OK, folks, it's been far too long. We know it, an we apologize.But we've got a review of a good beer here for you - we went to the open house at Wellington Brewery on the weekend. Jeff picked up a six-pack of cans of their one-off series.
Here's what he thinks:
A beer that’s been missing in Wellington Brewery’s line-up is an I.P.A. offering. At their last open house they unveiled their offering as part of their Welly One-Off series. Feedback forms suggested that if the beer was well received it’d become a regular seasonal. They had a limited number of cans of the I.P.A. for purchase as well. I picked up six and I’m guessing they sold out of the limited quantity.
The beer pours the colour of fresh apple cider: It’s an orangey brown. The beer is by no means clear; it’s cloudy like apple cider, too. The head on the beer isn’t huge and there doesn’t appear to be too much carbonation. This is due to the fact that it was brewed for cask consumption.
The nose is pretty light on the citrusy hops. Wellington mentioned that this was an over-hopped I.P.A. so I was expecting more from the nose. Does this mean it’s going to be a bland I.P.A. a la Keith’s? Nope! There’s a hint of citrus at first followed by a caramel malt/cidery taste and finished with a good amount of bitterness that makes you want to take another sip. The alcohol is reasonable (5.5% abv) so the beer is pretty sessionable - which is good because it’s pretty addictive.
I hope enough people said “yes” to “Would you buy this beer if it were offered as a regular seasonal?” This beer should be offered year round. For those of you who’ve been disappointed by Wellington in the past (I know S.P.A., Best Bitter and Trailhead could use some improvement), this is the reason to give them another shot.
I hear the next one-off is a chaga chamomille beer. Sounds crazy. I’m looking forward to trying it.
The beer pours the colour of fresh apple cider: It’s an orangey brown. The beer is by no means clear; it’s cloudy like apple cider, too. The head on the beer isn’t huge and there doesn’t appear to be too much carbonation. This is due to the fact that it was brewed for cask consumption.
The nose is pretty light on the citrusy hops. Wellington mentioned that this was an over-hopped I.P.A. so I was expecting more from the nose. Does this mean it’s going to be a bland I.P.A. a la Keith’s? Nope! There’s a hint of citrus at first followed by a caramel malt/cidery taste and finished with a good amount of bitterness that makes you want to take another sip. The alcohol is reasonable (5.5% abv) so the beer is pretty sessionable - which is good because it’s pretty addictive.
I hope enough people said “yes” to “Would you buy this beer if it were offered as a regular seasonal?” This beer should be offered year round. For those of you who’ve been disappointed by Wellington in the past (I know S.P.A., Best Bitter and Trailhead could use some improvement), this is the reason to give them another shot.
I hear the next one-off is a chaga chamomille beer. Sounds crazy. I’m looking forward to trying it.
(Kate note: I'm not a hops fan, so I wasn't super keen on the I.P.A., but that's OK because Jeff more than made up for my lack of enthusiasm. Also, he says the Arkell Best Bitter "could use some improvement" but it's my favourite from Wellington, and I think it's A-OK just as it is).
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