Local Drinkin': A Sojourn to Grand River Brewing!

In terms of local craft brewing scenes, KW is actually a pretty good place to be.   Within about 100km, there are at least a dozen breweries to visit - a fine number compared to other regions in Canada.  Starting from my digs in Waterloo, if I were so inclined I could swing by the good folks at Wellington, F&M, Creemore, Mill St., Amsterdam, Brick, Duggan's, Great Lakes, Nickel Brook, Steam Whistle, Camerons, and even Magnotta in Vaughan, which is better known for its wines yet still produces some fine craft brews.  Slightly further out in the field, but still within driving distance are Flying Monkeys (Barrie), Church Key and Niagara's Best.  A great slate to choose from.

Visiting craft breweries such as these can be a peck of fun.  Not only is there the high chance of getting proper liquored on a brewery tour (thank you Wellington!), there's also the fact that breweries only tend to submit their best-sellers to the LCBO and local pubs; stopping by their retail store gives you the chance to sample and bring home some of their lesser-known brews.  For example, for the longest time the only place I could ever pick up Wellington's Iron Duke and their Russian Imperial Stout were on-site; fortunately, in recent months they've expanded their output so I don't have to drive out to Guelph every time.  As a final point, as is often the case the stuff available for sale at the brewery is about as fresh as it gets; without the time spent in the truck and on the store shelf, you're getting the brew as close to the brewmaster's intentions as possible, which is a great thing.  I've been to Wellington Brewery out in Guelph several times for their annual Boot Chuck, done the Steam Whistle tour on a few occasions, but other than that, I'm a bit ashamed to say I haven't been to many of these fine breweries.  Well, no longer!  I'm making it my mission to make brewery stopovers whenever I can, pick up a few new bottles, chat up the brewer if possible and pass on what I've found to you, the loyal reader! 

First on the agenda is one of my very favorite breweries, Grand River Brewing of Cambridge.  I love them because aside from the fact that pretty much every beer of theirs I've reviewed has earned at least a 'B' score in BA (a rare feat), they possess, at least in my mind, the closest representation of a true 'craft' brewery in Ontario.  Their marketing is minimalist.  Their brewery site is low-key, out of the way and very small; only in the last year have their beers made an appearance in local LCBO stores.  And yet despite all this they've earned the following of a small, yet dedicated fanbase (including yours truly) who appreciate owner Bob Hanenberg's and brewmaster Rob Creighton's passion for quality craft ales and lagers.   Grand River has a great appreciation and respect for the region they call home.  Many of their brews are named in honor of places and events in the Tri-City area: Town Hall lager bottles feature a motif of Cambridge's old city hall, while Mill Race Mild pays tribute to the city's major local park, home to the annual Mill Race Folk Festival.  On top of all this, they also happen to be some very nice folks.  I've had the pleasure of chatting with Bob n'  Rob on many occasions, and after only a few moments you can tell that these two are passionate about beer.   I talked to Rob about their recent LCBO experience, his new brewing projects and about beer in general, and I could tell this was a guy who knew his stuff.   Everything about this brewery suggests that the folks there are in it for the beer.

Grand River specializes in producing beers that are a bit lower in alcohol in most, but are certainly not considered 'light'.   There has been a growing movement in the craft beer community in support of these so-called 'session beers' - beers a bit under the standard 5% range that are enjoyable to drink in greater quantities (sessions).  The idea is that with session beers you can drink of them, but feel the effects less and without sacrificing flavor and density, so you can savor brew throughout the evening.   The kind of beer you can have at lunch without throwing off the rest of your work day.  The concept is growing in popularity as folks like me find the experience of feeling drunk (and then hungover) to be proportionately less-enjoyable as we get older.  I loves me beer, but I don't have to be drunk to enjoy it.  A mild beerphoria is all I need. With the exception of their recent offering Russian Gun Imperial Stout, all of Grand River's regular slate of beer offerings are under this 5% range, and yet none of them suffer for it.

On a late August morning, I decided to make the drive down to the brewery to check things out.  It's a great little drive if you plan it right, taking the country roads past New Hamburg and approaching the city of Cambridge from the west end.  The brewery is located in the southern end of Galt district, in a long and squat red-brick well-windowed building that used to house the Galt Knife Factory.  Fairly unimpressive, but then again, few North American breweries are; brewers need a place to brew, and older factories provide a cheap alternative that are more easily modified to suit brewing needs.  A simple little retail store, a few hats, shirts and other swag available, with two main beer racks, one fridge full of single bottles, and a growler rack.  Growlers are a fun, eco-friendly craft beer bottling method, commonly utilized by new, growing breweries without a great deal of capital to put towards single-serving bottles and labels.  Growlers are quite large, holding the equivalent of 5-6 pints of beer, and are a good way for new brewers to start distributing to new customers.  After buying the beer and making a deposit, you take the growler home, enjoy said beer, then return it so it can be washed and re-used.  Repeat as needed.
I would have picked up a growler, but both brews available were ones I can get on tap at the Grad House, so I stuck with the bottle option.   Behind (to the left of) the small retail store is the brewing room, which is large and full of antique equipment from the old factory, keeping in step with GRB's connection to local heritage.  I chatted a bit with the clerk and made my way to the bottle fridge.

On this trip I managed to pick up two new brews unavailable in the LCBO, and one of my old favorites.  A good little haul. 

Beer: Plowman's Anniversary Ale (2010)
Type: IPA
ABV: 6.5%

In honour of the brewery's 3rd anniversary, this is a revisit of one of their flagship brews, Plowman's Ale.  Similar to the Plowman's recipe, but with a greater malt and hop presence, pushing the ABV up from the standard Plowman's 4.7%.  A special seasonal.

Now, remember what I said earlier about freshness?  Like many breweries, GRB date-stamps their bottles to give folks an idea of how old the beer is and whether it might be past its prime.  No risk of that here: this pint was bottled that morning.  You just can't get any fresher than that!

Poured into a tapered ale glass. A brilliant colour - predominantly ruby-russet, brown in the dark, cherry-red when held to the light. Good frothy head, leaves a slight ring after a few minutes, with patches of lacing scattered throughout the glass. Looks great.

Nose is quite malty, with notes of caramel and toffee. Bread, biscuits, citrus hop tang.  Smells similar to an eastern American IPA.

Tastes indeed like maltier, hoppier version of Plowman's, one of my favorite Ontario brews.  A big malt entry and a good use of hops here, both earthy and citrus notes. Very slight banana flavor. The caramel and toffee poke their heads in every so often, smoothing things out. Very tasty and balanced.  Certainly tastes like the kind of beer I'd want with a Plowman's lunch.

Slightly thick for a pale ale, but light, crisp carbonation helps make Anniversary a fine drinker.

Good spin on the original Plowmans. Heavy in flavor, but not so much in the body, making this one easy to quaff.  I argue that this could compete with many an American IPA.  Great stuff. (Grade B+)

Beer: Galt Knife Old Style "Pre-Prohibition Style Lager"

Type: American Pale Lager

ABV: 4.4%

We used to have Galt Knife on tap at the UW Grad House several years ago, and I must admit, my tastes hadn't evolved to the point where I could enjoy it.  It was just too hoppy and bitter for me.

Amazing how much my tastes have changed in three short years, as this has now become one of my favorite Ontario microbrews.  Heck, even across the Canadian beer spectrum, this one holds its own well.  Thankfully available in the LCBO.  Bottled three days prior.

Poured into a lager glass. A nice amber lager, medium-golden when held to the light, with lots of visible carbonation. Terrific lacing, an incredibly sturdy head that survived the entire pint.  A splendid looking brew.

Smell was very subtle: bread, biscuits, a bit of fruit (apple), and of course the hops, which were spicy and bitter, rather than the Cascade citrus hops often seen in American lagers and ales.  A touch of yeast character to the nose as well. 

A lovely bitter lager, very full-flavoured and satisfying. Nice juicy, fruity hops with a solid malt base (a characteristic of old American lagers, hence the name). The finish is long and bitter, with notes of caramel, lemon and pepper. 

Carbonation was slightly lower than I'd expected; if it were a touch higher it'd be perfect.  Creamy and smooth, not entirely unlike a cream ale.  Goes down very easily.

A great standard lager, up there with Creemore in my books in terms of drinkability.  (Grade A-)

Beer: Raspberry Pils
Type: Fruit beer/pilsner
ABV: 4.5%

Sorry folks, forgot to get a picture of this one. Only picked up one bottle, which I shared with a buddy at a recent BBQ.  Bottle label features a rooster on a farm fence.  Cute.

Poured into a pilsner glass. Slightly opaque golden with a slight orange-pink tinge, leaving a thin, but stable frothy head.

Nose is yeast, light hops, and a slight fruit character I wouldn't have called raspberries if I hadn't known the name. Smells like neither a pilsner nor a fruit beer, but something in the middle.

Hrrm. Not sure about this. Tastes a great deal like their Hanenberg Pils, of which I'm quite fond, but with a bit of a strange fruit character in the back, which again I wouldn't necessarily call raspberry. The hops and fruit almost cancel each other out, to the detriment of both - the fruit is muted by the hops, so it doesn't taste like how I feel a fruit beer should, but the fruit also softens the hops, reducing its 'pils' standing. What I get is a very bready, yeasty brew, with only a slight fruit flavor lurking in the background.

Betwixt and between, neither a pils nor a fruit beer. Didn't really do it for me. Might have worked better with a wheat ale base to allow the fruit to make more of a statement. Or at the very least a more potent raspberry flavor.

Bit of a disappointment. It certainly is quite drinkable, and I wouldn't turn it down, but it's not really worth seeking out either.  Fruit beers are, in my opinion, the most difficult beers to ace; you either go heavy with the fruit, which can taste overly sweet and unbeer-like, or you don't go strong enough and it dilutes the flavor of the beer unnecessarily.   GRB does a better job with their Bumbleberry Wheat Ale, which has a terrific harvest fruit pie taste and mild wheat backing.  Pick it up if you get a chance.   (Grade: B-)

---

Other terrific brews to check out are their hoppy Curmudgeon IPA, the standard Plowmans Ale, and Mill Race Mild, a brown session ale in the old English style.  GRB has some fun seasonals, including their annual Highballer Pumpkin Ale which should be available in a month or so.

If you're excited about local beer, be sure to give Grand River a try; if you can make it down to the brewery, you'll get a bit more variety than at the LCBO.  A fantastic, growing Ontario craft brewery.  Well worth a check out.

Weiss City

With the last days of summer coming to an end, Canadians from coast to coast are valiantly trying to enjoy the hot weather and sunshine before hockey season winter begins.   Drink 'em on the patio while you can, because except for the few obnoxious stalwarts who insist "it's not that cold; it's nice out", we'll soon be shuffling our lot indoors for several months.  A terrible thought.

Yet there is a glimmer of hope.  As the seasons change, so to will my drinking schedule.  Rotating beer types is not only a good idea weather-wise (stouts and bocks taste lousy outside in the summer heat, while pilsners do a terrible job of warming you up from winter's chill), it also allows one to look forward to new styles and seasonal favorites. 

Before the Great Pumpkin Beer season begins, I think this blog is due for a salute to that most glorious of summer brews - the wheat beer.  Whether it be a hefeweizen, a flavoured wheat ale or kristalweizen, wheat beers are just the ticket for beating the heat.  When it comes down to it, nothing tastes better when you're outside in the dog days of summer than a cold bucket of Hoegaarden, or a tall glass of Hacker-Pschorr.   Thankfully, wheat beers are becoming a mainstay of North American craft brewers (even some of the big boys are taking a stab at the style), so it's usually not too difficult to find a quality locally-brewed edition.  Ontario boasts some fine hefeweizens, some of which can even rival the flavor and quality of German and Belgian imported fare, like Mill Street's Belgian Wit, Magnotta's Wunder Weisse, Muskoka's Hefeweizen, and Denison's Weissbier, which I'll come to in a minute. 

A word on terminology: You'll sometimes see wheat beers described as: hefeweissbier, dunkelweissbier, weißbier, weizen, or witbier.  They are all similar in that they are all wheat beers, but there are differences between them; knowing these differences can tell you a great deal about what the beer inside is and where they come from.  As far as ingredients are concerned, weizen is German for 'wheat', so any wheat beer brewed in Germany could technically be called a weizen.  Weiss or weiß means 'white', which means that a brew so-named will be cloudy golden-white in appearance.  Not all weizenbiers are white.  Kristalweizens are wheat ales that are filtered or aged to give them a transparent, golden colour - saying Kristalweiss is therefore contradictory.   Clear wheat ales are less common than the hazy, weiss version, however.  This is because wheat does a lousy job of self-filtering, so the brewer would have to add an extra step in the brewing process to clear things up.  

Now for location.  Weizenbier and Weissbier are German brews, and usually conform to the ubiquitous German Purity Law, meaning that the beer contains barley, wheat, water, hops and yeast - nothing else.  Weissbier comes in two major varieties, hefe ("yeast", generally lighter in colour) and dunkel  ("dark").   Witbiers ("white beer") are Belgian and usually contain extra ingredients like orange peel and coriander to add to the flavor profiles.   Hoegaarden is the prime example of this.

Of course, not all brewers conform to this handy guide, but as far as most wheat ales we'd encounter in North America, this is pretty much how wheat beers play out.   Good so far?

Anyone who's had a wheat beer before will know that they taste very different from most other barley-based beers.  This is because wheat, when it is broken down and consumed by yeast, releases unique flavors in the form of chemical esters; precision brewing techniques will elicit different flavors depending on what kind of beer you're trying to make.  Hefeweissbier, for example, will often taste very light and citrussy, with notes of lemon, orange peel, coriander, citrus and other spices.  Sometimes, one will even detect bubble gum.  Such fresh flavors make for great summer drinking, and (as I can attest) can go down really quickly.   Thus I offer to you, a salute to the hefeweissbier!

Here's a mini-roundup of some of the finer wheat brews to be had (all in the hefe style)

Beer: Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier
Type: Hefeweissbier
Brewery: Weiehenstephaner (Germany)
ABV: 5.4%

Weihenstephaner has a strong claim to be the world's oldest brewer, having been granted an official licence to brew in 1040 CE.   This isn't to say the brewery has been brewing the same beer with the same recipes; it just means a brewery has been operating with a continual history at the site for nearly 1000 years.   William the Conqueror hadn't even arrived on the English shores when these guys started brewing.  Amazing.   Their hefeweissbier is their flagship brew, and one of the world's finest examples of the style.  Let's have a look!

Appearance is that of a typical hefe: golden and opaque, with a light head encircling the glass.  Sticky lacing, fine retention of the head.

Nose is of wheat, honey, banana and fresh spices.   Banana and malts are predominant here; cloves are present, but only mildly so.

The taste is exceptionally smooth and remarkably easy to drink.  Banana, clove and just a little bit of bitterness to the finish, all very rounded.   Lemon peel provides a fine crisp tartness, making Weihenstephaner a wonderful thirst-quencher. Mouthfeel is slightly, thin, creamy, with tart carbonation.

A classic hefeweisse, with a lovely crisp finish. Great as a sessional at any time of year, but truly tastes best on a summer patio.

Beer: Schneider Weisse

Type: Hefeweisse

Brewery: G. Schneider und Sohn (Germany)

ABV: 5.4%

For those who've followed the blog for a while, you'll know much of my love for Schneider's brews.  This one is a classic, a fine go-to for those looking for a solid hefe. 

Pours surprisingly dark for one that claims to be a hefe.  Even though 'hefe' doesn't necessarily refer to colour, if a wheat ale is this dark, one can safely call it a dunkel.  No matter.  Opaque leather-brown, with about an inch and a half of foamy head. Didn't last very long; it was only a thin ring after about 4 minutes.


The nose, however, more than makes up for this. Surprisingly complex for a hefe; aside from the banana peel and cloves, I also get apple, brown sugar and a few other spices. Very nice.

The taste is very rich for a hefe, quite flavorful.  Surprisingly malty, with the cloves coming through in spades. The banana flavour is almost like a banana chip - slightly roasted, probably melding with the malts - which is quite satisfying. I still think this one tastes and looks more like a dunkel than a hefe, but here we are.

Mouthfeel is a bit on the thin side; not nearly as creamy as Weihenstephan due to the rapidly dissolving head.

All in all, another fine entry from G Schneider (absolutely loved their eisbock). I'd probably rate this one a little lower than Hacker or Weihen, but it's still an impressive, flavorful weisse. Won't go down quite as smooth as the lighter hefe's on a sunny day though.

Now for the Canuck!
 
Beer: Denison's Weissbier
Brewery: Denisons Brewing Co. (Toronto)
Type: hefeweissbier
ABV: 5.4%
 
Often cited as Canada's primo hefeweiss, Denisons unfortunately suffers from distribution issues.  By this I mean I can't easily get it, despite living less than an hour from the brewery.  Everyone has a reason to dislike T.O. - mine is their preferred status for getting the better brews in the LCBO.   I picked up a 6er of this at the Jarvis St. LCBO because tt's been ages since I've had it - it used to be on tap in KW but no longer...

Poured into a hefe glass. A slightly opaque golden brew, leaves about a half inch head that receded all too soon. A few flecks of yeast sediment make their way to the bottom of the glass.
Nose is typical hefe: banana, cloves, citrus, wheat.

Tastes like a hefe should; all the proper pieces are in the puzzle box. A slight apple taste and a mild graininess distinguishes Denisons from other major hefes. Cloves take second fiddle to the banana esters. Other than that, it's pretty damned good.  Finishes slightly dry and lemony.

Tart, aggressive carbonation at first, but a more appealing equilibrium is hit after a moment. Medium bodied.
If this were available more outside of T.O., I'd drink this all the time. Good local hefe. Went down incredibly smooth, no strangeness or funky flavors to be found.  Just a good, solid hefe. Would love to have this on tap again.

Other fine examples of the hefe style are Hacker-Pschorr, Konig Ludwig, Franziskaner and Ayinger, but only Hacker is readily available in the LCBO, so we're kinda boned there.  All the more reason to make a trip to Germany and explore all their wonderful hefeweiss options.   Still, lots of good options North America-wise to get some variety.  Pretty much every major craft brewery in the US and Canada  has at least one wheat ale; some have several.
 
Summer is quickly disappearing - celebrate the sun with a pint of hefeweisse, why don't ya?

Resisting Beer Snobbery (through math)!

A great recent forum thread on Beer Advocate got me really thinking about beer reviewing and hunting.  But before that, a little reviewing primer:

When I review a beer on BA, I give it scores out of 5 for appearance, smell, taste, "mouthfeel" and overall drinkability, which are then weighted to give me an overall score out of 5 for the brew.  My highest score so far is a 4.8/5 (an A+ for Schneider Aventinus Weizenbock and St. Bernardus Abt 12), while my lowest is a paltry 1.75 (an F for Berthold Keller Lager).  An extra little statistic BA throws in is the review deviation (rDev), which tells you how far your score differs from the average.  It's only so useful as a statistic, but it does let you know roughly how in line your opinion of the brew is with everyone else's.  If everyone happens to love a beer, and you hate it, your rDev is going to be incredibly low: probably a good idea to consider the possibility that your beer might have gone bad, or whether it's a style you just generally hate.  Or who knows: maybe you just generally dislike it.  That's okay!  Everyone's opinions differ, and that's part of the fun.

Normally, I'm not too far off the pack, usually within a few percentage points, but every so often I rate really high or really low.  So far, my highest deviation from the norm is 15%, based off a review for Kaiser, an Austrian lager.  I didn't even rank it that high (about a 3.2, or C+); it's just that everyone else seemed to really hate the brew and gave it low D's.  I happened to think it was okay: boring but drinkable.  My lowest is, again, Berthold Keller lager, at a whopping 51%.  I gave it an F; other folks have been less stingy towards this nightmare.  I don't give out D's or lower too often; to earn such a low score, the beer has to pretty much be a drain-pour - undrinkable, like Berthold was for me.   Everyone has these variations - sometimes a brew hits you just right, other times it doesn't. 

Back to the matter at hand.

The forum asked the question of whether you were a 'stingy' or a 'generous' reviewer, and the best way to find that out is to look at your rDev and see how many of your reviews are positive or negative.  No question about it, I'm a very 'generous' reviewer; of my 250 reviews, about 140 of them have a positive rDev, meaning I scored the majority of my reviews higher than the average.  Some folks were nearly the opposite.   A good little discussion followed from this comparing how one should approach beer reviewing.  Of course it got me thinking: how should I review my beer?

The beer reviewing community is getting larger everyday; the presence of sites like BA and  Ratebeer, coupled with ability of anyone with even the most basic knowledge of computers to blog/post about beer only guarantees that this trend will continue.  And, to be honest, there's been a bit of a backlash.  Some folks out there, including many on BA, argue that beer geeks are quickly turning into snobs, no different from the snooty wine drinking crowd we once railed against.  I think this is a valid point.   Sometimes when I read wine 'critiques' in the paper or online, I'm truly baffled by the kinds of flavors the reviewer claims he/she can detect (Zambian honeysuckle? Really??).  We scoff at the ridiculous language ("impudent", "presumptuous", "flirty") they use to describe what essentially amounts to rotting grape juice.   Then there are the contemptuous drinkers. There's this one girl at the Grad House that refuses to drink any Ontario reds, loudly proclaiming that all Ontario wine sucks.  If she wasn't such a good tipper, I'd be soooo tempted to pour an Ontario wine into an Aussie bottle and see if she notices the difference.  The funny thing is, she probably won't.  Apparently, humans are TERRIBLE at distinguishing tastes; so much of how we compare A to B comes down to how it's presented and what our pre-conceived judgements happen to be.   In a recent well-publicized study, Stanford researchers conducted a wine taste test.  Bottle A claimed to be a reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, regularly retailing for $90 a bottle, while Bottle B was labelled a $10 boxed wine from Walmart.  As you might have guessed, the participants rated the $90 bottle far higher, noting subtle hints of this-and-that and marvelling at the delicate something-or-other, while slamming the $10 bottle as being uninspired and lacking.  As I'm sure you've also guessed, it was the same damned wine in both bottles.   We're so conditioned to believe that 'expensive equals better' that our brains will imagine differences between two versions of exactly the same thing.  After all, who wants to be the uncultured swine who can't discern a good wine from a bad one?

Yet, we see the same trend in the beer community.  Like with the wine snots, some of the beer reviews can be downright laughable, especially the ones that take a good paragraph to describe how the beer 'feels' in their mouth.  (For me it's either watery or thick, creamy or slick, over- or under-carbonated). The outright scorn some beer geeks display towards anyone they perceive to be drinking 'lesser' brews is embarrassing , and really pisses me off (Coors Light bashing is always acceptable, however).  Hype and limted output tend to skew things towards cool-sounding American craft brews, but I'm willing to bet that a blind taste testing would drastically affect how beer is rated on BA.  So much is based on where the bottle is from, the reputation of the brewery - even the label can alter our perceptions.

So why slam beer?  Beer is supposed to be a social beverage, a source of great joy and comfort; finding and drinking great beer only makes things better.  The advancements of beer knowledge and beer culture over the past two decades have been fantastic, but like with any hobby/passion, it can (and is) getting a bit out of hand.   By being an overly 'positive' reviewer, am I doing a disservice to the beer reviewing community?  I don't really think so.  Reviews are biassed and skewed enough as it is.  Moreover, my reviews are simply there to provide my own impressions which are usually for my own purposes.  I'm not a beer judge, although that would be a sweet gig.

I like to think that my reviews are generally positive because, lets face it, beer is good.  Very good, in fact.  So good that it's hard for me to truly get angry about a particular beer, as some reviewers do, because I tend to be pretty stoked that I happen to be drinking a beer at that particular moment.   I may sometimes play up my dislike of a particular beer on the blog, but I do that for effect (i.e., the laffs); I'm generally not angry at it; maybe just a bit frustrated that my $2.50 I spent on the can could have gone to something much better.   Indeed, despite about a year of serious reviewing, I still think that I generally like about 90% of the beers I drink - I just like some more than others.    A good thing I like to keep in mind: it may not be the greatest beer ever, but it sure beats the hell out of a glass of water.  

Any beverage that makes me look this stupid can't be a bad thing.

I like to think that my reviews aren't snooty (tell me if I am being snooty.  I'll stop - promise!), but if I don't like the beer or the brewery, I'll say so.  I also know that I'm guilty of rating craft brews high and macro brews low; this is why I tend not to review many big name lagers. I know I don't like them, or at least I know I'm biassed against them, so why review them?  But, if you happen to drink nothing but Busch or Canadian, it doesn't bother me in the slightest, though chances are I'll be bringing my own beer to your party and it'll be something I'll like.  If I offer you one of my craft brews to try, it's because I think it tastes better and I think you will find it does too.  If you don't like it, no skin off my nose (or, as my hero Norm Peterson famously proclaimed: "Would [whatever you're doing] raise the price of beer?"  "No." "Then what do we care?!") I review because it helps me keep track of the beers I've tried, if there's beers that I should avoid or ones I should keep coming back to.  It helps me distinguish between different styles and methods of brewing, which goes a long way to help appreciate a beer for what it is.  Every beer has its purpose.  I may not really love PBR, but if I'm at a party drinking it in great quantities, PBR might just be the ticket.  If it's hot as stink and I'm outside on a patio, even the world's greatest Russian Stout will still taste lousy and make you feel bloated. 

I started this blog because I'm passionate about beer, and I hope you are too.  If by keeping track of which beers you like and by being open to trying new styles, the end result is people drink better beer, then everybody wins.

And now, here are some of Matt's guilty beer pleasures, just so you don't think I've gone too far along the craft brew choo-choo.

1. Corona.  Is it a quality beer? Absolutely not; in fact, it's a pretty substandard lager.  Will I drink 10 of them right now? You bet.   Drop a lime in the beer and you've got summer in a glass.  It's funky, it's overpriced and overexposed, but it's just fine with me.

    b.  As a subset of this, I'll just say that I'm not above putting limes in any lager, especially in the summer. Fuck it - it's hot out, and limes makes a lot of crappy beers taste better.  Just as long as it's a REAL lime I cut myself.

2. Rickard's White.  It's not a sterling example of the Belgian wit style; it's pretty tame and one-dimensional (orange-dimensional?).   But on a hot day, its terrific.  Sure, I'd love to be drowning myself in a super-sized bucket of Hoegaarden or Hacker-Pschorr instead.  But load that Rickard's sumbitch up with oranges and I'll be a very happy guy. 

3. Cheaper beer, depending on the brand.  While I'd love to have a cellarful of nothing but Chimay Bleue, Russian River RIS or Pliny the Elder, we have to face facts - beer can be pricey, great beer even more so.  But I gots to have me beer, so a 2-4 of something on the low price-point scale is fine with me, as long as it's drinkable.  A beer I can just open and drink, with no well-rinsed glassware or concern for 'proper' serving temperature.  Ice cold, right out of the bottle.  A "fuckin' beer", if you will.   Despite having all these impressive-sounding beer reviews, I usually have a few Trailhead, Holsten, Red Baron or Maclays kicking around the fridge. 

4. Light beer.       Nah, just kiddin.'

C'est What!

With the unfortunate demise of the wonderful beer house that was the Castle on King (*shedding a single tear*...), there has been left a terrible void in the KW area for craft beer and cask tap options.  With the exception of Kickoff in the University plaza (and of course the Grad House, my place of employment!), there really isn't a whole lot around town for diverse craft brew selections, particularly cask-pumped brews.   Having read many a brew-review on Beer Advocate, I noticed that many of the rarer Ontario craft offerings - the kind unavailable in the LCBO or at any of my local hangouts - were being sampled almost exclusively at two downtown Toronto pubs - C'est What and BarVolo.  Apparently, these two are among the finest locations in Toronto to sample new and exciting beers: both of these pubs have been repeatedly nominated by BarTowel (and have received laudatory reviews in both the National Post and Globe and Mail) as having the best beer draught selection in the city.  With a mutual day off, Michelle and I decided a visit to such greener pastures was most definitely in order.  

We decided to go with C'est What this time around - it was closer to where we wanted to be in the city, and I find the name to be so very amusing.  (We also went this route because on a previous excursion to Toronto, our GPS utterly failed us, and we missed the bar entirely, leading to a great deal of yelling and cursing).  C'est What is located right in the heart of the city on Front and Church, just a few blocks from Union Station and the Rogers Centre.  The area has a thriving pub culture, with many a watering hole to be found in the vicinity.   Our destination was a basement joint tucked away in a brown building home to a variety of other shops and restaurants.  We descended to the bowels of 67 Front with no idea what to expect.

Our first impression was a good one - right at the entrance was an aquarium where fish darted about a sunken bottle of Steam Whistle (hopefully well-cleaned).  Cute.  C'est What is a long, narrow pub, with a plethora of beer posters and modern art gracing the stone walls.  Good mood lighting, lots of places to sit, dartboards and pool tables scattered here and there.  Eclectic music played at a reasonable volume.  Looked like a great place to spend an afternoon.  The place was only sparsely populated, so we had our run of the seating area. 

I knew we were in for a treat when Michelle found the beer menu.  That's right, menu.  Online you can find the whole three-page listing of regular brew offerings, which are indeed quite impressive.  C'est What boasts an almost-exclusively Ontario craft beer selection, featuring some of the most difficult to find brews from the GTA and across the province.  It also has a regular rotation of cask taps, a truly wonderful way to experience beer - naturally carbonated and pumped by hand.  Aside from a slate of 'house' options (brewed by County Durham Brewing), C'est What has a great lineup of fare from Mill Street, Neustadt, Camerons, Church Key, Granite, Scotch Irish and Flying Monkeys, to name a few (unfortunately, their only Wellington brew was Silver Wheat, by far their weakest release).   Their food menu also looked good - a fine mish-mash of pub, ethnic and vegetarian meals.   After being overwhelmed by the sheer variety of beer to be had, we settled down for our flight of new brews!

Beer: Granite Hopping Mad (cask)

Brewery: Granite Brewing Co. (Toronto)

Type: English pale ale/IPA fusion

ABV: 6.0%

First up was a regular mainstay on C'est What's cask tap, an IPA from Granite brewing in Toronto.  Although the brewery and BA both refer to this brew as being an American IPA, it really didn't taste like one; rather, it possessed more of the characteristics of a well-hopped English pale ale, so that's what I'm calling it. (C'est What's menu also describes the brew as being a pale ale, so clearly the staff are in agreement!)

From the cask, Hopping Mad poured much like a Boddington's or Kilkenny - a orange jelly-coloured brew that took a few moments to settle.  The settling process left behind a remarkably creamy head that lasted throughout the pint, producing some impressive sheeted lacing.   Looked fantastic.

The nose was, as I mentioned before, decidedly not that of an IPA: instead of a rich hop aroma, I picked up more bread and malt notes, with only a hint of caramel and floral hops.  Still very impressive, but not what I had anticipated.  

Hopping Mad is certainly a fine brew, with the hops providing more of a presence in the taste than in the nose.   Like an English pale ale with American hopping. Creamy and malty, but finishing with a tasty, floral hop kick. I went into this expecting a Canadian stab at the American IPA style, and while this wasn't it, it certainly was enjoyable.  Boddingtons with a stronger hop character, is how I'd describe it.   Highly quaffable - I could certainly see myself drinking several of these in a night.  (Grade: B+)

Beer: Church-Key Northhumberland Ale
Brewery: Church-Key Brewing Co. (Campbellford, ON)
Type: claims to be a brown ale, I say blonde or pale ale
ABV: 5%
 
Again, problems with categorization - it claims to be a brown ale, but it is certainly not:  far too light in colour and not nearly malty enough.  The pub listed this as being among their cream ale selection, which is a bit closer to the mark. Unfortunately, this was our dud of the afternoon - neither Michelle nor I enjoyed it very much.
 
Poured a rich golden hue, very light for the style, with some visible carbonation and a thin head with some retention.


Nose was citrus, honey, light hoppage. Floral and fruit notes as well.  Not too bad.

A very fruity, grainy ale with something vegetable-like going on in the back.  Yeasty.  Had a very strange taste to it that I couldn't quite put my finger on, and certainly didn't care for.  As crazy as it sounds, I swear I could detect chicken in the beer.  (Seriously!)  Whatever it was, that shouldn't happen!   Northhumberland is a brew that is desperately out of balance; it needed either a bigger hop presence or better use of malts to bring it more in line with the style. Tasted more like a blonde ale than a brown.  Funny enough, I ordered a spicy dish for lunch that actually paired well with this, but for exactly the wrong reason: by numbing my tastebuds a little, I could actually finish the pint.  Otherwise I doubt I could have.   A strange-tasting ale (if one could ever call it an ale) not something I would pick up again. Something about the whole construction just felt off.  A big pass on this one.  (Grade: D+)

Beer: Duggan's #99 IPA (cask)*
Brewery: Mike Duggan Brewing (Toronto)
Type: IPA or Double IPA
ABV: 7.2%

Our gem of the day, but I'm still not confident on what it was.  The waitress said that this was the last of the cask of Duggan's #99 Double IPA (stronger than a regular IPA, usually even hoppier), but what we got didn't match with how the other BA reviews described it, so my writeup will have to be given an asterisk.   Because it was the end of the keg, this might have affected the taste, but whatever the beer was, I can say this - it was awesome.

A dark ruby-tawny brew, sporting a big, frothy head.  Loads of lacing, great retention.

The nose was simply spectacular.  In addition to a strong floral hop presence, this brew boasted a fantastic blending of delicious flavor notes, including chocolate, caramel, cherry, dark fruit and vanilla.   More in line with a barleywine or a Belgian dubbel than an IPA, but again, the fact that this was the bottom of the keg probably affected this. 

The taste was similarly impressive.  Drank more like a sherry than an ale, but that was just fine with me.  Rich and hearty, with a complex meshing of flavors, similar to what was detected in the nose.   Thick and slightly creamy, this brew was most definitely a sipper; the bold flavors and hearty consistency probably negates the possibility of having more than one of these in an evening. 

Whatever this mystery beer was, both Michelle and I really loved it.  A great little brew to sip over the course of our lunch.  Even though it didn't taste like an IPA, whatever Mike Duggan has done here, it was terrific.  (Grade: A-)

----

We would have loved to have stayed longer, but full stomachs and a hefty parking ticket (don't ask...) required us to move on.  If you happen to be in the downtown core and are looking for some great craft brews, be check out this little gem.  C'est What definitely lived up to its reputation as having among the best draught lineups in southern Ontario.  Good set up, fine location, decent food - a great place to bring friends who enjoy trying new beer.  Check it out! 

Stoopid is as Stoopid does.

Beer: Hop Stoopid Ale

Brewery: Lagunitas Brewing (Petaluma, CA)
Type: American IPA
ABV: 8%

A friend of mine just got back from a trip to Nevada and managed to bring me back a new brew, which pretty much made my day (thanks, Lori!). It's amazing how many of my reviews come about because friends of mine make road trips and bring me beer, because it can be damned difficult finding new specimens in Ontario without tremendous effort. I'll suppress that LCBO rant for a moment, and get back to the issue at hand: new beer!

Lagunitas got on my good side right away, because it included a pronunciation key on its label. Few breweries do this, and I wish more did so. Nothing is worse than mispronouncing a brewery because you've never heard the name said aloud by someone who knows. I would have pronounced it La-goon-EYE-tuss. It's actually "Lah-goo-KNEE-tuss." Go figure.

Only in the USofA will you encounter breweries that have both regular IPAs and deluxe IPAs. (In Ontario, you're lucky to have either...) Lagunitas is one such brewery. Hop Stoopid is, naturally, their ridiculous IPA. Like I've said before, Americans love them some IPAs, and the hoppier the better - at least as far as beer geeks are concerned. Any West Coast brewer worth their salt will have at least one IPA that's hopped up all to holy hell. "Hop Stoopid" one is Lagunitas' entry, and the name is a bit silly, but I appreciate a good deliberate misspell.

Like many an American craft brewery, Lagunitas has some amusing names for its brews. My personal favorite: Wilco Tango Foxtrot brown ale. Spell it out - it's cute.


Poured into an ale glass for optimum deliciousity.


Light amber in colour, with a rich, frothy head that won't quit. Great retention, lots of lacing sheets. A first-rate looking brew.

The nose is, to no-one's surprise, tremendously hoppy. Hops to the max. It's a West Coast brew, so naturally, I'm getting a West Coast hop - Cascade - which produces some lovely lemon and citrus notes. Fighting for space is a bread and biscuit character, with a touch of flowers and spice to boot.

Wow, does this one hit you hard! Americans sure love their hops, and this brew is no exception. At 102 IBU (bitterness units), this brew packs a wallop, but it does it well. Starts off with a powerful burst of citrussy hop goodness, with the malt profile coming in a bit later. Breads and caramel, primarily. The hops turn on the jets once again for the finish, and despite the citrus entry, leave with a bitter, resiny finish, more in tune with the British/East Coast style. A great demonstration of the hop profile IPAs are made for.

Slightly creamy, with lighter carbonation. Leaves a strong, puckery taste in the mouth for quite some time after sipping.

Just a stand-up IPA, one of the better American IPA's I've come across. It's not hoppy just for the sake of being hoppy (despite the name); rather, it demonstrates the diversity of hop flavors a brewer can encourage in their brews. Citrussy, yet earthy.

A great blend of hop profiles makes for a stand-up IPA, and Lagunitas has hit it right on the mark. With such a potent hop character, it's probably not a brew I could have more than two of in an evening (the high ABV makes this difficult as well), but it's still a tremendous beer and a great example of the style. (Grade: A)

The Best of Matt's Florida Beer Haul!

As promised, here are some of my favorites from my Florida beer haul! I decided to whittle things down to the very best (and one notable dud) just to keep things interesting - after all, my total new brews added to my tally was 27 - and that would be one hell of a big post. Huge, even. And while almost everything I tried was good, only a few could be described as remarkably good. For example, I think I ended up trying 6 different IPAs (the US is nuts for IPAs right now), and though each brew was tasty and enjoyable, there wasn't a great deal of difference between them, at least not enough to warrant a massive review and write up for each.

With this in mind, I give you: the Great Florida Beer Haul Round-Up!


Beer: Terrapin Hopsecutioner
Brewery: Terrapin Beer Co. (Athens, GA)
Type: IPA
ABV: 7.3%



I selected this one among the many IPAs because, quite simply, the label is AWESOME. I mean look at it: it's Donatello brandishing a torturous instrument, executing beer hops with a guillotine. How cool is that? Even the lettering is Ninja Turtle Green, which will ideally be the colour of my next house. I also went with this IPA because it's fairly local to Florida, hailing from northern Georgia. It wasn't the best IPA on the trip - that distinction went with Jai Alai's White Oak Barrel - but this was the best I could easily find in shops.

Poured amber-copper, slightly opaque, leaving a thin head. Good lacing and retention.

The nose is typical American IPA - woodsy, with leafy, resin-flavored hops competing with citrussy notes, namely grapefruit and lemon. Binding the whole thing together is a sweet, bready malt character.

Goes down well. The hops aren't too potent, but provide a nice, balanced flavor. Earth meets citrus. With the hop content not so pronounced, the malty, caramel sweetness is given a chance to shine. For big hop-heads, this brew might seem a bit tame, but I found it to be quite flavorful and easy to drink. Cracking through a 6-pack of this would be a pleasure, not a challenge.

Hopsecutioner is by no means a unique IPA, but it's a good'un, and worth picking up if you come across it. I mean, how amazing would it be to show up at a party with a 6-pack of Ninja Turtle beer? (Grade: B+)




Beer: Ommegang Abbey Ale
Brewery: Brewery Ommegang (Cooperstown, NY)
Type: Belgian Dubbel
ABV: 8.5%

A fantastic number from a brewery based in Cooperstown, NY, the Mecca of baseball fans everywhere. Ommegang specializes in replicating the traditional Belgian style of brewing - abbey ales, dubbels, tripels, Belgian pale and dark ales - and does it incredibly well. A New York version of Quebec's Unibroue, if you will. The kind of brewery I would return to again and again, based on this one brew alone. Of course, thanks to the LCBO and Ontario's oppressive liquor import rules, it's easier to find Ommegang in Florida than it is in New York's Canadian neighbour.

*Must...suppress....rant....*

Poured into a wine glass from a tall, 750mL corked bottle. Just like a Chimay. A tawny red brew, slightly opaque, ruby when held to the light. Thick, spritzy head that displays some fine lacing and retention. Looks like your classic dubbel.

Nose is comprised of bread, dark fruit (cherry, plums, black currant, pear) malt, brown sugar, and yeast notes.

A delicious, stand-up dubbel, among the world's very best. Boasts an incredible flavour, wonderful to sip. Similar tasting notes as in the nose and they work together brilliantly. Because it was such a big bottle and I had such a small wine glass, I decided to leave the bottle on the counter and compare how Abbey Ale tasted at different temperatures. Sure enough, this was textbook example of a brew whose flavor opens up tremendously with a bit of warmth - the taste just got better with every sip. First rate stuff.

Tart, aggressive carbonation, which helps the flavor notes really pop. Medium-bodied.

Certainly, one of the finest dubbels produced on this side of the Atlantic. I'll definitely be back for more of this, which might necessitate a trip to New York State. Well done Ommegang! (Grade A+)




Beer: Stone Imperial Russian Stout
Brewery: Stone Brewing (Escondito, CA)
Type: Russian Imperial Stout
ABV: 10.5%

One of the few bottles to make it home, I was able to sample this one in a proper glass. I would have drank it there, but at 750mL, it would have been a struggle to get through in one evening, especially after a hot day standing in line at Walt Disney World. Best to savor this one at home.

Stone is a giant among American craft brews; their massive slate of popular offerings are available in many areas of the United States and sometimes creep into BC. Aside from producing some quality brews, they feature some great beer names too; my personal favorite: "Arrogant Bastard Ale".

After letting the brew warm up a bit, I poured it into my favorite glass, a Duvel goblet. As an aside, I truly love the Soviet Cossack Gargoyle imagery. An inky black hue, hard to detect any other colour but black here. Leaves an inch-high mocha head, leaving some flecks of lacing. Survives well as a ring, with a few islands drifting about.

Nose is roasted dark coffee, cream, very dark chocolate (75% cocoa at least!), dark fruit. Rich and inviting.

Tastes like a terrific stout, wonderful to sip over the course of an evening. Brought to a proper temperature, this RIS achieves a wonderful balance of chocolate, toasted malt and caramel, finishing with a slightly bitter taste accentuated with warming alcohol. First rate. Almost syrupy, the mouthfeel of this viscous brew is greatly aided by its light, but ever present carbonation. Oily and velvety, with a slight warming alcohol burn that affects the back of the tongue. A terrific RIS, one of the best I've had the pleasure to enjoy. Surprisingly drinkable - the ABV is high, yes, but such a meaty stout is worthy of slow savouring.

Beer: J.W. Lees Harvest Ale, Port Cask (2008 Vintage)
Brewery: J.W. Lees (Manchester, UK)
Type: English barleywine
ABV: 11.5%

My lone pick-up in Knightly Spirits' barrel reserve section. You know you've got a fine liquor store when you have a "vintage" area for beer...

Poured into an ale glass. A brew such as this truly deserved better glassware, but when you're in a hotel, you work with what you have. Better this than a Shrek 4 mug though...

An amber, slightly opaque brew, with a dusting of sediment on the bottom. A thin white head, leaves a ring after a few moments. When settled, it looks a great deal like sherry, which is awesome, because I loves me a good sherry.

Nose is very potent and delicious: caramel, grapes, sugar, port, a touch of oak.

Like a proper barleywine, J.W. Lees tastes and feels just like a glass of sherry. The big caramel and fruit flavor is offset but a smoky, oak backing, which prevents the sweetness from running away with things. Alcohol is difficult to detect, balanced nicely within the flavors of the brew. Very tasty, and with only a slight alcoholic bite to the finish makes for an enjoyable sipper. Great stuff, one of the better barleywines I've come across. Would love to check out the older vintages.

And at last, we come to the dud...

Beer: Cantillon Kriek 100% Lambic
Brewery: Cantillon (Brussels)
Type: Lambic-Fruit (Kriek)
ABV: 5%


Some tastes are acquired, taking years of practice and sampling to finally "get it." Michelle, for example, is a huge fan of super-dark chocolate, (90% cocoa or higher), a taste she developed by slowly working her way up the cocoa scale from the very low milk chocolates to the extremely bitter pure cocoa bars. I can't stomach the stuff, but I can see how a gradual progression of tasting would lead me to appreciate it better.

But other times with food and drink, things are a great deal simpler: either you love it, or you hate it. Black licorice is a good example of this - I don't know anyone who "kind of" likes black licorice. You're either with us or against us, dammit! Authentic krieks are one of those styles.

As mentioned in an earlier post (St. Louis Gueze), lambics are brewed by yeast cultures that exist naturally in the brewer's local environment. As is more commonly done, fruit (usually cherry, raspberry or peach) is added to the brew to make the product more palatable and marketable - adding sugar or aging can also be done to smooth things out for the consumer. Sometimes, the product will taste a great deal like a fruit cooler, sweet and smooth with a big fresh fruit flavor. Other times, the brewer will opt for the traditional taste, which is a great deal more sour, acidic, musky and, believe it or not, "horse-blanket"-y. Cantillon's Kriek counts itself among the latter. Boasting an 'A' ranking at BeerAdvocate, this beer has developed quite a following, and I was excited to try my first authentic lambic.

Frankly, I thought it tasted disgusting.

Poured into a goblet. A lovely, sparkling light cherry-red brew. No real head presence, but this is common for the style.

Nose isn't too bad; actually, it was quite inviting. Sour cherries, sugar, citrus and cream with the strongest flavors I could detect.

Then came the tasting... Suffice to say, this was, without a doubt, the sourest drink I have ever tasted. It tasted like the love-child of Sourpatch Kids and vinegar, with the love-making having taken place in a hayloft. I thought I was prepared for such an astringent brew, but I was certainly mistaken. A real palate cleanser. Sour, sour cherries with vinegar and oakey, musky flavors. An absolute chore to get through. It's really amazing: some reviewers rave about the "delicious flavor of sour ripe cherries" and go on and on about how wonderfully tart it is. I think it tasted like vinegar beer. This was just too much...

Medium-bodied, with a light carbonation to deliver the oppressive sourness right to your door. The acidic quality provides a real burn that I'm not enjoying. Probably going to get heartburn from drinking this. (I did.)

As high a quality of lambic beer that this is (this was exactly how it was supposed to taste - it's not like I even got an old bottle), I have to say I really didn't understand it. Not an enjoyable experience whatsoever. This was just oppressively sour and was a chore to get through. Instead of sour, fresh cherries, I just got...well, sour. Well-made, but definitely not my thing. I might try it again in the future to see if a different batch works for me, but as for now, I'll have to count myself among those who just don't dig authentic lambics.



Other beer roundup highlights included:

St. Bernardus Abt 12 - one of the finest abbey ales I've had the pleasure to drink.
Orval - the tartest, driest of the Trappist ales, but still quite enjoyable. Like a dry cider.
Magic Hat #9 - From Burlington VT, the Ben and Jerry's of breweries. Goofy labeling, but a decent fruit beer.
Dogfish Head World Wide Stout - the new record-holder for the highest ABV% brew I've tried - a staggering 18%! Good thing I wasn't driving anywhere that day...

An exciting beer roundup to say the least - the trip really enhanced my understanding of American and Belgian brewing. I can't wait for my next visit to the States, hopefully to the northeast or West Coast for another grand beer haul!