Radical Road Brewing Co - Canny Man at the LCBO

liamt07 · Post by **liamt07** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 6:53 pm

Anyone try this yet? Thoughts?

JeffPorter · Post by **JeffPorter** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 7:44 pm

It's a damn sexy beer. From the packaging, to the sweet and smoky taste.

I quite liked it. If you were able to get your hands on a bottle of the BA Nutcracker, same barrels, obviously, but I liked this beer a lot more.

I don't know if it was the blending ratio, or what, but the barrel ageing didn't drown out the base qualities of the beer.

The vanilla and wood flavours worked really well with the toffee-ness of the malts. The peat was there, but less in the forefront. It never really gets cloying but 750 is a bit much for me - so good for sharing.

I drank it with chocolate, and I have to say I think it goes better with that than any stout I've ever had.

midlife crisis · Post by **midlife crisis** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 8:56 pm

I quite liked it. My first impression was "wow, that is a lot of peat smoke", but it really grew on me as I worked my way through the 750 ml. Packaging is perhaps the most elaborate ever for a beer brewed in Ontario.

Droogy · Post by **Droogy** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 9:33 pm

If you like single malt whiskey (the smokey / peaty kind) this is quite the brew!

It's like consuming a lower ABV / larger volume whiskey and I've already acquired some more.

I've had some of the other scotch ales (holy smoke; amsterdam wee heavy; cannery and walkerville) and this is by far the best and most unique. If I recall also the most expensive.

mol_son · Post by **mol_son** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 2:54 am

How does it compare to St. Peter's The Saints?

PeenSteen · Post by **PeenSteen** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 6:23 am

mol_son wrote:How does it compare to St. Peter's The Saints?

I Haven't opened mine yet but I will bet everything that it is better than The Saints. I mean it couldn't be any worse.

TheBeeraholic · Post by **TheBeeraholic** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 6:46 am

JeffPorter wrote:It's a damn sexy beer. From the packaging, to the sweet and smoky taste.

To be honest, I originally had no intention of purchasing this bottle as I have a hard time getting into the smoked beers. But when I saw that packaging yesterday it went right into the basket.

JeffPorter wrote:I quite liked it. If you were able to get your hands on a bottle of the BA Nutcracker, same barrels, obviously, but I liked this beer a lot more.

That is good news. I had the BA Nutcracker, and although I am not a fan of the porter style, I did not mind it and actually throughly enjoyed it. So hearing this has a similar profile, but better is great.

Droogy · Post by **Droogy** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 10:45 pm

TheBeeraholic wrote:
JeffPorter wrote:It's a damn sexy beer. From the packaging, to the sweet and smoky taste.
To be honest, I originally had no intention of purchasing this bottle as I have a hard time getting into the smoked beers. But when I saw that packaging yesterday it went right into the basket.

JeffPorter wrote:I quite liked it. If you were able to get your hands on a bottle of the BA Nutcracker, same barrels, obviously, but I liked this beer a lot more.
That is good news. I had the BA Nutcracker, and although I am not a fan of the porter style, I did not mind it and actually throughly enjoyed it. So hearing this has a similar profile, but better is great.

But do you like single malt whiskey? It's the best way to describe this beer IMO

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 2:47 pm

midlife crisis wrote:...Packaging is perhaps the most elaborate ever for a beer brewed in Ontario.

Yes I think they out-Beau's Beau's on this one. Some fancy shizzit here, yo!

I like the way Radical Road come screaming out of the starting gate with a niche-market beer that looks this good. And I haven't even opened it yet.

mintjellie · Post by **mintjellie** » Sun Feb 24, 2013 11:20 am

I don't care how good it is, I wont pay for sexy packaging on a new breweries product.

More for the rest of you.

cmadd · Post by **cmadd** » Sun Feb 24, 2013 11:52 am

mintjellie wrote:I don't care how good it is, I wont pay for sexy packaging on a new breweries product.

More for the rest of you.

Cheaper than GLB RIS, which has relatively mediocre packaging. So I'm not sure what you're getting at.

mintjellie · Post by **mintjellie** » Sun Feb 24, 2013 3:30 pm

cmadd wrote:
mintjellie wrote:I don't care how good it is, I wont pay for sexy packaging on a new breweries product.

More for the rest of you.
Cheaper than GLB RIS, which has relatively mediocre packaging. So I'm not sure what you're getting at.

Didn't pick that up either. I'm sort of burnt out on good but not exceptional beers at high prices from local brewers. I've been buying and drinking more ordinary, everyday sorts of beers for awhile now.

shintriad · Post by **shintriad** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 4:26 pm

So I gave this a shot. Looks, smells and tastes just like — you guessed it — scotch. And I know I'm losing "man points" here by admitting it, but I've just never liked scotch that much, and I've tried all kinds of putatively good ones. I'm more into bourbon and rye myself.

Also, the head on this was enormous. A regular pour into a pint glass yielded about 75% foam. Wild.

With the awesome-looking packaging, I think this'd make a great gift for the scotch-liker in your life. But it's definitely not for me.

ritzkiss · Post by **ritzkiss** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 5:10 pm

As a scotch fan, I totally and thoroughly enjoyed this. I could quibble over a minor flaw or two but really this is a quality beer at a reasonable price when you factor in ABV, packaging, barrel aging, size, etc... Glad to see interesting things like this pop up here in Ontario.

GreatCop · Post by **GreatCop** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 10:22 pm

Had high hopes but it didn't come through. Too much smoke, not enough anything else. Like shintriad said, I thought I had a decent pour but the head was still a little excessive.

Pretty bottle though!