Zenith Belgian Golden Ale

A lengthy walk down Toronto’s decrepit Dufferin Street left me with a powerful thirst, so I ducked into Laylow Brewing Co., reputed to be Toronto’s smallest craft brewery.

The place was empty when I walked in, but it definitely shouldn’t be. It’s a cool little spot, partnered with Young Animal, a Trinidadian kitchen, with hip hop on the stereo and an array of interesting beers, mostly with Belgian leanings. Exceptionally friendly staff behind the bar. Really a good place.

To warm my bones and ease my mind, I ordered a Zenith Belgian Golden Ale, recommended by the guy working the bar. A 6.1% ale, the beer showed up golden and pretty, with just a disc of white head. I was dubious when the tasting notes in the menu listed bubblegum next to stone fruit and shortbread—mostly because bubblegum is nasty. But damn if there wasn’t a hint of the pink stuff in the nose, nestled with white wine and powerful yeast notes. The flavour was just dandy—notes of dry white wine, a bit of apple, and some playful yeast. The mouthfeel moved quickly from sweet to dry, building to a curt finish with only a tickle of bitterness.

My first taste of ale from Laylow was just about everything I wanted it to be—tasty, subtle, and Belgian-inspired. A nice change up from downtown Toronto’s infatuation with NEIPAs, the beer left me eager to work through the whole list.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Hümber Helles

On a chilly December Sunday afternoon, a cheery little lager is just what the doctor ordered. Enter Hümber Helles, a Helles lager from Toronto’s Great Lakes Brewery. The 4.8%, 12 IBU pale lager is sunny-hued and brightly carbonated, with a modest crown of white suds. The beer is sold in 473mL cans.

Hümber has sweet hay and grain aromatics. Behind a mellow mouthfeel, it has a sweet and grassy flavour with just a speck of bitterness evident at the back end.

Hümber Helles Lager is fairly enjoyable; however, it’s too sweet and that affects the crispness negatively, making the beer a little less refreshing than I’d have wanted it to be.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Lula’s Kentucky Common

Brewed in Toronto by Great Lakes Brewery in collaboration with a homebrewer, Lula’s Kentucky Common is a 5.3%, 23 IBU alcohol ale made with flaked rye, flaked corn, and molasses. It’s a handsome brown beer that pours with a thin cap of white head and sold in 473mL cans with a hound dog on the label. It’s a member of GLB’s 7 Barrel Series.

Lula’s has a sweet, sticky aroma with molasses and malt notes leading the way. A classic brown ale scent. The flavour is malty, woody, and flecked with notes of sweet, dried fruit. It finishes sweetly and with only limited bitterness. Through it all, there is just a hint of rye heat.

Lula’s is my first experience with a Kentucky common, so my frame of reference is limited to a field of one. Wikipedia tells me that it’s a dark cream ale classically brewed pre-Prohibition. It’s apparently not a frequently produced style. Based on my experience with Lula’s, I found it to be a sweetish brown ale—sipable and agreeable, with a smooth body. Lula’s was perhaps a touch too sweet, but it has nice brown sugar, toasty caramel, and molasses notes. As a brown ale fan, I can understand how beers like Lula’s used to be en vogue in the Louisville area. I don’t know whether this is a good exemplar of the style or a poor one, but I can safely say it was tasty and interesting. It had English ale characteristics, with a whisper of low-yeast Belgian dubbel thrown in for good measure. I liked it a lot and I’d like to try more in the style.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Miami Weiss White Pale Ale

Roll up your blazer sleeves! I’m reviewing Miami Weiss White Pale Ale from Toronto and Great Lakes Brewery. According to the pitch on the can, the beer isn’t a weiss and they’ve never even been to Miami—rather, the name is “just something the guys in marketing came up with.” MW is a wheat beer, though, and at 4.5%, its a pretty sessionable one. And at 35 IBUs, it has some pale ale bitterness, too.

MV is sold in 473mL cans that feature lurid pink and turquoise colour scheme and a palm tree scene. It’s a hazy, pale gold beer that pours with a hefty fluff of white suds. It has a vivid nose rich in sweet, tropical fruit notes and a whiff of yeast. The wheat ale is plenty flavourful for a low alcohol number, with fruit up front and some citrus bitterness at the back end, but it also has a mellow, smooth wheat beer mouthfeel.

I liked MV quite a bit. I’m not always warm to wheat ales (unless they’re exquisite), but the pale ale hybrid nature of this little, low-booze buddy got me pretty close to where I wanted to be.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Trivia Winnings

On a chilly Thursday night, I played a little pub trivia with an all-star quartet that included the Bitter Wife and our good pals CC and VC. The event, hosted at a little Toronto pub, was a delight and it turned out to be a close thing, but our crack team of trivia buffs managed to pull out a .5 point victory. And the prize? A sextet of Great Lakes Brewery’s small scale releases. Each couple took home a trio, and the ones we got were Miami Weiss White Pale Ale, Hümber Helles Lager, and Lula’s Kentucky Common—none of which I’d ever tried before.

Stay tuned this week for my take on the three fruits of our winnings—offerings from one of Toronto’s elite craft brewers that I likely wouldn’t have tasted had we not known a couple of obscure facts.

Freakshow Crush Hazy IPA

The 473mL cans of Freakshow Crush Hazy IPA feature a collection of wacky sayings and slogans—more than I cared to read, honestly. It’s a pretty wild looking bit of packaging. The beer, born in Barrie, Ontario, comes from Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery. It’s a 6.3% ale that pours a handsome and hazy pale gold under a crown of white foam.

 

Freakshow Crush has a pleasant aroma, with sweetness and bitterness blended together around notes of grapefruit and orange. The ale moves from sweet to bitter, with a delicate, juicy opening note and a considerably more robust citrus finish.

I enjoyed this take on the hazy IPA. It’s got the right ratio of juice to bitterness and the hazy appearance was well executed. The front end was a bit thin for me, but otherwise I thought it worked pretty well.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Old Buddy Espresso Brown Ale

Sold in extremely spiffy 473mL cans, Old Buddy Espresso Brown Ale comes from Wellington Brewery in Guelph, Ontario. The beer is made with espresso reduction and using oats and brewed up to 5.4% alcohol.

Old Buddy is a very dark brown and it pours with a short-lived tan head that shrunk rapidly to a disc of suds. The beer has a potent, coffee-fueled nose buttressed by a bit of spice. The flavour is robust, built around sturdy espresso notes and fitted comfortably into a malty, brown ale body. The back end is agreeably bitter, with persistent java vibes and a whisper of spice.

To me, brown ales and coffee are born partners, and Wellington’s Old Buddy worked the combo professionally. This is a tasty beer with loads of flavour, decent strength, and quality execution. I’d enthusiastically buy this beer again; however, I wouldn’t drink more than one in an evening.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

Key West Lime Gose

Born at Radical Road Brewing Co., an East End Toronto suds shop, Key West Lime Gose is a member of the brewery’s Funk & Sour Series. I grabbed a 355mL can at the brewery and poured out a pale golden brew topped with a thin circlet of white suds. At just 3.8%, the beer is quaffable, or would be but for its tartness and salinity.

KWLG has a nose that twitches twixt briny and tart. It has a salty tang that balances a citrus swizzle. In short, it’s both sour and salty to the nose and through the flavour as well. For a low-alcohol brew, this one has intense flavours, kicking off with sea salt assertiveness and merging into lime acidity with just a sliver of sweetness that left me licking my lips.

The result is a shot of tequila short of a margarita. This beer is interesting and assertive. Despite its light weight, it certainly isn’t timid. The flavours pair pretty well, though I found the lime to have a slightly artificial vibe—there is no claim on the can that the lime flavour is natural, but using artificial stuff doesn’t mean it has to taste phony. All told, it was a pretty good gose with electric attitude.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Barrel Aged Anubis

Barrel Aged Anubis is a Baltic porter from the gang at Black Lab Brewing and their Barrel Series. The beer is a massive 12% alcohol ale sold in 500mL bottles. It’s a dark as midnight brew that pours with almost no head—just a scattering of an suds.

For such a powerful beer, BAA has an unexpectedly reserved scent—it is slightly woody and sweet, with some raisin notes, but it is definitely not nose overpowering. While the aromatics are a bit underwhelming, that doesn’t seem to translate into the flavour, which is rich and robust. More than anything, this ale has loads of wood-aged sweetness and a boozy hit. The beer is quite malty, with a liquor element that I liken to brandy. Behind all of that, there are smokey molasses and cocoa expressions and a bit of raisin, too, which lends a fruitcake quality. The mouthfeel is extremely thick, and there is a kiss of bitterness at the back end.

Named for the dog-headed Egyptian god of death, Barrel Aged Anubis is a powerful, boozy bomb. It’s not exactly subtle, but there are definitely layers in this beer. However, I found that the substantial barrel-aging managed to drown out some of the classic porter elements that I was pulling for. I liked the brew, but I didn’t love it.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Positive Reinforcement

Rorschach Brewing Company calls its 6% alcohol festbier Positive Reinforcement and sells it in 473mL cans. It’s a clear, deep gold lager that pours with a tuft of white suds.

The beer has a malty, slightly metallic aroma, and its flavour largely matches. The beer has sweet and malty notes in the early stages and grows into a fairly healthy bitter and dry finish. In the background, there are pleasant metallic notes and grainy elements.

Festbiers aren’t something I have a lot of experience with, but I can say that I enjoyed this punch little lager a fair bit. It was quite flavourful, yet still relatively refreshing. I wouldn’t call it particularly memorable, but it was plainly well-made.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Sinodaur IPA

From the Hops Series at Toronto’s Radical Road Brewing Co., Sinodaur IPA is a 6.7% brew. Sold in 355mL cans, the beer is a hazy, light gold, with lots of carbonation and a fluffy layer of white suds.

Sinodaur has a sweet and juicy mango nose. The flavour, too, features some mango notes and considerable sweetness. These are (mostly) balanced against a dose of citrus bitterness. And for mouthfeel? Smooth and silky.

A bit too much sweetness and too little bitterness than would have been ideal for the ol’ Stout Man, but the juicy mango notes in both the flavour and aroma of Sinodaur IPA left me fairly impressed. I’d definitely advise any juicy IPA fan in Toronto to check this bad boy out.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Charming Rival Double IPA

Charming Rival Double IPA was highly recommended to me by the chap working reception at Toronto’s Avling.https://www.avling.ca/ The beer packs a pretty decent wallop at 8% alcohol. Sold in 355mL cans, the dull gold ale is brewed with Ontario wheat, has a lot of carbonation, and pours under a persistent cylinder of white suds.

Sweet and juicy to the nose, Charming Rival has loads of fruity aromatics. The flavour continues to be sweet, and, though still present, the fruit notes (guava and grapefruit) are dialed back a bit. In their place, citric, resinous bitterness amps up and boozy warmth enters the frame. As well, there is a decent display of malt.

A double IPA with a nice flavour and one that isn’t overpoweringly sweet, Charming Rival has lots in its corner. I wouldn’t complain if it were a bit more bitter, but this stuff gets the job done.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Hedonism Guava Sorbet Sour IPA

My first ever sorbet IPA was Hedonism Guava Sorbet Sour IPA, a quirky ale from Toronto’s Rorschach Brewing Co. The 6.9% ale comes in 500mL bottles that claim to “strive to balance the base elements of sourness, bitterness, and sweetness to lay the foundation for an abundant fruit character, with a matching fluffy texture, to come as close as possible to juice in beer form.” Well.

Hedonism Guava is a cloudy, golden orange  grog that definitely does have a juicy appearance. The nose has considerable sourness and lots of guava. The flavour kicks off with a creamy sweetness, though this is followed quickly by a shock of tangy guava sourness. As you’d expect, the mouthfeel of this juicy brew is extremely creamy.

As advertised, this beer is a conflagration if sweet, sour, and bitter, though I’d have liked more of the bitterness element and less of the sweetness. Guava flavour was wielded effectively, though, and the beer had good strength. This quirky ale promised a lot and delivered much, but I’m not convinced that I’d reach for a second if I had one in the fridge.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Go For Broke Kellerbier

Go For Broke Kellerbier is a 5.7% brew from Radical Road Brewing out of Toronto. The beer, a hazy, champagne-hued number, comes in 355mL cans and pours with a short-lived white head.

 

RR’s take on this old world German-style lager has a sweet, yeasty nose with banana aromatics. The flavour is quite full-bodied, with a sweet to bitter progression. There are yeast and banana notes up front and a toasty bitterness at the back end.

Kellerbier is not a style that I see everyday, and I haven’t been lucky enough to try for than a handful. Therefore, I don’t know how this brew stacks up compared to the world’s finest Kellerbiers. That said, I know that I really liked this one. It was rich and bursting with interesting flavours.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Serenity

Serenity is a hoppy lager brewed in Toronto by Rorschach Brewing Co. It’s a sessionable 4.5% lager sold in 473mL cans. The beer within is a sunny straw colour with loads of carbonation and a thin layer of white suds.

This pale lager has a gritty, earthy hops nose, with a faint whiff of gym shoe. The flavour, too, is extremely bitter, with floral and earthy hops notes that I’d usually associate with an English IPA. The mouthfeel is crisp and crackling, making this a very refreshing lager.

This is an enjoyable lager with an odd and agreeable flavour profile. It’s session-friendly but packed with bitterness. The only drawback is that touch of feet in the nose.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Strawberry Rhubarb Kennel Sour

On a lovely sunny fall afternoon, I selected a 500mL bottle from Black Lab Brewing’s Kennel Sour Series—the Strawberry Rhubarb edition. Born in Toronto, the Strawberry Rhubarb Kennel Sour contains 4% alcohol. It has the pinkish colour of a ruby red grapefruit juice and pours with a very thin layer of white suds.

The Strawberry Rhubarb Kennel Sour has a tangy, tart nose, backed with a measure of dessert sweetness. The flavour debuts with considerable sourness, built around tart rhubarb notes. There is a bit of strawberry, too, though it is a secondary element.

A nice sour ale, Black Lab’s strawberry rhubarb effort has a ratio that is agreeable in a beer; however, if you served me a pie that skewed this heavily toward rhubarb tartness, I might be less than impressed. The beer has a thin mouthfeel, but a jolt of sourness helps to overcome it.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Avling IPA

Avling IPA comes from Toronto’s Avling Brewery, where the 6% ale is deposited into stylish 355mL cans. The beer, a light gold potion, pours with a thin covering of off-white suds.

With potent notes of tropical fruit, Avling IPA has a glorious aroma. The flavour has a sweet and juicy front end, with pineapple elements integrated brilliantly. That gives way to a floral, slightly earthy finish that maintains the fruitiness and is excellently bitter.

While I’m tempted to be effusive in my praise of Avling IPA (my first taste beer from this relatively new east-end brewery), there were a couple of things I’d have changed. Foremost, I’d have upped the octane just a bit to something closer to 7%. But also, I’d have smoothed out the front end to make it just a little less sweet. Otherwise, this is a fantastic IPA. The finish, particularly, is compelling.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Straight Up Sour w/ Peaches

From Toronto’s Radical Road Brewing Co. and their Funk & Sour Series comes Straight Up Sour w/ Peaches, a 6% sour ale brewed with Ontario peaches.

The beer is yellowy gold and pours with almost no head. It has an acidic nose with loads of peach notes. For flavour, we’re dealing with considerable tartness and a bit of fruity funk, although less peachy than I’d have liked. The mouthfeel was a touch thin, though the booze quotient was optimal.

This beer had promise and delivered with some good attributes, but I’d really have liked it if it’d hit the peach harder and featured a bit more carbonation.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Killer Cupcake Panda

According to its tag line, “Cute can be vicious”. That’s the word on Killer Cupcake Panda, an 8.3% double pastry IPA from Guelph, Ontario’s Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery. Brewed with citrus custard, pandan leaves, and “vanilla cupcake aromas”, the beer is a hazy golden grog with a thin cover of white foam.

KCP has a sticky and extremely sweet vanilla nose. The flavour kicks off with sweet vanilla notes, but, in the later stages, that cupcake sweetness shares the bill with confectionary citrus notes and an odd floral bitterness.

I’m dubious of pastry beers generally, and pastry IPAs in particular. This one did little to assuage my suspicions. The flavours are very strong, but not entirely in accord. If I’m being honest, the vanilla notes deliver exactly as promised. However, the pandan and the curd don’t really jive well with big booze in the finish, with a result that is a bit disjointed. Flying Monkeys should be praised for trying something quirky and innovative; however, the end result just isn’t for me. Too much sweetness clashing with bitterness and odd flavours that aren’t entirely complimentary. This might easily be someone’s cup of tea, but I found it a bit bewildering.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Clair-obscur

Clair-obscur, from Archibald Microbrasserie in Quebec City, is a schwarzbier, a German-style smoked dark lager. It’s a 5.5% brew sold in 473mL cans. It’s a black, cola-coloured lager with a thin layer of short-lived, off-white head.

With its powerful smoky aroma, Clair-obscur has loads roasty malt notes. The flavour is smokier still, with serious campfire energy, along with a bold, slightly sweet malty vibes. The finish remains persistently smoky, with just a hint of bitterness.

I love a nice schwarzbier, and Clair-obscur gets the job done with aplomb. It has a nice strength (honestly, it tastes stronger than 5.5%) and a lovely flavour, though I’d like a touch more back-end bitterness.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

The Wolf of Glen Moray Port Cask Finish

The Wolf of Glen Moray Port Cask Finish is a “dark Scottish ale aged in a Glen Moray whisky cask” brewed in Lossiemouth, Moray, Scotland by Windswept Brewing Co. This one is aged in a port finish cask. It’s a burly 9% ale with a deep mahogany colour and a very this cream head. It comes in a 330mL bottle, sold in a whisky-style tube. My bottle was hand-numbered (4279/4344).

The Wolf Port Cask has a terrifically rich and sticky sweet aroma—malt heavy, with notes of raisin and treacle. The flavour is sweet, initially, with boozy, dried fruit leanings. The back end is warm, faintly bitter, and has subtle whisky elements.

This beer was highly agreeable; all the more so because it was woody without being overly sweet. Often I find barrel-aged strong ales run too saccharine, and this one displayed admirable restraint. Boozy and flavourful, this stuff was jammin’.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Fergie’s Classic Pilsner

Named in honour of one of the most successful Canadians to ever play Major League Baseball, Fergie’s Classic Pilsner is apparently a collaboration between Sons of Kent Brewing Company and the man himself, Ferguson Jenkins. Both the brewery and the Hall of Fame pitcher hail from Chatham, Ontario, and this beer raises funds for the local Children’s Treatment Centre. Sold in 473mL cans that feature Jenkins’ MLB careen wins, ERA, and strikeout totals (3,192!!!), the pale lager contains 4.9% alcohol. It’s a clear yellow-gold brew with decent carbonation, although it doesn’t pour with a whole lot of the white head that caps the beer.

Fergie’s Classic Pilsner has a grassy and sweet fragrance. The flavour kicks off sweetly, with cereal notes steering the ship. Bitterness picks up towards the stern, but not with the level of gritty crispness that I like to see in a pilsner.

For me, Fergie’s is an enjoyable enough lager in honour of a good cause and a great ball player, but it’s not sufficiently crisp or flavourful to stake a claim as an elite Ontario pilsner.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Evil Genius

Another entry from Skeleton Crew Brewing Company (brewed by Cameron’s Brewing in Oakville, Ontario) is Evil Genius, their 4.5% 34 IBU session IPA brewed with Crystal and Loral hops. The beer is handsome gold, with a thin layer of white head and an unfortunate concentration of tiny suspended chunks which give the appearance of an attempt at haze gone a bit askew.

Evil Genius has an agreeably juicy, slightly tangy aroma. The flavour is built on the same foundation, with citrus notes up from and a slightly perfumed bitterness in the back end.

 

My first thought on noticing the slight granularity in the beer is that it might be a bit old, but the absence of a date stamp on the can leaves that an open question. Additionally, I might have acquired a can from a flawed batch. Or it could be a brewing issue. Whatever the source, the version of Evil Genius that I cracked looked a bit off. However, it should be said that it had no impact on the flavour, which was perfectly pleasant, or on the mouthfeel, which was agreeably crisp.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Wet Hop Cascader Invader

Perth, Ontario and the Perth Brewery are the sources of Wet Hop Cascader Invader, a session-friendly pale ale. According to the 473mL can, the brew is a collab with a local hop farm and it supports “our community foundation”—no details about the what and the how.

The brew itself is a 4.7% job. It has handsome dull gold colouring and pours with a lush nimbus of off-white head. To my nose, WHCI has a slightly sweet lemony note, balanced against malty biscuit. The taste follows the same blueprint, but writ large: the flavour is rich in sweet citrus and toasty malt. There is some fresh and floral bitterness that becomes evident at the back end.

Aside from the excellent packaging, what stood out most to me about this beer was a vibe of freshness—it has notes that are agrarian, damp, and enjoyable. The mouthfeel is a bit thin, but otherwise I liked it a lot. I gotta think that an Ontario beer built by wet hopping fresh hops likely has to be a seasonal offering, but I’m going to buy more of this stuff while I can and hope it comes back yearly.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Versaverse IPA

One of the nice things about living across the park from a great brewery is freshness. I just picked up a 473mL can of Versaverse IPA that was brewed three weeks ago and that’s fine by me.

Versaverse comes from Toronto institution Bellwoods Brewery. It’s a zippy 7.2% ale brewed with a trio of hops: Azacca, Centennial, and Loral. The beer is a hazy orange brew with a short-lived layer of off-white head. It has citrus aromatics, but beneath that is a subtle scent of plastic—to my mind a bit of an off note. The flavour runs parallel to the citrus notes, with a floral orange element leading the way. Unfortunately, to my tongue anyway, there is also a whisper of plastic wrap. To be clear, I’m talking about a very faint off note—barely there—but enough for me to be a bit distracted. The beer finishes with pretty good bitterness—citrus and slightly dank.

 

Versaverse IPA was a decent effort from a great brewery. Compared to some of Bellwoods’ best IPAs, like Ghost Orchid, Roman Candle, and the excellent Cat Lady, this one is a bit of a swing and a miss. Good look, great strength, but ultimately flawed. I’d be interested in trying this one again lest I had a tainted batch, but until then, I feel this one is not quite up to snuff.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Blanche des Honnelles 1979

Blanche des Honnelles 1979 is billed as a “Dubble Wit”. It’s a 6% wheat beer from the Belgian Brasserie de l’Abbaye des Rocs. Sold in 330mL bottles, the beer is a dull bronze colour. It pours with an almost non-existent white head.

1979 has a hefty sweet wheat and yeast aroma. The flavour is also quite sweet—it has a yeasty vibe with notes of citrus, banana, and spice. The finish remains fairly sweet and has spicy, with not a lot of bitterness.

 

Honestly, I didn’t love this beer. I found its limited carbonation to be a major drawback. Similarly, the flavour was not nearly as assertive as I was hoping for. The double wit style—if there is such a thing—isn’t one that I have any experience with, but if 1979 is an exemplar, I’m not keen to dig much deeper. To my mind, witbiers ought to be crisp and light. Adding weight doesn’t totally float my boat. That said, if you’re a witbier zealot, this stuff might be really interesting to you.

Rating: 6.0 out of 10.

ai Alai India Pale Ale

Another much-loved American IPA has made its way, a little slowly, north of the border. Jai Alai India Pale Ale, the 7.5%, 65 IBU bruiser from Tampa, Florida’s Cigar City Brewing, recently showed up at my local LCBO. It’s dated June 3 and I’m drinking it in October, which isn’t ideal, but I’ve enjoyed older beers many times.

Jai Alai is a happy golden ale with a hefty portion of off-white suds. It has a sweet, caramel malt aroma balanced against a whiff of solid citrus bitterness. The flavour and the nose of this IPA are in absolute accord, with notes of caramel/toffee claiming the initial position and orange pulp bitterness occupying the back end. 

This beer is hoppy, sure, but it’s also really well-balanced. The strength of this beer is a strength, as it were, but so to its rich and agreeable flavour. As expected, I liked this stuff a lot. Despite the slightly aged provenance, I was pleased with the beer and found it bright and fresh-tasting. Guys, this really is a good beer. Just a nice riff on the IPA with lots of heft and commendable balance.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

Ginger Belle Barrel-Aged Barley Wine

From Barrie, Ontario’s Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery, Ginger Belle Barrel-Aged Barley Wine has a whole lot going on. The beer is actually a blend of two of the Monkeys’ ales—their Gingerbread Stout and their Belle Époque Imperial Belgian IPA. That blend is aged four years in bourbon barrels resulting in a high-octane 11.3% concoction. The beer is sold in boxed 473mL bottles. It’s a hazy, rust-brown ale with a thin layer of cream head. I picked this one up in April with the idea of letting it age a bit—only made it to October, though.

Ginger Belle has an aroma that is sweet, boozy, and heavily spiced. The flavour has a rowdy combo of notes: mulled apple cider, cranberry tartness, spicy ginger, woodsy sweetness, and a crackle of evergreen hops. The lengthy barrel-aging is evident, manifested in sweetness, bourbon notes, and a thick mouthfeel.

This is a bit of a kitchen sink ale—there is a whole lot going on, making the beer a bit muddled, but nonetheless quite enjoyable. It’s spicy and warm, making it a welcome treat for a chilly evening—I don’t know that I’d recommend drinking it, as I did, on a fairly warm October Sunday afternoon.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

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.