All the hazy, hoppy goodness isn’t just found stateside. Canada’s craft breweries are getting into the style as well. We just stumbled across Bellwoods Roman Candle, brewed in Toronto, Ontario.
This is the first Bellwoods Brewery beer we’ve tried at Beer Street Journal. They’ve hit our radar hard over the past few months here stateside. Mike Clark and Luke Pestl opened the doors to Bellwood in 2012, and in their own words “working towards the rather ambitious goal not to run out of beer”.
In 2013, Bellwoods opened their full-time bottle shop, finally opening a second facility in August of 2016.
Apparently, the poor work/life balance continues as 2018 looms. Judging by Roman Candle, the hard work is truly paying off.
The New England IPA/hazy/unfiltered style is on fire across the United States, and there are truly some fantastic ones out there (Looking at you Trillium, The Veil, Monday Night, Off Shoot). We really weren’t expecting to one from Ontario anytime soon, much less one that blew us away.
Roman Candle is absolutely flush with flavors of tangerine, orange and pineapple hop flavors. Forget juicy fruit. All the juice is in this can. This IPA finishes slightly bitter and clean. Roman Candle is truly haze-tasticĀ and sadly, many many miles away.
Besides Candle, The Bellwoods lineup looks pretty robust. The brewery has collaborations with Evil Twin, Virginia’s Penn Druid Brewing, plus a few sour and wild ales and barrel-aged offerings. Keep this brewery on your radar.
We hope to drink more Bellwoods soon.
Style: IPA
Availability: 16oz Cans, Draft.
Distribution: N/A
6.8% ABV
PIC: Beer Street Journal