Today's sampling is Brain Juice Double IPA by Microbrasserie Emporium out of Quebec City. It's been over eight years since I've last visited Quebec City, which is incredibly far far too long. This time thirteen and fifteen years ago I was spending the summer in the awesome town and while at the time they didn't really have a craft brewery scene yet, I definitely sampled a lot of craft beers during both of my visits. Even eight years ago there were a couple craft breweries in the city but now.. the city has exploded with craft breweries and I'm hearing about new ones opening up quite often now days. I couldn't find out much information about Brain Juice but the label states it's hopped with Simcoe, Ariana and Barbe Rouge hops to give it a profile of mango, peach and papaya.
Appearance: Hazy and juicy as heck with a murky pineapple juice-like profile to it. The head has a good amount of thickness to it with a snow white hue to it, gradually diminishes with a sprinkling of foam retention on the glass and on top of the beer. Good amount of floaty bits as I pour the last bit of beer into the glass.
Aroma: Very tropical and sweet right from the beginning. There's notes of mango, papaya and pineapple, a lot of a leafiness to it, a hint of creaminess and a bit of a sharpness from the yeast that hurts the nose ever so slightly.
Taste: Quite a yeast and murky IPA with the dominant flavours being tropical fruit (papaya, followed by mango and finally pineapple). There's a moderate booze burn that hits the back of my throat a good deal, As it warms up, I get a good deal of leafiness from the hops, a bit of a syrupy sweetness and a hint of a sourdough presence at the end. Moderately oaty.
Overall Thoughts: While at 8% I feel like the beer is pretty smooth, I do get a good deal of burn from the beer.. which is to be expected from a Double IPA. I was expecting it to be juicier or more malt forward but it's solid nonetheless. Definitely a sipper and not something to drink more than one of. Let this one warm up a bit because the tropical notes pop out quite a bit more when it's on the verge of getting to room temperature.
Whenever I see the name Brain Juice as I wrote this review, all I could think of is Kids in the Hall's Brain Candy movie.
No comments:
Post a Comment