New Arrivals at LCBO & TBS

[Napalm Frog]

For me it's not an awful beer, just average/okay, definitely not worth the current listing price at all. I preferred the ODB version when I had it on guest tap at Indie Ale House a few months ago.

[cratez]

If people are buying things at those prices and feel like they're getting their money's worth, why are they idiots? It's not like people are bankrupting themselves buying expensive 750s.

By any reasonable standard, a decent but not great Belgian IPA with quality control issues is not worth $5.25 per can. It's a seasonal beer that they've brewed many times before, it's not barrel aged and doesn't contain any special ingredients AFAIK, so it doesn't warrant an insanely high price point. But I recognize that uneducated consumers will buy this stuff anyway without knowing or caring that they're being gouged (a fair price is whatever the market will bear, right?).

[ChrisK]

pumped to try that gose

I saw "session gose" and hoped for something canned but I guess it's another entry in the "Session" series of beers going along with the Session beer fest in the summer akin to the Session Saison with raspberry and lemongrass that came around last year. I never tried it and I didn't see any discussion about it on here but it did eventually sell out. At this point I'm still wary of the "Sweetgrass" offerings.

[Blasphomet]

Yeah buy Flying Monkey is mostly insane too when it comes to their 750's. But at least they have a history of some quality to back them up, albeit not so recently. (Actually... the Paranormal Pumpkin Ale I found to be fantastic and pretty much my new favourite in the style.) As far as I know, this is Sawdust's third beer available at the LC... so LOOOL!

They've got 4 in the 'BO right now. Red Rocket and Lone Pine are both $3.25 and LDVU and Princess are $5.25.

As an aside, searching the LCBO website for "Sawdust City" only returns one of those, which would drive me bonkers if I were Sawdust City.

Sorry, I forgot about Red Rocket. So four, not three. I was way off!

[admviolin]

Princess stands as the worst beer I've ever had, at least on the first occasion of having tried it.

It was at Bar Hop last summer. I tried to order it and the bartender suggested I have a small taste first. There is something off about it she quipped. She said it tasted like goat cheese left in your hockey bag for two weeks in July in the trunk of your car. She was pretty much spot on, at least in so far as it tasted like what i imagine said goat cheese would taste like under those conditions. It was, obviously, a bad keg, but the current price coupled with that experience leads me to pass on this listing...

That may have been the Bizzarro version from the tap takeover. It was full on blue cheese on the nose but not a bad tasting beer. They purposely infected their core beers for the event...some didn't work out.

[ercousin]

Has anyone seen the new Orval release? Drinkvine shows none in Toronto, but I thought I heard there was a new crop of bottles out?

[AugustusRex]

Has anyone seen the new Orval release? Drinkvine shows none in Toronto, but I thought I heard there was a new crop of bottles out?

I got some a few weeks ago, haven't seen any since. This batch was bottled in Jan 2015, so they are just approaching the 6 months mark. The brewer believes the beer is best at 6 months. Given the type of hops used (Spalt, Styrian Goldings & Hallertau), 6 months is probably the best "fresh" age for this beer. I prefer it funky and mellow.

[biegaman]

Has anyone seen the new Orval release? Drinkvine shows none in Toronto, but I thought I heard there was a new crop of bottles out?

The only store I remember seeing them at was Brock and Kingston Rd. in Pickering (which, by the way, is probably the best store in the GTA for craft beer selection, especially at getting them first).

[sofakingdrunk]

LOOOOOL at Sawdust City! LOL I say! Are they insane? LOL! Really just LOL at most of the OCB all day fucking long. Outside of GLB, they are all pretty much out of their minds.

Don de Dieu at $6.95 for a 750ml is how you do it! World class beer at an everyman's price.

100% agree with the Unibroue comment

[S. St. Jeb]

As an aside, searching the LCBO website for "Sawdust City" only returns one of those, which would drive me bonkers if I were Sawdust City.

Searching "Sawdust" on the old LCBO site returns all four. I never use the new site.

[Coronaeus]

Princess stands as the worst beer I've ever had, at least on the first occasion of having tried it.

It was at Bar Hop last summer. I tried to order it and the bartender suggested I have a small taste first. There is something off about it she quipped. She said it tasted like goat cheese left in your hockey bag for two weeks in July in the trunk of your car. She was pretty much spot on, at least in so far as it tasted like what i imagine said goat cheese would taste like under those conditions. It was, obviously, a bad keg, but the current price coupled with that experience leads me to pass on this listing...

That may have been the Bizzarro version from the tap takeover. It was full on blue cheese on the nose but not a bad tasting beer. They purposely infected their core beers for the event...some didn't work out.

Interesting. There was no mention of this, but it might explain why what I tried was so.... distinct. Thanks for this.

[Coronaeus]

Has anyone seen the new Orval release? Drinkvine shows none in Toronto, but I thought I heard there was a new crop of bottles out?

The only store I remember seeing them at was Brock and Kingston Rd. in Pickering (which, by the way, is probably the best store in the GTA for craft beer selection, especially at getting them first).

Saw some there last week as well (Wednesday i believe).

I have to agree. This location tends to receive almost everything stocked by the LCBO, and tends to sell out of things a little more slowly than anywhere else.

[Blasphomet]

LOOOOOL at Sawdust City! LOL I say! Are they insane? LOL! Really just LOL at most of the OCB all day fucking long. Outside of GLB, they are all pretty much out of their minds.

Don de Dieu at $6.95 for a 750ml is how you do it! World class beer at an everyman's price.

100% agree with the Unibroue comment

I should have mentioned that Nickel Brook is as great as GLB for me too.

Pretty much all the other new OCB's are a joke though.


"How should we enter and make a name for our beer in the market place?"

"I say we charge a fuck ton for our product even though we have no history of producing anything other than 'just okay' beer in all two of our other products".



Seriously, Lone Pine is pretty great though... but the OCB seems further and further out to lunch to me these days than ever.

[icemachine]

I've been very impressed with most of Sawdust City's products. swung by the brewery a week ago, got fresh cans of Golden Beach Pale, Alt, Skinny Dipping Stout, Lone Pine and both versions of Princess. Expensive yes, but there wasn't a flaw in any of those beers. The regular Princess smacks you with a purse load of hops, while the ODB version has done a nice turn in the barrels, soft sour cherry and vanilla notes to it, almost like they're is a botrytis character it picked up.

[spinrsx]

new:

ENLIGHTENMENT ALE
LCBO 425710 | 500 mL bottle
Price: $ 4.50