Pale Ale (KPA)
Kingsville Brewery

473ml can served cold into a chalice. Grocery store purchase with a canning date of March 28, 2023. Listed as IPA rather than Hazy IPA.

Appearance - Coppery auburn colored brew with two big and dense fingers of off-white head. Good staying power and an impressive span of spidery lacing.

Smell - Grapefruit all the way with some floral notes at the end.

Taste - Fairly bitter, grapefruit and pith, malty caramel backbone, then another bitterness rush. Minor soapiness towards the end.

Mouthfeel - Medium-full bodied and decent carbonation. Hard to nail down, just something a bit unfinished here.

Overall - This is way more old school west coast IPA than anything else, so props for that. A little bit of tweaking could help with a WCIPA renaissance.

 

Pours a nice copper colour with a thick frothy head. The taste is a bit more bitter than I was expecting. The nose is slightly sweet with hoppy notes. In my opinion, this is more of an English IPA than an American one
Oct 29 2020

473 mL can from TBS; dated Mar 11 2019 and served slightly chilled.

Pours clear and effervescent, its amber copper-coloured body initially crowned with a full inch of bubbly, foamy, off white-coloured head. Good retention - it seeps away at an agonisingly casual pace, caking the glass with lace as it does so; ten minutes later, it has receded down to a smooth, creamy cap and a wide, frothy collar. Looks great - though it is one of the least pale-looking pales ales I've ever encountered. It smells mostly of bready pale malts, caramelized sugars and muddled, indeterminate citrus, alongside a few hints of berry, stone fruit and earthy, vaguely spicy hops.

A quality pale ale, with a robust malt backbone of bready, caramelized malt sweetness standing out on the forefront of the sip. Notes of orange, grapefruit and stone fruit begin to develop soon after, leading into a mildly bitter back end that leans towards the pithy, earthy, floral sides of the hop spectrum. Medium in body, with middling carbonation that gently tickles the tongue; this feels exceedingly smooth on the palate, and it's very easy to knock back, which is what you'd want from an APA... and no sign of the 6.5%, either. One was enough for me tonight, but I wouldn't have minded another.

Final Grade: 3.78, a B+. KPA is one of the finest local Ontario pale ales I've come across to date, and it's a beer I expect to return to regularly. It's also the second Kingsville product I've tried and liked - so I can't wait to try their hefe and stout, which I have also seen around these parts.

16 ounce can into tulip glass, canned on 3/20/2018. Pours lightly hazy/cloudy deep orange/amber/light copper color with a 1-2 finger fairly dense and rocky cream colored head with awesome retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of big red grapefruit, tangerine, lemon, peach, pineapple, apricot, mango, melon, citrus peel/zest, light peppercorn, pine, caramel, toasted biscuit, light nuttiness, herbal, and floral/grassy earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of citrus/fruity/earthy hops and moderate dark/bready malt notes; with great strength. Taste of big red grapefruit, tangerine, lemon, peach, pineapple, apricot, mango, melon, citrus peel/zest, wood, light peppercorn, pine, caramel, toasted biscuit, light nuttiness, herbal, and floral/grassy earthiness. Light-moderate pine, citrus peel/rind, herbal, floral, woody, grassy, peppery bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of red grapefruit, tangerine, lemon, peach, pineapple, apricot, mango, melon, citrus peel/rind, wood, peppercorn, pine, caramel, toasted biscuit, and herbal/floral/grassy earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of citrus/fruity/earthy hops and moderate dark/bready malt flavors; with a great malt/bitterness balance, and no cloying/astringent flavors after the finish. Light-moderate increasing dryness from lingering bitterness. Medium carbonation and medium-plus body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/bready/sticky, and lightly resinous/rindy balanced mouthfeel that is great. Zero warming alcohol for 6.5%. Overall this is an excellent American pale ale. All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of citrus/fruity/earthy hops and moderate dark/bready malt flavors; very smooth and easy to drink with the mellowly bitter/resinous/drying finish, not aggressive. Likely Columbus, Centennial, Amarillo. Very juicy and fairly dank/earthy hop complexity; great caramel/Munich malt backbone. Mild residual sweetness with lingering resin dryness. A very enjoyable offering, and spot on classic tasting style example.