The Bar Towel

Dominion City-Between two evils, BBA stout.

So good. Got two cans this year, after enjoying it so much last year. Tonnes of barrel flavour, super complex and fantastic thick sticky mouthfeel. Vanilla,oak,star anise, bittersweet chocolate,ancho Chili are all the standout flavours for me. With many more bouncing back and forth with each sip. Top notch stuff and I’m sad it’s my last can.

Godspeed Svetly Lezak Premium Pale Lager12°
Godspeed Czech 'Draught' Pale Lager 10°
Godspeed OTSUKARESAMA Dortmunder
Godspeed Tmavy Lezak 12° (Dark Lager)

These are all great, maybe today I like the Tmavy the best - it's so comforting in this cool but sunny spring weather.

Na zdraví / Prost!

Vox Populi Double Fruit Punch IPA — Hit shelves recently, canned late Jan. Still packs a very nice hop punch. Reminds me of a heavier Fat Tug. Fatter Tug?
Blood Brothers Captain Howdy — This is one heck of a tasty dessert stout. Coconut and hazelnut working wonders. A bit under carbonated but well worth $13. I think they just sold out.

Over the last little while at home, doing my best to social distance:
Indie Alehouse Eataly Saison
Junction Craft Huckleberry Sour
Indie Alehouse Holy Hand Grenade
Bellwoods A Stout With Coffee - Sam James Espresso In Bloom
Indie Alehouse Pepin The Short Patersbier
Molson Stock Ale
Indie Alehouse Dolce Pastry Stout
Rainhard Call & Response IPA w/ Strata, Mosaic & Citra
Indie Alehouse Zombie Apocalypse - Bourbon Barrel Aged Coffee Cake

Took a month off recently...back at it now...
Some recent highlights:
Barrel Aged Rat Queen...whatever year was the first year they did it
Blood Brotherhood - Badlands collab...looked ugly, tasted great!

Better late than never, finally tried some beers from Dominion City. Great brewery:

-Sunsplit IPA: I've seen this one hyped up quite a bit and it really is good. Bright, tropical, juicy but with a bit of a piney/resinous edge as well. Smooth and creamy.
-Darkest Hour: A nice dark Czech-style lager. Chocolate, coffee, roasted malts and toasted nuttiness. Easy drinking.
-Something Simple: Pale ale brewed with a French Saison yeast that lends it fruity, phenolic notes alongside citrusy, floral and herbal hops. Dry, slight bitter finish and very refreshing.
-Trouble in the Fields: I loved this one as an easy drinking lager, honey and biscuity malts balanced with just enough grassy, earthy hops. Bit of citrus in there too.
-Two Flags IPA: Pretty classic IPA. Citrus pith, pine, tropical fruits against a malty backbone with medium bitterness on the finish. Nothing too exciting but well made.

Also ordered some from Blood Brothers, only had a couple from them before at C'est What, so it was nice to try more of their stuff. Loved Bloodvar, think I finished the 4-pack off in a day or so, very easy drinking but with a nicely amped-up complexity. Shumei and Inner Eye are great as well, juicy and delicious pale ales.

Hello there, Saturday Beer Drinkers...

Having Godspeed Shizuoka West Coast IPA and a few Otsukaresama Dortmunder.

This Dortmunder is obscenely tasty after some trail hikes out in the bluffs in glorious Southwest Scarborough. Luc Bim Lafontaine is a blessing to our humble Ville de Toronto.

Wash your hands, and be kind to one another...

Firestone Walker's Firestone Lager — Very cool to see FW on LCBO shelves. I was really in the mood for a good lager, this pours a nice deep yellow, but is otherwise rather bland. Canned in October.
De Moersleutel Rusty — Very satisfying imperial brown ale.

Belgian wrote:Hello there, Saturday Beer Drinkers...

Having Godspeed Shizuoka West Coast IPA and a few Otsukaresama Dortmunder.

This Dortmunder is obscenely tasty after some trail hikes out in the bluffs in glorious Southwest Scarborough. Luc Bim Lafontaine is a blessing to our humble Ville de Toronto.

Wash your hands, and be kind to one another...

I keep asking myself: “is the Godspeed Dortmunder the best beer in the city right now?” I have a hard time not answering: “Yes, yes it is!”

We are indeed lucky to have such a great brewer and brewery here.

Coronaeus wrote:I keep asking myself: “is the Godspeed Dortmunder the best beer in the city right now?” I have a hard time not answering: “Yes, yes it is!”

We are indeed lucky to have such a great brewer and brewery here.

The Dortmunder and Kölsch and Svetly Lezak 10° have all been the BBITC at various times, for me. These are all kind of like a laser guided missile, perfect and elegant.

beerstodiscover wrote:Firestone Walker's Firestone Lager — Very cool to see FW on LCBO shelves. I was really in the mood for a good lager, this pours a nice deep yellow, but is otherwise rather bland. Canned in October.
De Moersleutel Rusty — Very satisfying imperial brown ale.

This is just getting ridiculous, I don't even get excited for new US craft releases in the LCBO anymore because by the time it gets here it's always ancient. I'm not even one of the uptight sticklers who's upset when beer is more than a few weeks old, but 6 months is pathetic. I'm surprised FW even has stock that old to send us, wasn't this supposed to be part of the Spring 2020 release?

Lockdown drinking continued:
Left Field Glorioso Italian Pilsner
Left Field Queen of Baseball IPA
Indie Alehouse & Bar Volo Bay Street Bitter
Bellwoods Universe IPA
Bellwoods Grandma's Boy 2020 - Vanier Plums
Indie Alehouse Hammer of the Dawn - Belgian Tripel
Birroteca Bionda Italian Pilsner
Anderson Craft Ales 2XIPA
Indie Alehouse & Revel Tallet - Orchard Farmhouse Ale
Bellwoods Foeder Fermented Grisette

beerstodiscover wrote:Firestone Walker's Firestone Lager — Canned in October.

Very unfortunate to hear. I'll be passing on this one.

Belgian wrote:

Coronaeus wrote:I keep asking myself: “is the Godspeed Dortmunder the best beer in the city right now?” I have a hard time not answering: “Yes, yes it is!”

We are indeed lucky to have such a great brewer and brewery here.

The Dortmunder and Kölsch and Svetly Lezak 10° have all been the BBITC at various times, for me. These are all kind of like a laser guided missile, perfect and elegant.

You guys are giving me serious lager envy. I just placed an order, the Dortmunder is back in stock.

Lake if Bays’s Off the grid PA. I’m just gonna say it, this.is.great. Took a chance on it, as I’ve never been a fan of LOB, the red ale is good for what it is, but that’s about as far as my love for them goes. This one is super tropical tasting with tonnes of tangerine and pineapple. It’s got a pina colada vibe, in a good way. There’s some coconut flavours bouncing around in there. I didn’t check the can for details, but I assume it’s using Sabro. It’s a pretty perfect summer beer. I enjoyed this one just as much, if not more than the high end PA out there. Jutsu,paper salesman, distorted reality,the juice etc etc etc. Give it a go.

Barncat Levitate—great, as usual. Barncat x badlands. Show stopper. It’s like back in the day when punk bands used to cover each others albums. Almost always great.

Wellington Helles Yeah—I honestly didn’t dig this beer for a couple years, but the last 2 or so I’ve been loving it more and more. I drink tonnes of it now and it’s always on point.

Nickel brook cheeky bastard—first time having this in a couple years, and a bit tastier than I remember. Didn’t seem as thin as I remember it. Really tasty, but damn does it make me wish Bolshevik bastard was available all the time.

sofakingdrunk wrote:Lake if Bays’s Off the grid PA. I’m just gonna say it, this.is.great. Took a chance on it, as I’ve never been a fan of LOB, the red ale is good for what it is, but that’s about as far as my love for them goes. This one is super tropical tasting with tonnes of tangerine and pineapple. It’s got a pina colada vibe, in a good way. There’s some coconut flavours bouncing around in there. I didn’t check the can for details, but I assume it’s using Sabro. It’s a pretty perfect summer beer. I enjoyed this one just as much, if not more than the high end PA out there. Jutsu,paper salesman, distorted reality,the juice etc etc etc. Give it a go.

Good to hear since honestly I've pretty much stopped buying new beers from LoB. Every time they released something new I'd give it a shot and sure enough it was often a weak, watery attempt at the given style. Last one I had was the Peach Milkshake IPA (given to me) and it tasted like a middling west coast IPA from 10 years ago with that Tim Hortons peach drink added to it (remember that stuff?) I don't care for milkshakes much but if you're into them you'd be very disappointed. The last one before that was Nighwatcher Oatmeal Stout and I was left wondering how on earth one could make an oatmeal stout so thin and watery.

That said, they're not an outright bad brewery either, their core lineup is serviceable but essentially appeals to a very unadventurous type. It's nice to hear they've put out something that stands out, I'll give it a shot.