Boundary Bay Northern Brewer Pale Ale

On tap at Archer’s Ale House. Having had bout 4 of the Pale Ale series this fine brewery has produced, I must say i found this particular edition rather plain, good, but rather plain. It had a good white head and the classic copperish, murky color that Boundary seems to get with all Pale’s they brew. The hops were there, but not overly assertive. If given a choice between this and their Simcoe version, I’d go with the Simcoe Pale.

The Northern Brewer turned out to be the chewiest of all the single hop Pales I tried ( sadly I missed the Simcoe ) - the hops are just sticky, piney, vinous, and very chewy. Nice head retention with lots of lace, not a crystal clear beer but clear enough I suppose. There is not the overt bitterness that you’d find in the Cascade Pale, nor the high citrus. Also, the Perle hops were far more clean in mouthfeel and flavor, but the stickiness here is something I find very appealing. The lasting impression I got from this beer was perhaps that these Northern Brewer hops more than any of the others provide the best standalone value, they are just complex enough to taste great alone, but I do wonder what obstacles a brewer might encounter trying to create recipes with great depth using these hops.