The Bar Towel

Bobsy wrote:

JaseWescott wrote:sigh

https://ontariobev.net/collective-arts- ... -releases/

IPA 7 (6.7%) – “Next up in our IPA series is a bright, New World hop characteristics of fresh crushed gooseberry and white grape. An IPA that showcases the unique qualities of New Zealand hops.”
Available: TBA

Looking forward to the wet hop and No. 7, but I'm over the whole sour / gose / berliner craze and wish it would go die a quiet death somewhere. I appreciate the complexities of something like a Cantillon, but I find that too many of the beers we're getting are carbon copies of each other or fruited versions on a theme. Its the same with milkshake IPAs - if I have one I often get to the bottom of my glass and wonder if it wouldn't have been better to spend my money on a glass of juice instead.

Shit, I'm becoming cantankerous as I age.

I'll always love sours, but I do agree with the milkshake IPAs and overly fruited beers in general, a lot of them are practically glorified radlers. I think the prevelance of sours and saisons is just how the craft beer market seems to go nowadays. A few years ago it was crystal malt hop bomb IPAs everywhere. Now the crowds are flocking to sours and barrel aged, fruited everything. I'm sure soon enough it'll be something else- personally I think it's about time malty beers got some love.

I am okay with the sours, fruited or not, and milkshake IPAs. Thankfully most of the places that are making them have enough other beer to buy at the same time, such as Bellwoods. I said it about I believe the Pink Guava Milkshark, which was one of the first ones, that it was barely beer, and I believe I caught some flack around here for saying so. Now it seems many of you are agreeing.

The Liquid Art Fest beer was the fruitiest beer I ever had, and I only bought one can. Tried the most recent batch that came after the festival and thought it was a bit better and bit more toned down.

Overall I agree with the overkill on sours and fruited beers though. Collective Arts I've enjoyed since the beginning, and I hope their quality doesn't start to suffer. Bellwoods, I love their beer, but it might be nice for them to have a core IPA that is more traditional again rather than making everything they do being hazy, even though I love the hazy beer.

I don't know, I'm a bit conflicted.

Finally tried No. 6 tonight; it wasn't great, which sadly makes it the worst in their IPA series by default. OK, in all fairness, I never got to try No.1, but loved all of the others to varying degrees.

One can of #6 would've been enough for me (especially at $5 per), but I bought a pair. So I guess I'll put the other in the fridge until I can be bothered to review it. I finished the can easily enough, but peaches are just so goddamn delicious and easily my favourite hand fruit, so it was just kinda disappointing, I guess. It's like a combo breaker against their numbered IPA streak.

And this is coming from a guy who didn't mind it that much. If it were $3.95 I'd probably get it again a few more times before it fades from shelves.

The NZ hopped No.7 sounds interesting. The marketing blurb states that the fruit flavours are hop-derived and I sincerely hope that's accurate in full. A milkshake IPA is one thing but personally I don't think fruit on its own has a tendency to enhance IPAs.

Yeah, finally drank a can and also wasn't impressed unfortunately. The buzz seemed to be accurate. A bit of a miss for them.

I do see how everything is now a sour / hopped sour / hopped fruited sour / Imperial dry hopped fruited wine barrel sour, etc. but I actually don't mind a lot of it.

There are some great brews coming out of this movement. And despite these reinventions at least the Vermont IPA style is still pretty much just a beer in the pre-2014 sense. Actually I always have something like Party Bus or Sky Clouds in my fridge, no question.

Seems though that the trend for fancier beers has dragged all 'traditional' beers along for a steep price-per-volume increase, which has maybe contributed to the relative scarcity of the latter.

A young gent from Calabogie brewing (newer co.) was at BeerBistro dropping samples of wares, and one of the four was a Nut Brown Ale which I thought 'really? That's a new idea people will actually buy? You're competing with a Black Oak 2005-era brew they already cover the market here with... OK.' And right there I just thought things really have changed, as I sipped my tiny pour of Folly Flanders style ale that was nearly 6 bucks, and which didn't especially wow me but I ordered it just to try it. Past meets present.

Belgian wrote:I do see how everything is now a sour / hopped sour / hopped fruited sour / Imperial dry hopped fruited wine barrel sour, etc. but I actually don't mind a lot of it.

There are some great brews coming out of this movement. And despite these reinventions at least the Vermont IPA style is still pretty much just a beer in the pre-2014 sense. Actually I always have something like Party Bus or Sky Clouds in my fridge, no question.

Seems though that the trend for fancier beers has dragged all 'traditional' beers along for a steep price-per-volume increase, which has maybe contributed to the relative scarcity of the latter.

A young gent from Calabogie brewing (newer co.) was at BeerBistro dropping samples of wares, and one of the four was a Nut Brown Ale which I thought 'really? That's a new idea people will actually buy? You're competing with a Black Oak 2005-era brew they already cover the market here with... OK.' And right there I just thought things really have changed, as I sipped my tiny pour of Folly Flanders style ale that was nearly 6 bucks, and which didn't especially wow me but I ordered it just to try it. Past meets present.

Interesting comment. I wouldn't write off Calabogie though, who for my money are one of the better brewers in that part of the province. Their lineup is certainly a little more traditional in style, but I wouldn't say its any less adventurous than someone like Great Lakes, who don't seem to worry about losing their shit on kettle sours and over-priced beer. Also, the seem to have a fairly extensive barrel aging program (including treatments for their nut brown), but I've had none of those and cannot vouch for their quality.

Jam Up The Mash - the cleverly renamed Mash Up The Jam. So tasty! I may have to grab a handful more.

Belgian wrote:Jam Up The Mash - the cleverly renamed Mash Up The Jam. So tasty! I may have to grab a handful more.

I think they did more than just rename it. Nelson Sauvin wasn't in there before.

Rhyme & Reason got a label change to. now says "Citra Pale Ale" underneath it instead of "Extra Pale Ale"

They have definitely been doing some hop tweaks over the past year or so, but the reason for the name change was because of another beer existing with the same name already. Not sure which one, but because they are penetrating more markets than just Canada now, makes sense.

All of the above true. Basically a tweaked recipe, same entry / beer identity on Ratebeer for example. If I had to guess I'd say CA Jam has only gotten better.

Was talking with a brewer today and he told me he's heard that Collective Arts will be making IPA #5 a core, year round beer. No idea of the validity of this, just passing it along.

Ipa 5 A’s a vote brand would be epic. The best of the series so far, by a country mile. Wondering if they would drop the price for a core-brand beer though, as I remember it being close to 5$

IPA No. 7 and Raspberry Dry-Hop Sour listed

http://www.lcbo.com/lcbo/product/collec ... 7_97PZFyUk

http://www.lcbo.com/lcbo/product/collec ... 7_-NvZFyUk

Collective Arts Project Sour Harvest Saison is in LCBOs.

One sip and I said 'Ahh, this is for any of us who were missing a little Pumpkin Spice and saison eathiness in their CA Jam.' Actually it may be a hint less sour than Jam up the Mash, to bring in the balance and focus of the spice and pumpkin inclusion. Reminds me of two-fisting pumpkin pie alongside key lime pie. It's a nice contrast of flavors.

Belgian wrote:All of the above true. Basically a tweaked recipe, same entry / beer identity on Ratebeer for example. If I had to guess I'd say CA Jam has only gotten better.

I haven’t had it for a while, will have to re-visit.
Is it just me...or has Life in clouds changed as well. It’s definately not as hazy as before, and to me, doesn’t taste as juicy. I’m getting more malt seeetness coming through than before and less hops. Not as quite a soft mouthfeel either. To me this used to be the best regularly available ipa in the province, but my last half dozen cans or so haven’t been the same beer. There’s a few others out there I’ll reach for first*cough* Leftfield *cough* Great Lakes