Friday evening, the Shopify Toronto office had two beers on tap, both by Ottawa brewery Beyond the Pale. The main event was a celebratory brew called Moneyhats IPO IPA, a collaboration between BtP and Shopify to mark the Ottawa startup’s initial public offering. The other, the real reason I had snuck into their celebration was Pink Fuzz, their delicious and refreshing grapefruit wheat beer. (Disclaimer: Chris works at Shopify. I didn’t actually have to do that much sneaking to get in.)

“I don’t think you realize”, I found myself excitedly telling people. “You can’t get this beer anywhere around here.” I really do love Pink Fuzz; I was the biggest Beyond the Pale cheerleader in that joint.

Because I like Pink Fuzz and other BtP offerings so much and because I never say no to trying something new, I was pretty stoked to give the Moneyhats IPO IPA a try. It’s an IPA brewed with oats and orange zest, and comes in at 7.3% abv and 68 IBU. They’re doing a limited run of the bottles, which may or may not still be available at their 5 Hamilton Avenue N bottle shop. Even if they’re out, visiting the bottle shop is worth the detour.

Nice golden colour and great head retention.

(and mad love to the Society of Beer Drinking Ladies. Check them out!)

This is a fairly typical IPA, which is not to say that it is not enjoyable. Subtle citrus and hops nose. It is sweet, and that does translate to a fairly high ABV for an IPA, and a bit of heat on the finish. They used oats in this one, but the hops come in the way of really getting what the oats are bringing to the table. Overall enjoyable, but not as polished as their other beers. Still changes nothing about my love for Pink Fuzz.

Header photo credit: Germán Poo-Caamaño under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license