Stone Hammer IPA
F&M Brewery

Cask at C'est What Spring Cask Festival. One of the winners. Neutral aroma, smooth drinker,very creamy in fact, very drinkable. F&M has stepped it up a notch. Very decent cask, as good as most cask IPAs I have had, with decent balance leaning on the bitter side.

On cask at Volo's Cask IPA Challenge. Brought to my table with zero head. Nothing. Opaque and amber-brown in colour, this would be some tasty looking apple juice.

Oh no. Smells like smoke, vomit and pumpernickel. What the hell is this?

I have no idea what this is. It's not any style of beer I've ever tried, never mind an IPA. Smoky roasted malt, slight buttery diacetyl, salt, a bit of sugary sweetness and characterless hop bitterness. A touch of citrus rind buried under all that stuff. Seriously horrible.

The feel is average for cask. Silky light body with almost no carbonation.

This is not an IPA. I'd like to know how this was brewed so that if I ever make an IPA I can know not to do any of that. Judging from past reviews, something was seriously off here.

Off cask at C'est What?, in Toronto.

The beer's pomegranate colour is not only unexpected but also rather charming; this lush deep red tone pried my eyes open like a car jack. As can be expected from a cask, the head is more like steam than it is foam. The fuzzy little patch resembles the premature facial hair teenagers try to grow but, much to its credit, it hung around until the very last sip.

This aroma may not measure up to some of the more aromatic American examples, but this is still one awfully pungent smelling beer. And I mean that in a good way. Rank citrus fruit, herbal reefer, plenty of bitter flower petals and a trickle of gooey caramel malt make for a bouquet that titillates the senses with a balmy, summer-like air.

This beer is made from only four ingredients: water, hops, yeast and malt - what flavour is buried in that simple, short list of ingredients! My goodness! This is a fierce, unsuppressed tray of seething fruits (grapefruit, pomegranate), sharp citric tang, soothingly sweet caramel malts and plenty of bitter floral notes (something like rose petals or hibiscus).

Inherent to craving any worthwhile IPA is the strange desire to have your tongue physically assaulted. In this respect, Stonehammer IPA is most gratifying. Its bitterness is pithy and dry with an herbal aftertaste that nearly chokes the trachea. The cask procured little by way of carbonation, but even without it, this was one mightily refreshing ale.

For a long time it seemed likely that Ontario would never see bold, American-inspired brews given just how uncreative (or unwilling) its brewers have been to try new things. But when we start seeing casks like this show up, we may be closing in on that destination after all. And it looks like F&M Brewery wanted to be the first to say: "welcome!"