beer_name: Loki
text: Thanks to Jim at Sherbrooke and Steve from Paddock Wood for the sample! This beer was brewed to show support for Saskatoon's The Ultimate Power Duo getting invited to perform at the Olympics in Vancouver Feb. 17-19. You know you've made it as a band when you get to play such a high profile event AND get a beer brewed for you as well in the same year, let alone a few month's time. Comes in a 341 ml brown bottle. Pours out a cloudy orange/light amber, like a marmalade. Tall loose creamy off-white head that slowly settles to a thin frothy cap. Sweet creamy smooth aroma, biscuity malt, faint toasted notes, orange citrus, floral and grassy hops. Faint butterscotch diacetyl, but it doesn't detract. Impressive balance in the flavour, the hops almost immediately kick in, but the malt backbone is strong enough to keep it in balance. Rich bready malt up front is immediately joined by citrus and floral hops, pine resin picks up in the middle, herbal and earthy on the finish, although in the aftertaste it sweetens up again with bready, biscuity malt and floral, orange notes. Low-lying character of grapefruit rind pith. Medium-bodied mouthfeel, low carbonation, smooth and creamy for the most part, some thin spots. Probably the smoothest and most approachable of the Canadian DIPA's I've yet to sample, ringing in at 80 IBU's it is balanced, with an equal presence of malt and a fairly refined hop bill. Definitely not a runaway train of hop madness, this DIPA is civilized.