Grand River Curmudgeon IPA

Brewed by Grand River Brewing
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Cambridge, Canada

500 ml bottle from the brewery. bottled Feb 9th 2009. enjoyed Feb 11th 2009. now thats some fresh IPA. pours beautiful bright orange with a full white head that lingers and laces. wonderful earthly hop aroma with big pale malt backbone. the aroma is big and full just like you would expect from this brewer. the flavours is similar with hops up front leading to a caramel body and a fuggeled out finish. this is a great example of an IPA made without huge american style hops. the brew is hoppy and bitter but so much more palatable and complex then some west coast IPAs. i great brew that i will enjoy more then my fair share of. i cant wait to find it on tap.

Sample on tap at the brewery and a 500 mL bottle. Was the first to pick up a 12-pack pre-order! Bottled on Feb 9th, poured on Feb 11th, can’t get much fresher than that. Pours a very nice copper colour with a big frothy head. Aroma smelled excellent which is typical of most GR brews. Tastes hoppy, but not super hoppy like some of the US IPAs making it even more drinkable.

500ml bottle from the brewery. Hilarious label on this one if you know who the guy is (Len who owns the Golden Kiwi pub). Pours a beautiful deep copper with a large, rocky beige head. Aroma is spectacular! Awesome typical GR malt body, sticky sweet fresh worty malts, with loads and loads of hoppyness. It reminds me of the old Sgt. Major IPA when it was actually good, nothing too distinctive just an enticing medley of hop aspecs. The flavour is equally spectacular. SO well blended, malt body perfectly in line with the mouth-puckering dry hoppy bitterness. The hard mineral water signature of this brewery is evident on the palate. Earthy and herbal while also frutiy and dry, with a long lingering bitter aftertaste. Awesome, awesome stuff! Quite complex as well with different layers of flavours here, this is truly something special and I’m glad I could get it so fresh from the brewery. It’s like a West Coast-English hybrid IPA with that rural traditional rough Canadian-ness that I love from Grand River, and it worked out amazingly. Gets better and better as it warms. One of the best Ontario-brewed beers I’ve had to date.

Bronze with a nice fluffy, white head; good retention & lacing. Aroma: The hops are almost subtle, but there’s plenty of depth: earthy & steelie minerals, citrus rind, apricot, figs and a slightly grassy spicing. Hints of fruity ale esters. Flavour: This ain’t no American IPA, but the flavour is much bigger than most Brits. The bitterness is upfront (but not harsh) and it really lingers. There’s a lot of mineral to the flavour, but I can’t really place it (though it’s absolutely not sulfur). Plenty of fruitiness, with flavours of candied pineapple, apricot & figs. Some sweet caramel and hints of biscuit from the malts. Palate: Really well-attenuated, moderate body has a drying finish. Overall: A good drinker.

Bottle, thanks to HogTownHarry via Tupalev, cheers lads. Appearance: Golden orange with a very large frothy white head. Aroma: Milky, malt, some citrus, hops, battery/copper. Flavour: Hoppy, sweet, honey, some lemon, some herbs. Really tasty, a nice long bitter finish. Another Grand River beer that signals great things are in store for Ontario.

500 ml bottle- Decants a transparent rusty orange, topped with a huge mound of eggshell froth. A bit of lace. Nose is Grand River all the way. Lots of mineral, biscuit malts, fresh pine and hops, some tropical fruit. Malty flavour profile has caramel, some fruity sweetness, balanced by slight metallic pine hops. Bitter and long lasting finish, slightly fruity as well. Nice medium body is slightly creamy. Another winner from Rob and Bob. The best brewery in the province of Ontario in terms of consistency and quality.

500 ml bottle from brewery. Pours a clear golden colour with decent lasting white cap. CItrus hops and bready malts in the nose. Malts and hops combine nicely in the taste with a lingering hoppy bitterness. The hard Grand River water is in evidence here as well. Probably my favourite Ontario beer right now.

Cask on tap at C’est What, in Toronto. Recomended by bartender, very good recomendation. Clear ambar colour with small white head and good lacing. Nice malty, with slight bitter aroma. Very nice malty sweet flavour with hoppy bitter noticeable. Balanced lingering aftertaste.