Chmelová Brigáda

 Another entry from the Pivovar Godspeed series of Czech-style beers comes Chmelová Brigáda, a “hoppy Czech lager”. At 6.2%, this sassy pale lager has some heft. The beer comes in 355mL cans from Toronto’s Godspeed Brewery. The copy on the can is in Czech, but according to the Godspeed website, the beer is double double dry-hopped with Saaz Shine hops.

Chmelová Brigáda is strikingly clear gold and pours with a modest plume of white suds. It has aromatics that waft between citrus and floral. As for flavour, the lager is initially lemony, but takes a turn toward grittiness and floral hops through its dry and crisp finish.

This hoppy Czech lager from Godspeed (which often seems like a little enclave of Bohemia in Toronto) is exactly what its name promises: a bitter, Czech-style pale lager with ample ballast and a lovely flavour.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

Gladstone Czech Dark Lager

During a long weekend trip to Victoria, I purchased a smattering of local/British Columbia beers—mostly west coast IPAs, but I also came home with a 473mL can of Gladstone Brewing Company’s Czech Dark Lager. At 6% and somewhere around 24 IBUs, the beer has some heft. It’s a handsome brown lager with ruby highlights and it pours with a thin layer of cream head.

Gladstone’s CDL has a lush roasted malt aroma with a lightly metallic sweetness. The flavour is similarly constituted, though a bit less sweet, with a roasted malt foundation and an agreeable ferric element. Bitterness manifests as mild, dark chocolate and a touch of coffee. The beer has a soft and smooth mouthfeel that wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for when I purchased the beer but which really worked quite well.

From Courtenay, BC, Gladstone’s Czech Dark Lager was a welcome breath of fresh, mellow air in a weekend filled with piney citrus-heavy IPAs.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Tchèque Mon Bike

 A Czech-style pilsner from La Belle Province, Tchèque Mon Bike is a 5.3% lager from Siboire out of Sherbrooke. The beer came my way via the always generous WFM. Sold in 473mL cans, the beer pours with lots of carbonation and a white head atop a sunny golden lager.

TMB has a bright grainy aroma with just a touch of lemongrass. The flavour is built around crisp graininess with initial citrus notes that swings to a dry and floral finish, thanks to Quebec-grown Saaz hops.

Perhaps not as bitter or crisp as the best pilsners, but TMB delivers a delicate, floral flavour. I’d have liked the finish to pack a bit more punch, but the 5.3% alcohol offered a nice little boost.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Sklepník V Oceli

 

Sklepník V Oceli is a Czech-style lager from Godspeed Brewery’s Pivovar Godspeed series. The pilsner clocks in at 4.4% alcohol and according to the copy on Godspeed’s website, this “Stainless Edition” is “fermented then cold conditioned in stainless fermentation tanks for 7 weeks.” The Torontonian lager is clear, golden, and lovely to look at beneath a white foam.

Crisp and classic, the nose has a lot of grain elements, as well as a healthy measure of noble hop aromatics. The flavour is fresh and, for a low-alcohol offering, quite robust. It balances grain, metallic notes, and a floral, lightly spicy bitterness.

Godspeed is, in my opinion, Ontario’s lager master, and Slepník V Oceli is well up to my expectations. A good, clean pilsner is a great joy, and this one delivers. I’d have liked it to reach 5%, but otherwise, my complaints barely register.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Sklepník Ve Dřevě

 The lager lineup at Toronto’s Godspeed Brewery is, based on my experience, the very best in Ontario. Another excellent offering is Pivovar Godspeed--Sklepník Ve Dřevě . The copy on the 355mL can is mostly in Czech (?), but I was able to glean that the beer is 4.4%. It’s a rich golden lager with a touch of cloudiness and a thin layer of off-white suds.

PG has a crisp, grainy/floral aroma. The beer is bright and refreshing. It’s got sweet grain and metallic notes out front, and it’s backed with peppery, floral hops.

Pivovar Godspeed has a distinctly European feel and flavour. I bought six and I was really glad to have ‘em and wouldn’t have been angry with a couple more in the fridge. It’s not really my idea of a February beer, but I’d take it year round.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.