Bluenosing

Dublin has an unofficial beer twin city in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Their respective annual beer festivals are run by the same person, and for the Dublin event this year he arranged for two Halifax breweries to be represented. I didn't get the chance to try any at the festival, but was happy to see a selection of their cans in Craft Central afterwards, and picked up a pair from each.

Garrison seems like a sober and well-established brewery, with its bold-coloured, all-caps branding. When an IPA is called Hoppy Boy, you know what to expect. 6.5% ABV gives it reasonable heft, and I think they're being a bit playful with the style, referencing Halifax's position on the very east coast, while the beer itself is only slightly hazy. A fine thick head of foam is another sign of a brewery going about its business in a serious and organised way. The aroma is cleanly zesty, offering up a mixed spritz of tart jaffa and sweeter mandarin. The flavour is somewhat more savoury, leading with a kind of dry cracker and fried onion effect, before the fruit arrives later. Said fruit is still oranges, but tastes somewhat processed: dried, candied, or distilled into essence. That's sweet and creamy to begin, turning more oily and bitter towards the end, so there are elements of both coastal styles in here. This is solidly made and workmanlike, but don't expect fireworks. While I'm not saying that breweries running since 1997 have a particular safe-and-steady way of making their beer, this IPA suggests that there might be something to the theory. It's not an exciting beer, but I'd say it's a dependable one.

I also picked a sour beer from Garrison, called Sour To The People. This makes no claim to complexity, stating clearly that it's kettle soured but giving no detailed tasting notes otherwise. It's 5.5% ABV, a hazy orange in the glass, with little by way of lasting head: so far, so typical. The aroma is watery with an uninviting plasticky sweetness, but the flavour is more pleasant. "Tart from the start" says the can, and indeed it is, delivering a punchy mineral sourness right at the front of the first sip. A minimal amount of fruit acidity comes after it: satsuma zest and grapefruit pith. This doesn't last long, and we're back to the almost chemical-tasting sourness soon after. Beneath it, the base beer is dry and crisp, with a little Ryvita wholegrain crunch. This not a beer of nuance: it promises you sour and that's pretty much all you get. I think they could have upped the hop quotient and made it more interesting, but I can't argue with its honest simplicity. Sour beer that's actually sour is enough of a rarity these days that this was a pleasant surprise.

The other brewery is 2 Crows, and I'm starting with their "Northeast IPA", Pollyanna. That means it's hazy, and it's quite a strong one at 7.3% ABV. The aroma is freshly tropical, giving me tinned lychee and pineapple rings. That transfers subtly to the flavour, which is a little understated for a big beer. Pineapple is the core taste, but there's a spiced element to it as well; a little cinnamon or paprika dusting. The internet tells me they've used some class of a wild yeast for this, so maybe that's why it's a little unorthodox, but it's not hugely dissimilar to lots of other hazy IPAs. I found it decent but ultimately a bit boring. This strength and 64 IBUs should add up to something with a bit of wallop. This is more of a gentle tickle. Perhaps the name is a suggestion that you should make the best of it.

Something a bit different is Bière de Coupage, a blend of hop-forward saison and a barrel aged sour beer. This is 5.9% ABV and a bright sunset yellow in the glass with a fine white head. The aroma is luscious, offering up exotic lychee, white pear and botrytised grape, with a pinch of white pepper seasoning. The flavour emphasises the fruit side of the equation, but keeps things clean and dry: a burst of peach cordial fades after a moment, replaced by flinty mineral sparks and crisp dried grapefruit peel. A stronger earthy funk, suggesting blue cheese to me, builds as it goes along. It's all very subtly done, in a way that tastes much more European than new-world to me. I also couldn't see the joins between the blended beers: hoppiness and sourness dovetail perfectly here, and none of it seems efforty or gimmicked. The strength is maybe a little high for the thin-textured and light-tasting beer it is, but it's extremely well done overall, including all one could want from souring, barrel-ageing and blending.

I don't see that we need regular imports of Canadian IPAs: we're quite self-sufficient in that style. It is good to see what they're up to on the sour side, however. For that I appreciated this set.