Any time I hear about a new brewery opening up within a short drive of where I live, I get excited. Five years ago when I still had a weekly column in the local newspaper there was only one brewery in the area. Now, there's officially five breweries in my region. Skout Brewing may not be a Manitoban brewery, but it's close enough to be Manitoba-adjacent. I grew up a stone's throw from the town (Moosomin) and have visited the town just because I wanted to pick up some beer and had nothing better to do that day. I first met Aaron of Skout Brewing at JGL Shepherd's hop farm August last year - I knew a brewery was opening up by then, but when? It was one of those "it'll open up when it opens up" kind of scenarios so it could be six months or it could be three years.. who knows? In reality the brewery opened up only seven and a half months later in April 2024. It took me a few weeks but I finally visited the brewery on a rare day off from work. The brewery taproom is welcoming and there were a lot of beers to choose from when I went, and their patio was in works when I visited.
I picked up a bunch of their beer to review, so this may be the first review of one of their beers online, aside from the usual Untappd checkins. I really liked their Orville's Belgian IPA so I'm starting with that. Hazy and citrus, made with 7 varieties of JGL Shpherd Farms hops. 6.9% ABV
Appearance: Hazy for sure, thick, opaque dark-orange body with a mild thickness of snow-white head on top of the beer.. it gradually diminishes to give a bit of lacing on the glass.
Aroma: Quite a sweet-forward. It's a tad juicy with a Belgian vibe to it. Notes of grapefruit, hint of melon, as well as a bit of a Belgian yeastiness, hint of banana and possibly clove? My nose is a bit off today so don't mind me..
Taste: Very smooth (Double) IPA. The tropical juiciness is pretty tame but still get a tad bit of grapefruit, a hint of pineapple and hint of melon. It's a tad doughy, has a bit of a yeastiness to it and a light bit of a leafy hop presence at the end.
Overall Thoughts: Comparing the notes with when I had this at the brewery, I definitely should have sampled this sooner but life (and vacation) gets in the way. I have high hopes for the brewery - it's nice that there's finally a craft brewery in that part of "Pil Country". I did notice a good amount of farmers coming in sampling just about everything and enjoying it - that's a good sign!
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