India Pagan Ale
St. Mary Axe

 

473 mL can from the LCBO; there's a date stamp on the bottom, but it's too faint/distorted to be readable. What better beer to drink on Halloween than one with the term "pagan" in its very name? Served barely chilled.

Pours a lightly fogged golden blonde colour, with one finger of loose, bubbly white head eroding within five minutes' time. A frothy collar lives on, with a generously-sized band of sticky lace also having been imprinted onto the interior of the glass. Looks good to me. The nose is a mixture of earthy, floral, vaguely resiny hop notes interspersed with a modest line-up of fruitier hop-derived aspects - passion fruit, pineapple and orange come to mind, with a bit of a berry-like suggestion to the aroma, too.

Not bad at all - this pale ale features a sturdy pale malt backbone that provides a bit of grainy, bready sweetness to a profile that is otherwise dominated by hops. Grapefruit, orange, melon and passion fruit are discerned with relative ease, while hints of pineapple and stone fruit come through much more subtly. It finishes with some floral hops leading into a slightly earthy, resiny tail end that persists into a moderately bitter aftertaste. Medium-light in body, with middling carbonation levels that supply a gentle bite to this brew's generally smooth, soft mouthfeel. Easy to drink, but I'm a grizzled hop head - so I could see the bitterness rubbing those of different inclinations the wrong way.

Final Grade: 3.65, a B grade. St. Mary Axe India Pagan Ale is an affable brew, if nothing else - the "New England IPA" designation (as seen in the 'commercial description' on this very page) seems to have been dropped from the marketing copy, which is a good thing because I don't think this is one of those. I could see an argument for calling it a classic East Coast IPA, sure, but definitely not a juicy new school NEIPA - and really, calling it one would not have been doing the beer any favours, at least in the long-term. All in all, it's a serviceable, unremarkable local IPA that I expect to return to sporadically.

 

Just your typical American IPA

 

473 ml can
Served in an oversized, stemless, wine glass

This beer pours amber with a slight haze. It is topped with two inches of creamy beige head that leaves some pretty nice lacing.

The aroma is malty and medicinal with some tropical fruit.

The taste is more bitter than I expected from the smell. It's malt up front. Then some medicinal and dank flavors with all bitterness in the finish.

Medium mouthfeel

It's a solid beer. It is more of an old school approach given the maltiness and the bitter finish.

Not as hoppy nor tasty as their first release. A passable hoppy beer. More of a gateway IPA. On tap at Summerhill LCBO. Not even much hop on the nose.

Hazy orange colour. Notes of pineapple, grapefruit and passion fruit.