The Bar Towel

Over the weekend at WVRST Union Station, Craft Beer Market & Bar Hop Brewco:
Halcyon Barrel House Shifting Sands - Currant (draft)
Burdock American Pale Ale (draft)
Deschutes Black Butte Porter (draft)
Blood Brothers Cactus Head DDH IPA (draft)
Godspeed Kage Baby Stout (draft)

Over the last few weeks at home:
Beerlab! Clearer Than Never - Mandarina Bavaria
Beerlab! Jovaru Farmhouse Ale
Great Lakes & Barque Smokehouse 299 Beers On The Wall
Bellwoods Barn Owl No. 17
Beerlab! Clearer Than Never - Idaho 7
Bellwoods Jelly King Strawberry Rhubarb
Bellwoods Black Liquids Volume 7
Great Lakes Rosie! Belgian-Style Fruit Beer
Beerlab! Obi Porter
Parallel 49 Trifecta Hopfen Weisse
Bellwoods A Stout With Coffee: Modern Times Amaro & BBA Hambela
Brasserie de l'Abbaye des Rocs Blanche des Honnelles
Bellwoods Barn Owl No. 18
Bellwoods Tetraverse IPA
Bellwoods Fizzy Blaster

Godspeed Sesh right now:

Svetly Lezak / February - Losing its delicate structure but good
Svetly Lezak / May - WAY better, do not keep this too long!
Umi Gose / February - still incredible, holds up well in fridge
Ibushi Smoked Pilsner / ?? - still great
Tmavy Lezak / April - also simply great, maybe this style still benefits from being fresher
Oberkassel Alt / January - holding up great still
Gokurosama Kölsch Style / January - drinking like a champ half a year on

Suggestion: there's no reason to keep any of these too long as they are minimally processed. The Umi seems the best, old Svetly is the most impacted.

(2nd anniversary celebration begins 11:00 AM Sunday with plenty of new releases, I am told.)

Empties
The Exchange & Flander's Red
Waterloo Craft Lager
Muskoka Hazed & Confused - very nice
Beau's Good Time
Lost Craft Eclipze
Ace Hill Lime Radler - very nice
Belgian Moon Mango Wheat - I like this and it was made with real mango puree
Broadhead Tight Squeeze
Loch Lomond Silkie Stout
Elora Brewing Collusion
Kingsville Woodrunner Barrel Aged Stout - my favourite find @ LCBO this year
Kiuchi Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout
Black Isle Oatmeal Stout East Coast Edition (2018)
Alchemy Bring Out the Imp (Côtes du Rhône Cask) - this was amazing
Paulaner Salvator (2018)
Einstok Icelandic Wee Heavy
Schneider Aventinus Eisbock (2018) - Liquid Spice Cake
The Musketeers Troubadour Magma
Double Trouble Hops & Robbers Sucker Punch IPA
Bruery Terreux Frucht: Raspberry (2018) - very nice
Modern Times Fruitlands
High Road Bronan - very nice
Nickel Brook Zap!

JaseWescott wrote:Empties
The Exchange & Flander's Red
Waterloo Craft Lager
Muskoka Hazed & Confused - very nice
Beau's Good Time
Lost Craft Eclipze
Ace Hill Lime Radler - very nice
Belgian Moon Mango Wheat - I like this and it was made with real mango puree
Broadhead Tight Squeeze
Loch Lomond Silkie Stout
Elora Brewing Collusion
Kingsville Woodrunner Barrel Aged Stout - my favourite find @ LCBO this year
Kiuchi Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout
Black Isle Oatmeal Stout East Coast Edition (2018)
Alchemy Bring Out the Imp (Côtes du Rhône Cask) - this was amazing
Paulaner Salvator (2018)
Einstok Icelandic Wee Heavy
Schneider Aventinus Eisbock (2018) - Liquid Spice Cake
The Musketeers Troubadour Magma
Double Trouble Hops & Robbers Sucker Punch IPA
Bruery Terreux Frucht: Raspberry (2018) - very nice
Modern Times Fruitlands
High Road Bronan - very nice
Nickel Brook Zap!

That Bring Out the Imp was fantastic. Wish I’d grabbed more than just the one.

Propeller ESB

I recall reading a comment or two on this forum saying ESB is, perhaps, an underrated style. I would agree in the sense that I don't see too many comments about it. I generally like ESBs quite a bit, and the Propeller I had last night was very good.

S. St. Jeb wrote:Propeller ESB

I recall reading a comment or two on this forum saying ESB is, perhaps, an underrated style. I would agree in the sense that I don't see too many comments about it. I generally like ESBs quite a bit, and the Propeller I had last night was very good.

I always really liked Central City Red Racer ESB. I think they killed it off in a portfolio shuffle a while back. Pity.

At Beerlab! London and Milos' Craft Beer Emporium:
Beerlab! Mimosa Gose (draft)
Beerlab! Ceremony Ale (draft)
Maclean's Ales Luck & Charm Oatmeal Stout (draft)
Bellwoods Roman Candle IPA (draft)

At some gatherings:
Storm Stayed Shook - Pomegranate, Cherry & Vanilla
Storm Stayed New Heart - Dry-Hopped Blonde Ale
Storm Stayed Siren's Call - Lime & Cardamom Gose
Cameron's Jurassic IPA

S. St. Jeb wrote:Propeller ESB
I generally like ESBs quite a bit, and the Propeller I had last night was very good.

Agree that this is a spot-on example of the style, and a generally underappreciated/overlooked beer as well.

S. St. Jeb wrote:Propeller ESB

I recall reading a comment or two on this forum saying ESB is, perhaps, an underrated style. I would agree in the sense that I don't see too many comments about it. I generally like ESBs quite a bit, and the Propeller I had last night was very good.

It's a style with a lot of room for creative expression, as are Milds and Best and Ordinary bitter. ESB / these other names is each a catch-all description as much as an actual style, so that within the continuum of a particular UK brewer's product line the style names have more relativity to their own line of beers (ABV, strength) than to other breweries' so-called ESB's etc. There's more individuality is what I mean.

For the above reason these 'flexible' styles are by definition harder to popularize & I guess tend to languish on this side of the world. But worth leaping into when seen.

Oh no, Double Post!

Belgian wrote: It's a style with a lot of room for creative expression... Milds and Best and Ordinary bitter... ESB... (are) each a catch-all description as much as an actual style (and) within the continuum of a particular UK brewer's product line the style names have more relativity to their own line of beers (ABV, strength) than to other breweries' equivalents. There's more brewer individuality...

Yeah, I should clarify my above comment by noting that Propeller's take is a great malt-forward expression of the style with a distinct chocolatey note that separates it from many other examples. Agree that there is a huge range of characteristics along the "bitter" spectrum and wide variation between brewers. Not sure whether that has contributed to their increasing obscurity in recent years, but it's a possibility. I've noticed that several Ontario brewers are now shying away from using or even alluding to the word "bitter" in their beer names, presumably to not scare away the beer curious. Two examples that come to mind are Nickelbrook Equilibrium ESB (now called Equilibrium English Ale) and St. Mary's Axe Belhoste Ale (previously Canadian Best Bitter).

cratez wrote:I've noticed that several Ontario brewers are now shying away from using or even alluding to the word "bitter" in their beer names, presumably to not scare away the beer curious.

Yah, I think the word "bitter" scares people.

cratez wrote:St. Mary's Axe Belhoste Ale (previously Canadian Best Bitter).

I didn't realize these were the same. I've had both, but with quite a bit of time in between.

Yes we once covered that side of the naming issue, 'Bitter' sounds scary to the uninformed Canuck whereas 'Pale' does not. One or two brewers may have chimed in on this very topic when a beer was renamed.

Also Pales and IPAs are a lot more unambiguously defined (& thus more comparable from one brewer to the next) so in our odd little Canadian market they are easier for people to grok. We lack the UK's diversity in its great historic styles that lean towards the unique and idiosyncratic. Europe in general is more quirky I would say, that's one of its pleasures.

At beerbistro:
Rainhard Armed 'N Citra (draft)
Sawdust City Lone Pine IPA (draft)
Fuller's Vintage Ale 2006 (bottle)

Over the week at home:
Great Lakes Lula's Kentucky Common
Great Lakes Snowbird - Tangerine & Blood Orange APA
Great Lakes Hümber Helles
Indie Alehouse I Do - Pale English Bitter
Indie Alehouse & Short Finger Lil' Lush Pale Ale
Indie Alehouse Barnyard Belgian IPA

cratez wrote:At beerbistro:

Great Lakes Hümber Helles

What do you think of this? I'm looking forward to trying it if I can find it somewhere. It's so hard to get a decent locally brewed Helles. The People's pint is pretty good. While not earth shattering it's well executed. Muddy York's is, well, not lagered long enough, and had some residual DMS, at least in the two samples I've tried.

I guess opposite to what was just written about ESB and using the term bitter, it seams some brewers are trying to add cache to their crappy pale lagers by slapping helles on the label. I fear that not enough of the 'go big or go home' craft brewers can handle the subletley of this style or have the patience and/or space to condition properly.

Tapsucker wrote: What do you think of this? I'm looking forward to trying it if I can find it somewhere. It's so hard to get a decent locally brewed Helles. The People's pint is pretty good. While not earth shattering it's well executed. Muddy York's is, well, not lagered long enough, and had some residual DMS, at least in the two samples I've tried.

...it seams some brewers are trying to add cache to their crappy pale lagers by slapping helles on the label. I fear that not enough of the 'go big or go home' craft brewers can handle the subletley of this style or have the patience and/or space to condition properly.

I thought it was tasty, and mostly on style despite being gluten reduced. Grainy and malty sweet with a slightly creamy mouthfeel and some lemony/herbal/cut grass notes. Very drinkable and refreshing, as one would expect. Not quite as complex as past GLB renditions like the H2 Squared, which had a nice minerality to it, but still a pretty good helles.

I hear your concerns about ale-focused crafters suddenly cranking out lagers (GLB would be an exception, having made them for decades). I too wonder whether some of these lagers are conditioned long enough. Great Lakes, Bellwoods, Beau's, and Godspeed seem to be doing it right; Left Field, Junction, and Muddy York a bit less so (some good, others not so much). I tend to avoid lagers from most other breweries unless I hear something great about them. I can understand how tank space/time would be at a premium nowadays given the consumer expectation that brewers churn out three new beers a week. That might be playing a role in some of these lagers not being properly conditioned.