The Bar Towel

I got a bunch of their beers recently and I thought I'd post some mini reviews to give people an idea about what they brew. I've been working through them over a month so I would not consider these super on point but rather my impressions of the beer. I'll run through from best to my least favorite. I was pleasantly surprised at the variety of styles the brewery puts out.

Shattercone IPA: This was really good. A middle of the road IPA with good balance of aroma hops/bitterness. I think that this is the platonic ideal of getting some fresh beer from your local brewery. A similar taste profile is Bench's Balls Falls. I think that this is on tap at Boxcar Social on Temperance for the tickers out there.

Helter Smelter Russian Imperial Stout: Again, really solid. Had a lot of cocao/chocolate in the taste. Hid the alcohol well. For those that like this style, I would seek this out.

Black IPA: Can't find the name of this. I thought that this was a unique take on the style. Most black IPAs I have tried, they put just enough dark malts in to get the colour but they don't want any char/roast taste. Here, they deliberately played off the roast malts with the bitterness and I thought it worked.

Stack 72 IIPA: I'm hit or miss on this style. If it all comes together (malts, aroma, bitterness) then I like them. Here I seem to remember not much aroma and too much sweet malts.

Smoke and Oak: Smoked ale I think done on oak wood chips rather than barrelled. I would never have bought this style but I'm drinking it now and it's solid. Underlying ale is not over powered by smoke and the woodiness is complementary to the malts.

Surprisingly, they also do Belgium styles.
Belgium Dubble: Really I only drink the classics of this style (Chimay, Rochefort etc) so I have a really high bench mark. The beer didn't reach that, seemed thin and over carbed.

Biere de Garde: This really seemed like a maxed out malty Richards Red. I'm not entirely sure about what a Biere de Garde should taste like, I think I've tried a few in special LCBO releases but I didn't taste anything unique about this beer.

All I've tried was an Alt from lcbo, that was pretty damn bad. Maybe I'll give something else a shot

sofakingdrunk wrote:All I've tried was an Alt from lcbo, that was pretty damn bad. Maybe I'll give something else a shot

As a local Sudburian, I have to say their core releases are pretty middling but they do have a small barrel program for their sour series and these range from meh to pretty great. Also their sour IPA, a seasonal, "Expansion IPA" is pretty tasty.

I tried Stack's 4x4 Belgian quad a couple of months ago as part of tasting of quads/ABTs/BDSAs brewed outside of Belgium that I coordinated with some buddies. It was a decent but unspectacular entrant. It had a nice malty base, but certainly lacked the complexity of the elite (mostly Belgian brewed) examples of the style. I described it as a poor man's Kasteel Donker and, being partial to Kasteel, did like enough to pick up a couple of cans. I cracked one of these cans a couple of weeks ago and unfortunately this one must have been spoiled as it had a balsamic vinegar tartness that I can't imagine was intended.

It's an interesting case study of what you need to do to make a business work. I have eaten out at a few Sudbury restaurants and none of them carry any of the Stack beer I reviewed. It was all cream ales and other beers that don't taste like much. Not sure how big of a program they have for more interesting beers but all of the one's I got were tall cans bought from the brewery which I understand is out in an industrial area. I think there is enough talent there that they'll succeed.

alsiem wrote:It's an interesting case study of what you need to do to make a business work. I have eaten out at a few Sudbury restaurants and none of them carry any of the Stack beer I reviewed. It was all cream ales and other beers that don't taste like much. Not sure how big of a program they have for more interesting beers but all of the one's I got were tall cans bought from the brewery which I understand is out in an industrial area. I think there is enough talent there that they'll succeed.

Hm, that's odd, not sure where you ate but every place I go for a bite for lunch or dinner that has a tap or bar fridge, Stack is available. Here it's ubiquitous, you'll find it at chain big box restos and small wine and beer places. Even our local coffee shops carry it. They also distribute to bars and restos all across the Northeast. That industrial area is right smack dab in the centre of Sudbury, close to shopping centres and 500m from the well travelled Hwy 17 Trans Canada Hwy. They're event sponsors, they put on an annual Northern Ontario Craft beer festival and Homebrew Competition too.

They do have Stack but it is cream ales etc. Sorry about the description of the brewery location. Second hand info from the wife

alsiem wrote:They do have Stack but it is cream ales etc. Sorry about the description of the brewery location. Second hand info from the wife

No problem, if you're ever in the area again I might have a few of the better Sour Series barrel-aged releases for trade, including their take on an Oud Bruin which I think is a high-water mark for them.

Does anyone know what happened to Puppers? I searched the LCBO website and it doesn’t look like it is currently listed. The brewery website doesn’t seem to have it either. Have they ceased brewing this? This stuff gets me such great hauls in trades with the States, I think I’ll cry if it is no longer brewed...

I’m sending the brewery a message and will report back for those who may also benefit from this little goldmine!