Easter Drinkin'!

With only two more weeks and a half-dozen more assignments to go, I can finally say that my year-long Toronto adventure is nearly at a close, and I can look forward to a return to normalcy back in Waterloo.  With the workload and time demands being what they were, I feel I wasn't able to really get a chance to explore the best Toronto has to offer beer-wise, though I did manage to score several visits to BarVolo and C'est What to satisfy my craft beer cravings.  I must also admit that I did tend to do well when it came to finding new bottles for purchase.  Due to its status as the Centre of the Universe, Toronto and its numerous LCBOs tend to get first dibs at the province's new releases, a fact I've long bemoaned from the quaint and bucolic country town of Waterloo, but one that I tried to take full advantage of in my weekly sojourns to T.O.   Whenever I had a spare moment, it was off to another liquor store to see what they had on their wonderful shelves.  While most of the liquor emporiums have proved to be disappointingly lame, a few have really impressed me by boasting a diverse selection of craft brews both regular and newly released, especially the one on Lower Jarvis at the Lakeshore.   Rarely did I make the trek down to this unassuming store did I not find several surprises worth mentioning and this weekend was no exception.

Holidays in Canada are indeed a double-edged sword.  Though the time off is certainly welcome, I suppose, I seems to me that it always is the case that every time you want to get something  accomplished that involves the retail world, a government-sanctioned holiday stands in your way, meaning that the emotional lead-up to the Long Weekend is nothing short of full-fledged panic as Canadians scurry around the house searching for something, anything that they might need to survive the weekend and must purchase before the hurricane arrives.   Last weekend I had all the time in the world to take care of my consumer needs, but didn't take any advantage, but of course this weekend I had all sorts of shopping dreams that were very nearly scuttled.  Case in point: on Saturday afternoon, I ran out of beer.  A more tragic thought I could not imagine.  Mercifully, the one weak link in the Easter Holiday Chain of Store Closing was indeed Saturday, so I was able to sate my desires for all things ale without resorting to gin-fueled civil disobedience, as appealing as the idea might be.   And I definitely found some goodies that also happen to fit the spirit of the season.

Religious holidays are not my family's forte.  My side of the family has traditionally seen religion as, at best, a means of escaping other social commitments, but generally speaking we couldn't be bothered with the whole thing as it tends to take place early on a Sunday morning when sleep, hangovers and other sinful commitments stand in the way.  So if we do celebrate holidays, it tends to be done in the most secular and booze-centred way as possible, particularly with Easter (or, Eostre if you are keeping score).  But, in honour of what for the vast-majority of the world's Christians and Jews is a very special weekend, I tried to keep my beer-drinking centred around the spirit of the holiday.  It's the very least I could do.

First, this offering from Mikkeller, one of the most prolific, yet enigmatic breweries in the world.  Mikkeller is definitely one of the most in-demand breweries of the craft brewing world, and this is due in part because of the brewery's unique organizing structure (and of course, their brews tend to be pretty damned good.)  Founded in 2007 by Danish "gipsy brewer" Mikkel Borg Bjergsø, Mikkeller has been one of Northern Europe's great brewing success stories, which is all the more surprising considering that it is essentially a one man show.  Mikkel takes his brewing skills on tour, and produces beers at breweries across Europe and the United States under his brewing name, but with a healthy share of the profits going to the brewery who lends him the time and assistance in his efforts.  It's really an ingenious, but incredibly risky idea; fortunately, it seems to be paying off well.  In the past five years, Mikkeller has produced over 100 different brews at their own site as well as at Scotland's BrewDog facilities, Denmark's own Nøgne, Drake's Brewing of California, and Belgium's de Proefbrouwerij and Brouwerij de Molen, to name a few.  Freelance brewing, as it were.

Frelser, a doppelbock, is my first brew from Mikkeller, and keeping with our Easter them, frelser is Danish for "savior".   Its name is also a nod to the mother of all doppelbocks, Ayinger's Salvador ("savior") from Germany.  Bocks, as you may remember, are traditionally the style of brew that monks used to guide them through the long Lenten fast.  Since this fast ended this morning, I feel this brew was very much appropriate!

Beer: Mikkeller Frelser
Brewery: Mikkeller (Copenhagen, this brew via de Proef Brouwerij Belgium)
Type: Doppelbock, though the label describes it as a "Trippelbock"....
ABV: 11%

Poured this mother of a brew into a dimpled beer mug.  Dark chestnut brown, with a billowing off-white head of frothy goodness.  Sticky lacing clings to the mug in thick patches.  Great head retention.

Nose is dark bread, caramel, chocolate, faint hops and a bit of smoke, peat or leather.

The brew enters lighter than I had anticipated, but still delivers a fine, flavorful punch.  Rich dark bread, raisin, fig, caramel, and nice hopped bitterness and smoke/leather to the finish.   At 11%, and with a label that describes the bottle’s contents as both a “trippelbock” and “strong malt liquor”, obviously the booze is going to be a factor.   However, to me the strength of this brew is hardly off- putting, and the hops do a decent job of cleaning things up so that the finish is dry, bitter and boozy.  Still, a snack and some water would not be a bad idea when attacking this brew.  Medium bodied, mild carbonation.

My first Mikkeller brew did not disappoint, but nor did it completely blow me out of the water.   Still, this is an intriguing beer, full of flavour, and well worth pondering over a crisp Easter weekend.  The price tag is of course expensive (13$), but what did you expect? Definitely worth a one-time go. I'm also finding that I'm getting pleasantly drunk off of this, which is a great thing to behold. 

Next on the agenda is a wonderful brew from the Trappist monks of Westmalle, in Flanders, Belgium, whose piety and skills of brewing are certainly world-renowned.  I have had their dubbel many moons ago, so I was excited to see the tripel available this month!

Beer: Westmalle Tripel

Brewery: Brouwerij Westmalle (Belgium)

Type: Belgian Tripel

ABV: 9.5%

Single bottle from the LCBO.  Poured into a Chimay goblet in keeping with our Trappist theme.  Light, hazy golden in colour, with a thick foamy head that possesses great retention.  Sheets of lacing abound on the sides of the glass, and carbonation scurries forth from the depths.  A great-looking brew indeed.

Light and airy, a bit of hops, fruit (apple and pear), yeast, pepper, clove and spices.

Wonderfully light and dry, Westmalle Tripel is certainly a pleasure to drink.   The fruit is certainly there, but sweetness is not an issue, and so the hops and yeast flavor endemic to Belgium are allowed their chance at full attention.   Again, pepper, banana, and floral hops are also present.   Medium bodied, vigorous carbonation.

Complex and satisfying, this is certainly a brew worth seeking out.  Though my favorite of the (regularly available) Trappist ales is the Orval, I still very much enjoyed this and will be back for more! (Grade: A)


Happy Easter drinking everyone!

Lousy Smarch Weather...Made Better With Hops!

Hey gang,

All the beers you didn't get to see me drink.   Sorry.

First of all, I have to apologize for the extreme rarity of my blog posts the past few months, and thus I also have to give a big raising o' the glass to those of you who have stuck with the Den during this period of scarcity - I really appreciate it!  Just to give you some idea about how crazy this year has been, this post will represent the first post of 2012.   And we are well on our way into March.  That's bloody ridiculous.  I know I said back in September that I would be more haphazard than usual with my drunken ramblings, but I didn't realize just how ridiculous commuting into Toronto for school would be.  The work is not difficult, it's just that a lot of busy work coupled with commute time and a general lack of sleep means that come the weekend I really don't have the energy.   Let alone the lack of blogging, I've noticed that my beer drinking in general is at its all-time low, and frankly it's getting sad.   Teacher's college has given me a real chance to re-evaluate my priorities in life, and I really have to say I miss talking brews, writing about brews and finding new brews.  The fact my love of beer remains so very high on my list to go without it for so long has been a real challenge.


 Fortunately, there's good news on the horizon!  It's March Break, so the endless stream of work and no sleep has finally abated.  The weather is improving greatly, giving real promise to the idea of patio drinking this very week!  Finally, I only have two more weeks of practicum, after which things really level off.  Come the end of April, I am (almost completely) free!   I still have work to do, but it will be stuff I can do at home, meaning more beerventures to be had.  There's even a distinct possibility that I might be returning to my favourite beer store in Orlando this April - keep your fingers crossed!  The thought of a spring and summer full of wonderful brews with terrific people is what's keeping me going - just over a month to go!


With an extra day off, I ventured into the LCBO to reacquaint myself with an old friend.  Low and behold, more or less the exact same lineup awaited me upon my return, but with a few noticeable new entries that filled my tired heart with excitement: a veritable smorgasbord of well-hopped and well-alcoholized India Pale Ales awaited me, from three fantastic breweries no less!  We have a double-bill of Double IPAs from BC's Tree Brewing and the always exciting Southern Tier, as well as some local flavour in the form of Ontario's own Beaver River IPeh from Beau's!  It's been a long-time coming folks, let's get back to business!

Aren't they lovely, folks?

A word on Double (or "Imperial") IPAs that I may have said before, but it certainly bears repeating.  'Double' is a bit of a catch-all word that is used to describe almost any style of brew that has been amped up beyond its usual standards in terms of alcohol content.  The more popular word in the States seems to be 'Imperial',which is often used interchangeably with 'Double'; in this case the word is meant to harken back to the bold and potent Russian Imperial Stout style developed for export to St. Petersburg.  But it means more or less the same thing - bold and boozy.  I've seen the moniker attacked to almost every style of brew imaginable, especially from our wacky craft-brewing friends to the south.  Imperial Pilsners, Imperial Hefeweizens, Double Porters, Doppelbocks - you name it.   However, the name really doesn't tell you a lot, other than the fact that the malt content has been sufficiently elevated to give the brew an extra alcoholic punch.  By doing so, it changes the composition of the brew to something outside of the familiar, meaning that sometimes Double brews take on a unique characteristic of their own, while other times they might even start to resemble other styles.  In this case, something I've noticed - and other brew-loving friends of mine have done the same - that the maltiness of a Double IPA often masks the hoppiness of the brew so much so that the resulting flavour profile is sometimes more akin to that of a barleywine than an IPA.   Just something to keep in mind - "double" doesn't necessarily mean twice as strong in the flavour department.  It's just got more booze in it.


Let's start with the Canadian entry, Tree Brewing's Hop Head Double IPA!

Beer: Hop Head Double India Pale Ale
Brewery: Tree Brewing (Kelowna, BC)
Type: Double IPA
ABV: 8.3%


650mL bomber from the LCBO. Enjoyed their earthy Hop Head IPA last time around, so I was excited to see this - and more Canadian bombers in general - available on the shelves.


Poured into a nonic. Nice hazy orange-amber brew, with a half-inch of foam that recedes into a generous ring. Patchy lacing. Good looking DIPA. 


Nose is citrus and earthy hops, biscuit, candied orange.  This is a quality Double IPA and a great example of where the extra malt doesn't overpower the hop bitterness. Hop heads out there will not feel disappointed with the bitterness of this brew.  Earthy, citrus, nice marmalade flavor as well. Solid DIPA, I really enjoyed this. Full bodied, slightly creamy, good carbonation. 


Second brew from Tree was a fine example of the DIPA style that, thanks to its solid hop presence is definitely a brew to my liking. Will be back for another bottle or two!  (Grade: B+)


Let's keep going with the Canuck entries, but bring it down to the standard IPA level for the sake of my liver.  Here's the spring seasonal from Beau's of eastern Ontario!


Beer: Beaver River IPeh?

Brewery: Beau's All Natural Brewing Co. (Vankleek Hill, ON)

Type: American IPA*

ABV: 5.5%

Single bottle from the old LCBO, packaged on Feb 15th. I vaguely remember having this on cask in Toronto, but I was in no condition to remember details, so it's great to see this again. Poured into a nonic. Deep amber-copper, nice billowing head that settles to a sturdy thin layer, with frosty lacing. Fine lookin' brew.


Nose is a bit funky, but it's got a nice woodsy character to it, with fruit, cracker and citrus. Tastes like a fine earthy IPA, certainly more towards the English style, but I tend to like when the two styles of IPA are blended together into something new. The citrus tartness really gives this brew a lot of bite, but the malt profile allows Beaver River to be enjoyed - possibly even sessioned, given the lower ABV. Finish is pepper-citrus, long and lingering. Medium bodied, nice carbonation.


An enjoyable IPA, certainly worth purchasing. I know it's a seasonal, but I hope that they will bring this brew into regular rotation.  (Grade: B+)


Two great offerings from the Canadians - how will the Yanks fare?

Beer: Unearthly Imperial IPA

Brewery: Southern Tier (Lakewood, New York)

Type: Double IPA

ABV: 9.5%

 

Bomber from the Conestoga LCBO. No freshness date on this - not sure where this came from, but I'm happy to see it all the same!

Poured into a tulip glass. Slightly hazy amber-peach in colour, with a half inch of head that recedes into a thick ring. Some icicles of lacing.

Nose is biscuit, citrussy hops, orange, mango, a bit of earthy quality as well, and a slight booze wafting in the background.

Took me a few sips to get this brew figured out. The malt profile in this is quite something, almost overpowers the hops with its malty, biscuity goodness. I'm starting to find this to be characteristic of ST brews. Another example of where the line between DIPA and American Barleywine blurs, in my opinion. The hops are there, of course, and are more fruity than tart and juicy. The malt gives the fruit flavor an almost 'candied' quality - very intriguing. Finishes earthy, as per the name.

Full bodied, mild carbonation. Sweet - the earthy hop bitterness does not linger.

Interesting DIPA - I have to say I'm digging it, and I might pick up another bottle just to age. Packs a quiet wallop. As I'm finding, the maltiness of a DIPA such as this tends to overtake the hops that my tastebuds were expecting. So, if I'm in the mood for a DIPA or Barleywine, this brew would probably satisfy both urges sufficiently. Price tag is typical for ST in Ontario.

*
Lots of hop options available around this time of year.  As the wind continues to bite at you, you'll have some brews that can bite right back.  Solid offerings all, each worth trying before they disappear from the shelves.  And hey, they all have green labels, so you're covered in terms of St. Patrick's Day wear.  Just smear yourself in four or five bottles of these brews and you'll be all set.


Great to be back!  Keep your eyes open for more posts in the near future!

A Fuller's Flight of Ale (and the Joys of Recreationist Brewing!)

This little rascal is nearly always in my fridge.
There are two there right now.  But not for long.

It's been a good couple of weeks of beer sampling (in-between schoolwork and all that), and so I thought I'd check in with the blog to keep all you informed.  My big milestone recently was the fact that I managed to reach the 500-review plateau at BA this past month by indulging in a surprisingly delicious can of Central City Red Racer IPA - which is now available in a few LCBOs, so make sure you seek it out before it's gone!  Then, just last week, I managed to have my first beer from New Zealand - well, my first beer from New Zealand that didn't taste like cardboard and meat (I'm looking at you, NZ Pure Lager...).  Renaissance Brewing's Stonecutter Ale was a delightful scotch ale/wee heavy, with a bold peat flavor and mild smokiness.  Good enough brew to keep the metric system down and rob cavefish of their sight.  Very solid brew indeed.  To cap things off, the LCBO has brought out a great lineup of ales from one of my very favorite breweries, Fuller's of London - just the ticket as the weather starts to turn foul.

Fuller's is one of those rare 'large' English brewies whose reputation has not been killed by their high growth and ubiquitous presence.  Unlike many a large-scale brewery (Greene-King and Shephard Neame being two examples), Fuller's has maintained good standing with the ale-drinking community despite its large production numbers and popularity at home (London, specifically) and abroad.  I have long since been a huge fan of Fuller's canned ales, especially their Extra Special Bitter and London Porter, but have also been fortunate to be able to sample many of their brews on cask-draught around Waterloo.  Fuller's brews consistently rate highly as being among the best of their craft - their London Porter in particular has been cited as being one of the most authentic and delicious porters to be had.  And the great thing is, I can invariably find their Porter, ESB, and London Pride Pale Ale at pretty much every LCBO in the province, and they rarely cost more than a couple of bucks a can.  Iwas speaking to an English acquaintance of mine, who observed that Fuller's is really a London brewery, and you're often hard pressed to find it elsewhere in the UK, so count yourselves lucky, Ontario! Although I'm more than satisfied to have these great English ales available year-round, I've always on the lookout for more of the Fuller's lineup, and boy did they deliver:

A handsome lineup indeed, with some truly excellent brews in time for the season.   The emphasis this time around is upon tradition, with a classic English-style IPA, a strong barleywine ale (Golden Pride), and a festive winter ale all representing the old English method of brewing that has made Fuller's famous.  This year, however, Fuller's has gone one further with their "Past Masters" series of ales, whose recipes are taken straight from the annals of history, and has got me all a tizzy.

According to head brewer John Keeling: "Our brew books are very old, very thick and there are lots of them. We found fascinating insights into the work of my brewing predecessors. For instance, there were brews that used no English malt at all - in the 19th century. There are brewers doing that today and calling it innovation. I call it a rediscovering of the past."  In an interview with the Toronto Star this week, Keeling admits that while he lacks the "nimble" nature of a small craft brewery, his brewery boasts a truly impressive history worth delving into.  Many of the ales in Fuller's history have changed or been forgotten, but their brewing notes remain kept within the company - just waiting to be retested.  Should be amazing, and hell, if they screw up, they can always blame Past Brewington and his lackeys - win win!

The first such brew, Past Masters XX Strong ale, is based upon a long-forgotten 1891 recipe for a 7.5% ABV hearty ale, which according to the recipe utilizes a malting barley called Plumage Archer that probably hasn't been used since!  In addition to using bygone ingredients, part of the problem with these old recipes is that Past Brewington didn't bother or wasn't able to write down certain key details - in this case, the variety of hops used - for this ale, so Keeling and his team had to make some "educated guesses."  How will things turn out?  Let's drink...historically!

Beer: Past Masters XX Strong Ale
Type: English Strong Ale
ABV: 7.5%

Poured into a nonic. Light copper-tawny, with a slight haziness to it. Big bubbled inch of head, some lacing, a thin ring survives.

Nose is boozy and sweet, with notes of fruit, caramel and bread.  Indeed, this one has a bit of a barleywine feel to it due to its strength

Tastes pretty nice actually, though certainly quite sweet. Nice and fruity - I get peach and plum - caramel, and a fine bready character. The hops are tart and pure Goldings. Body is like a thin barleywine, slightly oily, and lower carbonation.

Not as robust as I would have hoped, but I prefer my ales a bit sweeter than most, so I quite enjoyed this. Perfect for a gross cold rainy day in Ontario. Great start to this nifty winter release! (Grade: B+)

The second feature in Fuller's Past Masters is a stronger, heartier version of their classic London Porter, a Double Stout based on a recipe from 1893.  Porters and stouts were the official beer of London town, at least until the classier pale ale or the exotic India pale began to subplant dark beer's hegemony.  Porters are called porters because they were consumed by, well, porters - guys who had to spend most of their day lifting and carrying other people's crap and probably needed a stiff drink or eight at the end of the day.  These early porters were thus usually strong as holy hell, pushing as high as 9.5%, although changing social attitudes and a war or two managed to sneak the ABV down to more respectable levels.  A stout is virtually identical to a porter, except they tend to be richer and heartier than regular porters (a "stouter" porter, if you will); modern tastes have tended to favor the drier stouts that are often associated with Ireland.  This brew thus hearkens back to a simpler, cholera-ier time where porters and stouts were strong and sweet as fuck.  I applaud this.

Beer: Past Masters Double Stout
Type: Export Stout (meaning suitable for export because of the high ABV)
ABV: 7.4%

Poured into a nonic. Dark coffee in colour, with a tan head about an inch high with decent retention and patchy lacing.  Looks as close to the London Porter as you're gonna get.

Nose is roasty malt, nuts, chocolate, coffee, caramel and a mild booziness.  There's an extra booziness in the back of this, which immediately makes me thing of Christmas and its associated drinking. Can't wait.

Well this is all kinds of awesome. Coffee, chocolate, cream, roasted malt grain, and a touch of oak make for one damned tasty stout. Roasted coffee provides a lingering finish. The extra booze is well contained, giving this brew a hearty, winter stout feel.  Creamy, moderate carbonation, mild bodied. Very drinkable.

Happy with this one as well - felt like an amped up London Porter, which is a very, very nice thing to say.  Clearly, those 1890s folks knew their porters and stouts - I could drink this stuff all winter, and just might do so. (Grade: A)

Beer: Fuller's Old Winter Ale
Type: Winter Warmer/English Pale Ale
ABV: 5.3%

I just put up the Christmas lights and got the decorations out of storage out of storage. There's snow on the ground and it's time for a winter ale, and I taught myself how to play Christmas Time is Here on the saxophone.  I need a winter ale....post haste.  Hey! Here's one now!

Poured into a nonic glass. Light amber-copper in colour, with a nice fluffy head. Good bit of lacing and some nice retention on this.
Nose is delightfully wintery. Caramel, chocolate, a bit of toffee, plum, currant and spice, with a mild leafy hops backing.

Rather than being the in-your-face style of winter ale that you see around the liquor store that try a bit too hard to seem 'Christmassy', this ale just naturally comes across as being seasonal and didn't have to smack me in the face to do it. All the hearty ale flavors are there in the foreground, which are dominated by a lovely sweet fruity spiciness.  It's all swept then clean with leafy, bittering hops that leave a lingering finish. Nice carbonation, pale ale body.

While not so overtly Christmassy as some other brews out there, this one is - first and foremost - a terrific pale ale, full of flavor and texture.  If it doesn't feel Christmassy enough for you, drink five in front of the tree and you'll see what I mean.  You heard me - drink seven.  (Grade: B+)

Though I could certainly keep going, I will stop it there - the post is getting a bit too verbose, even for my standards.  The other two brews you'll just have to try yourselves!  But I will leave you by saying that both the Fuller's IPA and Golden Pride are excellent ales for this winter season, the former being a classically brewed English India Pale, and the latter being a strong barleywine of a beer, perfect for cold evenings when only liquor will take away the pain of winter.  

This was an exceptional release that truly validates my love of Fuller's.  Not only do they regularly pump out quality English pale ales and porters for my enjoyment, they also have shown their skills at experimentation by channeling in to their brewery's robust history.  I've been to the LCBO recently enough to say that there aren't a whole lot of these brews left; there's not a dud in the bunch, so enjoy whichever one you can find!   Cheers!

Beau's Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde

After months of nothing but the enjoyable Lug Tread Lagered Ale to satisfy my Beau's cravings, I made a simple prayer to the divine gods and goddesses of ales to send some more Beau's brews my way.  Sure enough, in October I was blessed to see Dunkel Buck in the LCBO, and damn was it enjoyable.  To my great fortune, however, the Beer Gods were well pleased with my humble, pious request, and granted me another great boon - and this one got me all giddy in a real hurry.

Beau's of Vankleek Hill, Ontario has been pumping out limited release, experimental brews as part of their "Wild Oats" beer series, which so far has included a Scottish gruit-style ale, a classic German Altbier, a rare Belgian Imperial Stout, and the aforementioned Dunkel Buck - to name a few.  To mark these brews as being part of the Wild Oats family, each experimental brew is given a number - Dunkel was Wild Oats #13, for example.  Number 14, as we shall see, is....a little bit different.  (Much thanks to Jerry Coburn of Beau's for sending these brews my way - many cheers to you!)

May I present to you: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde!

Yes, for batch #14, Beau's has gone the split-personality route, and offered two brews for the price of one.  These brews are, of course, named in honor of the titular character(s) from the 1886 novella by Robert Louis Stevenson - a tragic examination of the dual nature of humankind, as well as being a cheap metaphor for any time anyone expresses more than the slightest degree of a temper.  Like the gentle doctor and his madman creation, these two brews represent completely differing styles: the gentlemanly Dr. Jekyll being a respectable Marzen beer, and the empathy-lacking Mr. Hyde a robust and well-hopped rye beer.  The fantastic artwork of these bottles - which at once call to mind the frantic and outrageously coloured album covers of many an 80s metal band - are the work of Ottawa artist 'Dirty Donny,' and are pretty high on the Kick Ass scale.  These should be a real treat.  Oh, and for those interested (i.e., all of you), Beau's hinted on their website that Jekyll and Hyde represent the "first installment in our self-described 'Split 7 Inch' series" - hopefully this means more double-brew packs in the very near future!

"Egad!  Two brews at once!  AGGGH - My Victorian sensibilities!!!"

Keeping in tone with the story, let us begin with the brew of the good doctor Jekyll...

Beer: Dr. Jekyll
Type: Maerzen/Koelsch Blend
ABV: 5.4%

Dr. Jekyll is, appropriately, an experimental brew that is the result of blending two of Beau's favorite brews - their flagship koelsch "Lug Tread Lagered Ale," and their limited release Oktoberfest maerzen "Nightmaerzen."  The light, citrussy and well-hopped koelsch should pair well with the bready, sweet flavors of an Oktoberfest brew - should be a real treat!

Poured into a nonic Beau's glass. Rich honey golden in colour, slight haze, a good frothy head that survives as a thin ring with some lacing flecks here and there. Looks like a deeper version of Beau's.

The nose is very pleasant - sweet white bread, honey (big honey, actually), cracker, mild lemon, German Hallertau style hops from the Lug Tread.

Less sweet than the nose led on (how appropriate for Dr. Jekyll...), this brew boasts a nice breadiness, citrus, honey and finishes with a strong hop presence. Lug Tread with a bit more heft - quite enjoyable. Moderate body (more so than Lug Tread), a bit oily, mild late-arriving carbonation.

An enjoyable blending of two popular Beau's offerings, Dr. Jekyll is certainly a brew I could see myself enjoying on many an occasion. Mild-mannered, but with a bit of character and flair for experimentation - this brew fits the Dr. Jekyll name well. (Grade: B+)

Having consumed the contents of Dr. Jekyll's miraculous potion, let us transform ourselves into the monstrosity of Mr. Hyde!

Beer: Beau's Mr. Hyde
Type: Rye Beer
ABV: 6.7%

Poured into a dimpled stein glass. Dark caramel, though not as dark as other rye/roggenbiers I've encountered thus far.  Big billowing head, lots of lace, great retention.  A stellar looking brew!

Nose is rye bread, a bit of caramel, mild citric hops.  Admittedly I've had a bit of a cold recently, so my nasal passages are not at their tip top shape. 

Now this is an interesting take on the rye style, as it seems to have a lot in common with an American style IPA.  Sure enough, according to the online description, Mr. Hyde has indeed been "hopped aggressively" with American style citrussy hops.  The brew is nice and bready at first, with a hint of dark German loaf or pumpkernickel, and is also woodsy, spicy, and sweet with a touch of caramel.   In a flash there is a transition to a robust hoppy finish with a bit of citrus thrown in to the mix.  This finish is long and refreshing. Moderate-high carbonation, slight creaminess.

The name of this brew could not be any more appropriate. It starts off as a mild mannered and a little bit quirky German-style rye brew, before the potion kicks and the brew lurches and convulses into a woody, citrussy American IPA. The finish, however, is a little bit from of both worlds, tricking the tastebuds into thinking that somehow two brews - two personalities, if you will - have occupied the same glass.  A real autumn treat. (Grade: B+)

A great twin set that really served me well over the course of a cool, November weekend.  Now, there is a chance that one might have expected - indeed, may really have been hoping for - a more aggressive, extreme style of brewing to be associated with something from a "Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde" set.  The extreme artwork very much hints at this possibility.   Yet the brews do not really fall in to this camp.  And this is by no means a bad thing!  I applaud Beau's for sticking with their guns, which tend to be of the more classic Germanic style of brewing, in this latest offort.  Sure, they could have gone with something truly insane for Mr. Hyde - a massively hopped IPA, barleywine or Russian stout, for example - but instead, they went for something far more approachable and familiar, yet by no means any less exciting.  Just because the craft brewing tides seem to be pointing towards these extreme methods of brewing, this doesn't mean that one has to go in that direction, nor should they!

In this experimental series, Beau's has taken some standard recipes of their own, and tweaked them into something totally different.  What's more, the naming of the set is very appropriate: while the two brews are vastly different from one another, as Mr. Hyde and Dr. Jeykll were, they were nevertheless cut from a similar cloth.

Hopefully these brews are able to find themselves out of the "limited" selection and into the "seasonal" release - because I think they've got something here.

Autumnal Ales and Fall Festiveness

October is quickly becoming my favorite month of the year, having recently ousted the once stable monthly dictatorships of May and December with unprecedented revolutionary fervor.  December of course was all about Xmas and Xmas cheer; for a kid, there's no finer month to be had.  Until, of course I had to start paying for it.  Don't get me wrong, I dearly enjoy a well-decorated house, presents under the tree, sitting before a roaring fire with a mug of Christmas cheer and baking.  But there's so much work and irritation that goes in to all those things that one wonders whether it's truly worth it sometimes.  Plus, my wife works in a shopping mall, which in December is a special kind of hell Dante Aligheri could not have foreseen even in his darkest moments.  May is fine, I guess: the weather is lovely and the awful five months of winter awfulness has been reduced to an awful memory.  But there aren't really any major holidays to enjoy, so the whole thing has a sort of dress-rehearsal-for-actual-summer feel to it. 

No, there can be no denying it; October truly is the greatest month.  The oppressive heat of summer has finally diminished to a lovely crispness, the leaves are showcasing their secret shame, and three of the best holidays are right around the corner.  Thanksgiving has all the food-related fun of Christmas without all the commericalism and carols - really, it's just a pumpkin pie and turkey delivery system, and that suits me fine.  Oktoberfest is really a KW thing, but when done properly it can be a peck of fun - especially when one considers the possibility of drunk girls in low-cut dirndls.  Then it all ends with a drunken, spooky, slutty blast that is Hallowe'en - a holiday that, in one's overall life bell-curve, goes from Awesome to Awkward to Awesome, and I'm right in the midst of the second Awesome bell curve.  Throw in the return of the Winnipeg Jets and an undefeated Green Bay Packers squadron and you've got yourself one hell of a good month.

With the arrival of fall, for those who enjoy their beverages well-liquored, it's also another great time for brewing.  The light refreshing lagers and witbiers of the summer replaced with hearty ales, bocks and ciders, each more delectable than the last.  I myself have been doing a bit of brewing; a well-spiced pumpkin pale ale is nigh ready to be transferred to secondary fermentation, in hopes of being ready for Hallowe'en.  For those not of the mind or patience to brew their own concoctions, there's lots of great autumnal offerings this month, and so far they have all proven to be tasty brews.  In the spirit of the season, let's dive right in!

Beer: St. Ambroise Citrouille
Brewery: McAuslan Brewing (Montreal)
Type: Pumpkin Ale
ABV:

Though I truly enjoy a fine-crafted pumpkin ale, my tolerance for this seasonal favorite tends to be limited to the first few weeks of fall-ish weather.  I love the stuff, but I can't drink too much of it.  So when I do try to sate my pumpkin ale fix, I try to go for the newer releases, just to see if they offer anything different as well as to extend my pumpkin ale stamina.  Lo and behold, we have this little gem from McAuslan of Montreal, home of one of my favorite Oatmeal Stouts.  Plus it has the word pumpkin in french ("citrouille"), which for any Ontarian forced to learn awkward french in public school, has to be one of the funnest words to say (along with grenouille and pamplemousse, of course). 

From a four pack from the LCBO, poured into a nonic.  Amber-ruby, very clear, about a solid half inch of frothy head, some lacing.

Nose is pure autumny goodness - pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, molasses and mild clove.  Pleasant and enjoyable - this is what I've been waiting for all summer.
Tastes pretty fair, though I feel the brew is thin malt wise. It has the body and character of a red lager, than of a pale ale, which comes as a bit of surprise.  The spices are spot on, though - the usual suspects are there, and it finishes with an extra bit of pepper and clove.   Certainly no mistaking this for anything but a pumpkin ale.

Thin bodied like a red lager, a bit oily, but the carbonation is about where it should be.

Above average pumpkin brew, but I still feel like this could have been fuller.  I guess I'm a bit biased, considering how flavorful and hearty brews like Southern Tier's Pumking can be.  Felt a bit thin, but the flavors are all there, and what this brew does have going for it is drinkability - it's not so sweet and spicy that I couldn't drink more than a bottle in a sitting.  A beer drinker's pumpkin ale.  Worth a try, at any rate.  (Grade: B)

Beer: Cannery Maple Stout
Brewery: Cannery Brewing (Penticton, BC)
Type: English Stout
ABV:

Last summer, Penticton's Cannery Brewing sent their Blackberry Porter Ontario-way , and I thought it was absolutely terrific.  Flavored stouts and ales always sound amazing on paper, but rarely do they work out in reality.  Any number of things can possibly go wrong: the fruit flavors can be overly sweet or artificial, dominating a weak malt base, or it could be the other way round, whereby the fruit flavor is barely perceptible at all.  Cannery's Blackberry Porter indeed sounded amazing, and mercifully it actually was - the blackberries were fresh and added great character, but did not overshadow the excellent porter base, making for a unique drinking experience.  Now they're trying their hands at a maple stout, which is a brew that could either be incredible or awful, depending on which way things go.  Let's find out!

Poured in to a Duvel chalice. Dark, nearly black, with a half-inch of light brown head that dissolves into a thick ring.

Nose is sweet and roasty, with marshmallow, caramel, and yes, maple syrup. Smells exactly like how I've always thought a maple stout should smell, which is a big plus.

The taste is quite nice, and on par with the nose. Roasted mild coffee, caramel, vanilla, and maple syrup, a bit of toasted grain. Sweet, and with enough of a maple flavor to identify it as a 'maple stout', without being cloyingly sweet.  Now, the grain and hop flavour could have been more robust - it's a little mild, like many an English stout I've had of late, and the sweetness pushes in to cola territory.  I wonder if this would have worked better as a Russian imperial stout?  No matter; it's still pretty damned tasty.  Thinner bodied for a stout, and the carbonation is a bit strong, but it coats the tongue well enough.

In my years of drinking ales, this is certainly the first maple beer that I've actually enjoyed, which I find strange. I mean, it sounds like such a natural idea, especially for a Canadian brewery: I love beer, I love maple syrup - but somehow every edition of the style seems to fall flat.  Now, this brew still could use some work - the body isn't quite right and lacks the depth of a good American stout or RIS - but nevertheless, it's an enjoyable brew that fits the season well (and provides a welcome change from all those pumpkin ales!)   I think Cannery has done an admirable job here and should be commended for it.  Would be an excellent breakfast brew.  Keep sending em this way! (Grade: B)

Beer: Dunkel Buck
Brewery: Beau's All Natural Brewing (Vankleek Hill, Ontario)
Type: Dunkelbock
ABV: 6.8%

Speaking of breweries I've had limited experience with, we have this offering from Beau's of eastern Ontario.  Sadly, this will only be my second brew from Beau's - I really wish that more of them would come out this side of Ontario.  Now, I should count my blessings, as their flagship brew, Beau's Lugtread is a terrific little koelsch that goes down well pretty much any time of the year, and is available in many pubs this side of the province.  But I'm always looking for more, so I was very excited to find this one on the shelves.  This brew is a delightful play on the 1989 John Candy film Uncle Buck; the bottle features Candy's trademark fedora and the plot-critical power drill.  It's a great film (look for a young Macaulay Culkin before he was cast in 1990's Home Alone) and plays so very well on the rich and flavorful dunkelbock style, one that is very appropriate for the season.

Poured into a hefeweizen glass. A murky light chocolate brew, with the pour producing about a half inch of sturdy head that sticks to the sides of the glass. Looks like a dunkel, alright.

Nose is quite pleasant: chocolate, caramel coffee, a bit of banana and clove.

A solid dunkel indeed - hearty, with a nice chocolate malty intro, dark bread, and banana, bubblegum and clove finish. Slight booziness as well, but come winter time I'll be demanding that of my brews. A bit thinner in flavor than I would have liked, but still quite nice. Lighter carbonation, medium bodied.

A quality Ontario weizen, with enough character to place this brew among the better German examples of the style. Great stuff indeed, and another fine offering from the folks at Beau's!  Catch it if you can. (Grade: B+)                                        

 -

Hopefully these seasonal treats will find their way in to your glasses before the lovely autumn weather gives way to the horrible wintry blues that are surely headed in our direction.   Fall is, sadly, a very short season in Canada - we really should make the best of things, and a cold pint will certainly help in that regard.  

Cheers, everyone!  Good to be posting again! 

Polishing Off Some Lagers from Poland!

Poland is yet another country that gets lost in the very crowded company of great European brewing nations, but it is certainly no slouch in that regard.  Though brewing has long since been an integral part of Polish culture, the domestic Polish brewing industry really took off around the same time as in neighboring Bohemia, and was an active participant in the mid-19th century eastern European brewing renaissance.  Most major Polish cities at the time had a local brewery, which were usually named after some variation of the city in which they called home (Warka, Zywiec being two contemporary examples).   Like its Baltic neighbors, Poland has long been associated with the Baltic Porter style, which sadly is not represented whatsoever in the LCBO's shelves; for the most part, the brews of Poland available outside of its borders tend to be more of the pale lager and pilsner variety.  Prior to the Nazi-Soviet invasion of 1939, Poland was home to nearly 140 different breweries; the war's utter social devastation and 45 years of communist rule decimated the industry, leaving but a few state-run breweries in operation until the country's democratization in the early 1990s.  Though it might seem in poor taste to be at all concerned with the decline Polish brewing in the face of such great atrocities and social injustices that also occurred in the country from 1939-1989; clearly, in the grand scheme of things, brewing seems rather trivial.  However, it is important to remember that brewing is at its most basic form an industry, an industry upon which thousands of Polish workers' livelihoods depended.  The fact that brewing's decline was yet another example of the suppression of Polish culture in general during this time is also something to bear in mind.  Therefore I feel we should celebrate the return of Polish brewing as an example of the revival of Poland itself.  


Oh, and if you have any lingering doubts about Poland's love for brews, I should tell you that they actually had a Beer-Lover's party (Polska Partia Przyjaciół Piwa) in the 1991 Parliamentary elections, but they were just a novelty party, merely a silly reaction to the politics of the day, and a reaction against the social decay caused by excessive consumption of vodka.   And by that I mean they won sixteen fucking seats and commanded 3.5% of the popular vote. 


While most current Polish brewhouses are large-scale lager breweries, there has been a recent interest in craft brewing.  Of course, it is unlikely that any of those new brews will find their way across the pond, but the fact remains that the industry does exist, so if you happen to be in Poland, check'em out if you can!  Because of the limited number of Polish brews available on liquor store shelves, this little roundup will be focused on the major brands, all of which being pale lagers unfortunately.   So while it may seem that the brews won't receive great fanfare, I just wanted to make the point that there are more diverse options available in Poland that are well-worth exploring.


Let's get rolling! (Where applicable there is a poorly-attempted pronunciation key that is probably wrong - though I asked Polish-speaking friends how to say them, I'll still probably screw it up.  To paraphrase Tom Clancy in his acknowledgements: where I get it right, credit them; where I get it wrong, blame me!)


Beer: Zywiec (Zhe-veech)
Brewery: Zywiec (owned by Heineken, hence its availability!)
Type: Pale Lager
ABV: 5.7%


The beer of choice for many of my Polish friends.  Definitely gets top billing in the list from me, especially considering the name, which seems destined to occupy the coveted "last alphabetically" spot in my all-time beer list.  500ml bottle from the LCBO, sporting a temperature gauging "beermometer" on the back that I totally didn't notice until long after I poured it.   Digging the label; something about it really screams Poland for some reason.


Nice golden hue, clear and bright, with a reasonably tall head that descended into a fine ring.


Nose is sweet, sporting pale malts and just a touch of citrus/herbal hops. Not bad, but pretty faint.


Compared to most of the other Eastern European lagers I've had recently, this one wasn't bad. Fairly sweet, a bit of grain, and mild bitter herbal hop finish. Slight metallic twang which becomes more prevalent as it warms, so try not to let that happen. Thin, zippy carbonation.  Decent stuff, my favorite of the bunch.


Beer: Tatra
Brewery: Zywiec
Type: Pale Lager
ABV: 6%


Not really sure what the deal is here with two pale lagers from the same brewery; my reasoning is that this was probably purchased by Zywiec and sold under its original name, just in case there were some folks out there that still hold true to the Tatra name.

Single can picked up a the LCBO. I'm in the midst of doing a write-up on Polish beers, and have just finished Zywiec, Okocim, Zubr and Tyskie. 

Poured into a pilsner pint glass. Bright golden, thin head, some lacing specks, generally unimpressive even as far as pale lagers go.

The nose is certainly among the better I've encountered - grain, apple, a touch of lemon and mild hops.

The first few sips were quite nice: sweet, flavorful, refreshing. But the sweetness of the brew - coupled with the lack of anything else interesting about it - becomes tiresome after a few sips. Really nothing much to say, other than I suppose it's a touch better than most Euro lagers in that the tinny-metallic-herbal character is minimal at best. But there's nothing different here.

Okay, okay, things aren't going well.   Maybe....this?

Beer: Tyskie Gronie

Brewery:  Tyskie

Type: European Pale Lager

ABV: 5.6%

The label sports a crown that looks a great deal like the king from a newspaper chess puzzle, along with some accolades from the "Brewing Industry Int'l Awards." Then again, there's another brewery who likes calling their beer "the king" that I could mention, so these statements don't impress me much. 

Poured into a Czechvar fluted plisner glass. A bright golden brew, lots of visible carbonation, with a thin white head that recedes into a tiny ring rather quickly. Looks like a Euro lager, but pleasant in the glass nevertheless.

The nose doesn't have much going on at all. Mild grain, a bit of apple and funk. Smells like a pale lager. I'm stretching here...

Thin, easy to chug, a Euro lager in its simplest form. Opens sweet, but finishes with a dry aftertaste that reminds me a great deal of cardboard. 

Thin bodied, with aggressive carbonation, this beer is making me burp a lot more than usual, and with no one around to appreciate my facial flatulence, this is not a good thing. 

Drink one if you want a beer from Poland. Drink one if you want a beer that's more difficult to pronounce than it lets on. But don't expect much beyond the bare minimum.

Okay, okay, okay...I realize I'm not really going a good job here at promoting the virtues of the Polish brewing industry.  I really want to, because I know there's great stuff from Poland out there.

It's just that it's all...in Poland.  I'm working with what they send us here, people.  I'll try to be kind to our last entry.  Deal?

Beer: Dojlidy Zubr (no ideas how to say this one folks...)

Brewery: Browar Dojlidy (Bialystok)

Type:  Take a guess.

ABV: 6.2%

Poured into my Czechvar fluted pilsner glass, enjoyed on a cool summer's afternoon on the patio. 

As to be expected, this brew is that classic apple juice golden colour, with the pour producing a tall, yet fleeting head. A few scattered bubbles are the only survivors.

The nose is all Euro lager - sweet corn, not much else. Unremarkable, but not unpleasant.

The taste is the feeling of "meh", liquified and bottled. A resoundingly "snuh" experience punctuated with the occasional outburst of "it's okay I guess." I also detect subtle notes of exactly the same taste as every other mass-markete eastern European lager. Sweet, a bit of corn, mild mild hops to the finish, which is slightly dry. As the beer warms (do not let this happen). a funky grainy taste starts to emerge which is entirely unpleasant. 

Carbonation is light, but sufficient. Thin bodied.

Sorry, Zubr bottle label, despite your high hopes, I do not "imagine a place of pristine undisturbed nature" when I taste your beer, nor do I "feel how, with every sip I take...go into the depths of the forest." What I do feel is that same feeling I get every time I pick up a hard-to-pronounce Eastern European lager, and that's 'deja bu' - the feeling that somehow, somewhere, I've drank this exact same beer before.

Wow. I feel like a total ass.

After spending about five paragraphs extolling the history and resurgence of the Polish brewing tradition, the brews that I ended up reviewing ranged in the beer spectrum anywhere between "meh" and "suck." But am I really to blame here? It's not like I had any other choice here - the only beers I could find of Polish origin were these same interchangeable mass market lagers. It's a story I keep telling and telling on this blog, and frankly it's starting to piss me off. And it's not just Poland who is getting shortchanged. The only available brews of Estonia, Ukraine, Slovakia, Bosnia and Italy are of the same type and quality, and do nothing to celebrate the diversity of the European brewing industry. The LCBO claims that it is attempting to showcase the "beers of the world", but really, the only thing distinguishing most of these brews from one another is the number of diacritical marks and backwards letters on the labels.

So my apologies to my Polish friends. I really wanted to do better, I really did. But if I ended up painting a poor picture of the Polish brewing industry and its offerings, it's because the distributors and purchasers only gave me one colour to paint with. And that makes me sad. If only I could find something about Poland on the internet to cheer me up. If only...