Establishment Brewing 'Afternoon Delight' Hazy Pale Ale - 30 Litre Keg

Afternoon Delight is a standout core offering from Calgary’s The Establishment Brewing Company, a brewery renowned for its technical mastery of both Belgian-style wild ales and modern hop-forward styles. This Hazy Pale Ale (often categorized as a New England Pale Ale) is designed to be the ultimate sessionable "juice bomb." It captures all the lush, tropical aromatics of a heavy Hazy IPA but scales them down into a lighter, more approachable ABV. It is a beer that prioritizes "drinkability" and "softness" above all else, making it a perennial favorite in the Alberta craft scene.

Beer Description

Afternoon Delight pours an opaque, milky straw-yellow with a dense, mousse-like white head. Its appearance is reminiscent of fresh-pressed pineapple juice, typical of the "hazy" style.

Aroma: The nose is vibrant and incredibly fruit-forward. It leads with a massive hit of passion fruit, peach, and candied orange, followed by a subtle, creamy scent of vanilla and melon. There is no harsh pine or resinous scent; instead, it smells like a tropical fruit salad.

Palate: On the tongue, it is light-to-medium bodied with a remarkably soft, "pillowy" mouthfeel. It leads with flavors of ripe mango and citrus zest, backed by a gentle, bready malt sweetness. The bitterness is exceptionally low, providing just enough balance to keep the fruit flavors crisp without any lingering hop "burn."

Profile: It sits at a highly sessionable 5.4% ABV and a very low perceived bitterness, emphasizing flavor and aroma over "bite."

Technical Notes: The signature texture of Afternoon Delight is achieved through a heavy addition of flaked oats and wheat in the grain bill, which provides the proteins responsible for both the haze and the silky mouthfeel. It is heavily dry-hopped with modern varieties—typically a combination of Citra and Simcoe—to extract the tropical essential oils while keeping bitterness to a minimum. The brewery uses a specific "Expressive" yeast strain that works in tandem with the hops to produce those lush, fruity esters.