Review: Low Life Barrel House Small Pale

It was a week or two ago when my Google Photos memories reminded me that on that day in 2021 I visited Winnipeg's Low Life Barrel House for the first time at their Daly St N location. On that day I fiiiiinally met a good online buddy of mine, Ryan. It was a pretty fun time and it was great to see a Winnipeg brewery going really left field when it came to beer, they were going to do a lot off Brett-focused beers as well as their own wines, I knew Brandon Sun's late wine columnist Diane Nelson would've absolutely loved it!

Fast forward to now, I've reviewed a few of their beers and most of them are funky and Bretty as heck but they can also do some classics as well. Today's sampling is their Small Pale, a sessionable Pale Ale that is only 3.$% ABV. It's described as smooth, tropical, and citrus.

Appearance: Kind of murky with an orange/blood orange sort of body to it, quite hazy, mild amount of carbonation in the body and a good amount of off-white head on the top of the beer.

Aroma: Oh! This is quite tropical, even at 3.4%! Leafy hops, a bit of lemon, orange zest, slight tropical vibe, slight grainy and light floral presence. My nose isn't up to snuff today so I couldn't get much else.

Taste: Gritty, grainy and somewhat sweet. I was expecting more tropical notes but it's mostly grainy, a tad sweet, notes of lemon and something else.

Overall Thoughts: Something about the graininess of the beer is reminding me of near 0% beers for some reason but not as gritty. Light amount of citrus and tropical notes, as well as a mild floral and leafy hop presence to it, it's just missing something here.