Great Lakes Canuck Pale

Name: Canuck Pale Ale
Style: Pale ale
ABV: 5.2%
Serving: 650ml bottle
Brewery: Great Lakes Brewery
Location: Toronto, ON, Canada
Weblink: Great Lakes beer

Well now, this is more like it. A good big bottle, shared with Pyropette, nice and cold on a muggy, hot summer day. Ok, so the bottle has a touque and a pair of skis on it, so perhaps I'm a bit behind the season, but it seems to sit just as well at 25°C as -25°C. Anyways up, to the beer!

The beer pour (or was poured for me, if I'm honest!) a good, rich copper-amber colour, with a thick head of fine, off-white bubbles sitting atop. The aromas are a pleasantly subtle hoppy, floral bouquet, with a warm hint of white sugar and grapefruit lingering behind. In the mouth the flavours are dominated by strong, toasted caramel, orange and spun sugar. This slowly fades back to reveal the aromatic hop notes (with a more herbal character than was evident on the nose) riding on top of a backbone of mixed metaphors and wholemeal bread toast malt. Toward the back of the mouth the flavours dry up nicely, leaving just a yeasty-toasty-hoppy flavour and, again, that white sugar quality.

Much much more to my taste than the Stone IPA. While the Stone beat you over the head with its hop-and-nothing-else approach, this beer balances the powerful hop bitterness with a very well-judged caramel and malt structure. This surprise me somewhat, as recently I haven't had a good run of luck with Great Lakes beers. Anyway, if I can get hold of this one again in the future, I'll definitely buy a couple.