Snake Lake Brewing Company / Eighty-Eight Brewing / S.Y.C. Brewing Co. Happy Trails (Snake Lake) – American IPA at 6.7% ABV (C$4.36 at Collective, 473 ml, no packaging date or best before, acquired 3-Sep-2020, reviewed 10-Sep-2020)
Appearance: hazy pale gold with two fingers of fine white head, good retention and moderate soapy lacing. (4/5) Aroma: mild, tropical fruit, citrus, floral, pale malt. (7/10) Taste: moderate sweet, moderate bitter. (7/10) Palate: medium body, moderate-low carbonation, off-dry medium duration finish. (4/5)
A “Cross-Alberta Collab” involving three breweries, but I haven’t yet located the Eighty-Eight version. I opened the Snake Lake and S.Y.C. ones side by side so as to allow for as accurate as possible a comparison.
Neither completely blew me away. I found this one to be milder than its cousin despite having a marginally higher ABV, and in particular found the aroma to be oddly muted. However, it was easy to drink, with no real negatives, and all in all a solid effort.
I was expecting a closer race, since aside from having tried a slightly different number of examples from each brewery, their performance (high/low/average) has been nearly identical in my experience. But, the Snake Lake version is a clear winner here, beating the S.Y.C. version in appearance, aroma, and palate. (15/20)
7.5/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com
