Review: Torque/Sleeping Giant Night Danger Belgian Dry Hopped Wit


I picked this beer up at Torque several months ago but just haven't had the time to review it yet, this is a Belgian Dry-hopped witbier collaboration with Thunder Bay's Sleeping Giant Brewing.

From the can: "A long, dark road with plenty to stay awake for brought. Torque and Sleeping Giant together. Starry nights, the Canadian Shield and moose sightings are all part of this great collaboration. Enjoy our efforts! Pair with: Road trips and staying alert."

I was watching an episode of Hot Ones the other day featuring Parks & Rec's Nick Offerman. I was listening to it in the background and Offerman goes "I believe this is from Thunder Bay, Ontario". So, of course it perked my ears up and I just had to look up the sauce he was trying - Pineapple Habanero from Heartbeat Hot Sauce Company out of Thunder Bay, I looked into it and turns out they feature Sleeping Giant's Beaver Duck in the wing sauce, so cool!

Appearance: Night Danger pours a tad hazy with a light amount of sediment and a golden/lemon yellow with a hint of an amber hue appearance in colour. Decent amount of carbonation in the body and the head starts off with a moderate thickness of snow white head, to gradually diminishing to a light layer on top of the beer with a nice amount of lacing on the side of the glass.

Aroma: The dry hops pop out right from the first sniff - I get a bit of a floral, a tad piny hop bitterness, followed by a spiciness of coriander, hint of banana, a bit of orange peel and a bit of clove. A bit more bitter and spicy than Torque's Witty Belgian.

Taste: The taste is pretty much on point with what I got from the aroma - It's a decently spiced dry-hopped Belgian-style witbier with a good deal of coriander but not excessive, a hint of orange peel, a bit of banana and lemon zest, clove and a moderate floral/bitter hop presence at the end. Fairly sweet but not overly.

Overall Thoughts: Solid Belgian-style witbier. Definitely a bit more spiced than Torque's Witty Belgian and a bit hoppier too, but both are solid examples of the style. It was great to see Sleeping Giant and Torque collaborating on a beer and I feel like it will likely happen again someday. 4.7% ABV

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