Houndstooth Irish Red Ale

It’d been a while since I placed an order from the folks at Eastbound Brewing Co., but checking their website in December showed a couple of new offerings that I wanted to try, including Houndstooth Irish Red Ale. The 5.1% ale comes in 355mL cans. The beer is bronze and pours with a decent covering of creamy head.

Houndstooth has an aroma that touches on caramel, copper, and roasted malt. The flavour starts sweet and bready and ends with caramel and ferrous notes.

Eastbound’s take on the classic Irish style is a pretty solid effort.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Dark Side Black IPA

A generous 7% number from Toronto’s Granite Brewery, Dark Side Black IPA is sold in noir 473mL cans. The beer is handsome and dark with a plume of creamy head.

Dark Side has a cracking aroma that balances pine and roasted malt. The flavour parades from bitter to sweet; initial evergreen gives way to roasted malt and a touch of licorice.

I love a good black IPA, and Granite’s version delivers satisfying suds. Good strength and a nice flavour make this a solid offering.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Funk Fuzz

 Funk Fuzz begins life in Whitby, Ontario; nurtured into existence at Town Brewery. It’s a 6.8% hazy IPA that comes in playfully ugly 473mL cans. The beer is an almost milky pale gold, under a silky white head. Bit of sediment, but nothing alarming.

FF has a smooth, tropical fruit aroma—mango and passionfruit, along with some OJ. The flavour has a mellow and sweet initial character, with tropical notes. It picks up a bit of steam at the back end, where citrus bitterness meets a dash of boozy heat.

The beer is almost certainly brewed with oats, since it is incredibly smooth. It tastes pretty good, but there isn’t much to distinguish this hazy IPA in an over-crowded marketplace. The finish is nice, but I’d have liked a more boisterous front end.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Three Philosophers

 My ol’ pal HW brought me a bottle of Three Philosophers from Brewery Ommegang when he returned from a trip to Rochester. The beer, from Cooperstown, NY, is a blend of Belgian-style beers; specifically a quad and a cherry kriek. At 9.7%, the beer has some big heft, and packs a punch even in 12 oz bottles. The beer itself is gorgeous—ruddy copper with a lush off-white head.

The beer has aromatics that are both woody and tart—cherry comes through in spades, but there is also some heat and a dose of lively yeast. The flavour has a lot of the characteristics of a young, tart red wine—interestingly tannic—but with a mellow and almost buttery texture. The beer is deceptively boozy, but it really sneaks up on you. The quad elements are understated—it isn’t particularly yeasty nor over-sweet—but it contributes great ballast. The beer is less sour than I anticipated, with cherry manifesting as syrup rather than tart.

I love it when a much-loved and hyped beer lives up to expectations. I have had more interesting Belgian blends, but this one was deftly balanced and tasted great. It’s the texture that really spoke to me—mellow and mild—an unusual vehicle for a beer approaching 10%.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

Tell Me Fortunes Double IPA

Enjoyed on a balmy New Year's Day whilst assembling a puzzle with the Bitter Wife, Tell Me Fortunes Double IPA is an 8% ale from the team at Rainhard Brewing in Toronto. Sold in 473mL cans with a crystal ball motif, the beer inside is dull orange-gold and pours with a lacy off-white head.

TMF has aromatics that wander from tropical fruit to resin, with a flash of booze. The flavour is a bit dank and a bunch boozy, with sweet tropical fruit throughout. The finish has a bit of sticky bitterness, but remains sweet.

Rainhard makes some good IPAs and DIPAs, but I don’t know that I’d count Tell Me Fortunes among my favourites. It’s frankly a bit too sweet for my tastes.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.