Multiverse
Zero Issue Brewing

 

 

 

 

473ml can, with the expected fantastic artwork from Zero Issue. Their cans are definitely eye-catching.

Pours out a slightly hazy peach colour, with a very respectable bright white head, which receded quickly but stuck around with some fine bubbles and a ring of lacing. Looks great.

Some hefty hits of metallic hoppy floralness right away, and plenty of lemon/lime/nectarine zest in the aroma. Subdued, it's not a hop bomb, but works well here...straddling the border of West Coast and more traditional versions of the style. Granny Smith apples, a little touch of pear, and underneath is a nice bready undertone of malting. Yeah, it's a nice balance.

A nice effervescent mouthfeel--carbonation is spot on for this beer, with its higher-end-of-medium body. A subtle hit of hops gives way to caramel malting, and the finish is dryish, but not mouth puckering. Lots of lemon iced tea in the flavour, along with pear and green apples--yeah it's pretty fruity alright, considering the restrained use of hops here. Very sessionable, goes down smoothly. Very respectable.

Yessiree step right up folks. This is one of Alberta's finest Pale ales. English squarely meets American and as one subscriber puts it "Canadian Eh!" Perhaps and no doubtedly a fine brew from this fine Province. I am an E towner BTW hand down a winner in the battle of Alberta when it s comes to Pale ale. Bench Creek love ya too!!!

Appearance - Pours an amber with two fingers of frothy bubbly white head.

Smell - citrus, leafy, and earthy hops, orange peel, citrus, caramel, bready malts, and some earthy yeast.

Taste - Bready malts followed by the citrus, leafy, and earthy hops. The citrus, orange peel, and earthy yeast follow suit.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Finishes slightly sticky with the hops slightly lingering.

Overall - A sessionable and enjoyable brew that stands between an EPA and APA but still delivering on both the hop and malt front.

 

 

 

 

 

 

946ml crowler from Sherbrooke Liquor store - the first appearance of this nascent Cowtown brewery in our fair city to the north. Lacking on this packaging vector, of course, is any evidence of these guys' penchant for comic book, er, enthusiasm.

This beer pours a hazy, medium bronzed amber colour, with three fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and bubbly beige head, which leaves some random scattered and sudsy lace around the glass as it eventually sinks away.

It smells of semi-sweet, grainy and doughy caramel malt, muddled domestic citrus flesh, a touch of indistinct tropical fruitiness, some understated flinty notes, and more earthy, leafy, and dead floral green hop bitters. The taste is bready and doughy caramel malt, a lesser banal toffee sweetness, some plain orange, white grapefruit, and aged lemon citrus peel, an ephemeral yeastiness, minor wet stony essences, and a meek leafy, weedy, and musky floral verdant hoppiness.

The carbonation is quite mild in its milquetoast frothiness, the body a decent middleweight, and generally smooth, with a minor oily creaminess creeping in as things warm up a tad around here. It finishes off-dry, the silken malt and fading hops the order of the lingering afternoon.

Overall, this is an agreeable and enjoyable pale ale, one whose provenance lies somewhere between the American and English styles, so, as I've said many times before, that places it squarely in Canuck territory, eh? More malty than hoppy, in the end, which is ok by me, as sometimes that's what this hop-head wants.