Best Beers Not Available in Ontario

[Jon Walker]

I've never tried these save for the Rogue Kells and the Beer Works Watermelon but I'd love to get my hands on them here:

Charles Wells Banana Bread
Town Hall Banana Bread Beer
Kuhnhenn B-Rads Banana Stout

Kuhnhenn Raspberry Eisbock
New Glarus Raspberry Tart

Carlyle Vanilla Creme Ale
Flying Fish Vanilla Ice
Prairie Rock Vanilla Cream Ale

Beer Works Watermelon Ale

Huh? Next time you go to Buffalo you should just skip Premier and go straight to Jamba Juice instead.

[Belgian]

Since I work for a wine agency and we haven't yet made any forays into beer, I thought if I got some feedback, I could have some discussions with the boss about starting to bring in some beers..

Ahh. Sounded at first like a 'pie in the sky' question, sorry for the malaise.

Pannepot from Van Struisse would be interesting.
__

JWalker, it sounds as if the LCBO does business in ways inaccountable, ineffectual and just plain strange - real institutionalized obtusity, out of touch with the small businesses that are producing what they in turn sell for profit. That upsets me on behalf of Craft Brewers, and it's just not acceptable for this Province to not care - to assume such control without looking at its responsibilities seriously. Would they treat farmers with such carelessness? Could any businessman succeed in the real world being so ignorant of people, and products?

So... that may really limit what importers can do here, and ultimately, keep the market in a retarded state. Stone and Victory would already be selling here were this not the case, yes?

[Jon Walker]

You put a lot of big words in there which confused me...but the two that stood out were "LCBO" and "retarded". That would pretty much sum it up.

[John Aitken]

HAHAHAHAHAHA

[midlife crisis]

Any of CAMRA's Champion bottle-conditioned beers, such as:

Gale's Prize Old Ale
Hopback Summer Lightning (has been in Ontario previously)
Fuller's 1845 (ditto)
Young's Special London Ale
RCH Ale Mary
O'Hanlon's Original Port Stout
Woodeforde's Nelson's Revenge
Ringwood Forty-Niner

.... and so on.

[lister]

Huh? Next time you go to Buffalo you should just skip Premier and go straight to Jamba Juice instead.

What's wrong with something a little different and fun? If it was up to some of you lot we'd have nothing but hop monsters and stouts.

That's just a small themed list of what I'd like to try. I don't have to time to wade through ratebeer finding British ales, hefeweizens or whatever else that strikes my fancy.

[JerCraigs]

I've never tried these save for the Rogue Kells and the Beer Works Watermelon but I'd love to get my hands on them here:

Charles Wells Banana Bread
Town Hall Banana Bread Beer
Kuhnhenn B-Rads Banana Stout

Kuhnhenn Raspberry Eisbock
New Glarus Raspberry Tart

Carlyle Vanilla Creme Ale
Flying Fish Vanilla Ice
Prairie Rock Vanilla Cream Ale

Beer Works Watermelon Ale

Huh? Next time you go to Buffalo you should just skip Premier and go straight to Jamba Juice instead.

Except that the two Raspberry ones are some of the best beers around! Mmmm Raspberry!

[A]

The New Glarus Raspberry is *way* too sweet, like drinking raspberry jam. Nowhere near as good as the Belgian Red that they make.

[Belgian]

Huh? Next time you go to Buffalo you should just skip Premier and go straight to Jamba Juice instead.

What's wrong with something a little different and fun?

I've been meaning to try McAuslan Apricot Wheat Ale, is that anything decent? Since we're on the subject of high-vitamin beers, what else?

On Saturday I got a sixer of Framboise from the Amsterdam Brewery (Spadina at Lakeshore) and it was abosulutely great with our mexican dinner - a little dry to cut the oils and yet with a full-on red raspberry flavor to balance the spiciness. They have self-serve *SAMPLE* taps as well, and easy free parking out back now.

[GregClow]

I've been meaning to try McAuslan Apricot Wheat Ale, is that anything decent?

I used to quite enjoy the Apricot as a summer refresher, but a couple of years ago I made the mistake a drinking a pint as my last in a very, very long evening of drinking, and... well, let's just say that I now associate the flavour more with how it tasted coming back up rather than going down.

[lister]

I've been meaning to try McAuslan Apricot Wheat Ale, is that anything decent? Since we're on the subject of high-vitamin beers, what else?

I drink the Apricot Wheat once in a while. I like it overall but to be honest I find it a little dry and in need of a sugar boost. Maybe the dryness will float your boat. I find the flavour not too strong or over the top.

What else? Nickelbrook has their apple lager coming out soon. Niagara Fall's Apple Ale has been nice. It's not listed on lcbo.com anymore though. I wish Church Key would get their Cranberry Maple (amongst others) into the LCBO/Beer Store. (I'm contemplating a stop there on the drive back from Montreal.) Can't think of any others beyond the Belgian offerings already in the LCBO...

On Saturday I got a sixer of Framboise from the Amsterdam Brewery (Spadina at Lakeshore) and it was abosulutely great with our mexican dinner - a little dry to cut the oils and yet with a full-on red raspberry flavor to balance the spiciness. They have self-serve *SAMPLE* taps as well, and easy free parking out back now.

The girlfriend picked up a sixer of Framboise there two weeks ago. Unlike the Apricot Wheat the less sweetened taste works for me. DOH! We didn't realize the taps were self-serve. I would have tried the Spring Bock. Next visit!

[Belgian]

That's why I posted " *SAMPLE* taps" to grab every BarToweller's attention.

Where else can you park your car for free, tour a brewery, blabber on about malt and hops & sample several draught beers? It's a bit of an unexpected location (south end of the bridge on the east side) but almost as much fun as Mill Street.

I'll be back for more Framboise & to rate a few more samples.

[dhurtubise]

Here is a different suggestion.

De Ranke, from Belgium makes two seperate types of beers that I think would fall into alot of the most popular categories - that being the sour and the hoppy.

De Ranke Kriek is a Flemish Red Ale as good and as sour as any in the world. It is extremely refreshing and has a rich enough sour cherry backbone to perhaps provide a crossing for many of those who might be turned off by the relatively intense sourness. Yet, it would satisfy even the most discriminate palate.

De Ranke XX Bitter is a very hoppy belgian pale ale. It is dry, bitter and full of elegant noble hops. In my opinion the product is better then it's american cousin (the APA - probably it's inspiration), as well as rarer (much fewer examples). Although all of the buzz for hoppy beers is focused on the american varieties, some of the most wonderful hoppy beers I have ever had (and there are many APAs and AIPAs in that list) were brewed in Belgium. XX Bitter was probably the best.

One interesting angle on these beers is the more interesting and refined packaging that they come in - similar to Chapagne bottles - which scream premium when compared with the standard north american packaging. The LCBO seems to have had a penchant for these kind of things in the past. The two beers are also world class and I have never seen a sample on this side of the Atlantic... yet. I doubt they are represented.

Daniel

[JerCraigs]

Nice choices Dan, but you forget the LCBOs tendency to decide that lambics are poisonous We might fair better though, since there are no cherries in those ones! hehe

[Belgian]

Nice choices Dan, but you forget the LCBOs tendency to decide that lambics are poisonous We might fair better though, since there are no cherries in those ones! hehe

Those damn cherry pits with the damn, damn cyanide... damn them all!

Ssomeone might drink a twelve pak of Cantillon Kriek while watching World Cup, and become TWICE as brain damaged.