The Bar Towel

At Milos' Craft Beer Emporium - Round 1:
Fuller's ESB (cask)
Godspeed Mondai Kristall IPA (draft)
Rorschach Preconscious Apricot Saison (draft)
Bellwoods Monogamy Summit (draft)

Round 2:
Wychwood Hobgoblin Gold (draft)
Trappistes Rochefort 10 (bottle)
Dominion City Southern Migration (sample)

Over the week at home:
Von Bugle Munich Lager
Bellwoods Sour Cherry Jelly King
Lost Craft Revivale

Shepherds Neame Christmas Ale, a very comforting British-style ale with spice-cookie qualities. It shows well at about room temperature if you want to try it so.

Having pints of this unfiltered & unpasteurized on tap would be a very interesting way to pass an afternoon in Favershem, Kent.

On tap at home:

Black Oak Nutcracker

A whole keg, just for me.

Cans:

GLB Grandpa's Eggnog white stout

Not quite the same without nitro but still tasty.

beerstodiscover wrote:Boulevard Whiskey Barrel Stout — This brew is actually a blend, containing 1/3 fresh (non barrel aged) beer, and you can definitely tell. It's just not as intense as your average well-made BARIS (Double Tempest comes to mind). But it is a tasty stout no less with whiskey barrel and chocolate/caramel notes standing out. Select LCBOs may even be offering a 75% discount on 4 packs.

Don't know about the discount, but it's a fine value. There are very present (and very nice) oak wood notes along with the slightly boozy Bourbon, so it's my impression they made the best use of first-fill, intense barrels to marinate the stout a good while & then create the blend.
Caramel and chocolate and coffee-like roast. Both dry and sweet, with a warming alcohol presence. Total winter beer.

Over the week at home:

Moosehead Small Batch London Stout
North American Craft Hoperation SMASH
Left Field Go-Ahead Raspberry & Hibiscus Gose
Spencer Monks Reserve Ale
Lickinghole Creek 9 Mile IPA
Brouwerij Boon Kriek Marriage Parfait
Big Rig Release The Hounds Black IPA
Brouwerij Het Anker Gouden Carolus Ambrio
Rainhard Brett Coast Brett IPA
Great Lakes Shinny Pants Session Stout
Rainhard Cult Hero DIPA
Brewery Ommegang Rosetta

All thoughts/notes/reviews can be found here

Omnipollo Prodromus while playing Pandemic with the family.

Description on the can accurately states "Graham Cracker Chocolate Chunk Caramel Bar Stout". Very, very sweet, certainly not for everyone. This is definitely one beer I would prefer in a smaller size than 473 ml. And picking up a theme from another thread, this is also a sipping beer for home; can't even imagine having something like this at a bar.

S. St. Jeb wrote:Omnipollo Prodromus while playing Pandemic with the family.

Good on the LCBO for geting back a number of suitable Holiday beers we've had before, including the Samichlaus and others.

Had a Whitewater Peanut Butter Shake Stout, it has a great aroma and decent look and taste. It's a complicated beer and maybe thinner than you'd expect but I think it's growing on me as a sessionable stout with chocolate, caramel and PB.

Now having a Alchemy Bring Out The Imp RIS. Gosh I this is nice... just a classic Impy, with deep rounded richness and some alcohol warmth, dried black fruits and even wine/port/grape notes. (It's Cotes du Rhone cask aged.) A little hay-like hops add some 'farm' characteristics. Beautiful.

3 Fonteinen Cuvée Armand & Gaston (bottled 02/07/2018) — Musty barnyard, stone fruit, citrus, punchy sourness, bone dry. Hits the spot wonderfully, paired with a fatty salmon steak.

I'm a little disappointed with GLB's Ol' Grandpa Eggnog White Stout this year. I've had it in cans and on tap. Previous years, that I recall, it's been served on nitro. This year it isn't, at least at Bar Hop 1, I haven't had it anywhere else yet. It doesn't of course have the same mouth feel as previous years which is really required.

Stone Xocoveza Imperial Stout.

lister wrote:I'm a little disappointed with GLB's Ol' Grandpa Eggnog White Stout this year. I've had it in cans and on tap. Previous years, that I recall, it's been served on nitro. This year it isn't, at least at Bar Hop 1, I haven't had it anywhere else yet. It doesn't of course have the same mouth feel as previous years which is really required.

It was on nitro at the brewery. Possibly still is.

St. Ambroise Russian Imperial Stout.

Has this one been reformulated? It was a lot more wine-like with a lot less oak and particularly vanilla than I was anticipating. I thought I had been served the wrong RIS at first. Or maybe it suffered during the journey to Toronto. I hope to find this elsewhere in the GTA and test this theory.

Friday night:
Oskar Blues Hotbox Coffee Porter
Stalwart Thriller Chocolate Porter
Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout

Yesterday:
Muskoka Ebb & Flow Session Sour
Dominion City Sunsplit IPA
Dominion City Paper Salesman Pale Ale

Blood Brothers Unify or Die (7% stout with coffee, cinnamon and vanilla) — Really well done.
Spencer Trappist Monks' Reserve Ale (quad) — Nice beer, surprisingly smooth. But not on par with the Belgian Quadfathers.
St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout — Old faithful, as good as ever.

In the spirit of Christmas, i had some Northern Maverick Mint Condition. This is an imperial stout with oatmeal, coacoa, and mint. While I like their regular imperial stout better, this was pretty good.

Recently, i retried Black Oak ten bitter years. This recent sample was more like the formula when it was first introduced and won awards. Glad to see it tasting well. I have been keeping an eye out for it at lcbos to see if i can get more.