Chocolate Orange Blackburne Imperial Stout

Left Field Brewery in Toronto makes a chocolate orange version of their burly Blackburne Imperial Stout. This version tips the scales at a beefy 9.7% and it’s made with cocoa nibs and orange zest. Mercifully, the beer comes in 355mL cans, as opposed to a larger format. The beer is tarry, with a loose tan head.

Chocolate Orange Blackburne has a punchy orange peel aroma with substantial sweetness and heavy boozy warmth. The flavour is extremely sweet and it delivers exactly what it promises: notes of orange zest and chocolate. The beer has cocoa bitterness at the back end and an undercurrent of strong booziness. The underlying stout powers through, with a malt focus and thick texture.

Orange flavour in beer is one I’m typically resistant to, but this configuration manages to pass muster. I still don’t love the orange zest flavour, but pairing it with cocoa is a fairly effective combo.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Hibernator 2021

Hibernator 2021 is a 10% bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout blend that includes cherries, ginger, orange peel, and vanilla beans. This bruiser comes from Toronto and the gang at Bandit Brewery. It’s sold in 750mL bottles which probably shouldn’t be consumed alone before dinner, but what are you, my mom? Back off! Sheesh.

The 2021 edition of Hibernator is a darkest black, with a dark brown head. The beer has a gargantuan aroma, built around sweet, wood, and booze. The fragrance is sorta like a boozy chocolate orange, supplemented with bourbon-y vanilla. The flavour is extremely sweet, with notes of orange, chocolate, and molasses. The barrel-aging gives the the beer a woody depth and some big bourbon heat. The vanilla comes through well, but I wasn’t able to really pick up much in the way of ginger and some cherry tartness might have taken some of the edge off.

I think I missed out on H:2020, but I definitely liked H:2021 better than H:2019, which I found to be too coconut-driven. Here, there was a bit better integration of the flavour elements, particularly the orange peel. In truth, though, I still found the 2021 iteration to be way too sweet.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Sakoku

Sakoku was the Japanese policy of isolationism, means “closed country”, and is an American-style stout from Toronto’s Godspeed Brewery. It’s a 6.9% bad boy that comes in 355mL cans feature a black and white image of a steam/sail ship. The beer is  near-black, and pours with an exciting layer of tan head.

The beer has a hefty aroma that blends evergreen forest and roasted malt. The flavour is robust, with pine and coffee bitterness, big malt, faint peat, and a fair bit of boozy burn. Very little sweetness, which I particularly liked.

When I think of Godspeed, I think of beautiful lagers, but with Sakoku, they delivered a potent and engrossing bitter stout.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Tiger Milk

 A white stout from Ottawa’s Waller St. Brewing, Tiger Milk is a 4.5%, 23 IBU ale. Sold in 473mL bottles, TM is a nitro beer brewed with lactose, toasted coconut, and cocoa nibs. The beer is bronze in colour, largely opaque, and trimmed with a thin layer of white foam.

TM has a sweet, chocolaty aroma with a malty body and a touch of coconut. The beer has a creamy, velvety texture that is a bit thinner than a conventional stout, but very pleasant. The flavour is sweet from end to end, with bready notes and just faint traces of chocolate and coconut.

This is likely the first white stout that I’ve ever genuinely enjoyed. It’s smooth and satisfying, with a subtle, peekaboo flavours.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Between Two Evils Bourbon Barrel-Aged Stout

Between Two Evils Bourbon Barrel-Aged Stout is a substantial offering from the team at Dominion City Brewing Co. out of Ottawa. It’s an 11% ale, so a single 355mL can is an undertaking best not attempted on an empty stomach. The beer is dark, almost black, and poured with a crown of tan head that receded faster than my hairline.

Sweetness is the order of the day in the aroma—vanilla, brown sugar, and booze are the big three elements. The flavour is big on maltiness and sweetness. It’s woody, with vanilla and raisin notes, nestled along a bit of bitter molasses. There is also boozy heat through the roof. It’s got a thick, syrupy texture, too.

According to the can, Between Two Evils is aged for a year in recently emptied bourbon casks. The result is a sweet, woody bruiser of an ale with tons of bourbon character. Highly recommended.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

Qawa

 Qawa is a towering imperial stout brewed with coffee and chocolate. The beer, born in Toronto, comes from Bandit Brewery, while the coffee is sourced from Propeller and the chocolate from ChocoSol. Sold in 500mL bottles, the beer is coal black and it pours with a dark tan head.

Aromatically, dark chocolate it absolutely the star of the show, though there is a comforting espresso subtext as well. The flavour is many things, but it sure ain’t subtle. The beer is sweet and malty, with enormous chocolate richness and jumbo boozy heat. Dark roast coffee is also well represented, particularly in the bitterness that mingles with persistent sweetness in the finish. In the margins, there are notes of leather and raisin. The mouthfeel is smooth, yet thick.

I try not to ascribe morality to food and drink, so I’m not going to use the adjective “sinful”, but this boozy bastard really is an indulgence. Truthfully, I found it over sweet, but not to the point of being cloying. The creamy/syrupy texture, though, is spot on for a dessert beer. Qawa really warmed me up over a cigar on a damp, snowy November Sunday evening.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Ships in the Night Oatmeal Stout

 At 5.6%, Ships in the Night Oatmeal Stout has a bit of ballast, but at just 25 IBUs, it’s still quite smooth. The beer comes from Kingston, Ontario’s Stone City Ales. It’s sold in 500mL bottles.

SitN is a handsome dark ale—almost black, but with deep amber highlights. The beer has a malty, molasses aroma and a flavour that walks a similar path, accented with brown sugar. The back end has some bitterness, coffee-style, but the maltiness persists throughout.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Dulce Tiramisu Pastry Stout

 

This beer was a mistake. I placed a mail order from the team at Toronto’s Indie Alehouse and one of the slots in the case of 12 bottles I ordered was inexplicably filled by Dulce Tiramisu Pastry Stout—but I’m not complaining. Dulce is a 9.5% ale sold in 500mL bottles—the label suggests that one should “share with a friend”, but I obviously went for the whole shebang myself while marinating a steak.

Dulce is a nearly black ale with a sudsy cream head. It has a sweet and potent aroma built around coffee, and a whiff of cocoa. The flavour is extremely sweet, with a woody quality. The elevated booze is evident, as are notes of cafe con lecce, vanilla, and brown sugar.

This is a definite dessert beer. Sure, it’s a bit gimmicky, but as pastry stouts go, this one has heat and heart. I’d have liked the coffee bitterness to come through more assertively in the finish, and less sweetness would have gone a long way, but I still liked the beer more than I expected.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Black is Beautiful--Merit Brewing Co.

 

My first taste of a beer from the Black is Beautiful initiative came from Hamilton, Ontario’s Merit Brewing Co. According to the label on the 500mL bottle, the proceeds of Merit’s version of BiB support the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion’s Black Youth Mentorship Program.

Their take is an 8.7% imperial stout. It’s a very dark beer with a long-lasting tan head. The brew has a sweet, chocolaty aroma with sticky molasses notes. The flavour is decadently sweet and strong, with chocolate, leather, and and dried fruit notes, and a bitter/acidic French roast coffee finish. It is also conspicuously boozy, which gave me some joy.

If Merit’s BiB is any indication, I’m going to have a lot of fun tracking down as many variations of this beer as I can. Their take is boozy, bold, and balance—a terrific after-dinner ale.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Memento Mori

 

At 4.5%, Memento Mori is an Oatmeal Stout from Toronto’s Indie Alehouse. Sold in 500mL bottles with Indie’s generic labels, MM is a near-black ale that pours with a thin layer of tan suds. 

 

MM has a gorgeous coffee and cocoa aroma. For flavour, it starts sweetly with a roasted malt and molasses vibe, before transitioning into a mild but agreeable espresso bitterness. The texture is smooth from end to end.

For a beer with a relatively light frame, Memento Mori has a complex flavour. It’s a nice beer and if the back end were a bit more substantial, it’d be a real winner. As it is, I thought it was a nicely put together bit of brewing.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Midnight Cow Tipper Milk Stout

Midnight Cow Tipper Milk Stout is a dark ale from Toronto, brewed by Eastbound Brewing Co. Sold in 355mL cans, MCT contains 5.2% alcohol. It is a near black ale that pours with a short-lived tan head.

MCT has a jumbo chocolate aroma, built on top of a roasted malt foundation and accented with coffee notes. The flavour is sweet and chocolaty, with some molasses and iron elements. It finishes sweetly, with a slight nod to espresso bitterness.

A nice and well made milk stout, Midnight Cow Tipper is a pretty decent offering. Good balance and a decent texture.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Keefe’s Irish Stout

Keefe’s Irish Stout comes from Toronto’s Granite Brewery & Tied House. It’s a 4.5% brew sold in generic 473mL cans. The beer is an attractive dark ale with caramel highlights under a fluff of tan head.

Keefe’s has mild, malty aromatics. It has a nose that displays sweet chocolate elements and more than a hint of coffee. The flavour is a bit more bitter, with coffee notes and well-roasted malt vibes preceding a modest, bitter finish.

A low-ish alcohol dry Irish stout, Keefe’s is a tasty and vigorously flavourful offering that steers true to style, with ample Old World character. It has a mild but agreeable flavour profile and a nice mouthfeel that exudes mellowness with an uptick of earthy, slightly metallic bitterness at the back end that suggests a slightly higher APV. Other than a faint presence in the front end, there is little sweetness—rather the beer is relatively dry and modestly bitter, with the faintest hint of smoke. 

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Junction Stout

Junction Stout is a low ABV stout from the team at Toronto’s Junction Craft Brewery. The 4.3% ale comes in Junction’s nondescript 473mL cans that always make me think of a ballot. The beer inside is near black and almost opaque, under a slim layer of off-white foam. According to the copy on the JCB website, the beer is a “Nitro Dry Irish stout”.

J.S. has an opulent aroma, built around notes of roasted malt, chocolate, and good quality diner coffee. The mouthfeel is thin, but smooth, though not as creamy as the best dry Irish stouts tend to be—given the nitro delivery, I’d have expected a more gentle effervescence and a correspondingly velvety texture. The flavour profile begins with rich malt and progresses to a surprisingly robust bitter finish that pairs coffee elements with a hint of cocoa.

I dig Junction Stout. I think it is a pretty good interpretation of a classic style, and I’ll gladly buy it again. I’d have liked a creamier, fuller texture, but I think the flavour profile is spot on, and substantial for such a low-octane ale.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Ketchin Zeez

An oatmeal stout from Bowmanville, Ontario’s Manantler Craft Brewing Co., Ketchin Zeez is a 5% ale sold in festive 650mL bottles. It’s a dark ale that pours with a disappointingly thin tan head.

KZ has a sweet molasses aroma with roasted malt notes and a touch of vanilla. The flavour kicks off sweetly, with a slightly woody vibe and vanilla bean notes. There is a bit of cocoa bitterness in the back end, but it’s quite understated. The real star of this ale is its creamy mouthfeel, which is smooth and fantastic.

Ketchin Zeez has a lot of positive attributes, but it doesn’t come together quite as well as I’d have liked it to. The beer doesn’t have a bottled on date, but based on the Christmasy label, I suspect it’s a bit older than ideal. The beer is a bit flat, but more than that, I also found it to be overly sweet and I don’t think that can be blamed on age.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Dominion Delivery--Giants of the North

An imperial stout brewed with almonds, vanilla, milk sugar, cacao nibs from Hummingbird Chocolate, and maple syrup from Cheslock’s Sugar Bush, Giants of the North comes from Dominion City Brewing Co. in Ottawa. Sold in 355mL cans, GotN contains a ribald 10% alcohol. It’s a hella dark ale that pours with a thin tan head.

GotN has a rich, sweet aroma with malty, chocolatey notes. While there isn’t a lot of maple in the nose, the flavour makes up for it with verve—maple sweetness is evident from the second the beer touches your tongue. Alongside are chocolate and vanilla notes. The mouthfeel of this robust stout is syrupy and sweet. Other than a bit of dark chocolate, there is very little bitterness.

The sweetness and booziness combine to make Giants of the North Imperial Stout a hefty ale—a choice after supper sipper and, I would theorize, one that would be excellent with vanilla ice cream (I have a second can of this stuff and I may test this theory out). It’s too sweet and strong to even imagine a second can, and I might have liked a bit more bitterness to add some balance, but I really enjoyed this strong ass sweet stuff from Dominion City.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Dominion Delivery--Dark Night of the Soul

Dark Night of the Soul is a big ox of an Imperial Stout from Dominion City Brewing Co.—a 10% ale made with cocoa nibs from Hummingbird Chocolate, vanilla, and hazelnuts. The Ottawa, Ontario ale comes in 355mL cans that advise “meditate on this and it will be revealed.” It’s a near-black ale that pours with a thin layer of tan head.

DNotS has a sweet, confectionery nose with big cocoa and vanilla notes, complimented with ardent booze heat. The beer has a smooth and thick mouthfeel. The front end of the flavour is rich, malt-driven, and toothsome, driven by two-thirds of the palate of Neapolitan iced cream. The finish turns gloomily bitter, though the sweetness only lets up a bit.

A jumbo booze ball, sure, but DNotS is ale also a complicated brew. If you like stouts with a dessert-y vibe that aren’t gimmicky pastry oriented, this is a grand option.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Hamilton Haul--Survival Mode

Survival Mode is billed as a “stout brewed with coffee & vanilla”. It’s a 6.5%, 20 IBU ale sold in 473mL cans by Hamilton’s Grain & Grit Small Batch Beer. The skull in a coffee pot optics on the label made this a hard beer not to buy, so I did x3.

Survival Mode has a handsome, blackish ale with a quick-lived tan head. It’s got a sweet mochaccino nose and a flavour that matches—sweet to bitter movement with café con leche elements. The back end delivers a finish that I’d have sworn was heftier than the advertised 20 IBUs. As for vanilla, there is a whisper, but not much more than that.

This beer has a lot to like—great strength, good balance, and solid bitterness. I didn’t entirely love the coffee flavour, which I found to be a bit grainy. I’d also like to know a bit about the coffee they sourced for the endeavour, but no info was immediately forthcoming.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Blackfriars Bridge Stout

Brewed in honour of a London, Ontario landmark, Blackfriars Bridge Stout is a 6% ale, built by the Toboggan Brewing Company. The beer is sold in 473mL cans festooned with its namesake bridge. Inside resides a near-black liquid that pours with a hearty tan head. This brew came to me via my ol’ pal WFM—thanks lad!

Blackfriars has a sweet, malty aroma with notes, with elements of cocoa, coffee, and bitter molasses. The beer has a thick mouthfeel and a rich flavour, with notes that start sweetly and swing to bitterness. Roasted malt kicks things off along with chocolatey elements. The back end gets a bit grittier, with decent hops presence and a java hue.

A fairly strong, copiously flavourful stout, Blackfriars was a nice introduction for me to Toboggan Brewing. I’ve got another of their beers, a double IPA, queues up to review, but I’ll be keeping my eye out for more of their offerings.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Shinny Pants Session Stout

Shinny Pants Session Stout is a low-octane 4.3%, 8 IBU stout from Toronto’s Great Lakes Brewery—a member of GLB’s Tank Ten Series. Sold in 473mL cans, the beer is a near-black ale topped with a thin cover of khaki head.

Sweet and malty, with chocolate notes, SPSS has a warm and full-bodied aroma. The flavour is surprisingly rich for a low-booze effort, with roasted malt, some slight smokiness, and a sweet-to-bitter progression. The finish is low IBU, but well-roasted and significant.

For a low alcohol stout, SPSS is a flavourful and fun ale. It packs brown sugar, chocolate, wee smoke, and roasted malt into a sessionable package.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

3 Frogs

Second up from Barcelona’s La Cervesera Artesana was their smoked imperial stout: 3 Frogs. 3 Frogs was a bruiser, at 11.5% alcohol. My 330mL pour arrived looking black and bleak, with just a ring of tan suds. It had a wildly potent smokey aroma with scotch whisky peatiness leading the charge.

3 Frogs was smokey from front to back, but it transitioned from sweet to bitter along the way, with the top end incorporating treacle sweetness and the back tobacco and leather elements.

I have seldom sipped smokier beer, though 3 Frogs lacked balance—it was too heartily

smokey, at the expense of finesse. Additionally, the front end struck me as a touch too sweet, providing an unusual flavour profile. On the positive side, the strength was agreeable and the peatiness of the smoke didn’t seem at all artificial.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.