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Bellwoods Brewery

Discuss anything and everything about craft brewers from Ontario here.

Moderators: Craig, Cass

napoleon
Posts: 282
Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2012 12:37 pm
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Post by napoleon »

snorristurluson wrote:Does anyone have any thoughts on the Barn Owl releases? Just wondering if I should buy 4 or not?
Barn Owl #1 was delicious. I tried this when it was on draft and was thoroughly unimpressed. It ends up being a bit of a weird mishmash and overly hoppy for the sour style. I'm going to give this release a pass or get at most 1 bottle.

snorristurluson
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri May 15, 2015 1:59 pm

Post by snorristurluson »

I love sours, so I'm always apt to buy whatever I see. I think I'll pick up a couple.

napoleon
Posts: 282
Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2012 12:37 pm
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Post by napoleon »

snorristurluson wrote:I love sours, so I'm always apt to buy whatever I see. I think I'll pick up a couple.
This one is not nearly as sour as you would expect FYI

BakaGaijin
Posts: 472
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:41 pm
Location: Burlington

Post by BakaGaijin »

Why would anyone expect Barn Owl Blend #2 to be sour?!? It is a brett pale ale.

I had the GLB X Bellwood's Brettalica yesterday. It was okay. Nowhere near as tasty as Pit Caribou's Session Brett IPA.

napoleon
Posts: 282
Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2012 12:37 pm
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Post by napoleon »

BakaGaijin wrote:Why would anyone expect Barn Owl Blend #2 to be sour?!? It is a brett pale ale.

I had the GLB X Bellwood's Brettalica yesterday. It was okay. Nowhere near as tasty as Pit Caribou's Session Brett IPA.
Well, when I first tried it on tap, they told me the 20% component was 3 year old Grandma's Boy...that was certainly a sour (and delicious beer). Sadly they wasted it blending it with what is a somewhat bland brett pale ale.

I tried the Pit Caribou's Brett IPA after a trip to Montreal. Just picked it up in the grocery store there! It was much nicer than Bretallica. Bellwood's own beer Brettalhead is much nicer than the Bretallica as well. It's not a bad beer, just don't know that I would pick out the brett had they not told me.

snorristurluson
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri May 15, 2015 1:59 pm

Post by snorristurluson »

For some reason I thought it was a proper sour, must have mixed it up with something else. Perhaps I'll skip it.

jrenihan
Posts: 175
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:36 am

Post by jrenihan »

Barn Owl #2 does indeed contain Grandma's Boy, and does have a sour component to it. I had it when it was briefly on tap a couple of weeks ago and thought it was terrific. Similar to Motley 2014 (which I adored) in the combination of Brett and dry hopping. Surprised to hear such lukewarm reactions as I personally thought it was quite a bit better than the first one.
Ren

napoleon
Posts: 282
Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2012 12:37 pm
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Post by napoleon »

jrenihan wrote:Barn Owl #2 does indeed contain Grandma's Boy, and does have a sour component to it. I had it when it was briefly on tap a couple of weeks ago and thought it was terrific. Similar to Motley 2014 (which I adored) in the combination of Brett and dry hopping. Surprised to hear such lukewarm reactions as I personally thought it was quite a bit better than the first one.
Ren
Glad to see some people are enjoying it. I guess when it comes to sours, brett, and dry-hopping there are a variety of different taste preferences. For me, the dry hopping detracted from the beer. It was also partially expectations…I had loved Barn Owl #1 so much. I personally would have just called this a different beer, because I couldn't taste any connection to #1.

jrenihan
Posts: 175
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:36 am

Post by jrenihan »

I agree that there isn't any taste connection. I don't think there is meant to be. Barn Owl is a series of blends, which I gather may well be wholly different from one another. Whether using a common name is a good marketing approach or not is another matter.
Ren

nickw
Posts: 231
Joined: Mon Sep 13, 2010 8:56 pm

Post by nickw »

jrenihan wrote:I agree that there isn't any taste connection. I don't think there is meant to be. Barn Owl is a series of blends, which I gather may well be wholly different from one another. Whether using a common name is a good marketing approach or not is another matter.
Ren
Bellwoods has taken the same approach of "different blends, different beer, same name" with their annual Motley Cru. We'll just have to remember which one of the series the Barn Owl blends are!

User avatar
DeMarco
Posts: 317
Joined: Mon May 04, 2015 2:01 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by DeMarco »

I thought Barn Owl 2 was some serious swamp juice when it was on tap. I think it needs a lot of time to fade out some of the already mellow flavours, there was just too much going on.

napoleon
Posts: 282
Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2012 12:37 pm
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Post by napoleon »

So they have officially run out of beer in the bottle shop the last two days and it has been closed. It is re-opening shortly today with (supposedly) Jutsu V. 5 in stock.

User avatar
DeMarco
Posts: 317
Joined: Mon May 04, 2015 2:01 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by DeMarco »

napoleon wrote:So they have officially run out of beer in the bottle shop the last two days and it has been closed. It is re-opening shortly today with (supposedly) Jutsu V. 5 in stock.
Sounds like it's the final jutsu which is a derivative of v5?

napoleon
Posts: 282
Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2012 12:37 pm
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Post by napoleon »

DeMarco wrote:
napoleon wrote:So they have officially run out of beer in the bottle shop the last two days and it has been closed. It is re-opening shortly today with (supposedly) Jutsu V. 5 in stock.
Sounds like it's the final jutsu which is a derivative of v5?
Yes, this is according to their blog the final version. It's quite good, although I think I preferred V. 4 better. There is a malt backbone which at times sticks out just a bit more in the final version than in a few of the predecessors. Still a very nice summer beer. Super fresh right now as well.

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gordonpeterwiebe
Posts: 41
Joined: Sun May 03, 2015 7:25 pm

Post by gordonpeterwiebe »

yeah, having the new v5 right now.
I'd have to say that v4 is my pick as the best of the bunch as well... but, since this seems to be a beer that they'll consistently produce I think they'd have trouble sourcing the Nelson hops of the v4 year round.
Anyhow, this v5 is very good and definitely my favourite of their ale/ipa lineup.

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