Next week will mark one year since I went to Vermont and Montreal for my craziest bièrcation yet. Right over the Quebec border in Winooski, Vermont is a bottle shop that boasts one of the best beer selections I have ever seen. Winooski’s Beverage Warehouse has an overwhelming selection of local, national and international beers that makes Manitoba Liquor Marts look like a corner store. The one thing I found interesting was seeing Canadian craft beer at the bottle shop - the bottle shop had your typical Molson and Moosehead products but as well as Unibroue, Trou du Diable, Glutenberg and a few other Quebec beers. There were a few beers from Vancouver that I never knew that were in the US market as well including Central City (Red Racer) and Parallel 49. The bottle shop also showcased a “wall of fame” of random beer bottles from all over the world including a retro bottle of Manitoba’s own Half Pints’ Little Scrapper IPA!
Parallel 49 has some of the beer distribution out of all the Canadian craft breweries but lately I haven’t seen many of their products on the shelves at local Liquor Marts. Currently the only two beers Parallel 49 has available in Manitobe are Gypsy Tears Ruby Ale and Jerkface 9000 North West Wheat Ale, while I’d love to see their seasonal beers in stock - those two beers are pretty tasty. This week I’ll be taking a look at Jerkface 9000.
With a name like Jerkface 9000, either the name and label will appeal to you immediately or it will make you bypass it immediately - For me, I like an interesting name and label so it appeals to me! Jerkface 9000 is a North West-style wheat ale brewed with Mosaic hops. It is described as being juicy, citrus, tropical and floral with a flavourful hop punch and light refreshing body.
Jerkface pours a mildly cloudy, pale golden ale with a light amount of white head on top and a great amount of film from the remnants of foam on the side. The aroma is moderately hoppy with notes of pine, grapefruit, tropical fruity pineapple, nectarine and mango. There’s a light amount of bready aroma coming from the wheat. Jerkface 9000 tastes better than the name would lead you to believe, in fact - it’s delicious! The very first time I ever had Jerkface 9000, I blindly expected it to be an India Pale Ale and it does have flavours reminiscent to your typical North West IPA with a great deal of pine and grapefruit notes. This isn’t an IPA so you get a medley of other flavours on top of the hops as well, mostly tropical fruity flavours like pineapple, orange, nectarine and mango. At the very end, there’s a blunt bready flavour with a hint of pepper spiciness.
Does this beer match up with the brewer’s description? Yes, it does! The beer has a medley of flavours ranging from bitter hops to sweet tropical fruitiness that makes you want to be on a beach in Hawaii. In a way it’s a bit reminiscent to Maui’s Mana Wheat Ale that I reviewed last year but without a tonne of fruit juice added to it. I feel that this beer would be better suited in the summer time but I’m finding this is helping dealing with my winter blues a decent amount as it is. You can find Jerkface 9000 on tap at the Dock on Princess in Brandon as well as in cans at Liquor Marts in Brandon, Dauphin, Russell, and Virden for $3.05 per 473mL can. 5.0% ABV
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