The Bar Towel

markhenry wrote: ↑Tue Apr 25, 2023 12:31 pm More thanks to y'all. Interesting that the Fat Tug description on the Driftwood web site does not mention pine:

Brewed with the hop aficionado in mind, Fat Tug is a Northwest-style India Pale Ale with an intense hop profile featuring notes of grapefruit, mango, melon and passionfruit. Sufficient malt is there to provide support. At 7% alc/vol and 80+ IBUs this beer delivers on the promise to satisfy anyone with a thirst for all things hoppy!

Hmmm... Individual perception I guess. Or maybe, marketing is afraid to use the term for fear of turning off customers who would not know how to expect that? Not too many people have experienced eating a pine cone, but most have had those fruits.

markhenry wrote: ↑Tue Apr 25, 2023 12:31 pm More thanks to y'all. Interesting that the Fat Tug description on the Driftwood web site does not mention pine:

Brewed with the hop aficionado in mind, Fat Tug is a Northwest-style India Pale Ale with an intense hop profile featuring notes of grapefruit, mango, melon and passionfruit. Sufficient malt is there to provide support. At 7% alc/vol and 80+ IBUs this beer delivers on the promise to satisfy anyone with a thirst for all things hoppy!

This is the description on the LCBO website:

"B.C.'s Driftwood Brewing brings us a Northwest-style IPA with an intense and flavourful hop profile. Aromas and flavours of grapefruit, mango, melon, passion fruit, tangerine, pine, sweet malt and floral notes deliver a big, bold and smooth-finishing beer. Partner with pungent cheeses, shellfish, or boldly spiced dishes."

S. St. Jeb wrote: ↑Tue Apr 25, 2023 3:21 pm This is the description on the LCBO website:

"B.C.'s Driftwood Brewing brings us a Northwest-style IPA with an intense and flavourful hop profile. Aromas and flavours of grapefruit, mango, melon, passion fruit, tangerine, pine, sweet malt and floral notes deliver a big, bold and smooth-finishing beer. Partner with pungent cheeses, shellfish, or boldly spiced dishes."

That's a brilliant idea, checking the Elsie's inventory. I just did an LCBO.com search to see if they describe beers with those notes, or if reviewers said the same.

A lot came up, particularly Ottawa-region beers, including:

- Trestle Brewing Co. 30,000 Islands IPA
- Stalwart Brewing Snake Oil IPA
- Bicycle Craft Velocipede IPA
- Great Lakes Brewery Canuck Pale Ale
- Cassel Brewery Caboose IPA
- Covered Bridge Brewing Lumbersexual Session IPA
- Whitewater Brewing Co. High Tide
- Toboggan Brewing Lunatic Fridge IPA
- Bench Brewing Short Hills East Coast IPA

Plenty of piney wines, gins and soju as well. I'm excited and a little jealous!

I tried Shakedown from Big Rig and in my notes have pine listed as being fairly prominent. I was actually quite impressed with it overall as far as Big Rig goes, one of the better ones I've had from them lately.

Amsterdam Boneshaker is the other one that comes to mind when I think of that classic west coast profile, it's definitely got a piney element. Probably still my favourite from that early 2010s crop of Ontario IPAs along with Lone Pine and Mad Tom. Amsterdam has pretty wide distribution, so I imagine it's available in the Ottawa area.

seangm wrote: ↑Tue Apr 25, 2023 4:51 pm Amsterdam Boneshaker is the other one that comes to mind when I think of that classic west coast profile, it's definitely got a piney element. Probably still my favourite from that early 2010s crop of Ontario IPAs along with Lone Pine and Mad Tom. Amsterdam has pretty wide distribution, so I imagine it's available in the Ottawa area.

I always get grapefruit rind with Boneshaker. I still really enjoy it, but prefer Lone Pine myself. Haven't had a Mad Tom in ages.

MatttthewGeorge wrote: ↑Wed Apr 26, 2023 3:46 pm

seangm wrote: ↑Tue Apr 25, 2023 4:51 pm Amsterdam Boneshaker is the other one that comes to mind when I think of that classic west coast profile, it's definitely got a piney element. Probably still my favourite from that early 2010s crop of Ontario IPAs along with Lone Pine and Mad Tom. Amsterdam has pretty wide distribution, so I imagine it's available in the Ottawa area.

I always get grapefruit rind with Boneshaker. I still really enjoy it, but prefer Lone Pine myself. Haven't had a Mad Tom in ages.

Definitely, I get pithy citrus from it as well. Mad Tom was always a grapefruit bomb too, little to no pine from memory though.

MatttthewGeorge wrote: ↑Mon Apr 24, 2023 4:03 pm There's no actual "pine" in there, (i.e. it's not a spruce beer, etc) but I find it has the dank resiny flavour that could be described as pine.
Chinook, Columbus, and Simcoe hops could be argued as the most piney hops, and all three of those (plus Summit) are in Lone Pine.
I really love old-school classic West Coast IPA's, and Lone Pine is still one of the best examples of the style, imo.

Agree. The piney-est beer would have lots of late addition hops high in alpha and beta-pinene. Chinook is a pretty damn piney hop.