What're you drinking right now?

[boney]

2 yr old bottle of Struise Black Albert. I was going to keep it longer, but I caved. Had a craving.

[kinguy]

Couple of Nutcracker Porters and a Great Lakes My Bitter Wife IPA...I'm not a huge fan of IPAs, but wow!

[Torontoblue]

2 yr old bottle of Struise Black Albert. I was going to keep it longer, but I caved. Had a craving.

At least this is available in Alberta, so it's no great harm to drink one now.

[boney]

2 yr old bottle of Struise Black Albert. I was going to keep it longer, but I caved. Had a craving.

At least this is available in Alberta, so it's no great harm to drink one now.

Indeed. Back in Ontario, I would request a bunch of the readily available beers from my Alberta realitives for Christmas/Birthday etc. Because we couldn't get them in Ontario I hoarded them in boxes, scared to crack them open. Then I ended up moving back to Alberta and brough boxes of them back with me, most of which I can now grab right off the shelf. Ah well. A well aged beer is a well aged beer.

Drinking a Rogue Brutal IPA. Pretty much a Brutal Bitter with some additional Rogue Farms Dare and Risk Malts and Williamette hops added to the normal recipe. Seeminly subdued bitterness compared to the Brutal Bitter but with some added mango and tea-like qualities not present in the before. Another slightly tweaked Rogue recipe, but with enough interesting additions to make it worthwhile.

[Bobsy]

Last night a bunch of the guys came over and we shared some tasty beers:

Victory Helios
Saison Athene
Surly Smoke
Hart and Thistle Hop Mess
Allagash Odyssey
Allagash Musette
De Proef Van Twee
Sexual Chocolate
Trois Mousquetaires Noire
Miller Chill
Sofie
Coors Light
Bells Two Hearted
Ploughman's Anniversary
Lost Abbey Ten Commandments

Surly Smoke FTW!

[Torontoblue]

2 yr old bottle of Struise Black Albert. I was going to keep it longer, but I caved. Had a craving.

At least this is available in Alberta, so it's no great harm to drink one now.

Drinking a Rogue Brutal IPA. Pretty much a Brutal Bitter with some additional Rogue Farms Dare and Risk Malts and Williamette hops added to the normal recipe. Seeminly subdued bitterness compared to the Brutal Bitter but with some added mango and tea-like qualities not present in the before. Another slightly tweaked Rogue recipe, but with enough interesting additions to make it worthwhile.

I saw this last week and just thought it was the Brutal Bitter renamed. Didn't realise it was a different beer; D'Oh!!!!! I need to keep up with what is new.

[biegaman]

Last night a bunch of the guys came over and we shared some tasty beers:

Victory Helios
Saison Athene
Surly Smoke
Hart and Thistle Hop Mess
Allagash Odyssey
Allagash Musette
De Proef Van Twee
Sexual Chocolate
Trois Mousquetaires Noire
Miller Chill
Sofie
Coors Light
Bells Two Hearted
Ploughman's Anniversary
Lost Abbey Ten Commandments

Surly Smoke FTW!

Yea... two of those are definitely not like the others...

[SteelbackGuy]

Last night Cratez, Flood, Hegelec, and myself downed:

Niagara's Best Brown Ale- A solid brown with grapey fruit and plumminess. Well hopped to provide balance with a dry almost chalky finish. A good effort.

Niagara's Best Oatmeal Stout- Beer of the evening. Surprisingly pitch black opaque. Fresh minty hops with pleasant roast and vanilla. Very creamy. Bone dry astringent finish with deadly drinkability. In terms of quality, I dare say this is perhaps the best stout brewed in this province.

Peroni Nastro Azzurro- This was tasted blind, and all tasters spoke of the high quality and similarities to czech and german lagers with biscuity flavours and aromas and grassy floral hops being the highlight of the beverage.

Scotch Irish Sgt. Major- Quite hoppy and better than most samplings of this beer. Had a touch of grainy sourness upfront perhaps from being an older bottle. Overall well received.

Sierra Nevada Anniversary Imperial Stout- WOw, this was odd. Leather and pine sol were all you could smell. Tasted one dimentional with simple roast and a lot of bitterness, but the aroma overtook this one. Thin and bitter finish.


A lot of fun was had. Thanks to Cratez for bringing some interesting samples to taste. Thanks goes out to Flood and Hegelec for the keys!! Cheers boys!

[phat matt]

birthday today, so I have the rest of the week off. Sitting here drinking warsteiner dunkle, and playing some video games.

[cratez]

Last night Cratez, Flood, Hegelec, and myself downed:

Niagara's Best Brown Ale - A solid brown with grapey fruit and plumminess. Well hopped to provide balance with a dry almost chalky finish. A good effort.

Niagara's Best Oatmeal Stout - Beer of the evening. Surprisingly pitch black opaque. Fresh minty hops with pleasant roast and vanilla. Very creamy. Bone dry astringent finish with deadly drinkability. In terms of quality, I dare say this is perhaps the best stout brewed in this province.

Peroni Nastro Azzurro - This was tasted blind, and all tasters spoke of the high quality and similarities to Czech and German lagers with biscuity flavours and aromas and grassy floral hops being the highlight of the beverage.

Scotch Irish Sgt. Major - Quite hoppy and better than most samplings of this beer. Had a touch of grainy sourness upfront perhaps from being an older bottle. Overall well received.

Sierra Nevada Anniversary Imperial Stout - Wow, this was odd. Leather and pine sol were all you could smell. Tasted one dimensional with simple roast and a lot of bitterness, but the aroma overtook this one. Thin and bitter finish.


A lot of fun was had. Thanks to Cratez for bringing some interesting samples to taste. Thanks goes out to Flood and Hegelec for the keys!! Cheers boys!

It was a great night! Only thing I would add is that, despite its green pepper/green onion/leather coat strangeness, I still found the 30th to be more enjoyable than most beers that we have access to. The actual flavour was much better than the smell, with strong bitter roast and bold American hops coming through. The mouthfeel also redeemed things - I got smooth chocolaty textures, a dry and roasted chalkiness midway, and full on bitterness in the finish. But for some reason the beer was extremely green, and nobody on BA or RB seems to have encountered this problem?

The Peroni was the surprise of the night. It's a better-than-average Euro Lager with sweetish grains, apple, a light floral grassiness, biscuit, some corn, and a mild Saaz-like bitterness. I will reach for this in future when I'm looking for a session lager. I also agree that Niagara's Best has crafted one kick ass Oatmeal Stout. Anyone who hasn't tried this yet should seek it out. Thanks for hosting Len - the blind tastings and food were excellent, and I'm looking forward to the next gathering. Cheers!

[carguy]

Grand River Plowmans

[Torontoblue]

Sierra Nevada Anniversary Imperial Stout- WOw, this was odd. Leather and pine sol were all you could smell. Tasted one dimentional with simple roast and a lot of bitterness, but the aroma overtook this one. Thin and bitter finish.

I've had 3 bottles of this now and they have all tasted different. The last one pretty much goes with your description. I was so disappointed.

[sprague11]

2 Bottles of Blanche de Paradis. The first bottle I suspect was infected - smelled and tasted of Windex. The second bottle (the last of this I had) was just fine.

[icemachine]

Stir Stick Stout

No problems with infection here

[G.M. Gillman]

Recently at one of the Firkin pubs, Sam Adams Lager on draft. I found this disappointing and not nearly as good as the same beer on draft in the U.S. . Not that much hop taste and the malt flavour seemed ordinary. I believe it is brewed under license in Canada. I'll have to try the bottled one soon, I hope it is the same as what I recall from some years back.

Gary