Major Tom
Muskoka Brewery

 

At my lady Pamela's house; canned and chilled, 568mL in a nonic pint glass. From my favourite LCBO at Tecumseh Mall in nearby Windsor. My sixth beer from the Bracebridge, Ontario brewery, and second for 2025...

Look: Pours a hazy burnt orange colour with undertones of yellow and brown. Two fingers of a dense tightly bubbled head. The head is a an off white colour with orange and tan undertones. After 5 minutes the head has faded leaving decent lacing and a small cover across the top of the glass.

Smell: Strong notes of cantaloupe, and passion fruit. Notes of lemon zest, orange rind, and honey.

Taste: Surprisingly light and non-descript on the front of the sip. As the beer hits the mid tongue the taste is strongly of mandarin oranges with a hint of creme and vanilla. Almost creme sickle like. Finishes with a very syrupy caramel flavour. As the beer warms the back end becomes less syrupy and more pleasant with a bit more of a citrus bite.

Feel: Full, rounded and silky mid sip. Finnishes a bit too syrupy,

The best part of this beer is the smell. The taste starts fine, but nothing great. Mid sip it is a sweet tropical pleasure, but finishes too syrupy. The alcohol is very well hidden, so this beer should be approached with caution. Overall a B to B+ beer.

 

A-light orange colour with a ring of white fluffy head around the perimeter
S-Ripe tropical fruit with notes candided citrus along side fig, raisin and honey
M-Low end carbonation with medium body and a juicy mouthfeel
T-Overly sweet for my palate. Comes in strongly disguised as a syrupy fruit concentrate, and then the high ABV hits you
O-Quite a heavy hitter in many ways, but too sweet for my taste, which distracts significantly

Pours hazy orange with a small, clingy head. The aroma is of tropical fruit up front with caramel malts and some vegetal notes in there. The taste follows suit with a lot of tropical fruit and citrus hops and a sturdy malt ballast. A bit of cooked veggies in the back - very subtle. The mouthfeel is full bodied with medium carbonation. High bitterness in the long finish.

An OK DIPA with some off notes. Still worth a try.

 

Hazy light gold with a decent, loose head leaving lots of lace as it recedes. Juicy citrus hop nose. Firm medium malt body with a little alcohol sting. Crisp mouthfeel. OK but locally I prefer the Juicy DIPA from Garrison which feels less boozy although the same 8% ABV.

 

i picked up the 6 mixer pack at the LCBO in Ontario 473 ml at 8%.
poured into glass with a 2 to 3 finger head leaving a lace as you drink it.
Citrus and lots of tropical fruit flavor with a med to high bitterness level.
overall a good double ipa
cheers

473 mL can included in their latest IPA mixer pack, recently available at the LCBO. "Freshest by Nov 14 2022" and served slightly chilled.

Pours a turbid golden-orange colour, topped with one finger of tight, creamy white head that fades within five minutes or so. An even curtain of lace is draped onto the glass behind it, with a sudsy collar and bubbly cap lingering on - looks good so far. The aroma is mild, consisting of apricot, melon and orange peel, with hints of floral hops and wheat, as well as something tropical, e.g. passion fruit. The booze becomes noticeable as the glass warms.

It tastes fine: not great, not bad, just somewhere in between. Wheaty sweetness, with earthy/resiny background flavours overlapping with muddled hop fruitiness. I can make out passion fruit, orange, melon and grapefruit, with hints of apricot and pine sap - good variety, but nothing really 'pops'. Muddled fruits & piney hops carry on into the aftertaste, which is mildly boozy. Full-bodied, with a soft, almost syrupy mouthfeel punctuated by fairly gentle carbonation. Goes down easier than it should at 8%.

Final Grade: 3.82, a B+. There's nothing wrong with Major Tom, but I still found it largely underwhelming - the flavours are palatable, and the alcohol is well-integrated, with no particularly noteworthy features otherwise. In other words, this is not a deeply flawed beer, it's just nothing special. I think I'd give this another chance if they release it as a single, but I also figure I'd take Twice as Mad Tom over this nine times out of ten.

Part of the recent 6 pack of IPA's from Muskoka. Served cold into a tulip.

Appearance - Semi-hazy burnt orange colored brew with a finger of long-lived head.

Smell - Tropical notes, maybe some cantaloupe and melon hints of orange as well.

Taste - Cantaloupe and melon again, orange, kind of lacking in intensity. Taste is good but surprisingly muted for a DIPA. Some light graininess in the shadows. Booze is well hidden.

Mouthfeel - Fairly full bodied, also low on the carbonation scale, but not sticky. Semi-dry to close.

Overall - A good DIPA, but I'm left feeling a bit left down after having the surprisingly intense Out of Office IPA. Worthy addition to the 6 pack, but again, left feeling just a bit let down.