Fracture Hazy Imperial IPA
Amsterdam Brewery

473 mL can from the LCBO; dated May 3 2024 and served barely chilled.

Pours hazy golden-yellow, generating roughly two fingers of foamy, creamy white head that falls back within three or four minutes. An arcing half-inch band of lace sticks to the glass afterwards, with a frothy collar and filmy cap lingering on - looks fine so far. Enticing aromas of grapefruit, mango, mandarin orange and peach come through, as well as suggestions of guava and dank, piney hops.

This is a quality DIPA, boasting bountiful juicy hop flavours built upon a scaffold of wheaty, bready malts. I'm getting orange, mango and peach drink, followed by notes of pink grapefruit juice, passion fruit and berries; just a hint of caramelized sugars tossed into the mix, too. Piney, dank hops join the fray towards the finish, concluding with mango and some moderate boozy-sweetness fading into a fruity aftertaste. Approaching full-bodied, with low-ish carbonation that lends some spritz to this pale ale's smooth, somewhat slick mouthfeel. Good drinkability at 8.5% - theoretically I could go for another, but not realistically.

Final Grade: 4.2, a highly recommended A-. I've always had an appreciation for the original Fracture - sure, it's not the best Toronto-made DIPA you'll ever find, but it's still a solid brew that I'd rank as one of Amsterdam's better rotating products. This Hazy variant takes things up a notch, layering hoppy flavours of tropical and stone fruit atop Fracture's resiny, citrus-heavy profile. I would also rank this above the "Juicy" variant, which was a little too boozy for its own good. Easily the best Amsterdam IPA I've had in years - and that's reassuring, because it suggests that they're still capable of producing excellent beer even after being bought out by a Danish conglomerate.

 

 

Review from notes. Canned June 14, 2022. Served cool.

Appearance - Very hazy, rich golden color with a finger plus of white head.

Smell - Grapefruit and tangerine.

Taste - Grapefruit and tangerine with a bit of dank weediness in the background. Less caramel malt seemingly than the non-hazy rendition.

Mouthfeel - Medium-full bodied, good carbonation, dry finish, yet surprisingly crushable.

Overall - Awesome can and awesome easy to drink DIPA. I like this one better than their regular Fracture DIPA.

An attempt to upgrade the hoppyness of their original bestseller IPA. bringing it up to date in the hazy parade. Haze bit of burn up front. Easier in the finish.