearance fee, and generally blends into the background, to the benefit of all concerned, IMHO, which then leaves the fruity hops to frolic with the base malt - never a bad thing. Sure hope that I can procure some more of this before the titular day - wait, it's this coming Tuesday? Never mind.