The Bar Towel

Over the last few weeks:
Beerlab! Hi Mom Kviek Lagered Ale
Beerlab! One Fell Swoop Session IPA
Cascade Midnight Bramble 2016
Ommegang Game of Thrones: For the Throne
Cascade Rose City Sour 2016
Bellwoods Subverse IPA
Cascade Sang Royal 2016
Shacklands Winter Cherry Sour
Ommegang Game of Thrones: My Watch Has Ended
Third Moon All Together IPA
Third Moon Each Beast a God - Double Stout w/ Coffee
Third Moon Dust Made Flesh Double IPA
Barncat Clowder - Barrel Aged Sour Ale w/ Cherries
Barncat Bastet Pêche - Foeder Aged Sour Ale w/ Peaches
Beerlab! Logical Prime IPA
Bellwoods A Stout With Coffee: Columbia Pedregal #2

sofakingdrunk wrote:

Tapsucker wrote:The latest release of Surround Sound is really working for me.

It’s outstanding. Such a unique taste to it. Probably the best beer I’ve ever had from CA

Thanks for the heads up. Haven't tried this one yet but will give it a shot based on these comments. Cheers!

Great Lakes Krispy Clear — Really unique flavour almost a lemony-melon, gose-like tartness... very subtle and super fresh today. Great for a light lager.

A few new-to me ones lately.
Muskoka Tread lightly-been drinking lots of this. Very good for a low abv beer, with lots of flavour And doesn’t come across too thin either.

Collective Arts ipa13-maybe on par with the latest surround sound, for their beat beer that I’ve had.

Elora Pilsner-great clean crisp beer. Bonus, it’s now available at lcbo apparently, pick some up for this heat. Elora has really stepped up in the past year or so imo

Barncat Bastet Peche-Barncat’s sour program is so good. Each and every one of them I’ve had have been top notch. Glad I was able to grab a couple before they were gone.

Sawdust Every day magic-this one is up there with some of the best hazies in the province that I’ve had(Barncat,badlands etc)

Red Circle Four barrels-the first stout, or BA beer I’ve had from these guys. While the barrel flavours really shine through and tasted nice, I got the impression the base stout was a bit raw. I’ve got another can, may let it sit a few months.

Having a Mikkeller Fresh Start - brewed over here, canned mid-June, hazy as heck NEIPA and I would say an extremely good one.

Fresh Start leans on making a selection of very correct and interesting (and summery) flavor choices rather than trying to do too much all at once. I will leave each of you to discover those flavours yourselves.

At Beerlab! London:
Beerlab! Relax, Now – Kveik Lagered Ale (draft)

At Milos' Craft Beer Emporium:
Godspeed Otsukaresama Dortmunder Lager (draft)
Omnipollo Konx Non Alcoholic Beer (draft)

At some gatherings:
Storm Stayed Randonnée West Coast IPA
Beerlab! Anyways IPA

Good to finally be back at it

Lickinghole Creek Sunflower Saison from Virginia.

Good on the LCBO for getting this fairly rare beer in. That said at $11.95 (750ml) I probably won't be buying too many.

Speaking of saisons I miss the Left Field one. I haven't seen it in a couple of years now. That was my favourite.

Compared to a few years ago, there is a tremendous availability of beers with varied and intense flavours. This is good, but I was talking with another Bar Toweler recently that sometimes you just really want, for lack of a better word, a "regular" beer.

Had a Saulter Street It's About Bloody Time English Ale. Fits the bill nicely, a very nice beer. If you read the back of the can, this is exactly what they were intending.

S. St. Jeb wrote:Compared to a few years ago, there is a tremendous availability of beers with varied and intense flavours. This is good, but I was talking with another Bar Toweler recently that sometimes you just really want, for lack of a better word, a "regular" beer.

Had a Saulter Street It's About Bloody Time English Ale. Fits the bill nicely, a very nice beer. If you read the back of the can, this is exactly what they were intending.

I agree with this statement. I’ll be on the lookout for the Saulter street. Wellington Helles has been my “regular beer” for the last little while(since it seems to be harder and harder to find London Pride)but I’m really more of an Ale man.

S. St. Jeb wrote:Compared to a few years ago, there is a tremendous availability of beers with varied and intense flavours. This is good, but I was talking with another Bar Toweler recently that sometimes you just really want, for lack of a better word, a "regular" beer.

Had a Saulter Street It's About Bloody Time English Ale. Fits the bill nicely, a very nice beer. If you read the back of the can, this is exactly what they were intending.

I'm enjoying this one as well. Has a pretty low carbonation but it almost gives off a cask all vibe, which is very appropriate for the style. Nice depth of malt flavours too, kind of a more malt forward/less hop forward alternative to GLB Pompous Ass.

S. St. Jeb wrote:... (was) talking with another Bar Toweler recently that sometimes you just really want, for lack of a better word, a "regular" beer.
Had a Saulter Street It's About Bloody Time English Ale. Fits the bill nicely, a very nice beer. If you read the back of the can, this is exactly what they were intending.

Fantastic recommendation- I am doing a Godspeed beer visit with my Mississauga friends, I will bring some Saulter Street About Bloody Time because they are also 'ale' guys and it's a nice contrast to the always extremely nice Godspeed Svetly Lezak 12º (or whatever they've got on when I go dy.)

I'm an east end boy! I have looked at but not tried many SS beers - if I had an immediate criticism Saulter Street product branding doesn't exactly scream out for attention, but maybe the quality will.

Now having a Bellwoods An IPA, Neslon Sauvin Galazy and Amarillo hopped. Wonderful and peppery NEIPA.

I left Leslieville a little over a year ago. I liked Saulter Street a lot; the staff, the vibe, the clientelle. It was a lot of fun to bring my toddler and wife in and just sit around for a bit and sip some beers with locals. It's about as unpretentious a spot as you can find.

That said, the beer was generally middling. Sounds like they've improved, glad to hear it.

I was just at Liberty Commons Big Rock Brewery. First off, I had their table saison. Honestly, it was king of bland, and only had a little bit of the saison taste. Next was their hazy IPA (I think it was called 'ask me later'). This had plenty of hop flavour, with tropical fruit tastes. It's right up there with some of the better hazy IPAs in the province. Thirdly, I had their stout. A nice element of it was that it had plenty of roasty flavours from the malt or perhaps unmalted barley. It was easy to drink, which I can appreciate in this weather. Actually, I prefer an American style stout, like Yeti or ten fidddy. Those beers have more hop flavour to my palate. Or, a Belgian stout, like the one Spearhead used to make was quite good. I did not try their hefeweizen or sour. Overall, I find the core Big Rock beers a bit on the boring side, but the house brewer can make some good rotating nano brews. With five nano brews on tap, it is a worthwhile visit to this place.

Cheers.

Craig wrote:I left Leslieville a little over a year ago. I liked Saulter Street a lot; the staff, the vibe, the clientelle. It was a lot of fun to bring my toddler and wife in and just sit around for a bit and sip some beers with locals. It's about as unpretentious a spot as you can find.

That said, the beer was generally middling. Sounds like they've improved, glad to hear it.

I stopped in for a few on tap Monday and Iagree with your assessment of the place. Nice general vibe (trains are a bit loud outside) and you're not allowed to bring food in.

The British Ale and the Paradox IPA with Idaho 7 hops are both quite nice, and both are served a little cold and improved with some warming. There was also a Pilsner, a raspberry Sour, and a lime Wit.

The British Ale in a can is a bit low-priced for what it is. $2.60 at LCBO and bottle shop with tax in.. I'm just so used to giving up a pound of flesh for six or 12 cans of locally-made beer.

Einbecker Ur-Bock Hell - Surprised to find this lager at the LCBO in a tiny (by German standards) 330 ml bottle, but it's quite tasty. Round malty notes, strong aroma, balanced hop profile. As I nearly finished it I saw it's 6.5% abv, which explains its flavour potency. I need to find more maibock!

Great Lakes Burst

Strange, while it has some bitterness, I can't taste or smell any hops. Strange indeed for a NEPA. Maybe I should go get a COVID test.