Evil Corporation Brewing Initial Public Offering American IPA at 6.8% ABV (C$4.14 at Collective, 473 ml, no packaging date or best before, acquired 31-Jan-2019, reviewed 4-Feb-2019)
Appearance: hazy pale amber with two fingers of rocky ivory head, good retention and moderate clingy lacing. (4/5) Aroma: grainy caramel & buttery toffee, resiny pine, citrus. (6/10) Taste: moderate sweet, moderate-high bitter. (6/10) Palate: medium body, moderate carbonation, off-dry lingering bitter slightly astringent finish. (3/5)
Contract brewed by Last Spike, this is the first offering from yet another new Calgary brewery. Well… I say “new”, but I guess they’re technically still “non-existent”, at least in a bricks-and-mortar sense. (Though, they’re hardly alone there – for example, I think Six Corners’ “planned” location in Okotoks has been such for more than a year and is still a bare lot.) And yeah, I like their tongue-in-cheek send-up of corporate culture, but it feels both late (Calgary’s been moribund for a good three or four years now) and hollow (they’re not good enough to pull it off). Most egregious is the slight buttery note on the front end, and the way the promised bombastic bitter ends a little astringent. It’s not terrible, and arrogance is all well and good when you’re Stone’s Arrogant Bastard, but this ain’t that. (13/20)
6.5/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com
