Double Octo
Great Lakes Brewery

Look: Pours a dull gold, semitransparent. The head is two fingers of frothy bright white billowy foam. After 5 minutes the head has pulled back to a solid cover of tight white bubbles across the top with substantial lacing around the glass.

Smell: Very much like the core Octopus Wants to Fight. Its sweet and citrusy, with canned pineapple, stone fruit and a hint of roses.

Taste: Very juicy and full. Mango and pineapple dominate the front sip. The mid sip experience includes notes of lemons, dry grasses and dough. The end taste is interesting and hard for me to describe. white flour and the syrup from a can of Dole pineapples, with a hint of green apples.

Feel: Strong carbonation, especially prominent at the finish A big bodied boozy juicy bomb, that finishes both dry and syrupy at the same time. Slightly medicine like, and quite warming. This beer fills the mouth playing heavily on the upper palate and sides of your cheeks.

Great Lakes can always be counted upon to bring their A game when making an IPA. This is no exception, were this DIPA to be available in the core vs the tank 10 lineup I'd probably be in trouble. This beer earns a solid A - in my books.

At my lady Pamela's house; canned and chilled, from the Octo Boxset from my favourite LCBO at The Roundhouse Centre in nearby Windsor. My second beer from the Etobicoke, ON brewery.

Sept 24 2024

 

473 mL can from the LCBO, included in GLB's Octo-Mix pack; dated Apr 23 2024 and served barely chilled.

Pours a hazy golden-yellow colour, conjuring up more than an inch of dense, creamy white head that fades away over the next three or four minutes. The surviving remnants include a wide, frothy collar and patchy cap, with plenty of messy lace adhering to the glass - lookin' good so far. The first whiff was pure fresh pineapple & grapefruit juice - a good start, for sure - but further investigation reveals notes of passion fruit, lemon peel, apricot and floral, piney hops.

The flavours are definitely similar to those of Octopus Wants to Fight, but amped up, sweeter and noticeably boozier. There's grainy, wheaty malts, grapefruit, pineapple and mango, with lesser notes of stone fruit, lemon zest and passion fruit. Some piney, earthy, resiny bitterness and floral hops assert themselves on the back end, which is rather sweet; all of these flavours dissipate into a moderately boozy aftertaste. Medium-full bodied, with lively carbonation that adds some bite to this pale ale's smooth, fluffy mouthfeel. My one (minor) gripe is that it does come off as a little too warming for 'only' 8%, but given that this is a DIPA, I'd say that barely even counts as a complaint.

Final Grade: 4.18, an A-. I won't say that Double Octo is *better* than the original Octopus - except perhaps in terms of aroma, as this managed to pique my interest the instant I popped open the can. It's certainly of a similar quality, though, which means I'd rank it above the majority of its Ontario competition in the DIPA category. A fine conclusion to one of the best mixed packs I've had the pleasure of exploring in 2024 - for me, the New England Style Octopus was its biggest highlight, but all three new beers were excellent and deserve to be released in single format.

Pours deep gold with a chunky but rather shortlived head. The aroma is a fruit salad of dank hop notes. The taste is an intense blend of tropical fruit, berries, citrus, apple hop notes with a modest doughy malt background. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with high carbonation and mouthcoating bitterness. High bitterness and loads of tropical fruit in the forever finish.

A fantastic DIPA with an absolute wallop of hop goodness. A must try if you like the style.

473ml can served cold into a stemless tulip. LCBO purchase as part of the Octo mixed 4 pack. Came out to $3.75 CDN for the can. Canned 4/23/2024. Awesome art on the can as is usual from GLB.

Appearance - Mildly hazy deep golden brew with an impressive three and a half fingers of head after a semi-aggressive pour. Good staying power with big bubbles appearing in the large foamy cap. Spidery lacing remains.

Smell - Dank weediness with a healthy dose of grapefruit and passionfruit. A slight hint of candied pineapple.

Taste - Sweet intially with the pineapple mango and passionfruit shining through, transitioning to a ore bitter finish with earthiness, some greenery and a bity of grapefruit. Boozier finish. Sweetness is a touch cloying.

Mouthfeel - Full bodied, with good expressive carbonation. Dry finish and pretty drinkable. HAs the feel that you know you will be in trouble if you drink more than a couple of these. Drinks like a higher ABV than 8.

Overall - A tasty DIPA that is very much on the sweet side, quite drinkable, but the booziness detracts a bit from drinkability and enjoyability. Nonetheless a solid DIPA.