Canon Franchetti

I didn’t make it home for Christmas in 2018, choosing instead to spread the holidays with the Bitter Wife’s family in British Columbia. While the beer in BC was bountiful and excellent, I did have some pangs around missing out on another year’s crop of brews from my birth province. Enter my fantastic brother, who brought be two 341mL stubbies of Canon Franchetti, a cappuccino stout brewed in Edmundston, NB by Les Brasseurs du Petit-Sault. What a guy!

Brewed in honour of the first pastor of Edmundston’s St. John the Baptist Church, the beer has just 4.6% alcohol and 29 IBUs. According to the label, it’s brewed with lactose and fair trade coffee beans, but unfortunately the provenance of those beans is unstated. Note to craft brewers: identify your collaborators and suppliers!

The beer was coal black and poured with a quickly thinning layer of tan head—by the time I was done my describing and sniffing, there was merely a tan ring of suds left. True to its billing, Canon Franchetti had a robust cappuccino nose—dark roast coffee led the way, but it also had a sweet streak. The flavour had some malty elements, but mostly this beer showcases its java elements. The mouthfeel is quite agreeably smooth, while the finish is sweet and only a bit bitter.

When I’m drinking coffee, I prefer bitter to sweet and like espresso over cappuccino. Again, with coffee stouts, I typically want a wallop of bitter joe, as opposed to mocha and latte options. Given these preferences, it should be no surprise that I found Canon Franchetti to be a bit too sweet. That said, I liked the low alcohol take on the stout, and I found the beer to be playful and engaging. I’d be unlikely to reach for a second same-day, but I’d definitely revisit this brew in a post-dinner setting.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Darkwood Blackberry Saison

I don’t know that my photo fully captures the contrast, but Darkwood Blackberry Saison is a jaunty purple-tinted, pale pink-headed ale that comes in terrifying 473mL cans emblazoned with a huge demon looming over a little kid. See? Contrast.

Darkwood comes, ostensibly, from Toronto, where it is brewed by Brassroots Brewing Co., though the can explains that it is brewed and packaged in Gravenhurst, Ontario. The saison has just 4.3% alcohol, 33 IBUs, and it’s brewed with blackberry purée. It has a dry, yeasty nose supplemented by a whiff of fruit. The flavour is yeast first, with only a hint of the eponymous blackberries. The beer is thin, but fizz-happy, and culminates in a dry finish.

Given its lurid bruise colours, I expected Darkwood to exhibit a too sweet and juicy blackberry element. However, to my delight, it was an understated and elegant addition to a low alcohol saison. The beer was a bit too thin, but otherwise I found myself onboard. Clearly a beer suited to summer patios, I found myself drinking it as a first beer during a mighty snow storm, but the seasonal dissonance didn’t detract one bit. The label promises that “Darkwood is the first of many unique and carefully crafted beers that we vow to brew.” Ok, Brassroots, you’ve got my attention. I’ll be looking out for more.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Fickle Mistress

A 5.5% dry hopped sour, Fickle Mistress is raised in St. Jacobs, Ontario by the folks at Block 3 Brewing Co. Fickle Mistress comes in 500mL bottles with old-timey two-tone labels. According to the info on the side, my beer was bottled on November 13, 2018.

With a clear champagne colour and a cap of white fuzz, Fickle Mistress cuts an elegant figure. It has a tart strawberry scent, backed by a funky yeast fragrance. The flavour is quite mild for a sour, with berry and grape notes sitting in the driver’s seat. Riding shotgun, there is a bit of wild yeast, but not “wild” wild. Of the dry-hopping, I didn’t find there to be a whole lot of evidence or bitterness.

I though Block 3’s Fickle Mistress was a fair effort. Compared to their Frankenstout or Through the Quad, which I really enjoyed, Fickle Mistress was a little underwhelming. I genuinely liked the berry elements, but I wanted a bunch more funk or some more zealous hopping to take this beer to the next level. Still, as someone who drinks a lot of Ontario craft beer, I think the B3’s bottle shop in wee St. Jacobs is one of the as-yet-unvisited Ontario beer destinations I’d most like to hit up.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Tenacity Pale Ale

Sold in awesome 355mL cans that feature a bizarre “dog chasing its tail as ouroboros”, Tenacity Pale Ale comes from Tooth and Nail Brewing in Ottawa, Ontario. The 5.5% ale is a nicely carbonated orange-gold brew under a sudsy off-white head.

Tenacity has a nose that contains both sweet citrus and coniferous notes. The flavour is similarly constituted, though rather mildly arrayed around a slightly thin mouthfeel.

To me, Tenacity is a quality pale ale that has some of the trappings of an excellent one. It its flavour were a bit more boisterous, I think this would be a real beast. As it stands, it’s still quite a good offering from an excellent Ontario brewer.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Collective Arts IPA No 7

Next up in the series from Collective Arts Brewing is their IPA No 7. This sassy 7.1% brew is billed as a “Southern Hemisphere IPA featuring Nelson & Citra”. The beer in the spiffy 473mL can is dull gold, slightly hazy, and given some texture by a bit of sediment.

Born in Hamilton, Ontario, lucky #7 has, thanks to the Nelson Sauvin hop, a whiff of white grape alongside some juicy citrus. The beer is smooth and sweet, with a tang of white wine and a mellow, yet hoppy, finish.

As I wrote recently, IPA No 6 was a bit of a too juicy clunker. The seventh installment of the excellent series is considerably more subtle, yet boozier, too. A return to form!

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Base Camp West Coast Pale Ale

A serviceable and solid 5.4% ale, I got familiar with Base Camp West Coast Pale Ale during a stay with my in-laws. When I travel, I always buy a lot of beer for reviewing purposes, but I also make sure to pick up a sixer or a case of something for late-evening sipping. Enter a sextet of these li'l guys from Fernie, British Columbia’s Fernie Brewing Co.

The beer comes in 355mL cans with a camper van and surfboard vibe. A copper-toned ale, Base Camp pours with a thick cover of off-white suds. It has a nose that is sweet and fruity, but also sticky and dank. The flavour is a touch too sugary at the front end, but complimented with tropical notes. The back end has some resinous IPA qualities, but kept in check.

As I said off the jump, Base Camp is a serviceable beer. I don’t mean that as a pejorative. True, the beer will never be a star, but it’s pretty well made and tastes nice. True, I did find it overly sweet and insufficiently crisp, and it lacked the crispness I was expecting from a West Coast Pale Ale, but I still found myself gratefully reaching for another late into the night.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Prospect (DDH Simcoe)

Prospect is a series of single hop IPAs made by Toronto’s outstanding Left Field Brewery. The 355mL cans are, unfortunately, way overpriced in the provincial liquor stores, but when I saw a DDH Simcoe edition of Prospect, I snapped it up pretty quick anyway.

At 6.7%, the beer has decent strength. It’s a hazy, slightly milky golden ale that poured with a sudsy white head. To my nose, the beer had a juicy, tropical fruit nose spiked with something slightly floral. Simcoe Prospect tasted surprisingly boozy, with notes of over-ripe mango, some sticky resin, and a flourish of bitterness at the back end.

This was a tasty, dank, and juicy IPA with some verve. Questionable price tag nothwithstanding, I thought it was pretty good stuff, though I’d have liked a beefier IBU presence.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Foeder Fermented Grisette

Foeder Fermented Grisette is a low-alcohol Franco-Belgian style brew crafted by the team at Toronto’s Bellwoods Brewery. The beer, sold in 500mL bottles, clocks in at just 4%. It’s a sunny yellow potion with a hazy complexion and a thin layer of white head.

Bellwoods’ take on the grisette style has an earthy, yeasty aroma. Its flavour is extremely mild, primarily driven by funky yeast and supplemented by a floral note. The mouthfeel is effervescent and dry, but also quite brittle.

The Foeder Fermented Grisette is a crisp, refreshing take on the style. The flavour is nice, but I found it too delicate for my tastes.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Sparklepuff: Galaxy Starfighter, Defender of the Universe

Probably the most written about, ranted about, and complained about beer to come out of Ontario in recent years is Flying Monkeys’ Sparklepuff: Galaxy Starfighter, Defender of the Universe. The ‘Puff proponents love this juicy, 10.2% alcohol triple IPA; Sparkle haters are critical of the beer’s chunky, sediment-heavy appearance and texture. I’m way late to the game, but it’s time for the Stout Man to weigh in.

Born in Barrie, Ontario and housed in wacky 473mL cans, Sparklepuff’s packaging features a kitty with rainbow laser eyes and loads of attitude. The effusive copy on the can mentions that the beer is unfiltered—which is an understatement. The beer has more sediment than I’ve ever seen in a beer—more than any Belgian-style beer on lees or weissbier by a wide margin. The hazy, golden ale is, in a word, chunky. Not does it pour with a whole lot of head—just a thin measure of off-white suds.

 

Sparklepuff has a fruity, peachy nose that looms over a bitter base note. The flavour is undeniably potent, with sweet and tangy peach elements, assertive citrus hops, and a powerful booze blast. 

A lot of my fellow beer reviewers have been highly critical of the amount of sediment on display in this beer and I’d be remiss if I didn’t discuss it, too. To be fair, I’ve heard that this beer is a bit of a lottery and that some cans pour smooth and hazy, while others are full of floaties. But this “to be fair” isn’t a positive, when consistency is a hallmark of quality brewing. The (admittedly hearsay) can-to-can variation of Sparklepuff is evidence of an issue or a flaw. I’m typically partial to Flying Monkeys, so I’m willing to grant them some leeway, but this beer is imperfect. I’m not about to pretend to know what the problem is, since I’m a critic and not a creator, but something is wrong with this beer—that degree of sediment just can’t be okay. However, it does taste pretty grand, though the strength is perhaps unprincipled. Unlike some of my fellow beer bloggers and reviewers, I decided that I wouldn’t dump the back end of mine down the sink—I went for it, and found that the chucks were visible, but not nearly as tactile as I expected. Not exactly smooth, but certainly not evidently chunky if consumed blindfolded. Still, I’d be embarrassed to pour a beer like that for a guest or a pal without providing an awful lot of context.

So there: lots of ink spilled on an unattractive, wildly strong ale that I found to be flawed, but nonetheless enjoyable. If the Flying Monkeys can get their act together and clean this stuff up and ensure consistency, it could be a real winner. Until then, it has potential, but can’t score highly.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Orange is the New Pink

Orange is the New Pink is a 6% alcohol, 20 IBU wheat ale from the gang at Ottawa’s Beyond the Pale Brewing. Brewed as an orange answer to BTP’s grapefruit wheat beer, Pink Fuzz, the beer comes in spiffy 473mL cans.

OitNP pours with a hazy golden hue and a thin layer of off-white head. The beer has a juicy orange nose. The mouthfeel is pretty crisp, if a bit wispy, and the flavour kicks off with the sweetness of a Valencia orange, but closes more akin to a tangy OJ. Along the way, there is a orange zest bitterness that adds a bit of balance.

OitNP is juicy and agreeable. It is a bit too thin, but the beer is undeniably refreshing. Probably a nice hot weather beer that I quaffed in early January, I enjoyed the beer despite my seasonal faux pas.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Spaghetti Western Double IPA

During a holiday jaunt to Victoria, BC, I picked up a can of Spaghetti Western Double IPA. The 473mL can featured a cowboy-togged pile of noodles driving a wagon filled with hops, and that was enough to convince me to bring the 8.6%, 75 IBU beer home with me. Brewed in Vancouver, SW is made by Coal Harbour Brewing Co.

Spaghetti Western was a slightly hazy orange grog that poured with a thin covering of off-white head. It had a punchy, sweet evergreen flavour. The beer had big sweets up front over a malty body and a back end chock full of piney hops notes.

A bit too sweet in the whole, Spaghetti Western still had great strength a bit of charm, all wrapped up in a decidedly fun can. Glad I bought it, though I don’t imagine I’d buy it again.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Super Symmetry Oatmeal Stout.

Category 12 Brewing does its brewing damage in Victoria, British Columbia, and that’s where I picked up a 473mL can of their Super Symmetry Oatmeal  Stout. At 5.9% and 35 IBUs, Super Symmetry is a blackish ale that pours with a short-lived cream head.

To my nose, Super Symmetry is plenty malty, with a mellow mocha skeleton. The flavour has chocolate milk and malt on the front end with some java bitterness at the back end.

Smooth and fairly full-bodied, this is a nice take on an oatmeal stout. It has good balance and a lovely flavour.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Patagonia IPA

Patagonia IPA from Graystone (Gray Stone?) Brewing Co. in Fredericton, New Brunswick is pretty near the threshold where it might be classified as a double I.P.A., given that it contains a rowdy 8% alcohol and 80 IBUs. I received a 32oz crowler of the stuff from my great pal, A.O. The beer inside that monster can was clear, brassy, and lightly carbonated.

Through a thick and persistent layer of off-white suds, the aroma was pretty woodsy, with some boozy sweetness. The flavour, pretty easygoing for such a strong ale, balances some measured caramel sweetness at the front end with a finish packed with evergreen hops.

The 80 IBUs in this beer really snuck up on me—I didn’t find it all that bitter until the beer warmed up, but after that point, Patagonia packed a hoppy wallop. Left me pretty happy.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

People's Pint Pit-Stop: Wheat the North

An ode to, in my opinion, Toronto’s raddest professional sports team and their “We the North” slogan, Wheat the North comes from People’s Pint Brewing Company. A 5.1% dry-hopped American wheat ale, WtN comes in PP’s generic 500mL bottles. The beer is a hazy, dull orange, and it pours with some off-white suds.

WtN has a nose that is, at the same time, sweet, juicy, and a wee bit hoppy. The flavour has some citrus and berry sweetness up front and then it shifts into a bitterness more reminiscent of a pale ale than a wheaty brew, though there is some characteristic smoothness to the finish.

If you like your wheat beers well-hopped, Wheat the North could be for you. As for me, I certainly thought it was pretty good, though not nearly as well executed as some of the other People’s Pint offerings I’ve been sipping recently.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.