Henderson Export Stout

Initially created by Henderson Brewing Company as an entry in its “Ides of” series, Henderson Export Stout has, according to the 473mL can, become a recurring seasonal offering. The Torontonian ale is a 7% brew; nearly black under a sudsy tan head.

HES has a rich and engaging aroma, with notes of espresso and dark chocolate. The beer has a thick mouthfeel and a robust flavour, which is balanced between boozy sweetness and bitterness supplied by coffee and chocolate notes.

Ontario’s craft beer scene produces loads of pale ales and IPAs, but fewer quality porters and stouts than I’d like. Henderson Export Stout is a glorious dark ale addition. It’s strong, deeply satisfying, and balanced. In fact, it’s that balance that makes this beer—neither too sweet nor too bitter; roasty and malty, yet still nicely bitter. It’s easy to see why this beer was a gold medalist at the 2018 Canadian Brewing Awards!

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

IPA No. 11

Collective Arts Brewing’s IPA No. 11 is a lactose IPA made with Mosaic and Idaho 7 hops. Built in Hamilton, Ontario, the India Pale is a 5.8% alcohol number sold in 473mL cans decorated with an awesome rocket pop skyline. The beer is hazy as hell, golden-hued, and covered with white suds.

IPA No. 11 has a sweet, fruit smoothie aroma. The flavour is equally sweet and rich in tropical fruit notes—mango and pineapple, along with a slight coconut softness. The mouthfeel is creamy and quite thick, and the sweetness persists through the finish, with only a hint of bitterness.

Collective Arts’ numbered IPA series has had some big winners, a bunch of good ones, and only one dud. This one is a middle of the pack offering—good and interesting, but not elite or compelling.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Joufflue

My darling frère brought me home a couple of cans from a Montreal brewery, Archibald, following a recent work posting in La Belle Province. First up, Joufflue, a 4.2% wheat beer brewed with Hallertauer and Magnum hops and sold in 473mL cans.

Joufflue proved to be a dull gold beer; hazy with a thick and durable white head. Yeasty and a bit fruity, there was also a whisper of pilsner-style graininess in the aroma. The flavour was quite agreeable, and bigger than the sessionably low percentage led me to expect. With a yeasty profile and a bit of initial sweetness, the finish caught me off guard—slightly perfumed and decidedly bitter (seeming more substantial than the listed 12 IBUs).

This Quebecois wheat beer delivers a flavourful, light-bodied, and crisp take on the style. My only misgiving is the front end, which is a bit brittle—depth there and this would be an elite wheat beer.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Farmer in the Sky Dry Hopped Pilsner

According to its 473mL can, Farmer in the Sky Dry Hopped Pilsner is the brainchild of True History Brewing in Toronto, though it’s actually brewed in Calgary by Last Spike Brewery. The beer is a 4.9% pale lager.

A sunny, effervescent, and slightly hazy yellow gold brew, Farmer in the Sky has a mild dry and grainy aroma. In contrast, the flavour is pretty rowdy, with a grainy backbone supplemented with floral notes and a slightly coppery vibe. The finish is decently bitter, but not as crisp and punchy as I’d have liked.

Farmer in the Sky is a fair take of the dry-hopped pilsner. Bitter and full-flavoured, but not as crisp and abrupt as I’d have liked, the beer shows promise and I’d probably revisit it. Now that True History Brewing is on my radar, I’ll be keeping an eye out for future releases.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Spaghett

It’s called a Spaghett. That’s the irresistibly silly name of a beer cocktail that, in some circles at least, has been the runaway hit of 2019.

Simply built by combining about 85% of a bottle of Miller High Life, a healthy pour of Aperol, and a squirt or two of lemon juice right in the High Life bottle (take a big swig and you’re ready—I love a cocktail that doesn’t dirty a glass!), a Spaghett is easy, wildly refreshing, and playful as hell.

I saw a little item in Bon Appétit about the drink and decided to give it a whirl. I honestly couldn’t tell you the last time I spent hard-earned bucks on Miller, but I wanted to stay true to the recipe. And damn if it doesn’t taste great! The light-bodied beer supplies fizz and body, the Aperol adds a dash of herbaceous depth and a beautiful hue, and the lemon juice ties it all together with some citrus flare.

Apparently this little gem originated in Baltimore. My kudos to the clever Marylander who came up with and christened the Spaghett—well done!

Knucklebone IPA

The 473mL can that houses Knucklebone IPA is most definitely eye-catching. It features a large, ghoulish skull with a shiny gold tooth. The beer, produced in Oakville, Ontario for Skeleton Crew Brewing Company by the folks at Cameron’s Brewing. The beer uses a trio of hops (Galaxy, Azacca, and Mosaic) and reaches 6.5% and 65 IBUs.

Knucklebone is a slightly cloudy dull gold ale. It pours with a fluffy off-white head, through which emerges a sweet and juicy aroma. The beer has nice balance, with a fairly robust malt profile offsetting a hop bitterness that blends orangy citrus and a whisper of pine.

Knucklebone is a good addition to Ontario’s crowded IPA landscape. It has a flavour that mixes tropical and citrus fruit with a fairly burly sweet malt presence, giving it a niche profile—neither fully juicy nor evergreen. It is perhaps a touch too sweet, but otherwise I thought the beer got the job done with some style. Though I’d like the percentage to be closer to 7, assuming it remains available, I picture myself drinking lots of this stuff in the years ahead (note: I wrote my review in September; as I was typing it up in October, I was, in fact, drinking a Knucklebone).

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Big Rig Premium Pilsner

Sold in remarkably low-key 473mL cans, Big Rig Premium Pilsner is a 5.2% alcohol from Kanata, Ontario’s Big Rig Brewery. BRPP is a crystal clear straw yellow pale lager. It pours with a short-lived crown of bright white head.

The pale lager has a nose that moves from sweet to arid, but united by cereal grains. The flavour has a similar profile, beginning sweetly and ending with dry bitterness. 

The beer is refreshing, but not exactly crisp, and that gives a sensation of thinness. Some more carbonation might have really helped a lot. However, the highly grainy flavour profile is pretty agreeable.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

I’mpeach Double IPA

I did a bad goof—I forgot about a 355mL can of I’mpeach Double IPA from Escondido, California and a Richmond, Virginia, brewed by Stone Brewing Co. Now it’s well past its enjoy by date and I’ll not be able to easily replace the stuff (a gift from the gracious and glorious KC). So here’s what I propose: I’m going to do a non-review review—I’ll write about the beer, describe it, but not rate it. Sound fair? I don’t honestly care.

I’mpeach is a boomer, at 8.8% alcohol. It’s a hazy, dull orange grog topped with an off-white toupee of suds. The beer, presumably brewed with peaches or peach purée or some such, has a boozy, sweet, and dank aroma, with definite stone fruit notes. The flavour commences with serious sweetness—it’s malty, and boozy, fruit-forward. The back end has some typical double IPA characteristics: persistent, alcohol-enhanced sweetness and heady bitterness (in this case dank and resinous). However, through it all there are peach notes to spare—and not peach the way you’re thinking, either. It’s the heavy, rum-soaked peach slice at the bottom of last night’s cocktail—a peach that has seen some shit.

Despite my faux pas of over-aging this ale, I actually really enjoyed it. It was a burly brew that was buoyed by its association with peaches gone mad. Were I assigning a rating, this beer’d have done well, despite the fact that I’d likely not snap the top on a second can in the same evening if you paid me.

All Eyes on Yuzu Pale Ale

Brewed in Bracebridge, Ontario with flaked oats and yuzu purée, All Eyes on Yuzu Pale Ale is a quirky entry that originated from Muskoka Brewery’s Moonlight Kettle Series and has, as the 473mL can says, “graduated”.

The beer contains 5.3% alcohol. It pours orange-gold and hazy, with a fluffy eggshell head. The yuzu (a yellow or green citrus fruit hailing from Japan and Korea) gives the beer a citrusy nose, with lemon, grapefruit and lime elements. The flavour, too, has a citrus spine, though grapefruit-like notes are more pronounced that their lemon-lime cousins. The back end has some pale ale bitterness, though this is balanced with some biscuity sweetness.

An (for me, at least) unfamiliar citrus fruit used in brewing makes my heart go pitter pat, so All Eyes on Yuzu was already off to a good start. The result is a pretty mellow, enjoyable pale ale with an unusual flavour that tastes somewhere between grapefruit and cough drop (but in a mostly good way). A nice sunny day ale from a brewery that associates itself with dock drinking is a pretty good move, and this one was executed quite well. A bit more crispness would have really sealed the deal, though.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Sublime Lime Witbier

Sublime Lime Witbier is a cheery little number from Toronto’s Saulter Street Brewery. It’s made with wheat, lime peal, and coriander, resulting in a 4.2% sessionable beer sold in 473mL cans. The beer itself is a slightly cloudy potion with a gold colour and a fluffy white head.

With a tangy aroma, Sublime is undoubtedly lime-focused. The flavour, too, is lime-oriented and a bit tart, supplemented with a quirky yeast profile and the slightly metallic clang of cilantro. The mouthfeel is a bit thin, perhaps, but not problematically so. 

A lovely low-alcohol summer afternoon beer, Sublime brings a welcome lime flavour into beer, without the cloying synthetic flavour that some of the macros have adopted.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Rhuby Cove Cream Ale

According to the copy on the 473mL can, Rhuby Cove Cream Ale was originally developed by Mill Street Brewery’s St. John’s, NL outlet. This version, brewed by Mill Street in Toronto, is made with rhubarb purée and strawberry purée. The flavoured beer has a hazy, dull orange-gold colour and it pours with a modest layer of eggshell head.

Rhuby Cove has an aroma that is straight up strawberry rhubarb pie—sweet and slightly tart, with lots of fruit. The flavour, too, has lots of nods to that pastry delight; however, there is an underlying ale element that doesn’t totally land. The mouthfeel is a bit thin.

The combo of fruit purée and nondescript cream ale isn’t bad, but a pale ale with a bit more crisp crackle or else some saison funk would’ve made me a happier lad. Still, the beer is interesting and more than just a novelty. Rhubarb is a flavour that I believe is well suited to beer. This particular effort isn’t my favorite as an integer; however, it truly nailed that strawberry rhubarb pie aroma (a personal fave), and that’s worth a lot to me.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Wayne Gretzky Craft Brewing’s Rye Lager.

Perhaps an odd choice to mark the first Sunday of the NFL season, but I opted for a 473mL can of Wayne Gretzky Craft Brewing’s Rye Lager. The 5% lager comes from Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. It’s a clear golden lager with a boatload of carbonation and fluffy white head.

The beer has a toasty, malt aroma, accented with lots of cereal grains and just a whisper of spice. The flavour is grainy and malty, with perhaps a bit more depth than I expected. The use of rye is pretty subtle, but there is a little bit of heat that comes through at the finish; however, the finish lacks the degree of crispness that makes a pale lager elite.

The Great One’s rye lager isn’t a great one, but it’s certainly not a bad effort. I’d be happy to revisit this li’l fella from time to time.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Mala-Letra IPA

I make it a rule to review no more than three beers in a session, lest my palate become muddied. However, as we all know, some rules are made to be broken. During my visit to Letraria Craft Beer Garden in Porto, I found myself three beers deep without having tasted an IPA. I asked my new pal behind the bar and he consulted with a well-informed regular, and they settled on Mala-Letra IPA, a pan-Iberian collab between Spain’s Mala Gissona and Portugal’s Letra.

Just 6.5%, but 60 IBUs, Mala-Letra was a slightly cloudy, honey-gold ale under a bright white head. The beer came in the smallish 33cL cans favoured in Portugal. It had a rich and deep nose, dominated by Valencia orange notes. The flavour maintained the orange presence, but also folded in some sweet malt initially, and a sticky resinous streak to the finish.

The result, to my mind, was a pretty convincing take on the classic American West Coast IPA. Stronger alcohol content would have been to its advantage, perhaps, but Mala-Letra was clearly mindfully brewed by people who take the gig seriously. My only other concern was the sweetness, which I found a bit too pronounced at the dawning of each sip.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Letra Late Harvest Wild Grape

As is typically my practice when spending an afternoon at a brewery or craft beer bar, for my third glass, I asked the opinion of the person behind the bar. The dude at the Letraria Craft Beer Garden wasted no time in recommending the Late Harvest Wild Grape from the Letra on Oak series of barrel aged beers. A 7% ale, the beer is French oak-aged with 20% late-harvested Fernão Pires grapes. The 370mL bottle arrived corked and caged. Once freed, the hazy golden ale exuded a singular sweet and funky white wine aroma. Though it poured with a modest white head, this faded almost immediately, leaving only some loose, sudsy tectonics.

The beer had a tart, yeasty flavour. Not sour, exactly, but certainly funky in the way of a wild saison or a particularly tangy Belgian ale. The winy nose persisted into the flavour, though it was joined by notes of sour cherry and wacky yeast.

I always love to ask staff what I should be sampling. In this instance, I ended up with a quirky, barrel-aged, grape infused beer I’d never have ordered myself. And the result was really quite excellent—unique flavour, lots of booze, and a nice opportunity to talk beer with a dude who knew his stuff. I also seldom get to see an “enjoy by” date that extends to 2030.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.