British Bulldog Extra Special Bitter

 A gift from the rascally WFM, British Bulldog Extra Special Bitter is a 5.3%, 32 IBU ESB from Old Dog Brewing Co. out of Bobcaygeon, Ontario. The beer comes in fairly plain 473mL cans, from which emerges a mostly clear copper ale with a thin, off-white head.

British Bulldog has a malty, sweet, and bready aroma. The flavour is pretty agreeable, with a sweet to bitter progression. The beer kicks off with some caramel and bread notes, and closes out with a touch of floral bitterness and a faint metallic clank. The mouthfeel is a little thin, though. I’d probably like this beer on cask, but as a canned offering, it could have had a bit more carbonation and volume.

ESBs aren’t particularly well represented in Ontario, so I was excited to receive a can of BB. It was decent stuff, but it didn’t exactly blow my mind.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Diamond Park English Mild Ale

Named in homage to the former home of the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball squad, Diamond Park English Mild Ale is a 3% mild ale from the talented squad at People’s Pint Brewing Co. The Torontonian beer comes in cute 500mL bottles. The beer is an elegant amber ale, almost exactly the same colour and clarity as the bottle it came out of. It pours with a healthy measure of tan suds.

 

Diamond Park has a malty, toasty nose that has a brown sugar subtext. The flavour packs loads of caramel and robust malt notes into its low-alcohol frame, along with a respectably bitter finish.

While mild ales seem to be de rigeur among beer nerds at the moment, I haven’t had many that really caught my interest. But DAMN! This one is a brilliant beer. This is likely the most flavourful session ale I have ever had, and it has a nicely rounded mouthfeel, too. A fantastic ale!

Rating: 9.5 out of 10.

Goldie Boat English Golden Ale

Waiting for a big ol’ thunder storm to kick off on a sweltering Friday evening, I pried the cap off of 500mL bottle of Goldie Boat English Golden Ale from Toronto’s People’s Pint Brewing Co. The 5% ale proved to be a ruddy gold liquid with a short lived white head.

Goldie Boat had a malty, sweet, and metallic aroma, with bready notes. The flavour kicked off sweetly, displayed some enthusiastic malts, and withdrew into an ever-so-faint English ale bitterness (32 IBUs). Along the way, it was a bit coppery, too.

A decent English-style ale from an excellent Toronto suds manufacturer, Goldie Boat isn’t one of the best from People’s Pint, but it’s definitely good enough.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Granite’s Best Bitter

Granite Brewery’s Best Bitter is a 4.5% alcohol English-style ale. Sold in generic 473mL cans, this Torontonian classic pours with a clear, amber colour and an attractive plume of eggshell head.

Granite’s Best Bitter has a comfortable aroma that blends caramel, copper, and a whiff of bitterness. The flavour has roasted malt and caramel out front, with a metallic subtext, and a back end that tiptoes into bitterness. The mouthfeel delivers decent creaminess, too.

If you asked me to imagine an English-style ale, Granite’s Best Bitter would be pretty close to my vision. It packs a lot of traditional flavours into a low-alcohol frame. 

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Cup & Saucer English Ale

Cup & Saucer English Ale is brought into existence in Little Current, on Ontario’s Manitoulin Island. A 5% alcohol beer sold in 473mL cans, C&S comes from the Manitoulin Brewing Co. It’s a rusty orange ale with a sudsy off-white head.

The beer has a mild aroma, built around toasty malts and a coppery streak. The flavour has a bit more heft, displaying a nicely rounded taste with brown sugar notes and lots of toasted malt presence. C&S isn’t particularly bitter, but there is a nice hops element at the back end to ensure balance.

I thought Cup & Saucer was a pretty nice take on the English-style ale. Not inventive, exactly, but nicely executed and enjoyable.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Electric Mud: Major Small Best Bitter

Major Small Best Bitter is a 4.6% alcohol, 30 IBU English-style ale from Toronto’s Muddy York Brewing Co. I had a 12oz pour of the hazy orange grog at the brewery. Through its thin eggshell head, M.S. had an earthy, malt nose, with some coppery elements. It had a slightly metallic flavour with brown sugar, toasty malt, and some English-style bitterness.

Toasty and tasty, Major Small is an agreeable low-alcohol ale with surprisingly big flavour. The mouthfeel is a wee bit thin, but the beer tastes both nice and well-made.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

360 Ale

360 Ale bills itself as an English pale ale. It hails from the fairly remote but extremely beautiful city of Thunder Bay, Ontario, where it's brewed by Sleeping Giant Brewing Company (named in honour of the mountain that overlooks the town). The 473mL cans are pretty snappy looking and the brew inside is a 4.9% grog. It's a copper-hued and hazy ale, and it pours with a proud layer of sudsy cream-coloured head.

To match the copper colour, 360 smells a bit like a penny, though one that's spent a fair bit of time around hops and malt. The flavour also has some metallic elements, though the beer is primarily malt focused. Toward the back end, there is a dusting of bitterness to approximate balance.

I thought that 360 Ale was a pretty engaging little pop. Despite the insinuation on the can, it's not all that innovative (English pale ales are plentiful--even ones that claim to finish with a North American fervour); however, what does provide is nice flavour, good balance, and sessionability. I definitely see myself purchasing this ale again--particularly since this one is available at my local grocery store (don't laugh non-Canadians; this is a new and exciting innovation in Ontario!). A bit fuller body might have been nice, but I'm not complaining.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Crimzen Premium Red Ale

Crimzen Premium Red Ale finds its home in Toronto, Ontario. An English-style ale, it's brewed by the folks at Lost Craft Beer and contains 4.7% alcohol. The 473mL can is austere, but not inelegant, with a white and red colour scheme.

The beer inside is a shiny copper hue. It's clear and pours with a decent cap of off-white head. For aromatics, the ale has metallic and malty leanings, with a drizzle of caramel. It tastes as it smells, with lots of malty, bready notes, a coppery clang, and some burnt caramel. The finish picks up IBU steam, delivering a surprisingly hoppy, quick finale.

I didn't know what to expect from Crimzen. After all, the name annoyed the piss out of me, but I'm always keen to try a local red ale. In the result, I was quite glad to have picked a can up, and can easily see myself doing so again and again in the months ahead. It's really a nice little pint o'beer. If they got the percentage up over five, this might well have gotten an even higher grade.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Henderson's Best

During my first visit to Toronto's Henderson Brewing Co., I had to sample their flagship ale, Henderson's Best, an ESB. My pint of this amber ale arrived looking lovely and clear, with decent carbonation and a healthy cream head. At 5.5%, this beer had enough heft to soothe this savage beast.

It had a sweet, malty nose that was rich in caramel. The flavour, too, was malty with a caramel focus, but it also had a slightly coppery vibe. Not a lot on the hops side of things, though, with just enough bitterness to keep things balanced.

Henderson's Best is a good take on the Extra Special Bitter style. A nice English-style ale with decent strength and a pretty look, I found myself pretty pleased with my order.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Across the Pond English Special Ale

On a crisp autumn eve, whiling away some team before the Blue Jays playoff tilt against the Orioles, I cracked open a 473mL can of Across the Pond English Special Ale. Across the Pond was brewed in Cambridge, Ontario by High Park Brewery. At 5.5% and 42 IBUs, it had a pretty fair volume. The beer poured the tarnished copper of an old penny. It came with a fluffy cream head that didn't last terribly long.

Sweet malts and tin were the chief aromatics of the brew. Flavour was full and malty initially, but tapered off to a nicely bitter finish. Through that progression, there were some burnt caramel notes.

Given its strength and style, Across the Pond had a really nice amount of flavour. It tasted pretty good too, although it was a touch sweet and there was a faint off note in the finish that I started to notice as my beer warmed a bit. Still and all, I thought it was a fine ale, and one I'd gladly get back to one day.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.