The Bar Towel

I don't hold Big Rock any ill will...in fact, Trad and Grasshopper were two of the first 'crafty' beers I ever enjoyed, so if anything I have a soft spot for them. But it takes huge clanging brass balls for a brewery to charge ~19 bucks for a bomber when they haven't put out any top notch beers in.....

From the horse's mouth, they are not the same beer:



That being said, having tasted them both within the last week (there is still Stash stock lingering in these parts), the difference isn't exactly huge

Rocketsan22 wrote:What happened to Sam Smith’s Organic Chocolate Stout?

It has been available at the LCBO in Sarnia for about two weeks, so I have to assume it has made its way to most of the larger urban areas by now. It's still not in the database as far as I can tell.

Methinks someone has a rod of Asclepius wedged too far up their ass.

GtownRandy wrote:could they slap a sticker over the "offensive" part?

A better solution would be to slap everyone involved in making this asinine decision

Did I miss the Tripel Karmeliet release? I thought I was watching that pretty closely... I don't think it has showed up yet. I guess that's another one to add to the MIA list. I wouldn't be surprised if they just pushed it into the spring release, since that's roughly when it has showed up for the ...

Finally finished off that mystery pack earlier tonight. For me the order was C (NE IPA) > B (session IPA) > D (dry-hop sour) > A (stout) It was tough choosing between C, B and D. I'd be fine with any of those three winning the vote. C and B were neck and neck, but ultimately I voted C, because in re...

I had a 2013 fin du monde(750ml bottle)from the cellar probably 6-9 months ago and was completely underwhelmed. In my experience tripels don't age very well. A few might hold up fine for a year or two (Westmalle's come to mind) but usually they're just going to be worse for the wear. The longest I ...

If you've been holding onto them for 5 years already then yes, you might as well open them up. They should still taste ok at this point, but they have nothing to gain from any more time in the cellar.

The New Limburg and Publican House tripels have been rolling out to stores across SW Ontario over the last few weeks. Saw both of them in Sarnia the other day (and if they're here, it's probably safe to assume they're nearly everywhere). Picked up a bottle of each but haven't cracked 'em open yet. I...

JeffPorter wrote:

Belgian wrote:
I always like to try before I buy, that's the main reason to hustle. There's no flies on this batch of CBS or Backwoods for that matter.

Which is exactly why you shotgun a bottle at the cash right after you buy and go back for more.

But how am I supposed to puncture a bottle with my car keys?

Still chipping away at a backlog of reviews: - Collingwood Whitney's Vintage Wet Hopped Ale - LCBO tallboy (6.9%). Presumably based upon the recipe of their annual Vintage Ale, I found this to be a solid strong pale ale. Floral hops, mint, honey and orchard fruit on the nose; the flavours are simila...

Most of these notes are from two months ago. I've really been slacking lately: - Founders PC Pils - 355 mL bottle from an LCBO six-pack. Pours nicely, with lots of lacing generated as the head recedes, with a thick, foamy collar left behind. Clean and grainy, with some crackery pale malt sweetness t...

It's a perpetual game. The worker-focused LCBO doesn't like adding SKUs without subtracting other ones. It terrifies them, the very notion of expanding our selection into the kind of Byzantine options common to our USA neighbors, and being very consumer-focused. So, to keep the SKUs at a certain nu...

The Paulaner Oktoberfest cans have finally cropped up in these parts. It says 'Oktoberfest Bier' on the label, rather than 'Wiesn'. Not sure which one it is (they're listed as separate things on the Paulaner website) but it's a goddamn fine strong lager either way. I'll be buying this one every time...