NULA (Vic Secret, Citra, Ella, And Mosaic)
Burdock - Kensington Market

Green glass bottle from the brewery, received back in late summer via trade - thanks Artem! Oddly enough, there's no volume given on the label, though I'm pretty sure it's either 330 or 375 mL. No packaging date either, but it's listed at 5.6%. Served slightly chilled.

Pours cloudy, translucent blonde yellow, with one finger of loose, bubbly white froth gathered atop. It doesn't hold together for much longer than a minute or two, as it is soon reduced to a wide, foamy collar and thin cap. Not much lace, but it looks fine otherwise. Smells of mandarin orange, peach and mango, with additional hints of pineapple juice, passion fruit, melon and grapefruit. Very slight lemony tartness on the nose, which blends beautifully into the fruity foreground of the aroma.

Very tasty stuff, with the tartness being more of a low background hum vs. a focal point for the flavour profile. Fruity notes of peach, tangerine, passion fruit and mango get things started off, with hints of pineapple, white grape and melon developing by mid-sip. Pithy grapefruit begins to seep through towards the finish, along with some grassy, floral hoppage. Simultaneously, the lemony lactic tartness rears its head, reaching a modest crescendo prior to the aftertaste, which includes more tropical & stone fruitiness. Light in body, with moderate-to-low carbonation levels that gently agitate the palate, frothing up and resulting in a smooth, soft, satisfying mouthfeel. Supremely drinkable and refreshing, though I might've gotten more out of this if I'd enjoyed it during the last of this year's patio weather (instead of mid December). Which is, as usual, my own damn fault for sitting on this so long.

Final Grade: 4.24, an A-. Nula is a darn good pale ale: if the rest of Burdock's lineup is this solid, then that goes a long way towards explaining why they're considered one of Toronto's more prolific breweries. Almost as good as that bottle of Jelly King (which I received in the same trade) - this brew isn't as intense or sour as JK, being a bit more fruit forward and more approachable overall - it's more of an NE pale ale with a bit of a lacto kick, rather than a straight up wild ale. I'd buy this again without hesitation, but given its lack of distribution, it may be quite a while before I revisit this.