Tool Shed Brewing Company Project Series: Toss the Tree – American Double / Imperial IPA at 8.8% ABV (C$4.72 at Collective, 473 ml, no packaging date or best before, acquired 24-Jan-2020, reviewed 27-Jan-2020)
Appearance: clear pale amber with one fat finger of rocky pale ivory head, good retention and moderate soapy lacing. (4/5) Aroma: resiny pine, caramel, citrus. (7/10) Taste: moderate-high sweet, high bitter. (7/10) Palate: medium slightly oily body, moderate carbonation, lingering and building bitter finish. (3/5)
Wait, “Project” Series? Where have I seen that before? Oh, right! The beer I had right before this one, the series that Collective Arts has been doing for yonks. OK, fine, they’re raising money for charity, I’ll stop. No canning date, but it’s only been on tap at the brewery since the 23rd, so it’s gotta be brand-spankin’ new. (Which might have led to my suggesting it might be a bit late for tree tossing – except I noticed on my way to work this morning that my across-the-road-plus-two neighbour still has theirs up in their rec room…) A very old-school West Coast DIPA, dominated in equal parts by beefy big malt and resiny pine. I waffled a bit on scoring this one, because although there’s nothing really off as such, it’s just not all that interesting – a bit of “been there, done that”. And since it’s so new, it’s clearly not a matter of a fading hop profile being overtaken by malt, so I decided to split the difference and call it what it is: solidly-made, but not very interesting. (Except for the fact that it’ll get you cross-eyed in a hurry. And yes, that factored in scoring it higher rather than lower.) (14/20)
7/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com
