Terry’s Chocolate Stout

A stout festively brewed with orange peel, Terry’s Chocolate Stout comes from Picton, Ontario’s Prince Eddy’s Brewing Company. Sold in 650mL (?) bottles, the label doesn’t list an alcohol count—just a mustachioed, sunglasses-wearing pint with an orangy background.

TCS is a dark beer with amber highlights and a dense and sudsy tan head. The beer has a milk chocolate aroma tinged with roasted malt and a hint of orange. The flavour is stout-y and chocolatey, but with only the faintest orange twist providing a little bitterness at the finish. Dwarfing the citrus, the flavour is rich in roasty malt and a sweet, chocolate vibe.

Not as thick and cloying as some chocolate stouts, but not the orange-heavy tipple I wanted it to be. The beer was enjoyable, but unremarkable.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Yummy! North East Pale Ale

Yummy! North East Pale Ale comes from Ottawa, Ontario’s Beyond the Pale Brewing. According to the ingredients list on the 473mL can states that the beer contains 5.4% alcohol and is brewed with both wheat and oats.

Yummy! is a milky golden brew with a fluffy white head. It has a juicy tropical fruit nose and a flavour to match. There is decent bitterness, but it is understated until the back end. Notably, the mouthfeel is extremely smooth for a pale ale—likely due to the use of oats.

BTP’s Yummy! is an agreeable pale ale with a great aroma, slightly underwhelming flavour, and excellent texture. All told, it’s certainly worth a taste.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Shacklands Passionfruit Wit

On the penultimate day of September, I figured the time for fruit flavoured wheat beers would be done for the year. However, the day was sunny and the temperature was pretty close to hot, so I cracked myself a 650mL bottle of Shacklands Brewing Co.’s Passionfruit Wit.

The 4.9% alcohol brew poured dull gold. It was hazy under a fluffy but quickly receding cloud of white head. The beer had a yeasty nose that was motivated by floral and citrus elements. Unexpectedly, the flavour was quite tart, with juicy fruit notes competing with funky sour sass. The finish had the most evidence of passion fruit, with a profile reminiscent of Sumol—sweet and tangy.

At first, the unlooked for tartness was a bit off-putting. However, as I leaned into the beer, I found myself more amenable to its charms. Indeed Shacklands’ Passionfruit Wit proved to be a welcome companion on a summery September day.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Goodspeed Smoked Saison

Happy Holidays from the Stout Man!

From Toronto, Godspeed Brewery’s Smoked Saison is a low-alcohol member of their “Pitch & Pray Series”. At just 4.2% alcohol, the beer has a sessionable weight; however, a pungent woodsy and yeasty aroma suggests that this little ale won’t be all that sessionable.

Godspeed’s Smoked Saison comes in 355mL tins. It is a crystal clear brew with a short-lived halo of white head and a pretty fair amount of carbonation. It has a lively but brittle mouthfeel that accompanies a flavour built around Belgian-style yeast. I’m not sure when and how the beer was introduced to smoke—it definitely has a faint tang of carbon, but it is mild and only really evident in the nose and at the finish.

I should confess a sin—this beer sat forgotten in my fridge for far longer than it should have. I think maybe the spare and small silver can made it easy to overlook. However it happened, the beer wasn’t as fresh as it ought to have been when I finally cracked it. It’s a testament to the brew that I still found it to be engaging and enjoyable a few months past its brew date. The beer is thin, but it manages some finespun dignity with its subtle smokey twist.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Cold Brew 2.0

Cold Brew 2.0 hails from Newport, Oregon, where it’s brewed by Rogue Ales. Billed as a “blonde ale blended with cold brew coffee”, the beer incorporates cold brew coffee from Stumptown Coffee Roasters. A 5.6% alcohol, 30 IBU ale, the beer comes in flashy 355mL cans.

An ale with a hazy orange hue and little head, CB2.0 exudes a hefty java odour that belies its light colour. To my mind, the flavour awkwardly pairs interesting cold brew with a dull blonde ale, with a result that is bitter, but unimpressive.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Starring Enigma

Starring Enigma is a New England IPA from Ottawa’s Beyond the Pale Brewing Co. An entry in BTP’s Starring series of India Pales, this one featuring Enigma hops, an Australian strain. The milky golden beer contains 6.5% alcohol and comes in 473mL cans. I picked up a can straight from the source and poured it out beneath a sudsy eggshell head.

Enigma has a pungently juicy aroma, with notes of fresh raspberries and tropical fruit. The beer is sweet on the front end, with loads of fruity elements. The finish has some bitterness, but I’d hazard that the IBU count is pretty modest.

A pretty fair example of the NEIPA style, Starring Enigma is enjoyable, but unremarkable. Pretty well-made stuff from a quality Ontario brewer, but not amongst their elite beers.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Éphémère Fraise & Rhubarbe

My review of Éphémère Fraise & Rhubarbe definitely has to go out to my father-in-law, the rhubarb eatin-est dude I’ve ever known.

A wheat beer, brewed by Unibroue in Chambly, Québec, E.F.R. is a 5.5% alcohol, 11 IBU ale on lees. A Belgian-style wheat, this beer joins together the two flavours that combine to form my very favourite pie. Plus, it comes in mighty 750mL bottles with lovely labels. 

 

The beer is cloudy and highly carbonated, with a thick cloud of suds on its noggin. There is a sweet and agreeable strawberry aroma backed against a fortification of slightly funky yeast. The rhubarb elements are understated and don’t really come to the fore until the beer hits the tongue. Even then, juicy strawberry is the dominant note and rhubarb is present only in a supporting role. The back end is characterized by wheat and yeast.

This beer is primarily sweet, which gives it a pleasant, after dinner vibe reminiscent of the pie. However, it should be said that I was pulling for a bit more of that classic rhubarb tartness to give it a bit more balance. Still and all, it was a nice tasting ale with some effervescence and a playful vibe. I’d gladly have another sometime soon. It’s a dandy autumn ale.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Allagash Hoppy Table Beer

Allagash Hoppy Table Beer is a funky looking potion. It’s a hazy golden brew that pours under a white head and with a yeasty presence that drops through the poured beer like a lava lamp. Brewed in Portland, Maine, by the Allagash Brewing Company, this 4.8% Belgian-style ale comes in 12oz bottles.

AHTB has a spicy, yeast-heavy aroma. For flavour, there is a load of Belgian-inspired elements led by wild yeast and tangy funk. Where the beer really sorta breaks down is at the finish, which is brief but which yields little of the eponymous hoppiness that I was hoping for.

A nice take on the table beer with some quality effervescence and some yeasty resolve. However, the promised hoppiness was in too limited supply, which left me underwhelmed.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Gamelle Grisette

Grisette is, according to my quick google research, a traditional Belgian style of ale that was brewed for miners. It’s similar to a saison, but with significantly lower alcohol.

I needed to do a quick bit of reading so that I’d know what I should expect from Kensington Brewing Co.’s Gamelle Grisette. I got a (600mL?) bottle from the Toronto bottle shop and kind of forgot about it for a little while. I was nervous when I pried of the cap that the 4.6% ale might have lost a step, but it was bright and still highly carbonated. Gamelle is a clear, effervescent pale golden brew. It pours with a sudsy white froth and features a nose that is both funky and crisp. The flavour features some slightly tart Belgian-style yeast elements, as well as some peppercorn and spice notes. The finish is short and dry.

A refreshing low-alcohol brew, if perhaps a bit brittle, Gamelle Grisette tastes fresh, but lacks depth at the finish. A great warm weather beer, though, and a nice, lighter option for saison fans.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

The 47 ESB

Lot 30 Brewers is a new beer builder located in my greater neighbourhood in Toronto’s west end. After a trip to their brewery and bottle shop, I brought home a 473mL can of The 47 ESB. It’s a 4% ale with a dark dull gold colour and very little head.

The beer has a sweet, biscuity scent with some solid malt notes. The flavour is fairly pleasant, with toasted malts, biscuit, and some sticky toffee. The read downside of this beer is its almost total lack of carbonation—it has the fizz you’d expect from a cask ale, but it isn’t a cask ale. There also isn’t a whole lot of bitterness, but it’s the fizz void that really hurts.

The flavour of this beer is, as mentioned, pretty rich and enjoyable. That’ll carry it along way, but the still nature is a drawback. The beer tastes good enough that I’d be interested in checking out more of Lot 30’s offerings, but I’m not inclined to buy this one again.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10.

Clean Cut Inspired by Kölsch

Clean Cut Inspired by Kölsch is, as you’d imagine, a Kölsch-style ale from Ottawa, Ontario’s Beyond the Pale Brewing. A 5% alcohol brew, CC comes in 473mL red, white, and blue cans. The beer inside is a cloudy straw gold number with a thin nimbus of white head.

The beer has a pleasantly crisp straw nose, backed with a gust of bitterness. The mouthfeel is a bit thin, but the flavour has grain and hay freshness. For finish, there is a slightly dry hops vibe.

I’d have expected this beer to be a bit clearer. It tastes fresh and fun, but not all that memorable.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

The Classy Cow

The Classy Cow is a milk stout that hails from Shakespeare, Ontario’s Shakespeare Brewing Co. At 5.5%, the stout has a pretty decent kick, and an amber-highlighted onyx colour with a creamy head. Sold in 473mL cans, The Classy Cow features a well-dressed Elizabethan bovine on the  label.

The beer has a sweet and rich roasted malt aroma. The flavour also delivers roasty malt, but this is somewhat drowned out by a massive dose of creamy sweetness. The mouthfeel is smooth and agreeable, though, and the finish has a nice café au lait bitterness.

A decent milk stout, but one that trades too emphatically in sweetness, The Classy Cow is tasty, but a bit cloying.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Riverside Copper Pilsner

Saulter Street Brewery is the proud parent of Riverside Copper Pilsner. A 4.7% alcohol amber lager, this Torontonian brew comes in 473mL cans.

Riverside is a handsome and clear amber brew that pours with a tin layer of eggshell head. It has a welcoming and warm aroma that has rich notes of caramel, something a bit metallic, and a deft touch of grain. The flavour is a mirror image of the scent, but with a bit more sweetness and a touch of yeast.

Perhaps not as crisp as I’d have liked, but Riverside proved to be nicely balanced and quite enjoyable. Also, having paid one memorable visit to the Saulter Street Brewery, I've got to put in a plug, because the folks there are particularly kind and chill--it's a genuinely nice spot to spend an afternoon.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Bandit Brut

Bandit Brut is a Torontonian example of that trendiest of 2018 beer styles, the brut IPA. From Bandit Brewery, Brut comes in 500mL bottles and contains just 5.6%. It’s a hazy orange-gold ale with a boatload of carbonation and peaks and valleys of dense white head.

Zevon says in "smells interesting"

The beer has a sweet, almost peachy aroma, as well as a whisper of bitterness. The flavour here was delicate, with perfume-y stone fruit and yeast doing yeomen duty and a bright, effervescent mouthfeel occupying the starring role.

Admittedly, this was my first dance with a brut IPA, so I won’t paint the whole subtype with the same brush, but I wasn’t blown away by Bandit’s Brut. The flavour was understated but too thin, and the mouthfeel was pleasant, but hardly captivating. I have a hard time classing this 5.6% ale as any sort of IPA. All criticism aside, though, the peach notes, while thin on the ground, were enjoyable. I know the Bard’s cliché about a rose smelling as sweet, but call this a pale ale and I feel like I’d have been more receptive. That failing is mine and not Bandit’s, especially since there was actually a lot to like about their Brut, so I can’t take it out on them in the ratings. What I will say, though, is that the flavour was too sparse and the percentage too low, whatever you call the thing.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Boone Creek Blonde

A blonde ale accented with orange zest and wildflower honey, Boone Creek Blonde is produced in Boone, NC by the folks at Appalachian Mountain Brewery. The clear golden ale pours with a modest fog of white head and contains a quaffable 4.9% alcohol. I received a 355mL can of the suds from the peerless KC. Thanks pal!

BCB has the grainy and malt-driven aroma that characterizes the bulk of North American golden ales, although with the slightly sweet uptick lended by honey. However, comparisons to generic macro beers cease as the flavour comes into its own—the beer is mild, but contains multitudes, with citrus and honey combining to provide a tea-like subtext that supplements grass and grain. The finish is only marginally hoppy, and combined with its sweetness, it doesn’t make for a crisp ale. However, mellowness grants a high level of drinkability.

BCB is my third trip to the Appalachian Mountain Brewery well. Not as good as Spoaty-Oaty, but better than Long Leaf, I’d place this smooth and drinkable blonde ale in between and I’d recommend giving it a try.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10