Random Reviews

sprague11 · Post by **sprague11** » Tue May 15, 2012 9:59 am

Three Floyds Robert the Bruce - Nothing fancy, just a good scotch ale. Peet, Raisin, Toffee, etc.

L'Abri de la Tempette Corne de Brume - Considerably fancier. Figs, Peet, Oak, A bit of smoke, Molasses, Brown sugar, bread and some funk - The bottle has just shy of a year on it.

cratez · Post by **cratez** » Tue May 15, 2012 2:29 pm

A fresh bottle of this year's Black Oak Summer Saison: beautifully zesty, bright and citric orange peel character with coriander, yeast, and a pleasant nuttiness coming through as well. Spicy and refreshing body seems a tad thinner than previous years, but the weight is the same so perhaps I've been drinking too many IPAs lately. Anyhow, it's a great full-flavoured quencher for the warmer months.

Great Lakes Harry Porter & The Bourbon Soaked Vanilla Beans: boasts a nice mix of cocoa powder, vanilla, and roasty malts on the nose and palate with a medium body, moderate bitterness, slight heat, and excellent coffee-dry finish. A very delicious porter.

G.M. Gillman · Post by **G.M. Gillman** » Thu May 24, 2012 7:23 am

Mill St.'s Cobblestone Stout: This poured fresh and smooth with the roasted element not "sitting" on the beer in a harsh way but well-integrated. I think it uses some roast barley. It's more a porter by my definition, i.e., light-bodied and refreshing, but what's in a name...?

Mill St Tankhouse Ale . This seems lighter and drier than I remember it, but still nice.

Granville Island English Bay Pale Ale (draft in Toronto). Better than mainstream, but not really approaching a craft beer as I'd characterise it. Good summer refresher but not more, IMO.

Gary

sprague11 · Post by **sprague11** » Fri May 25, 2012 8:43 pm

Summit Great Northern Porter - only a Decent body, but good carbonation. A tavern porter probably similar to what one would find between Grand Portage and International falls down to St. Paul in the 70's. Bitter coffee balanced out with creamy chocolate, with just enough complexity to keep your either keep your interest or ensure a couple repeat orders down the line.

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Fri May 25, 2012 10:59 pm

Phillips Hop Box: A selection of hop-forward 6.5% brews... this is my kind of case!

Cascade IPA - 3.85

This is an old-school IPA. Pours crystal clear, golden-yellow, thin ring of retention leaves a bit of head. Not a lot of hop aroma (somewhat floral with grapefruit rind). There's not a lot of finishing (or dry) hops here, and it shows in the flavour as well. It's quite bitter, with some grapefruit rind and a bit of pine, but not overly 'hoppy' by today's standards. Nicely attenuated with the body on the lighter side of moderate, crisp finish. It seems a bit thin, wonder if they used a fine filter for clarity. Overall it's like taking a time warp back a decade or so. It's good, but not overly enticing.

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Krypton Rye - 4.5

Golden bronze with a light haze (from the rye?), great retention and lace. New school hop aroma is somewhat catty & dank (in a good way), light citrus, mango, pine and a hint of spice. Hops are up front in the flavour: Gooseberry, mango, marmalade and a bit of piny resin. Good bitterness, but not at all abrasive, rye crackers and sponge toffee round out the flavour. Alcohol is subtle. Moderate mouthfeel is extremely smooth. Very well-crafted. Not over-the-top. This is just an all around great brew.

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Skookum (previously Black Toque) - 4.13 (review from 2006 stands)

A: Ruby-black with a creamy, off-white/tan head. Some retention and lace.
S: Dark, bready malt, Pacific-Northwest hops (pine & citrous).
T: PNW HOPS! Very piney, some citrous. A little malt up front (bready and caramel), with a hint of roastyness. Assertive bitterness from the middle 'til the 'bitter' end. The roasted malt really compliments the hop bitterness. Very nice.
M: Light to moderate body and carbonation.
D: Very good.

This stuff is awesome!

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Hop Circle - 4.15 (2010 review)

A: Golden-bronze with a white head, good retention & lace.
S: Some nice west-coast hop aroma (citrus and a bit of pine), but not as overpowering as some.
T: Some quality malt flavour (biscuity) with some well-rounded hopping (citrus, grassy, hints of pine). Good bitterness.
M: Very smooth mouthfeel.
D: A great drinker.

It's very good, but after revising their IPA, I thought the hopping might be a little stronger... then again, I suspect this will sell REALLY well.

2012 - seems a bit more catty & dank now (like the rye).

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Phillips helped pave the way to west-coast hopping in Canada. They were once striking, but they're certainly not as extreme as some today... they're just really good-drinking, hop-forward brews.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Sat May 26, 2012 12:38 am

De Dolle Dulle Teve 10º (Mad Bitch) 4.1 out of 5 rb

PFFFT! It opens. What an aroma, almost a geueze like candy-lemon acid intensity! Pours a thick Dark gold with hints of red, active noisy white head vanishes, leaving a viscous menacing liquid. I smell lemon candy. But I said that already. It tastes very full and... lemon candy, spice, cherries and caramel and granny smith apple.. whoah what BODY... the carbonation is absolutely invisible but creamy on the tasting, VERY unique texture. It’s insanely oily and sticky because I have not cooled the bottle... but there is some nice honey presence as well. Late hops presence is a bit dry-wood and herbal and grass. Weltklasse!

De Dolle Oerbier 4.4 out of 5 rb

This is Chimay Rouge with a hard on. Caramel brown pour with a huge puffy tan head releases billowing aromas of yeast fruit and citrus that prickle the senses. The body has ruby hightlights. Taste lemony tartness and darkly intense dried fruits, with great dry and viney hopping to counter the substantial sweetness. Also some berry, pinot grape,and liquorice It’s perfect. It should be a Trappist and will age better than any Chimay if the structure of the body, hopping and alcohol are any indication. An exercise in purity of style. The assertive character (and aggressive bottle-conditioning) makes this no less impressive than a good bottle of Westy 12.

G.M. Gillman · Post by **G.M. Gillman** » Sun May 27, 2012 4:45 pm

Nogne Imperial Stout: probably the best strong stout I've had available (at times) in Ontario, rivalled only by Fuller's Past Masters Double Stout. It has a pure strong roasted element on a rich sweet malt base and lotsa hops, lots. An example of an extra-strong 1800's-style stout at its best.

I met the brewer once, at Volo, and he told me he wasn't trying to emulate any particular recipe of history, which I found gratifying in that it shows that great beer comes in many forms.

Pumking Imperial Pumpkin Ale: this was cellared by me at room temperature, if that's not a contradiction in terms, and like the Nogne above, is at least 9 months from release at LCBO. It tastes as good or better than on release, which shows that great beer keeps on keeping on. The best pumpkin ale ever made IMO.

Gary

JeffPorter · Post by **JeffPorter** » Sun May 27, 2012 7:57 pm

G.M. Gillman wrote: Pumking Imperial Pumpkin Ale: ... It tastes as good or better than on release, which shows that great beer keeps on keeping on. The best pumpkin ale ever made IMO.

Great to know as I bought a few extras of these that I've yet to get to, as well as some Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin, to see how it aged.

Mind you - I've still got a few Highballers that I have cracked yet either, and the St. Ambroise Pumpkin from last year "expires" this week (3 of those still).

mintjellie · Post by **mintjellie** » Wed May 30, 2012 9:52 pm

King Vienna Lager

4/5 rDev +9%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

Copper coloured, with a large off-white head. Poor retention and spotty lace. Clean aroma shows bread, toasty, and light floral notes. Bread crust and mild nut flavours up front, with very low hop bitterness in its short finish. Light-medium bodied with low carbonation - it's mouthfeel is smooth and crisp. A bit delicate, but easily and enjoyably sessionable.

Serving type: bottle

Reviewed on: 05-31-2012 01:48:29

Sands Beer

2.68/5 rDev +5.9%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Pale straw with a nice cap of eggshell head. Poor retention, no lacing. Cereal aroma, light dms. Watery, grainy flavour with light corn. Light-bodied and vigorously carbonated - feels thin and prickly. Typical for the style, and by far not the worst of the style.

Serving type: bottle

Reviewed on: 05-13-2012 20:41:34

G.M. Gillman · Post by **G.M. Gillman** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 11:27 am

Iron Duke on cask at Cloak and Dagger. The best real ale I've had this year, with a full dark malty taste (caramel-type not roasted), clean and rich with a light underpinning of bittering (non-aroma) hops. A true old English country brown ale. It was well-served too, pouring clear and with exactly the right type of carbonation for the style. Quite a bit better than any bottling of Iron Duke I can recall.

Muskoka Spring Oddity. A superb Belgian-style golden ale that is better IMO that most Belgian beers I've had recently. The juniper and orange are added in just the right measure, it's like a beer version of excellent gin.

Granite Best Bitter Special. This was at Victory a few days ago and since I never have this when at Granite, opting for the IPA or the Darkside, I went for it and was glad I did. This beer has a flavour that is very consistent over the years but I find hard to describe. It has elements of both English and American beers, and ends up being just an excellent local ale.

Gary

JeffPorter · Post by **JeffPorter** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 8:49 pm

G.M. Gillman wrote:Iron Duke on cask at Cloak and Dagger. The best real ale I've had this year, with a full dark malty taste (caramel-type not roasted), clean and rich with a light underpinning of bittering (non-aroma) hops. A true old English country brown ale. It was well-served too, pouring clear and with exactly the right type of carbonation for the style. Quite a bit better than any bottling of Iron Duke I can recall.

Every once and a while I think that Wellington just nails it with the casks! I had Iron Duke on cask I think in March at Bryden's and thought the same thing.

Last Tuesday I dropped into Smokeless and Colin still had some Arkel's left over from Sunday - I was a little skeptical, but I thought it was fantastic!

G.M. Gillman · Post by **G.M. Gillman** » Sun Jun 10, 2012 5:06 pm

It's a good one-two punch Jeff, each down the street from the other.

It was my first visit to the Cloak and I plan to return, I saw a sign that they have bluegrass at 10:00 p.m. on Tuesdays and there is a regular live music schedule, different styles. When I was there they were playing Joe Walsh on the sound system and it suited me just fine.

Gary

sprague11 · Post by **sprague11** » Sun Jun 10, 2012 7:51 pm

Green Flash Rayon Vert - Bottle has a bit of age on it, so the hops have faded a bit. Massive head, hazy gold pour, The Brett is prominent in this one - funky, barnyard, slight pool tarp.

sprague11 · Post by **sprague11** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 10:16 pm

Tyranena Dirty Old Man Porter - Very low carbonation, but that's my only complaint about this beer. Awesome pour, Rye, Dark Chocolate and black coffee. the barrel doesn;t overpower, but instead compliments the sweet roasted goodness of this beer. Very nice.

Great Lakes/Amsterdam Farmhouse Saison - Nice hazy golden pour, drinks like a witbier with some serious barnyard funk. Cardamon, orange, barnyard funk, yeast - A very interesting and complex drink.

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:05 pm

sprague11 wrote:Tyranena Dirty Old Man Porter - Very low carbonation, but that's my only complaint about this beer. Awesome pour, Rye, Dark Chocolate and black coffee. the barrel doesn;t overpower, but instead compliments the sweet roasted goodness of this beer. Very nice.

Great Lakes/Amsterdam Farmhouse Saison - Nice hazy golden pour, drinks like a witbier with some serious barnyard funk. Cardamon, orange, barnyard funk, yeast - A very interesting and complex drink.

Thought you were going to save that Porter for the next time...