Ocean Sun
Vancouver Island Brewing

473ml can, part of a mid-pandemic find at a store within walking distance of my hunker-down place. 'Nuff said.

This beer pours a mostly clear, medium copper amber colour, with three fingers of puffy, rocky, and bubbly dirty white head, which leaves some stellar banded spiderweb pattern lace around the glass as it lazily sinks out of sight.

It smells of bready and doughy caramel malt, muddled domestic citrus rind, a further indistinct tropical fruitiness, some damp minerality, and more leafy, weedy, and dead floral green hoppiness. The taste is gritty and grainy cereal malt, some red grapefruit, blood orange, and overripe lemon peel citrus notes, more stoney flintiness, and some plain piney, weedy, and musky floral (gently perfumed, at that) hop bitters.

The carbonation is adequate in its palate-soaking frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and generally smooth, with a subtle hop astringency maybe not making nice with the adjoining neighbours (yes, that's a tired quarantine reference) at the moment. It finishes off-dry, the malt and various west-coast hop interlopers putting on one hell of a lingering after-party.

Overall - this actually comes across as a pleasantly rendered version of the style, with the Left Coast leanings duly appreciated. I've always kind of wondered about this particular brewery, with their yin and yang of craft and macro-esque natures. Nailed it here, I gotta say.

473ml can poured into tulip.

Pours a murky dark orange with half a finger of tan head that leaves a bit of splotchy lace as it recedes. Not all that attractive.

Smells of red grapefruit and blood orange, caramel pecan tarts, pineapple, a bit of rubber, minty perfume and some piney hops.

Tastes of juicy grapefruit, orange rind, more dessert-like caramel malt, muddled tropical fruit, more mild rubbery phenol, herbal mint and more sappy pine resin.

Feels solid and full. Full bodied with mild carbonation. Finishes a little sticky.

Verdict: Recommended. A big enjoyable beer, but I kind of wish I didn't save it for last.

Hazy light red-brown color. Too hazy and dark to see carbonation level. Poured a thin head that formed medium sized bubbles but hung around for a minute before becoming a thin skiff across the top. No lacing, but the head stayed thicker at the wall of the glass. I didn't notice with backlighting, but shifting to frontlighting, the beer is full of small, tan colored floaters.

Light scent of darker malts with a little bit of something funky and unpleasant in the scent. Swirling the glass kicked up a bit of barnyard, some thicker malts, and some fruit.

Starts off with the darker malt flavor. A strange funk joins in and turns towards burned rubber. This is joined by a medium-strong bitterness. The aftertaste is mostly bitter burned rubber.

Light foaming action at first which quickly turns into larger bubbles. Slightly astringent.

The burned rubber ruins it for me. It's a mix of a strong organic chemical tar and the charred remains of a rubber stopper. The positive with the charred rubber is that it masks any barnyard in the flavor. This didn't quite hit my threshold for pouring it down the drain, but it came close.

Collaboration with White Sails Brewing.

Vancouver Island/White Sails 'Ocean Sun' @ 8.0% , served from a 473 ml can , 2 of 4 Pod Pack
A-pour is gold from the can to an amber in the glass with a medium off-white head leaving a spotty lace along the tulip
S-hops mostly
T-PNW DIPA , respectable malt base , serious amount of hops
MF-ok carbonation , feels full bodied
Ov-just an ok beer/DIPA
prost LampertLand