Canoe Chase IPA
Smugglers' Trail Caskworks

 

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a medium bronze amber with a two finger white head with great retention and thick lacing. Aroma of dry caramel malt, grassy and lightly piney hops. Flavor is caramel malt, grassy and citrus hops, brown bread, light lemon and grapefruit citrus. Finishes with slightly astringent grassy hop bitterness with hints of citrus. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess and good mouth feel. As seems common with British Columbia IPAs, this has an English lean to the malt flavors and with the mixture of grassy and citrus hops tastes more continental than West Coast to me (the bottle is labeled as a West Coast IPA, albeit that coast extends far into Canada, so that term may have to be a bit flexible). The hopping is aggressive enough to fit the West Coast IPA style and the maltiness is quite nice for a change. Malty and hoppy, this is a pleasant, somewhat old fashioned take on the style. Well done for a new brewery starting out with contract brewing.