Beer # 296 Why So Sirius? Sextant Craft Brewery

#296 Why So Sirius? Pale Ale

Sextant Craft Brewery

Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Contract Brewery Brews at: ?
Established: 2015
Pale Ale
4.8 % ABV IBU: 33
473 ml Aluminium Can
$2.95 (Canadian) At the LCBO

Twitter: @SextantBeer


Another new brewery to me, Sextant is a currently a contract brewery in Toronto, Ontario. I was unable to find where they are brewing from but I did find that they are in the process of building their own brewery, so I am sure I will have more details at a later date when I get to try some more of their beers. 

Ok. I admit, I'm a pun junkie, and a pushover for a good label and this ticks both boxes when it piqued my interest in the LCBO. From a marketing standpoint I like this beer. It has an innocuous name but it immediately will give you another image... (Sex sells) The X in the name is emphasised and the gentle curve is supposed to remind you of a sextant, see below, but the careful layout of the X divides the name in two tickling the funny bone of every 12 year old boy inside us and making us giggle when we see the word sex. Like it or not beer is still predominately marketed towards men. Thankfully with so many women brewers entering the market and a huge growth in female craft beer drinkers, that fact may soon be out of date. Ok, subliminal marketing techniques aside, what is a sextant? It is an historic and invaluable nautical tool used by sailors prior to the invention of GPS. To this day most sailors are still required to take training in it's use in the event of systems failures and you would be hard pressed to find an ocean going vessel that does not still carry one. It's use is straight forward, but requires some complex calculations. One first takes a sighting of the Sun during the day or Polaris (The North Star) during the night and then by use of a mirror on the swing arm of the sextant, one lines up the sun with the horizon. This gives a reading in degrees on the arc at the base of the sextant with which, one can calculate the latitude and longitude of a ship at sea. The arc is actually where the sextant gets its name the arc contain sixty degrees or 1/6th of a circle, Latin for 1/6th is "sextans."

Back to the brewery, Dave Wingfelder and his wife Cindy Eveline loved to travel, and they loved beer. So as the symbol of this union they chose the sextant to guide them into the beer business. Their first beer brewed was Sextant Pale ale, This eventually became tonight's beer a light, lower alcohol, easy drinking pale ale.

Let's navigate over to the glass, and try one out.



Pours a pale gold with a short lived off-white head made of small bubbles. Aroma is predominately Lychee with some citrus light vanilla caramel, and a hint of wine grapes. Attack is very light and fruity not unlike a Vidal or a Gewurztraminer wine. Slightly sour with a medley of tropical fruit. Light breadiness and caramel on the finish. Aeration gives us some toasty, malty, nutty with a winey floral finish.

 Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 


Cost: 5/6 PASS
Colour: 5/6 PASS
Beer Style: 6/6 EXCEPTIONAL
Re-Order:  6/6  EXCEPTIONAL

Experience: 5/6 PASS

Final Thoughts:

Sirusly good beer... Ok, punning aside I really enjoyed this beer the fruit and the wine notes make it exciting. it is bright and vibrant and a welcome edition to the pale ale scene in Canada. Pull out your sextant and navigate over to your local LCBO to give this beer a try. I look forward to more great beers from them.

Cheers

CJT

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