Poured at 6°C from a 500ml bottle into a stemmed glass. Golden and bright, the head fine and persistent.
Nelson Sauvin over a pale / wheat base, finishing at 5.2% with 38 IBU. The restraint in that grain bill is the reason the rest of it works.
Spend a minute with the glass before drinking, because the nose is the best thing here. The palate is honest and a little plain after that introduction, though nothing about it is wrong.
The whole point of a beer at 5.2% is the second and third glass, and this survives both. There is no cloying edge, no fatigue in the finish, and the hop character stays legible right through. That is harder to achieve than a big beer, and it gets a fraction of the credit.
Against the rest of the pale shelf this holds its own comfortably. It is not the beer that will convert anybody to the style, but it is the one you reach for once the converting is done, and at $5.75 / 473ml it is honestly priced.
Bought at Bellwoods Ossington (in stock at the time of writing). If you dislike Nelson, this will not convert you. If you like it, buy two.
Best drunk fresh, in company, with nobody taking notes. We took notes anyway.
