Brasserie Dunham / Kissmeyer Beer Leo’s Early Breakfast IPA American IPA at 6.2% ABV (C$3.83 at Bishop’s Cellar, 341 ml, no bottle date or best before)
Appearance: muddy opaque deep gold with a short ivory head diminishing rapidly to a thin skim, patchy lacing. (3/5) Aroma: black tea, bergamot, tropical fruit, citrus, light caramel, earthy. (8/10) Taste: moderate sweet, moderately strong bitter. (8/10) Palate: medium body, moderate-low carbonation, medium duration bitter finish. (4/5)
The appearance is a bit misleading on this: during most of the pour, it was looking like a bright and clear deep gold / pale amber, but the last half-inch turned out to be chock full of particulate and what looks to be tea. I could’ve poured it a lot cleaner, but didn’t. (One might therefore argue it actually deserves a 4/5 instead a 3/5 for appearance, but that wouldn’t change the overall score.) Very nice other than that, with the name certainly giving you a hint of what’s to come: lots of black tea and tropical fruit (guava puree), playing well with the Nelson Sauvin hop (which I particularly like). The tea bitterness also works well with the hop bittering, making this taste more bitter than the 50IBU would suggest. It’s pretty rare for me to have beer with breakfast, but I could be convinced to have one of these! (16/20)
8/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com
