Tim Kramer, the young brewer at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan’s Paddock Wood Brewing, passed through Toronto lately laden down with bottles of his most recent creations, including the Loki Double IPA. Never one to pass up the chance to sample something new, I met up with him at Toronto’s Bar Volo and swapped a taste of a 15 year old barleywine – and more about that next week! – for a couple of bottles of his cargo.
Bottle-conditioned with a fair amount of sediment laying on the bottom – thus requiring careful decanting – Loki is brownish copper in colour and offers a good degree of fruitiness in the nose, like candied orange and peach, alongside notes of grapefruit and butterscotch. On the palate, though, the beer shifts course rather dramatically, hitting with but a whisper of fruity sweetness before coming forward with a great deal of hoppiness. Brewer Kramer says that he is an unapologetic hophead and it shows here, with rampaging flavours of spicy, green hop and citrus peel held in check by, well, practically nothing.
The finish mellows out so the palate doesn’t feel quite so assaulted, but more maltiness would make this a much more balanced and considerably less harsh ale. What Kramer does quite well, however, is hide Loki’s considerable strength, so perhaps the aggressive hoppiness is more a warning not to get too carried away with this beer!
