Best Fruit Beer in Ontario?

Zymurgy · Post by **Zymurgy** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 6:02 pm

I am looking at doing a beer tasting and I was wondering what people thought was the best fruit beer in Ontario?

A couple of provisos:
- must be currently available in bottle from either TBS or LCBO
- must be brewed in either Ontario or Quebec
- a fruit beer is any beer containing fruit and does not necessarily have to be fruity in profile

I know there are not that many. Off the top of my head I can only think of: McAuslan Apricot Wheat, KLB Raspberry Wheat and Great Lakes Orange Peel Ale

Thanks.

Brews Phillips · Post by **Brews Phillips** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 6:46 pm

If you're hosting a tasting of both ON and QC fruit beers, you could also try Unibroue Emphemere and St Ambroise Framboise. There is also an Amsterdam Framboise.

kinguy · Post by **kinguy** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 7:53 pm

Nickel Brook Green Apple Pilsner

Inkling · Post by **Inkling** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 9:39 pm

At the moment I'd vote for Ephemere Apple (Unibroue).

lagerale · Post by **lagerale** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 9:02 am

1) Amsterdam Framboise
2) McAuslan Apricot Wheat
3) KLB Raspberry Wheat

Bobsy · Post by **Bobsy** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 9:04 am

The St. Ambroise Framboise is really good, and I thought they were bringing it in every year, but no dice. Out of the current selection I'm really digging the Ephemere. As a curveball you might want to throw in a hefeweizen - sometimes the banana notes are so strong I'm convinced there's fruit in there. I decided to try a bunch of fruit beers this weekend, as I realised I hadn't tried a few, most notably the Mort Subite.

Cass · Post by **Cass** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 9:19 am

Mill Street Brewpub has a Framboise on tap right now. I am a fan of the Nickel Green Apple too.

Pub Style · Post by **Pub Style** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 9:24 am

Gotta try the Nickel Brook Green Apple with vanilla ice cream. Just pour a little over some ice cream and serve. It's fantastic. I had some at the Beer and Cocktail show a while ago and now I serve it to guests at the house after dinner.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 12:29 pm

Mill Street also has Frambozen in the growlers.

My fave is Amsterdam Framboise.

toweringpine · Post by **toweringpine** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 1:32 pm

Pub Style wrote:Gotta try the Nickel Brook Green Apple with vanilla ice cream. Just pour a little over some ice cream and serve. It's fantastic. I had some at the Beer and Cocktail show a while ago and now I serve it to guests at the house after dinner.

This sounds worth trying. I sampled this beer one day and was very glad I had not purchased a pint of it. I sure couldn't drink much of it but thought there was some potential use for it. Over ice cream sounds like a refreshing dessert.

velovampire · Post by **velovampire** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 3:18 pm

Certainly not a favourite by any stretch, but I saw that Amsterdam is now bottling their Pomegranate Wheat (that I believe debuted at the C'est What Spring fest) in those 500 ml bottles they have the Blond, Nut Brown and KLB Raspberry Wheat in. I saw some today while picking up half a dozen bottles of the SI Stuart's Session at the Dupont and Spadina LCBO. Having already tried the Pom Wheat at the C'est What fest, I passed.
For interest's sake and certainly to broaden the spectrum of the tasting (if only by quantity), it may be worthy of inclusion in your tasting....

lister · Post by **lister** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 3:57 pm

The Green Apple Pilsner is my favourite followed by the Orange Peel.

While I recognize that the various Framboises from Ontario and Quebec are superior, I don't really care for tart or sour stuff.

The_Jester · Post by **The_Jester** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 9:17 pm

Church-Key has a Cranberry-Maple Wheat right now, according to their site. (http://www.churchkeybrewing.com/retailstore.php). I'll be down there next week to confirm. And to get some delicious and wholesome Grains of Wrath.

tupalev · Post by **tupalev** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 9:24 pm

The Cranberry Maple has been available for years now in the late Spring / Summer and when fresh, it is great (this year's version certainly has more maple). I did not suggest it because the original poster wanted only beers available at the LCBO or Beer Store.

lister · Post by **lister** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 9:38 pm

tupalev wrote:(this year's version certainly has more maple). I did not suggest it because the original poster wanted only beers available at the LCBO or Beer Store.

Without the LCBO & BS stipulation, CK CMW is my number two fruity beer.

And more mapley this year? Damn, maybe we'll have to modify our return path from Buffalo & Rochester to go through the 1000 Islands border crossing instead.