Canon Franchetti

I didn’t make it home for Christmas in 2018, choosing instead to spread the holidays with the Bitter Wife’s family in British Columbia. While the beer in BC was bountiful and excellent, I did have some pangs around missing out on another year’s crop of brews from my birth province. Enter my fantastic brother, who brought be two 341mL stubbies of Canon Franchetti, a cappuccino stout brewed in Edmundston, NB by Les Brasseurs du Petit-Sault. What a guy!

Brewed in honour of the first pastor of Edmundston’s St. John the Baptist Church, the beer has just 4.6% alcohol and 29 IBUs. According to the label, it’s brewed with lactose and fair trade coffee beans, but unfortunately the provenance of those beans is unstated. Note to craft brewers: identify your collaborators and suppliers!

The beer was coal black and poured with a quickly thinning layer of tan head—by the time I was done my describing and sniffing, there was merely a tan ring of suds left. True to its billing, Canon Franchetti had a robust cappuccino nose—dark roast coffee led the way, but it also had a sweet streak. The flavour had some malty elements, but mostly this beer showcases its java elements. The mouthfeel is quite agreeably smooth, while the finish is sweet and only a bit bitter.

When I’m drinking coffee, I prefer bitter to sweet and like espresso over cappuccino. Again, with coffee stouts, I typically want a wallop of bitter joe, as opposed to mocha and latte options. Given these preferences, it should be no surprise that I found Canon Franchetti to be a bit too sweet. That said, I liked the low alcohol take on the stout, and I found the beer to be playful and engaging. I’d be unlikely to reach for a second same-day, but I’d definitely revisit this brew in a post-dinner setting.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Darkwood Blackberry Saison

I don’t know that my photo fully captures the contrast, but Darkwood Blackberry Saison is a jaunty purple-tinted, pale pink-headed ale that comes in terrifying 473mL cans emblazoned with a huge demon looming over a little kid. See? Contrast.

Darkwood comes, ostensibly, from Toronto, where it is brewed by Brassroots Brewing Co., though the can explains that it is brewed and packaged in Gravenhurst, Ontario. The saison has just 4.3% alcohol, 33 IBUs, and it’s brewed with blackberry purée. It has a dry, yeasty nose supplemented by a whiff of fruit. The flavour is yeast first, with only a hint of the eponymous blackberries. The beer is thin, but fizz-happy, and culminates in a dry finish.

Given its lurid bruise colours, I expected Darkwood to exhibit a too sweet and juicy blackberry element. However, to my delight, it was an understated and elegant addition to a low alcohol saison. The beer was a bit too thin, but otherwise I found myself onboard. Clearly a beer suited to summer patios, I found myself drinking it as a first beer during a mighty snow storm, but the seasonal dissonance didn’t detract one bit. The label promises that “Darkwood is the first of many unique and carefully crafted beers that we vow to brew.” Ok, Brassroots, you’ve got my attention. I’ll be looking out for more.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Fickle Mistress

A 5.5% dry hopped sour, Fickle Mistress is raised in St. Jacobs, Ontario by the folks at Block 3 Brewing Co. Fickle Mistress comes in 500mL bottles with old-timey two-tone labels. According to the info on the side, my beer was bottled on November 13, 2018.

With a clear champagne colour and a cap of white fuzz, Fickle Mistress cuts an elegant figure. It has a tart strawberry scent, backed by a funky yeast fragrance. The flavour is quite mild for a sour, with berry and grape notes sitting in the driver’s seat. Riding shotgun, there is a bit of wild yeast, but not “wild” wild. Of the dry-hopping, I didn’t find there to be a whole lot of evidence or bitterness.

I though Block 3’s Fickle Mistress was a fair effort. Compared to their Frankenstout or Through the Quad, which I really enjoyed, Fickle Mistress was a little underwhelming. I genuinely liked the berry elements, but I wanted a bunch more funk or some more zealous hopping to take this beer to the next level. Still, as someone who drinks a lot of Ontario craft beer, I think the B3’s bottle shop in wee St. Jacobs is one of the as-yet-unvisited Ontario beer destinations I’d most like to hit up.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Tenacity Pale Ale

Sold in awesome 355mL cans that feature a bizarre “dog chasing its tail as ouroboros”, Tenacity Pale Ale comes from Tooth and Nail Brewing in Ottawa, Ontario. The 5.5% ale is a nicely carbonated orange-gold brew under a sudsy off-white head.

Tenacity has a nose that contains both sweet citrus and coniferous notes. The flavour is similarly constituted, though rather mildly arrayed around a slightly thin mouthfeel.

To me, Tenacity is a quality pale ale that has some of the trappings of an excellent one. It its flavour were a bit more boisterous, I think this would be a real beast. As it stands, it’s still quite a good offering from an excellent Ontario brewer.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Collective Arts IPA No 7

Next up in the series from Collective Arts Brewing is their IPA No 7. This sassy 7.1% brew is billed as a “Southern Hemisphere IPA featuring Nelson & Citra”. The beer in the spiffy 473mL can is dull gold, slightly hazy, and given some texture by a bit of sediment.

Born in Hamilton, Ontario, lucky #7 has, thanks to the Nelson Sauvin hop, a whiff of white grape alongside some juicy citrus. The beer is smooth and sweet, with a tang of white wine and a mellow, yet hoppy, finish.

As I wrote recently, IPA No 6 was a bit of a too juicy clunker. The seventh installment of the excellent series is considerably more subtle, yet boozier, too. A return to form!

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Base Camp West Coast Pale Ale

A serviceable and solid 5.4% ale, I got familiar with Base Camp West Coast Pale Ale during a stay with my in-laws. When I travel, I always buy a lot of beer for reviewing purposes, but I also make sure to pick up a sixer or a case of something for late-evening sipping. Enter a sextet of these li'l guys from Fernie, British Columbia’s Fernie Brewing Co.

The beer comes in 355mL cans with a camper van and surfboard vibe. A copper-toned ale, Base Camp pours with a thick cover of off-white suds. It has a nose that is sweet and fruity, but also sticky and dank. The flavour is a touch too sugary at the front end, but complimented with tropical notes. The back end has some resinous IPA qualities, but kept in check.

As I said off the jump, Base Camp is a serviceable beer. I don’t mean that as a pejorative. True, the beer will never be a star, but it’s pretty well made and tastes nice. True, I did find it overly sweet and insufficiently crisp, and it lacked the crispness I was expecting from a West Coast Pale Ale, but I still found myself gratefully reaching for another late into the night.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Prospect (DDH Simcoe)

Prospect is a series of single hop IPAs made by Toronto’s outstanding Left Field Brewery. The 355mL cans are, unfortunately, way overpriced in the provincial liquor stores, but when I saw a DDH Simcoe edition of Prospect, I snapped it up pretty quick anyway.

At 6.7%, the beer has decent strength. It’s a hazy, slightly milky golden ale that poured with a sudsy white head. To my nose, the beer had a juicy, tropical fruit nose spiked with something slightly floral. Simcoe Prospect tasted surprisingly boozy, with notes of over-ripe mango, some sticky resin, and a flourish of bitterness at the back end.

This was a tasty, dank, and juicy IPA with some verve. Questionable price tag nothwithstanding, I thought it was pretty good stuff, though I’d have liked a beefier IBU presence.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.