Muskoka Mad Tom IPA - Muskoka Brewery

northyorksammy

Ontario (Canada)

3.83/5  rDev -1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Decent serviceable IPA. Golden orange colour with initial foamy white head. Mild amarillo hop citrus orange smell. Smooth mouth feel, though carbonation is right there. Above average orange citrus flavours. Nice one, though unexceptional. The Beer Store. Good drinkability.

Serving type: bottle

05-29-2011 23:53:47 | More by northyorksammy

Phyl21ca

Quebec (Canada)

3.95/5  rDev +2.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Bottle: Poured a medium amber color ale with a nice foamy head with good retention and some good lacing. Aroma of bitter and citrus hops is quite powerful on this one. Taste is a nice mix between some floral notes of hops with some citrus, piney and bitter notes clearly coming out; malt base is dry caramel and strong enough to sustain the malty base. Body is full with good carbonation. Very well brewed and quite pleasant. Probably one of the best IPA to be bottle out of Ontario.

Serving type: bottle

09-12-2011 19:10:04 | More by Phyl21ca

MasterSki

Illinois

3.5/5  rDev -9.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Extra from peensteen. Best before October 11th? Or October 2011? Hard to tell, as the ink is smudged. Served in a CCBW pint glass.

A - Pours with two fingers of creamy white foam that has excellent retention and settles to a thick cap, leaving behind chunky lace. Transparent golden body with lots of visible bubbles.

S - Lemon, pine, grass, toasted grain. Somewhat understated, and very English in character. I don't get nearly any of the citrus mentioned by the other reviewers - maybe very faint grapefruit peel.

T - Taste is a little better, with some orange zest and light sugary notes. Bitterness in the aftertaste is medium. Otherwise grainy and bready malt dominate. Not bad, but a bit dull.

M - Very resinous, with a dry finish and lots of residual hop oils. Carbonation is moderate and pleasant, and the body is medium and slightly grainy. No obvious alcohol.

D - Drinks lighter than the listed alcohol. Could use more dry-hop aroma. If this were advertised as an English IPA it'd get a very good score from me (probably an A-). As an American IPA it's pretty bland, particularly in the aroma department. Easy enough to drink though - could definitely have a few bottles.

Serving type: bottle

06-15-2011 22:08:18 | More by MasterSki

biboergosum

Alberta (Canada)

4.03/5  rDev +4.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

355ml bottle, courtesy of tbeckett.

This beer pours a hazy medium golden colour, with two fingers of dense, fine foamy off-white head, which settles on a firm, agreeable schedule, leaving some front-row splash-victim lace around the glass. It smells of sweet toffee caramel malt, equally sweet orange cream, and obligatorily bitter grapefruit/pine hops. Is this really made in Ontario? The taste is strong grapefruit rind and bitter pine hops right up front, followed by a much tamer bready malt, more biscuit than caramel, and a slightly differentiated lemon zing, rolled into a Limoncella-esque essence through interaction with the latent booze. The carbonation is moderate, showing some palate-zinging here and there, the body medium weight from the oppressed, but cagey, malt, and as smooth as allowable under the circumstances. It finishes still pretty damned hoppy and bitter - I know there's some under-appreciated, rounded sweetness in there, but at this point, I just don't notice (or care).

4 years of trips to T-dot, and I never encountered anything really resembling a west coast IPA, at least not from the brewers of Ontario (Beer Bistro or Volo's stellar imports notwithstanding). My hotel bar, one trip, had all Muskoka offerings on tap, at the time, and I tried them all, once. If they had this on at the time, they would have had to call the porter to drag my over-imbibed ass up to my room. A good, big-boy IPA, I'm so finally glad to say.

Serving type: bottle

06-25-2011 23:20:17 | More by biboergosum

biegaman

Ontario (Canada)

3.8/5  rDev -1.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

The lighter, almost pear yellow colour suggests that Mad Tom leans heavier on the hops than it does the malts - and that bodes fine with me! I'll also take the dense fog as a positive sign; unfiltered beer tends to pack a little more punch. Against the sun it swells with brightness. Its head looks like a heap of sand and really mushrooms up along the outside.

In golf, a low score is better than a high one. With X-rays, negative results are better than positive ones. And in IPAs, a stinky beer is better than a clean-smelling one - and this one definitely has an odor! An olfactory orgy of citrus mush and flower petals is laced with traces of pine and spruce resin to make for an overtly earthy, fruity, fragrant bouquet.

Like the bus I take to work, this flavour profile seems to operate on a charted schedule, continuously looping regular stops: first a go-over of the flower garden, then the fruit bar, over a toasty, biscuity maltiness, through a patch of pithy, earthy vines and then it's back to square one again with soft floral and citric fruity components on the finish.

For my tastes, this is a perfect cottage long-weekend beer: although it climbs over 6 percent, the alcohol has been completely deferred and it drinks with the same quaffability as a pale ale. Its aftertaste is soft, with no astringency and hardly any bitterness lingering. Rather, a delicate floral/fruity element rings out like a well strummed chord.

Muskoka Brewery ran a few different test batches of this beer by the public before finalizing the present recipe. While I didn't have the opportunity to preview any, I mention this only because I think it was good on them, not as much for their initiation but for actually listening and acting on feedback! They obviously got things right; this is exactly the kind of beer this market has been sorrowfully lacking up until late.

Serving type: bottle

05-29-2011 19:19:38 | More by biegaman

Derek

British Columbia (Canada)

4.13/5  rDev +6.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A: Amber-bronze with an off-white head, good retention & lace.

S: Big American hop aroma, plenty of grapefruit, some pine and grass.

T: This is an assertive IPA, I believe it's over 60 IBU, though the rough bitterness from the chinook is often perceived to be more. It has some solid malt to back it up, but certainly not as sweet as some Ontario renditions.

M: Fairly full-bodied for an IPA, with a nice hop acidity.

D/O: Definitely one of the more assertive IPA's in Ontario. Good stuff!

Serving type: bottle

01-10-2012 05:10:11 | More by Derek

smakawhat

Maryland

4.05/5  rDev +4.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

Poured from the bottle into a sam adams pint glass.

A classic amber colored body, with some small rising carbonation. Three finger off white head with lots of retention and clumping. Pretty solid and aggressive.

Some very soft hop and malt sweetness. Light orange and herbal tea like action on the nose.

Good mix of malt and hop sweetness, mild sugars and pine hop dryness balanced in the front. Citrus juicy orange comes out with a real good sweet front. Hop angle lingers nicely with a full malt body. Little carbonation fizzy character in feel, quite juicy and fruit punch like also.

Overall pretty solid and a quite fruit juicy palate. Tasty!

Serving type: bottle

09-29-2012 23:55:59 | More by smakawhat

wordemupg

Alberta (Canada)

4.28/5  rDev +10.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5

473ml can poured into tulip 26/4/12 I gotta thank liamt07 for the top 100 Canadian tic

A clear golden liquid with just a few slow bubbles feeding a pinky finger of off white foam that just sits there. I turn my head and type all retarded like, slowly that is, I look back and wonder if time actually passed, a bathroom break finally reveals the surface of the liquid through the thin foam and leaves a thick triangular streak of foam on the no sip side of the glass

S the nose is impressive, guava, tangerine, pineapple with some spruce not pine a little lemon rind and a floral aspect add to the tropical citrus, I hate to do it but the five bomb's getting dropped

T not nearly as strong as the nose but still tasty, everything's still there but mellowed out just a little, a little bready malt but still pretty lopsided towards the hops, lemon rind I didn't smell

M medium bodied but its a little foamy, that being said that aspect seems to spread the rind throughout the mouth, leaves a slightly slick feel on the gums

O the perfect nose and something needs to be said for downing a pint of IPA before getting this deep in a review

smelling the empty can like a smoker scrapes resin for that last hit before bedtime only seems appropriate. this ones a bad ass IPA up there with my fav's from BC, thanks again liamt07 for this fresh gem

Serving type: can

04-27-2012 08:35:43 | More by wordemupg

woosterbill

Connecticut

4.14/5  rDev +7%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.25

On-tap at Beerbistro in Toronto.

A: Crystal clear pale amber body under a finger of fine off-white head that recedes slowly and leaves solid lace behind. Stunning.

S: Predominantly hoppy, and fairly complex: spice, citrus (both lemon and grapefruit), floral, and very slightly malty - in an almost gingerbread kind of way. Fascinating and enticing.

T: Perhaps a bit less fascinating here, but quite tasty in a straightforward way. The citrus hops absolutely dominate, with grapefruit standing out in a big way. The malt is almost entirely absent, and the finish is dry and very bitter. Slightly spicy aftertaste, with a touch of alcohol (surprisingly enough). Quite tasty, but not as memorable as the aroma.

M: Frothy medium body. A bit too diffuse, but not bad.

O: Really enjoyable IPA, and worth the price of admission for the aroma alone.

Cheers!

Serving type: on-tap

03-28-2013 23:40:32 | More by woosterbill

canucklehead

British Columbia (Canada)

3.5/5  rDev -9.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

I found this to be a little one sided on the hops dept vs the malt. I love hops but this was a too bitter at times and really hoped for more balance. Still not bad for an Ontario IPA but not on the same level as Smashbomb for complexity or balance...

Serving type: bottle

06-09-2012 00:26:45 | More by canucklehead

spinrsx

Ontario (Canada)

4/5  rDev +3.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

473ml Can from the LCBO for 2.95$

Appearance - Clear copper colour with a large size frothy off white coloured head. There is a low amount of carbonation showing and there is some really good lacing. The head lasted for over 5 minutes.

Smell - Malts, caramel, hops, oranges, apricot

Taste & Mouth - There is a below average amount of carbonation and I can taste malts, caramel and hops. As well there is some fruity notes - oranges, apricots, and some grapefruit. It ends with a malty sweet aftertaste with a medium amount of hop bitterness.

Overall - I had to try this one from a can to see if it tasted any different. It really didn't taste that much different than the bottles I've had in the past. Regardless, it's still a very good IPA - especially considering what is available to me locally. My one gripe would be that it is a little too sweet to drink more than a few of, and the price is a tad high. For my money I'll stick with the Crazy Canuck Pale Ale which is 2.50$ a can and a little less malty/sweet and a little more citrus driven.

Serving type: can

04-18-2012 14:28:39 | More by spinrsx

liamt07

Ontario (Canada)

3.9/5  rDev +0.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Bottle from a 6 pack, purchased at the LCBO. After going through the 6 pack over the course of a couple weeks, I think this accurately paints of picture of my impressions of this beer. 341ml bottle into a tulip. No best before/born on date (c'mon!)

Pours a golden yellow, with a finger or two of white head. Medium sized bubbles, mild retention and a filtered body. Nose has some nice citrus, some pine, mild peach pits, slight spiciness and a touch of earthiness. Predominantly hop forward and an overall pleasant profile. Taste has bitter pine initially, grapefruit, citrus, some grassy notes and a light breadiness. Moderate bitterness and a medium mouthfeel, some stickiness here. Enjoyable, but not outstanding. Very nice to (finally) see a decent American style IPA hit the market here in Ontario, although Smashbomb is on its way!

Serving type: bottle

07-10-2011 17:18:43 | More by liamt07

TheSevenDuffs

Ontario (Canada)

3.15/5  rDev -18.6%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Tasting notes from 6/1/11
Poured in to Hop Cat tulip glass

A - Light, almost straw yellow colour with a hint of amber in the middle and one finger of foamy off-white head that slowly disappeared. Almost transparent; somewhat light for an IPA.

S - Pine and citrus are noticeable up front with a crisp but not overly strong bitterness. Some sweet caramel in the background. A nice nose.

T - Some pine come and light citrus notes come through from the hops initially with a nice overall bitterness. Some sweetness comes through in the middle followed by a dry, bitter finish. The hops don't provide much in the way of flavour but do pack a good bitterness. A decent attempt at a west coast American IPA but this needs some tweaking, specifically with respect to flavour contribution from the hops.

M - Medium body with a slight chew. Light carbonation.

O - A good IPA and definitely a welcome addition to the Ontario craft beer scene. I feel like this one was close to being great but didn't quite get there. Some definite tweaking is needed here.

Serving type: bottle

06-09-2011 01:44:41 | More by TheSevenDuffs

tbeckett

Ontario (Canada)

3.95/5  rDev +2.1%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pint at Arrow and Loon. From notes.

A - Poured a copper/light gold colour. Good carbonation. Bright. Film of white head. Some lace left and a little head retention.

S - Nice and citrusy with a gentle malt character as well. A little pine.

T - Piney with grapefruit and some pineapple. Malt sweetness fades off fast to a hop burst which is very nice.

M - Nice and bitter in the finish after a good dose of carbonation and a medium body.

O/D - Very tasty. Great to see this appearing and pushing Ontario towards mainstream acceptance of better beer. A quality pint.

Serving type: on-tap

09-24-2011 14:58:34 | More by tbeckett

EgadBananas

Louisiana

4/5  rDev +3.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours a medium orange colour with an off-white head, some lace, good retention. The aroma is piny, with some sweet citrus and touches of mango. Light peach on the taste, citrus and tropical fruits, some pine and floral hops with a nice assertive bitterness. The feel is medium, slick and pleasant on the palate.

Overall, quite a nice IPA!

Serving type: can

09-26-2012 23:01:06 | More by EgadBananas

andrenaline

Ontario (Canada)

4.1/5  rDev +5.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Not my first Mad Tom, but hadn't prepared a formal review.

A - Pours a clear golden colour, finger of head with solid retention and some sporadic lacing.

S - Sweet citrus and caramel, buttery sugar notes, and peppered grapefruit on the finish.

T - More bitter than implied by the nose, sour citrus, grapefruit, lemon rind, lemon drops, buttery caramel, and bitter citrus lingers on the palette.

M - Medium bodied, smooth and a touch of dryness.

O - A quality IPA and one of the better ones to come out of the Ontario craft scene. Easily sessioned and well worth a try. Another go-to brew for the arsenal.

Serving type: bottle

01-18-2013 03:22:16 | More by andrenaline

Jeffo

Netherlands

3.6/5  rDev -7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Got this one at the LCBO this past summer.

From a 16oz can into a snifter.

Note: Tested this one as part of the Great Ontarian IPA Showdown against Nickel Brook's Headstock IPA, Railway City's Dead Elephant, and Double Trouble's Hops & Robbers.

APPEARANCE: Pours a two finger, medium looking, fluffy, off-white head with good retention. Slightly hazy gamboge in color with no carbonation evident. Head fades to a foamy wisp leaving some chunks of lacing down the glass. A little too chunky for my tastes, but nothing wrong otherwise.

SMELL: Pale malt, caramel, honeydew melon, and some piney and grapefruit, citrus hops. The citrus aromas come forward a little more than the rest. Pretty nice.

TASTE: Caramel, butterscotch sweetness up front with some honeydew melon and floral hops at the swallow. Moves into a big, persistent aftertaste of caramel and toffee sweetness, as well as floral and piney bitterness. Not as much citrus as the nose had advertised, but plenty flavorful.

PALATE: Medium body and carbonation. A little lighter than hoped, but creamy on the palate, goes down smooth and finishes slightly dry on the palate.

OVERALL: This was certainly a solid IPA from Muskoka. While the Nickel Brook stole the show, this finished a solid second in the lineup. Worth checking out if you see it at the LCBO. Thanks guys.

Serving type: can

08-28-2012 19:39:35 | More by Jeffo

allergictomacros

Ontario (Canada)

4.08/5  rDev +5.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Pretty happy to see this on the shelves. For some reason, it's hard to find local IPAs in ontario.

A - Clear gold/orange w2ith a nice head of foam.

S - Nose is citrus, floral and lightly herbal. Little whiff of alcohol as well.

T -Juicy, bittersweet grapefruit with a heavy resinous twang. Yum.

M - Smooth with some heft and a little carbonated kick.

D - Very drinkable, solid brew. Maybe a bit above average for a single-i ipa. In this neck of the woods, its availability makes this a winner :)

Serving type: bottle

06-30-2011 00:38:12 | More by allergictomacros

augustgarage

California

3.88/5  rDev +0.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Courtesy northyorksammy (thanks!). Poured from a 12oz bottle into my Dogfish Head shaped pint glass.

Nearly clear amber body with a small but lasting ivory head. Faint amoebic lacing, thin fast running legs.

Tangerine zest, evergreen, and mint in the nose - the C-hops come to the front - along with very faintly toasty pale malt notes.

Malty palate entry accompanied by woodsy/earthy/spicy hop flavors. Gentle astringency with lemon pith and vague pine coming on next. Slow moving, increasing bitterness offset by dry bready malt notes in the finish.

Medium-light bodied, rather creamy, with good carbonation.

Similar to many good NW versions of the style - is best served with food (a well made burger, salmon, etc) - but satisfying on it's own as well.

Serving type: bottle

09-09-2011 23:16:15 | More by augustgarage

Rutager

British Columbia (Canada)

4.1/5  rDev +5.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Recieved in the CANBIF. Thanks liamt07!

Appearance. Pours a hazy gold colour with a finger of almost white head that leaves some decent lacing.

Smell. Toasty light grains and big citrus fruits, piney wood and some tropical fruits. Smells good.

Taste. Bitter yellow grapefruit rinds, some lightly toasted grains, a little bit of orange and lemon. Oily bitterness lasts a while.

Mouthfeel. Medium body with medium carbonation.

Overall. Nice flavourful IPA. Enjoyed this one.

Serving type: can

05-24-2012 00:26:17 | More by Rutager

joemcgrath27

Alberta (Canada)

3.73/5  rDev -3.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

A - fully hazy golden orange, thumb of white head retained well leaving a consistent crown of lace
S - perfume, pine, and orange citrus hop notes, mild toasty malt
T - resiny hops dominate from start to finish, lighter pine and citrus, toasted bread malt with a tart finish
M - heavyish body with a medium carbonation kick, strong bitter, finishes full with an oily aftermath
O - the punch of the dry hopping is prominent and pleasant, a hop bomb for sure not for the faint of heart

Serving type: bottle

06-07-2012 00:18:03 | More by joemcgrath27

peensteen

Ontario (Canada)

3.98/5  rDev +2.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pale golden colour, lightly hazy, one finger of white head, no retention and no lace. Smell is hoppy, citrus and grapefruit followed by notes of pine, slight hint of a malt backbone is there also. Taste is dry and hoppy, lots of pine, citrus comes through, quite floral, grapefruit and pine in the finish. Good feel, slick and oily, medium to light carbonation. Solid Ontario IPA, I feel I will keep coming back to this quite often.

Serving type: bottle

06-14-2011 21:34:35 | More by peensteen

jrenihan

Ontario (Canada)

3.68/5  rDev -4.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Beer is a murky orange colour, darker at the top. A large amount of frothy white head is on top, and has pretty good retention. Minimal lacing.

Nice citrus smell, fairly pungent. Grapefruit is there, I also get a hint of peach. Somewhat floral. A very slight hoppy bitterness is noticeable. Good smell.

Taste is not quite as nice as the smell. but is certainly a pleasant IPA. A bit of a juicy taste, and a moderately bitter aftertaste. A little bit of pine in the taste as well. The malt is fairly subdued- a bit of caramel in the background, but certainly overshadowed by the hops.

Nice mouthfeel. Light to medium bodied, with a nice subdued carbonation.

Overall, a good addition to the exploding world of Ontario IPAs. Definitely happy to see it in the LCBO. Not one of my favourite IPAs, but I am sure I will be buying more in the future.

Serving type: bottle

07-27-2011 02:21:14 | More by jrenihan

DrinkSlurm

Connecticut

3.95/5  rDev +2.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

On tap at the Black Tomato Ottawa, Ontario.
Poured into pint glass. Pours a healthy golden orange hazey color with a bit of white head. The head turns sticky and clumpy with nice lacing. Great fruity pine and bitter hop aromas. Taste is of crisp fresh hops, slightly piney. A bit of a malty aftertaste, but still really nice. Slightly thin and bitter mouthfeel, but overall a nice IPA. Worth a try if you see it.

Serving type: on-tap

05-31-2012 00:02:27 | More by DrinkSlurm

JohnnyBarman

Ontario (Canada)

4.22/5  rDev +9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Picked up a sixer of this for the long weekend. Not sure how this one slipped under my radar - I've been eagerly awaiting the first real six pack of IPA in the LCBO for a long time.

Poured into a nonic. On the paler end of the India Pale Ale spectrum, a nice amber-golden with a decent fluffy head and some lacing patches.

Nose is a friendly citrus and earthy hop blast with a bit of orange peel, grapefruit, pine and caramel.

Powered my way through this six pack with great pleasure - this is one fine IPA. A bit more English than I'd expected, but still a damned tasty brew. Good lingering earthy bitterness, with the citrus and caramel at the forefront.

Slightly creamy, a bit of oil, nice zippy carbonation.

Muskoka has really done itself proud recently with its Summer Weiss and Chocolate Stout, and this brew is another fine addition to the family. Hopefully Mad Tom will keep lurking on the LCBO's shelves, because this could well become my default sixer. While not as juicy and potent as some of the big American brews, this is certainly on par with many an American IPA offering south of the border. Great stuff.

Serving type: bottle

07-04-2011 19:12:24 | More by JohnnyBarman