Durham Hop Addict

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

On tap at Volo (long and strange story about how I ended up briefly at Volo today, my first visit). Taps a nice deep copper-orange, medium white-cap. Awesome piny citrus hoppy nose. Flavour is delciously well balanced, very nice malt bakcbone, but the hops steal the show. Good astringent feel on the back of the tongue, but not at all dry. Did I have the same beer some other people who’ve rated it here had? How could you not consider this a ’real ’ IPA? This was absolutely a spectacular pint. Fruity esters as well, in fact the beer as a whole kind of reminds me of Fuzzy Peach candy in a very pleasant way. Outside of extremely fresh Grand River Curmudgeon, this is the best Ontario-brewed IPA I’ve ever had.

Draught - Volo - Had just been infused with MORE HOPS the day I had it. Absolutely delicious. Nice Resiny taste with a touch of caramel on the nose. Smooth golden pour, no head whatsoever. Delicious!

sampled @ bierBistro in Toronto. Nice hoppy aroma in a caramel colour. Well balanced, and a little punchy, with pine hops and citrus squeezes. Yum! This place, btw, kick ass.

On tap at The Black Tomato in Ottawa. The color is amber with a beige head and some lace. The aoroma and taste is of hops of course, but also a taste of sweet caramel and spicies and fruits. You can feel just a wee bit of bitterness. Looking forward to having more of this one.

On tap at the Victory Cafe - came a clear copper colour with a foamy head that was gone pretty quickly. Aroma very nice, citrus hoppiness with a good amount of malt, also I picked up a touch of yeast/bread. Flavour mainly hoppy, grapefruit and lemon, but with some earthiness or woodiness along with a refreshing bitterness in the finish that was very pleasant and balancing - many of the brewery’s beers have this similar taste and it is something that I really enjoy. Great character in this one, and a solid local IPA. Bottle it. Update - tried this again tonight and realized this is one of the best IPAs on offer in Ontario right now. If they bottled this, it would have a general listing in my fridge.

Draught @ beerbistro: Another honest IPA from an Ontario brewer? Huzzah! Pours a great copper with a removable head. Aroma of hops, pine, and some citrus; excellent! The flavour is top notch with a burst of hops that makes way for a melange of flavours including roasted malts alongside the citrus and pine I found in the scent. Heavy on the hops, as I’d hoped, but quite well balanced with the more subtle supporting flavours. Loved it.

Points for one of the most original tap handles in Toronto. Tap at Smokeless Joe, with many on previous dates at Volo also, September 2008. Nice amber colour, almost no head dies down to none. Wood aromas are faint: aromas in general are faint (citrus, orange, grapefruit). I taste apricot, grassiness, lots of bitterness. I would like to find more fruit etc..hidden in the hops, with the bitter kick.

on tap at volo--- pours golden red copper color with pinky sized white head. Smells piney hops, some fruits long lasting bitter flavor relatively smooth,, starts piney with a touch of citrus and bitter flavor sets in very well balanced, and very nice lacing.