A single-hop beer is a narrow brief. Brasserie du Bas-Canada has taken it up a second time with Haze War, an IPA hopped exclusively with Krush. Rather than widen the recipe on the return, the brewery has pushed further in the same direction.
The Gatineau brewery says it made adjustments to the original to leave the beer even more saturated with hops. It is back at 6.5 percent ABV in 473 ml cans, with a limit of 24 cans per person. Bas-Canada lists notes of tropical fruit, orange zest, citrus and dried herbs.
Krush came out of the Hop Breeding Company, the same program behind Citra and Mosaic. It spent its development years as the experimental HBC 586 before earning a name. Its published profile runs to guava, mango, pineapple, honeydew and peach. That lines up with the first three notes the brewery gives.
The fourth is the interesting one. Dried herbs is not a descriptor that follows Krush around. It is the kind of note that tends to surface when a single variety is asked to carry a beer on its own, with nothing beside it to round the edges off. Whether it reads as an aromatic lift or a savoury turn is a question for whoever opens the can.
Haze War went on sale online at 11 a.m. today through bascanada.beer, packed at the Hautes-Plaines site, with a week to collect. It is the second of two releases in the same drop, alongside the returning Themis 3000. Both Bas-Canada taprooms are open.
Source & Editorial
JollyPint independently prepares release articles using information published by breweries through newsletters, websites, and other official public communications. Brewery-supplied descriptions and tasting notes are reported as provided, while editorial context is added by JollyPint.