On tap at the Embassy - deleted my old rating (2.8) because in the year since I last had this beer, it seems to have been drastically retooled for the better. Came a lovely clear deep straw gold with a thick white head. Beautiful aroma of quality grain, yeast, some alcohol and a good amount of hops, along with some mango and peach. Flavour profile is very well-balanced and is no longer an incoherent mess. Good graininess up front with some bready quality following and a long bitter hop finish . Thick, creamy body. I’m glad I gave this one a second chance, as this is a beer I will now get regularly. Church-Key is one of the provinces true gems. Great, great stuff, and probably my favourite all-round beer from Ontario.

341ml bottle
6.5% ABV
I tried this beer on January 10, 2008 at "Smokeless Joe’s" in Toronto. The beer poured a hazy orange-gold colour with a thin white head. The aroma was very hoppy with perfumy and citrusy tones. The mouthfeel was medium-bodied with medium to high carbonation. The flavour was definitely strong on the hops with a definite grapefruit flavour. A nice bitter finish.

On Tap at the Castle Tapped a lush dark orange with a sticky rich 3 finger cap that laces well. Rich juicy citrus (Grapefruit) and floral tones over copious toffee- bready malts. This is a luxurious ale in the mouth, silken, rich, dripping with Cascade hop cone citrus and balanced with sweet malts with a woody-earthy under tone...finish is profuse...bloody marvelous...the best IPA in this Ontario market hands down.

nice and hoppy not over the top but good sitting drinking a few pints beer. ohh how i love church-key

Upped my initial aroma and flavor ratings by a point, as this beer as intensified in the summer batches - I have tried it on tap everywhere I can find it and I have bought 48 bottles from the brewery - they have all been consistently hoppy and fresh and much more IPA than the initial APA vibe I got from this. Outstanding - this and Durham Hop Head are the way to go if you’re going to even think about trying an Ontario IPA...Draught at Volo. Really nice dark orange, big white head, lots of streaming bubbles. I let this sit for 10 minutes as I was chatting with some other friends and the bubbles were still streaming and the head still thick when I got back - impressive, get that out of your 3 ounce samplers! Grainy hop aroma a little disappointing. Very nice APA type taste though: light malt, some earthy hops. Lots of bread, fruit, and a nice lingering bitterness. What a great session type ale. I disagree with Greg below, this is nothing like the Northumberland. And I would encourage those who had it in small samples at C’est What to seek out a full pint of this, as that is surely how a beer like this is meant to be tried. I tried in the day after as well and the hops seem to have intensified a bit more. Nice effort John.