Beyond the Pale Brewing hailing from Ottawa, Ontario has reached the same caliber in brewing as Great Lakes Brewery. They are producing some fantastically hop forward beers and if your not one for IPAs don’t fret! They brew a mean Saison as well and I am sure their other offerings are just as good. I have much more to try form this brewery and I’m sure with time I will but, with just these two beers I can confidently say they are a great brewery and have a very bright future. Living in Montreal makes it a lot easier for me to drive to Ottawa and get some Beyond the Pale. Where as it is much harder to get to Great Lakes Brewery, which is a good six hour drive from here. I drive to Hill Farmstead or Winooski, Vermont very often so Ottawa is not a hard drive either. I am sure to travel to Ottawa sometime between now and the summer and on my next trip I will be sure to visit the brewery! A special thanks to Brassin Du Quebec a buddy of mine, for bring this back for me. It was worth the wait, and I wish I got more!

Aromatherapy IPA

IPA
Feb 27 2016 canned
Drank March 2 2016
ABV: 6.5%
IBU: 55

This IPA has boasted to be the Vermont style IPA of Canada, and I have to say I was surprised BEYOND my expectations (See what I did there?). Aromatherapy is the Vermont IPA of Canada in my eyes. This IPA exceeded my expectations drastically and I can’t wait to get my hands on some more. It has a crazy aromatic hop explosion with some intense flavour. It is an amazing hop forward IPA that is not super bitter and has a very clean balanced send off. Vermont style IPAs tend to be very very bitter in their end trails, but Beyond the Pale has done a great job in reducing that sharp bitterness to a nice little dance at the end. Kind of like when women have that dream of a first kiss and they want their foot to pop? Well it pops and it doesn’t fly away and that’s perfect, it’s a thing of beauty. Canadian juice to sooth my soul.

4.5/5

Saison Tropicale

Saison
ABV: 7.7%
IBU: 40

A saison out of a can? Why not! The aroma is very bretty and sour, canned date is unknown. It’s pretty delicious with very sour notes, lightly tarted and a minor yeasty flavours. But yeasty in a good way, it doesn’t overpower the beer it adds a nice complexity to it. For a 7.7% it’s very light and smooth and enjoyable to drink. Looks like these guys know how to brew beer and I only asked for one can. I guess ill be seeing you guys soon!

4/5

Beyond the Pale is making some magical beer and they deserve a little cheer team for themselves, but I guess that’s our job! So really they have one already! So if you haven’t yet had the opportunity to drink down some of their brew, be sure to check them out and get some! And while your at it let me know when your going ill have a tall order for you.

Written by HopCitizen. Photography by HopCitizen.