Five Roads – South African IPA

Five Roads – South African IPA Review

Five Roads Brewing of Langley has adopted the ‘crowler’ format as a staple of their locally-available packaged product. Folks in the Fraser Valley area who frequent their brewery will be familiar with the sizeable 1L can’s consistent presence in their tasting room beer cooler.

The brews available in crowler have varied since their 2019 opening, but have perhaps gotten even more interesting of late as the front room has reopened after the virus shutdown. A star attraction in their room currently is the South African IPA.

This style is rare in BC, with Fernie Brewing’s Impala IPA, launched last summer, as one of the only others in the province. It’s described on the Five Roads website as “An incredibly smooth & fruity IPA brewed with African Queen & Southern Promise hops”.

The brew is alcoholic on the nose with herbal and medicinal hop notes. Its somewhat earthy flavours are reminiscent of herbs like oregano, as well as juniper. Others describe it as ‘fruity’, but we did not find it to be overtly fruity so much as herbal. However, the African Queen hop has been described as throwing notes of cassis, and we can detect a touch of currant flavour here.

This beer is well-rounded and soft on the palate, with a slightly bitter, piney finish. It’s dry but with just a hint of sweetness like dark honey.

The South African IPA is a new style to BC. This is the first time we’ve noted a beer for earthy, piney and herbal hops, without floral or grassy components. It’s a new sensory experience for us and maybe part of a new wave of IPAs in BC.