This week’s review returns to one of my favourite types of beer, the IPA. And, though I’ve reviewed a beer from Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery already, I couldn’t resist reviewing Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery Smashbomb Atomic IPA.
The Brewery
Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery, as I said in my review of their Hoptical Illusion Almost Pale Ale, has distinguished itself as an award-winning maker of fine Ontarian beer since 2008. Flying Monkeys’ beers’ goofy names and wacky multi-coloured labels make them stand out on the shelf but Flying Monkeys’ dedication to making great brews is what makes its beer worth picking up.
First Sip
Kaboom! This IPA packs a serious wallop. With heavy citrus notes and a solid malty showing, Smashbomb Atomic IPA ain’t kiddin’ around. It’s hard to keep my lips from puckering and my mouth from watering as I take a big gulp of this explosive IPA. The notes of grapefruit are hard to miss and the high carbonation level makes the flavour of this IPA detonate and leave an aftertaste fallout on your nuked taste buds. Don’t serve this to anyone expecting a lager. They’re likely to wrinkle their noses and give you an odd look.
Last Sip
Although this isn’t a heavy beer, it’s a strong-flavoured and highly alcoholic one. Watch out, a beer this flavourful comes at a very pleasantly intoxicating cost: this nuclear beer has a 6.0% ABV rating. Keeping that in mind, this is a good beer to have a couple of but it doesn’t have that “Let’s keep drinking” quality that a beer like Steam Whistle or Moosehead does. This beer just isn’t meant to be that, though. Instead, like the Flying Monkeys website states, “It’s that beer we craft while we tune out whiners who ask us to relent. It’s that IPA we brew because, gosh darn it, we want to drink it.”
Other Comments
As a particularly good IPA, this one’s best served with salty pub foods like french fries and deep-fried food. Just don’t tell your doctor I told you that.
