What The Frack
Black Gold Brewery

At my lady Pamela's house; canned and chilled, 473mL in a pint glass. From The Roundhouse Centre LCBO on Howard Ave. in nearby Windsor. Canned January 18/26. My 2nd beer from the Petrolia, Ontario brewery, and 1st for 2026. Lovingly embraced by Sundae the cat...

473 mL can from the brewery; dated Mar 25 2022 and served barely chilled.

Pours a deep chestnut brown colour, stirring up two fingers of lumpy, foamy, tan-coloured head that lasts for the better part of five minutes. A delicate ring of seafoam lace sticks to the glass afterwards, with a creamy collar and filmy cap remaining in place. Classic brown ale aromas - brown sugar, toasted bread and nuts, with minor notes of coffee and leafy, herbal hops.

It's alright - a little on the sweet side perhaps, with caramelized sugars figuring in strongly; I'm also getting toasted bread and maybe a hint of nuttiness, with these flavours remaining dominant through to the finish. Toffee, with some earthy, coffee-like bitterness popping up then disappearing into a mildly malty-sweet aftertaste. Light in body, with low carbonation that contributes to its thin, limp mouthfeel - easy enough to gulp back, but forgettable in most respects.

Final Grade: 3.47, a B-. I have two complaints about What The Frack. First, it's thin - which is somewhat forgivable, given its low abv. Second, it's poorly balanced, with the toffee/caramel/sugar aspects of the flavour profile dominating everything else. That being said, "this brown ale is too malt-forward/sweet" is hardly a damning critique - but compounded with the thin mouthfeel, the overall experience suffers considerably IMO. This is not necessarily a bad beer - i.e. I wouldn't discourage others from trying it, but it's not something I'm in a hurry to revisit.

Sept 19 2025