Fort George went through a pretty massive expansion recently and part of that included the addition of a canning line. The first two canned offerings to roll of that line, both in 16 oz. cans, are their 1811 Pre-Prohibition Lager and their Vortex IPA. We should hopefully see some other canned releases in the near future. 

From the Fort George site:

"India pale ale's were designed to withstand the long voyage to India. Today, it seems one has to design the IPA strong and hoppy enough to make the trip back as well. Vortex IPA is the Fort George's first foray into this strong beer category. Our IPA is made with generous additions of Cascade, Simcoe and Palisade hops throughout the brewing, fermentation and conditioning phases, balanced with heaps of organic pale malt. We designed this to not rip your taste buds off your tongue, but rather vigourously stimulate them and your palate into a lupulin-ecstacy of pleasure. During the cross-country truck trip our brewery made to find it's home in Astoria, it was nearly scattered to the cornfields of Nebraska by a tornado. We try to capture some of nature's intensity in every pint."

I've got my Vortex IPA hat on so here we go...

Pour - bright glowing orange and amber with an inch of biscuit mix-like foam on top. Nice lacing left on the sides of the glass and the carbonation levels are spot on. I'm excited.

Aroma - I actually caught a whiff of this as soon as I cracked open the can. An intense wave of pine and citrus flew at my nose and got me excited right away. Sticking my nose in the glass now I get some resiny, piney aromas along with some nice sweet biscuity smell as well. There is some hints of orange peel and fresh cut grass. I'm sold, lets drink this!

Taste - one sip and the quality of this IPA is apparent. Some time and dedication was put into making this beer. Lots of sweet, orangey flavors combine with bitter, piney hoppiness. The malt backbone backs up all those hoppy, citrusy flavors very well. Its sweet and tangy with some toasty flavors thrown in. I love this IPA and am very sad that I only have this one can to enjoy. If you're able to get cans of this beer you are truly fortunate so take advantage! 

Overall - excellent brew from Fort George. This is a solid, balanced IPA with some great hop aromas and flavors along with a sweet, bready malty backbone balancing it all out. I could definitely get comfortable with four cans of Vortex IPA. I think I'm addicted.

Would I buy more of it? - yes, yes, yes. Pint-sized cans of beer like this are a must have. I love the flavor of this IPA and the fact that its a tad high on the ABV scale just makes it even better on a cool summer evening around a campfire. 

Note - we absolutely love the Vortex IPA logo. It was designed by a design firm called PLAZM located in Portland, Oregon. PLAZM also did much of the design work for the branding of both of Fort George's canned offerings as well as logo design for the brewery itself.