One great feature of the rise in popularity of microbrews is the fact that brewers are trying more and more weird and wonderful flavour combinations and beer styles and my neighbours Beyond the Pale are a great example of a brewery who try all sorts of new ideas. Some of these ideas turn out excellent but some of them turn out not so excellent, fortunately Pink fuzz grapefruit wheat ale falls into the former category, an excellent refreshing brew.
I will start out by saying that I am not a fan of fruit beers in the traditional sense, however Pink Fuzz is not a traditional fruit beer. I find Belgian Kriekbier to taste like cough medicine and St. Ambroise apricot wheat to be way too sweet. Despite my general dislike for fruit beers, BTP have really come up with something special here. Firstly, the grapefruit flavour is not overpowering, it has notes of grapefruit but doesn't really taste like the fruit, this results in a beer that is really refreshing but still tastes like something. The bitterness of the grapefruit is mellowed by a delightful sweet aftertaste (from the wheat) which results in a really neat balance. A sip of this is a bit of a journey, you can taste the peaks and valleys of the bitterness and sweetness, a sort of sweet and sour beer. A word of warning is that it stronger than it tastes, it is 6% but really tastes like something less strong, so it is easy to drink a lot of it.
It is available at their brewery and they have extended their opening hours to be Thursday-Sunday which makes it easier to acquire. Some of their beers are available at pubs in Ottawa but their website doesn't have a listing of which ones have which beers so I am not sure if Pink Fuzz is available on tap anywhere.
Rating: 4.5 Steins
What you need to know
Brewery Address:
5 Hamilton Ave N
Ottawa, ON
K1Y 1B4
Website: www.beyondthepale.ca
Twitter: @BTPBrewing
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeyondThePaleBrewingCompany?fref=ts
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