Maris* Pale Ale

Maris* Pale Ale is a tasty offering from Left Field Brewery, one of Toronto's up and coming breweries. Charmingly, Left Field incorporates baseball references, some of them tongue-in-cheek, into their beers. I particularly like the inclusion of an asterisk in the name of this brew, honouring baseball's untainted single-season home run king, Roger Maris. I had a pint on tap at The Only Cafe, one of Toronto's venerable beer drinking establishments.

Maris* arrived a surprisingly bright golden ale--clear and topped with a thick white cap of head. This stuff really puts the pale in pale ale. Extremely well carbonated. It's mild scent is quite floral, and hints at bitterness to come, but doesn't give the ending away.

This pale ale is gentle, but not meek. It's flavour starts slowly, with dry and flowery hop notes. However, by midway through the pint, Maris*' bitterness had started to compound beyond initial expectations. There is also a thin grapefruit quality and some grainy vibes.

This is a quality pale ale. A little low octane if you're looking for a full bodied pale, but it hits the spot if you want a hoppy and crisp session ale. According to the Left Field website, this cheeky little session beer contains 4.5% alcohol and 30 IBUs.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.