Lake of the Woods Brewing Company Dead Man’s Switch – American IPA at 6.8% ABV | 40 IBU (C$4.50 at Collective, 473 ml, packaged on 9-Jun-2021, acquired 15-Jul-2021, reviewed 22-Jul-2021)
Appearance: hazy pale gold with two fingers of dense pale ivory head, excellent retention and heavy soapy lacing. (5/5) Aroma: mild, citrus, floral, pale biscuity malt, pine. (7/10) Taste: moderate sweet, moderate bitter. (7/10) Smooth slightly creamy medium body, moderate-soft carbonation, medium duration sweetish finish. (3/5)
I like label notes that make me go, “Wait, what?”, and to do it twice and force me to go to the Google is, well, at least twice as good. (The first one is kind of interesting from a historical perspective: the Kenora Thistles defeated the Montreal Wanderers in 1907 to win the Stanley Cup. {I had heard of the Wanderers, but not the Thistles.} The second event is far more WTF: an ultimately unidentified man robbed the CIBC in Kenora armed with a rifle, a pistol and a homemade bomb {!} consisting of six sticks of dynamite, with a dead man’s switch in his teeth {!!}, was shot by a police sniper, triggering his bomb {!!!} killing only himself and injuring Constable Don Millard, whose pants were ripped off {!!!!} by the explosion.) Anyway, obscure Canadiana aside, this is hopped with Citra and Amarillo, but I’m getting a distinct floral note that I don’t usually identify with either. I don’t dislike it, but it’s definitely not typical. Perhaps like Kenora? (14/20)
7/10 ryansbooze.com #ryansbooze
