Stack Brewing
Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2017 9:57 pm
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.
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.