Durham Hop Addict

Brewed by County Durham Brewing
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Pickering, Canada

[224-20060304] Tap @ Volo (Toronto, ON). Hoppy lemon citrus aroma. Clear, light orange red body with some small centralized bubbles and a medium-lasting off-white creamy head. Taste has a very bitter hoppy bite with lemon and light astringency. Medium palate, fairly bitter after. Blending is OK but not fond of afterbite. (7/3/6/3/13) 3.2

[720B-20070928] Tap @ C’est What 2007 FOSB (Toronto, ON). Apricot wheat fruit aroma has funky yeast. Slightly hazy, orange amber body with a medium-lasting foamy white head. Alcoholic fruit wheat yeast flavour, some grapefruit hops. Medium body, very bitter. Nice bitterness, weird yeast qualities. (6/3/7/3/13) 3.2

The hops are back! See previous notes, but I can bump my rating back up because this is now consistently hoppy fruity and delicious. Newest batch early 2007 not so good - hops have faded, leaving behind the all too generic English based malts dominating the proceedings. Bring back the hops - turn them up not down, especially with a name like this! I’ll average the cores out until I try it again. Original rating: On tap at Volo. Dark orange, small white head. Nice citrus hop aroma - grapefruit - and some sweet malt notes. Nice hop taste - this is an English style session ale, lots of rich caramel and sweet notes with a noticeably American hoppy bite - very similar to the new Headstrong, but even better in my opinion - a little less body but much more hops. Only complaint: because the body is a little thin, it becomes a little too sweet and then unbalanced as it warms. But served chilled, this is a great Ontario beer and a nice effort by Durham. And they should be commended for pushing our conservative little Province wide envelope.

Draught at Volo. Orange-amber colour with a tiny head. Aroma is mild, a bit earthy with a hint of hops. Flavour is quite hoppy to start, overpowering anything else that’s in there, but it settles down nicely after a few sips. Hops are of that pleasant grapefruity variety that I tend to like, and it’s backed up by good malts that are biscuity and a bit earthy/minerally. The brewer describes this as being influenced by the beers of the US Pacific Northwest, and I can see that in the hops, but the rest of the beer fits nicely with the UK style ales that Durham specializes in. All in all, a pleasant, non-pretentious pint.

Too hopy for me, it was very well brewed, very dark, good foam and not annoying but too bitter.

Draught at Volo. Copper-brown body with a creamy white head and soft lacing. The aroma is full of piney wood hops, light caramel, and oranges. Solid earthy body with a good whack of hops up front making way for the sweet caramel middle. Loooong bitter finish. Good to see another IPA in Ontario!

On tap at <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Place/ontario/ target=blank>The Volo in Toronto. Golden amber in colour, dissipating off-white head, some lace. The aroma is quite floral, some sweet caramel malts, light lemon. The large amounts of floral hops carry over to the flavour, some light orange citrus, caramel malt balance. Bitter dry mouthfeel, medium body, medium carbonation. Finishes with some moderate hop bitterness, floral and dry. Interesting.

on tap @ Beer Bistro Toronto. One of the better Canadian IPA’s I’ve encountered. Pine hop flavor withcitrus presence. Pretty smooth.

Served with a bright copper body, weakly headed in white. Citrusy PNWs in the aroma without a lot of "oomph". Dry rye bitters become more pronounced late. Flavor shows more bitterness with rindy citrus and a pepper bite followed by a sweet malted wash, then finishing long with more pepper. Dry with a long-lingering aftertaste. A nice IPA, but a few steps below some of your favorites.

<font size=-4>Draught pint at <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Joe, Toronto, ON, CAN</font>