Abbaye Des Sept Minutes IV

From an alcohol standpoint, IV is the strongest entry of the Abbaye Des Sept Minutes series from Tooth and Nail and Godspeed, weighing it at a robust 10%. The Ontarian take on the Belgian quadrupel comes in 355mL cans. The beer inside is handsome bronze, with a sudsy cream head.

AD7M 4 has a malty and sweet aroma, with treacle and raisin notes, with just a hint of licorice. The flavour is big on dried fruit with some sweetness in the early going and a shift to molasses bitterness in the back end. The beer tastes boozy as hell, but the flavours are still subtle.

In my opinion, IV is the highlight of the Abbaye Des Sept Minutes series—it’s the most true to style entry and it has the most complex flavour.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Abbaye Des Sept Minutes III

Another entry from the series brewed by Godspeed and Tooth and Nail, Abbaye Des Sept Minutes III is a Belgian-style tripel. It’s a 9% golden ale that pours clear, under a white, sudsy head. The beer comes in 355mL cans, which is plenty to get your heart started!

AD7M III has a yeasty and tart aroma that touches on cranberry and apple notes. The flavour kicks off sweetly, with loads of boozy warmth. Beyond that, there is a degree of Belgian-style yeast, apple, and spice. The back end is warm and strong.

This beer is, to me, an approachable take on the tripel style. It has the heat, and some of the funk, but it doesn’t have a lot of the charming quirks that characterize the best tripels.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Abbaye Des Sept Minutes II

Sold in simple and rusty 355mL cans, Abbaye Des Sept Minutes II is a Belgian-style dubbel. At 8%, the beer is a collaboration between Ottawa’s Tooth and Nail and Toronto’s Godspeed. It’s a dull ruby ale with a shock of cream-coloured suds.

Interestingly, AD7M II has an extremely mild aroma—subtle notes of brown sugar and a bit of yeasty tang. The flavour is a bit more boisterous, with notes of raisin, plum, and spice, underscored with a slight metallic jangle.

What AD7M II lacks in aromatics, it makes up for in subtle depth of flavour. This beer has a flavour that seems finely tuned and meticulous. The strength and appearance are perfectly to style, too. I’d have liked a richer bouquet, but otherwise, the beer met and slightly exceeded my expectations.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Abbey Des Sept Minutes I

Abbey Des Sept Minutes I is a 6% blonde ale from the teams at Godspeed and Tooth and Nail. The beer comes in a simple orange 355mL can. The beer inside is an opaque orange-gold with a bloom of off-white suds.

AD7M I has fruity, yeasty aromatics, with notes of bake apple and clove. For flavour, I has a sweet and yeast-driven profile dusted with spice and fall fruits. The back end features a lilt of tart tanginess and a foray into floral bitterness.

The front end of this Belgian-style blonde is really well executed, but the finish doesn’t quite live up to my expectations—it’s nice enough, but not quite as on point as the initial burst of fruit and funk.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Abbaye Des Sept Minutes

Abbaye Des Sept Minutes is an innovative four-beer collaboration between two of Ontario’s standout breweries: Toronto’s Godspeed Brewery and Ottawa’s Tooth and Nail Brewing Co. The collab resulted in a series of four Belgian-inspired ales, each assigned a Roman numeral. There’s a blonde, a dubbel, a tripel, and a no-nonsense quadrupel.

Stay tuned to the Bitter World this week for my thoughts on this quartet of abbey-style ales.

Werecat

Werecat, from Toronto’s Blood Brothers Brewing, is a barrel-aged sour brown ale. The beer, which comes in 500mL bottles with spooky and gorgeous labels, weighs in at a robust 8.7%. It’s a dark brown ale with ruddy highlights, and it pours with a fast-receding off-white head.

Werecat has tart, winey aromatics, buttressed with woody sweetness. The flavour incorporates notes of molasses and muscovado sugar, tart cherries, wood, and booze.

This was an extremely enjoyable ale. I think that brown ales barrel age very well generally, and this one was executed nicely. And the sour elements were deftly balanced—present and pleasant, but not overpowering.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

Collective Arts IPA No. 19

I’ve fallen a bit behind on Collective Arts Brewing’s numbered IPA series during the pandemic, but I was eager to pick up a can of their IPA No. 19 when I saw it. No. 19 is a beefy 10.5% triple IPA brewed with a trio of hops: Azacca, Citra, and Nelson Sauvin. The beer comes in 473mL cans and is definitely best enjoyed on a full stomach. It’s a hazy dull gold and pours with an off-white head.

#19 has aromatics that mingle sweet citrus, dank resin, and a boatload of booze heat. The flavour isn’t actually as gargantuan as I was expecting. It’s got lots of fruit and warm booze, but to me, it’s far too sweet and lacks bitterness.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Stone Skipper Dry Hopped Saison

Stone Skipper Dry Hopped Saison is a cheeky little six percenter from the team at Eastbound Brewing Co. The Torontonian saison comes in 355mL cans. It’s a golden ale with some carbonation, though not quite as effervescent as I like in a saison. The beer pours with a sudsy white head.

To my nose, there are apple and baking spice notes and to my tongue, yeasty, floral elements and a sprinkling of ground pepper. The back end is dry, yeasty, and short.

Sometimes new world saisons get a little too ambitious for me, incorporating complicated herb/fruit/botanical combos. What I like about Stone Skipper is that it is a dry-hopped saison, full stop. The yeast and booze are balanced and provide classic saison elements, while the dry-hopping adds a floral character that is quite agreeable.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Fine Art Sour IPA

Sold in be-flamingoed 473mL cans, Fine Art Sour IPA is a brew from Whitby, Ontario’s Town Brewery. The beer is hazy gold with a thin layer of white foam. It’s a 6.2% sour IPA with a sharp, tart aroma. There are notes of lemon and cranberry in both the nose and the flavour. The finish is quite dry, short, and remains tart.

This beer has good strength and it delivers a tangy, sour flavour. Other than being above 6%, there isn’t a lot of IPA to this one, though.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.