Mill Street Rodeo Monk, Ontario

Curious name. Curious and fine beer. It's a fusion of two styles, namely hoppy West Coast American-style IPA with Belgian wheat beer. Hence "Rodeo" and hence "Monk," the latter as in the monasteries that gave birth to some of the most storied beers on the planet. What we get is a hazy-golden potation that might, at first glance, be confused with any patio-friendly wheat beer, or "witbier." It's much more than that, though, creamy and simultaneously crisp, with fruity orange and apricot up front and a bitter-grapefruit hoppiness that opens up to reveal a subtle banana-clove character associated with yeasty Belgian witbier. The 7-per-cent alcohol is well-integrated. Giddy up, friar.