Mad Nice
Town Brewery

Feb 7 2023

473 mL can from the LCBO; dated Jul 28 2022 and served slightly chilled.

Pours a hazy, translucent pale yellow colour, producing just over an inch of soapy, bubbly white head that falls apart within three minutes or so. A wavering curtain of lace is left in its wake, in addition to a tight collar and filmy cap - looks better than average for the style. Floral and a little piney on the nose, but with big, citrusy notes of tangerine and grapefruit. I'm also getting hints of sour peach, grain/wheat and lemon zest.

Flavourful and reasonably well-balanced for an IPA. Tangerine, grapefruit, apricot and wheaty graininess at the forefront, with hints of tropical fruit and coconut developing by mid-sip. There's a fair bit of floral, woodsy, piney hop bitterness on the back end - maybe a bit more than I've come to expect from a self-styled NEIPA - but it still blends together with & complements the citrusy flavours nicely. On the fuller side of medium-bodied, with moderate carbonation whose tiny bubbles dutifully agitate the surface of the palate with each sip; feels pillowy-soft and smooth, with astounding drinkability.

Final Grade: 4.03, an A-. Mad Nice is quite possibly my favourite Town beer thus far, and I would definitely buy this on a regular basis if it were available in my area (I picked this up while out of town). That being said, it may not be everyone's cup of tea: it really is rather bitter for an NEIPA, not that I have a strong personal objection or anything - quite the contrary, actually, given how much I enjoyed this glass. If you spot this on the shelf, give it a try.

 

Pours a semi-hazy, straw colour, with a good two and a half fingers of head with remarkable retention. Inaugural pour into my new IPA glass, which might be helping the retention of these hoppy beers!

Grassy pine, citrus peel forward beer in the aroma department. Mild maltiness abs some grainy, bready whiffs in the background

Pleasant bitterness to open that belies some grapefruit, orange and lime peel on the back of a gentle sweetness of some pale malts. Real cereal grain taste rides the whole sip out, and a light bitterness is left tingling on the entirety of the tongue.

This beer has a pleasant body, which is medium in character with a slight thick edge that coats the tongue, likely thanks to the oats. Decent carbonation of tiny packed bubbles undeniably gives this a smooth and creamy sip, with a wet (or slightly “juicy”, to use that term) feeling.

I’ll be 100% honest, and I don’t know if it’s my taste buds adapting way too quickly since I started IPAs or something else, but I found the beer to have a pleasant bittering effect that wasn’t too excessive. If anything, I really noticed the presence of the malts in this one. The initial flavours and finish are bitter for sure, but a great backbone of sweet pale bready malts. Cereal grain-y taste. Mad Nice is by no means the most complex IPA but it’s a great balance of IPA styles that is a little closer to a typical IPA than not, that looks great and tastes great as well. Can’t remember what I paid for it, but it’s worth a try!

473 ml can served cold into a beer mug. LCBO purchase for about $3.80 CDN. Canned March 17, 2022

Appearance - Extremely hazy pale straw colored brew. Two plus fingers of dense and fluffy white head. Good staying power and lots of visible carbonation.

Smell - Plenty of citrus, grapefruit and orange mostly with some lemon, hints of pine and passionfruit to close.

Taste - Initially some bitterness, lost of grapefruit and orange with bits of lemon, the initial citrus backs off then turns green and weedy and quite bitter to close.

Mouthfeel - Medium-full bodied, very juicy with lively and expressive carbonation.

Overall - Just a touch too much bitterness for the sake of being bitter, otherwise a very nice and well crafted IPA that bears tasting.