The Bar Towel

You can buy beer and wine kits in Saskatchewan grocery stores, but most are crap. Those "big and easy" 2L kits are horrible and expensive. All the local winemaking shops brought them in last fall, and now they are trying to blow them out with big discounts on buying them by the case. Coope...

I've already sent this out to most of the homebrew clubs across Canada, but the NHC Canadian Qualifier/ALES Homebrew Open is fast approaching. This is the largest competition in Canada, with winners advancing the AHA's NHC, which is the largest competition in the world. Entry deadline is April 3, 20...

westvleteren abt 12 I would really enjoy trying the 8 or the 12. Probably a great lawn-mower beer. Had a 2004 bottle of the 8 last year, also had fresh bottles of Rochefort 8 and 10 to compare at the same time. The Westy was good, but I'd still take either Rochefort over it, maybe even St Bernardus...

Uhh, lactic acid (which comes from lactobacillus, and is used to make yogurt) is not the same thing as lactose (which is found naturally in milk products).

Does yogurt make you sick?

I recently purchased a membership too, and I also have not received any info. I'm not too worried about it, just check the website, and you should get a quarterly newsletter or something. However, I did know about the homebrew Porter Competition, looks like a Regina boy kicked some ass! http://homeb...

"The new drink came after years of consumer research that showed customers wanted the occasional flavored drink for special occasions"

Which is to say that Bud Light is therefore "unflavored"... finally some honesty from the marketers!

Should have looked for the Caribbean brewed Guinness. Its pretty good stuff. Do you mean the Guinness Foreign Extra that is contract brewed by Desnoes & Geddes in Jamaica? That stuff has over the top DMS, undrinkable. I believe the rest of the Carribean gets the real Foreign Export from St James.

I looked forward to trying the Petrus on my visit to Winston's in Saskatoon this week. I've never tried one before, but as the poster above me said, "dumbed down," seems a fitting way to describe this beer. Quite a let down, as I love sour beers, yet they are hard to come by. I then contem...

Eau Benite just started being available in Alberta, so I'd be surprised if it is being retired.

This may be, I will have to check Roger Protz' book on the history of stout and porter. Gary I'm no expert either, but I too am fascinated by early porter. Steve Cavan at Paddock Wood is a pretty knowledgable guy on the subject, I believe he has written papers and given presentations at universitie...

Guinness stout (at least originally and maybe still) was a blend of younger and oak-aged beers, thus essentially an 1800's porter except relatively strong and using also unmalted barley in the grist, which seems an Irish innovation. I'm pretty sure that Guinness did not use unmalted barley until th...

My wife gets emabarrassed when we go to a restaurant and I ask, "what's on tap?" After I hear the offerings I usually say, "I think I'll just have a water."

I don't drink a lot of Unibroue, in fact it has been a while since I've had one, but I had myself a bottle of Trois Pistoles last week. I find the spices (be it the yeast, or spice additions) to be way over the top, same as with Maudite. I re-visit both of these every year or so to see if my taste b...

Blanche de Chambly comes on draught? I've only had it in bottles, and again it's not totally my thing. Is the draught version pasteurized and/or filtered? I've had it on tap in Calgary, and it tasted totally neutered. Blanche de Chambly really needs that yeast in suspension to generate some flavour.