The Bar Towel

[Bobsy]

[Cass]

I think this is an AGCO regulation, we've seen this come up before. Not sure if it is this one (which specifically relates to advertising) or if there's a label-specific one.

[Belgian]

Strange... I guess Wychwood beers have no appeal to children who watch Harry Potter.

http://www.wychwood.co.uk/beers.htm

And I guess pumpkin beers have no appeal to children because they don't celebrate halloween.

Shall I go on?
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In Beerum Veritas ... You haven't got something a little less...eh...ducky, have you?

[Roland + Russell]

"Our" Santa's Little Helper (Mikeller) is actually on its way and it should be here just in time to help us to survive another busy Christmas. It will be available on consignment. A good part of this shipment has been presold.

As far as labels go, we managed to bring in Het Anker Easter beer (bunnies and eggs all over the label!) through the consignment program with very little trouble, but we recently failed to get it to stores due to complex labeling issues. Our suppliers are sometimes unable to change the label either because of the cost or time restrictions. For some products, they simply have no problem placing it in another market where there is less regulation and paperwork.

There is a similar story with Schloss Eggenberg's Samichlaus (on its way to stores...). It had similar problems (wording "Santa Claus beer" on the back label) but the brewery was willing and able to come up with necessary changes in time. We sincerely hope Ontario will support this product and make it worthwhile for the brewery to go through these steps.
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Roland + Russell
www.rolandandrussell.com

[StevenThrasher]

[Bobsy]

Last night I went Japanese for the evening:
Sake
Yo Ho Tokyo Black Porter
Ginga Kogen Hefeweizen
Satsuma shochu (a sweet potato based spirit)

Apparently shochu gives the worst hangovers in all of Japan. I would add to that (if not the world).

[Belgian]

[esprit]

On the shohchu front, the Korean version is called Soju...as someone who has killed more brain cells than he has remaining, this is without question the worst hangover on the face of the world...no wonder Koreans on both sides of their borders have guns pointing at each other and want nuclear weapons...a soju hangover is enough to make you want to kill many people in an effort to stop the headache...but chilled, it goes down so smooth...I have sworn an oath to God & country to never drink this stuff again. One of my California wine suppliers has a Korean girlfriend and there are no Korean restaurants in Paso Robles...when he comes up here he invariably wants me to take him to Little Korea on Bloor West but I won't drink that poison anymore. I drink Kirin or Sapporo or a nice sake....people be warned, this soju is the elixir of the devil.

[Derek]

Pumking! (Thanks to Jeremy for the trade)

This one even has a pie crust aroma & flavour. I don't know how they do it (toasted malt?), but I absolutely love it!

[JesseM]

I'm drinking a bottle of Wychwood Bah Humbug at the moment. I feel sort of weird, it being Halloween and all. I guess Christmas season at the LCBO starts in October (and usually ends some time in February) . Not bad, though I wouldn't drink boatloads of it.

[sstackho]

I love Hallowe'en. It didn't mean a thing to me when I was living in a condo, but now that I'm in a house and have a kid, it's one of the most fun nights of the year. Went over to a neighbour's house, drank some chocolate martinis with eyeball garnish (lychee stuffed with a cherry) and then taught the young'un all about taking candy from strangers.

Now I'm home and it's time for something good. Popped open a corked Unibroue Quatre Centieme - brewed for Quebec City's 400th anniversary, they say.

Smells like a Belgian wit, tastes like a Belgian wit - though amped up at 7.5% abv. Good, though not great.

But that sure was a satisfying pop upon opening. Oooo and look how much more is still left!

[Belgian]

[Bobsy]

For Halloween I had a black cat lager from Paddock Wood Brewery. It was a nice rendition of a german dark lager with a whole ton of fruity malt goodness. I then followed it up with a stout from Dunnham Massey Brewery in Cheshire. It was imaginatively called 'Stout'. The best beer I've had from that brewery so far.

[Derek]

Georgian Bay Dipper... while I was raking leaves.

It's well-crafted with a delicate flavour profile. Obviously it's not going to knock your socks off, but I'd be happy drinking this on a summer's day. Hopefully it'll have some appeal to the mass-market... 'cause it's a hell of a lot better than Corona!

Now I need some hops! So I'm on to my homegrown, fresh/wet hop ale weighing in at 7.2%. It's no Sierra Nevada Harvest, but considering I didn't even do a partial mash, it's pretty good. With all that DME, the final gravity was unfortunately 1.020, so it's a good thing it had some bitterness...

Here's the hop schedule (5 gallons):
2 oz Amarillo (pre-boil hops)
2 oz Centennial (60 min)
2 oz dried cascade (50 min)
1 oz Chinook (40 min)
14 oz Fresh Cascades (30 min) - actually between 35-25 minutes, it took me 10 minutes to get fourteen ounces in & maintain a boil!
4 oz Fresh cascade (15 min)
2 oz Cascade (secondary dry hop)
3.25 oz Mt. Hood (secondary dry hop).

Now the old hops had been in the freezer for 2 years, and it takes roughly 4.5 oz of fresh/wet hops to be equivalent to an oz of dried hops, so it wasn't quite as crazy as it looks. But yeah, there's some good hop flavour there! Strangely the cascade doesn't taste very citrusy when it's fresh.

By the way, my white plastic spoon is now green!

[kinguy]

A Siletz Oatmeal Cream Stout that had, unfortunately, turned, so it was a drain pour. Made up for it with a bomber of Moylan's Ryan Sullivan's Imperial Stout that I picked up in Ohio. Big kick at 10%.