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Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 3:11 pm
by matt7215
midlife crisis wrote:Which ones? Welly RIS and Hop Head would be two of them, I'm guessing?
plus the 2 denisons IMO

Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 3:13 pm
by Bobbyok
Woo, blast from the past thread. Email notification reminded me I haven't been here in a while.

I suspect the RB numbers are heavily influenced by whether or not the beer makes it beyond Ontario. Quite a few of those just aren't quite as good once they've travelled a bit. I see the same effect with beers from the Maritimes that rate highly here but lose something once they get shipped.

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 4:06 pm
by JerCraigs
midlife crisis wrote:
It may be in part a "recency effect", but GL Harry Porter, for instance, would easily be within my personal top ten Ontario beers. And one of the sours, too.
A lot of the best Great Lakes one offs haven't got the 10 ratings necessary to make that list. The weighting system on RB brings down the score vs. the avg for beers < 10 ratings.

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 5:12 pm
by liamt07
Bobbyok wrote:Woo, blast from the past thread. Email notification reminded me I haven't been here in a while.

I suspect the RB numbers are heavily influenced by whether or not the beer makes it beyond Ontario. Quite a few of those just aren't quite as good once they've travelled a bit. I see the same effect with beers from the Maritimes that rate highly here but lose something once they get shipped.
Not sure I understand this phenomenon, assuming a beer is shipped to Ontario fresh - packages I've had shipped to me take < 3 days to get here from Halifax. What has changed within the beer that allows it to 'lose something'?

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 7:12 pm
by sprague11
A lot of the really good Great Lakes beers are Project X's sadly. I've had a few that would easily be regular buys if I could get them regularly at the LCBO:

1 - Flying Monkeys Smash Bomb Atomic IPA - Great on Tap, Very great - Hit or miss in bottles though the last one I had was a lot closer to those first taps i had at Gambrinus and C'est What.

2 - Denisons Weissbier - Usually good in the can, always appreciated on tap - Always happy to have this in the summer

3 - Black Oak Ten Bitter Years - Wish it was a year-round offering. Put this in the stores and it climbs up the list.

4 - Wellington Imperial Russian Stout - An often taken for granted stout. Forget the peppermint and enjoy this as it;s meant to be enjoyed.

5 - Muskoka Mad Tom IPA - next to Crazy Canuck, the beer i bought the most this past summer. Consistently delicious.

6 - Denisons Dunkel - Wish I had more access to this. Always a winner on tap. Wish we had a really good Bavarian restaraunt so I could enjoy this with a good schnitzel.

7 - Spearhead Hawaiian Style Pale Ale - It's good, but 8 bucks plus per pint? Gotta pay the marketing weasels somehow I guess.... Ontario's most overhyped ale IMHO.

8 - Durham Hop Head - My default pint at most downtown establishments. Wish somewhere north of Finch would carry this.

9 - Flying Monkeys Netherworld Cascadian Dark Ale - The latest batches have been pretty good. A bit over-rated, but it's a fine beer when it's on

10 - Amsterdam Tempest Imperial Stout - Give this a wide release without dumbing down the recipe and watch it shoot to the top of this list.

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 9:04 pm
by Bobbyok
liamt07 wrote:
Bobbyok wrote:Woo, blast from the past thread. Email notification reminded me I haven't been here in a while.

I suspect the RB numbers are heavily influenced by whether or not the beer makes it beyond Ontario. Quite a few of those just aren't quite as good once they've travelled a bit. I see the same effect with beers from the Maritimes that rate highly here but lose something once they get shipped.
Not sure I understand this phenomenon, assuming a beer is shipped to Ontario fresh - packages I've had shipped to me take < 3 days to get here from Halifax. What has changed within the beer that allows it to 'lose something'?
I'm thinking more the ones that get wider distribution vs trading. Anything from here going to Ontario gets to sit in a warehouse for a while before it gets sold, same with Ontario to here. The wider the distribution, the more ratings it gets that may be outside of optimal conditions.

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 9:11 pm
by mintjellie
Smashbomb is hit-or-miss? I've never bought a bad sixer of it.

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 9:14 pm
by sprague11
mintjellie wrote:Smashbomb is hit-or-miss? I've never bought a bad sixer of it.
i've bought a couple that were pedestrian at best.

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 9:14 pm
by TheSevenDuffs
mintjellie wrote:Smashbomb is hit-or-miss? I've never bought a bad sixer of it.
It is. A lot of people have reported inconsistencies with the bottled version.

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 2:44 pm
by Cass
Ben tweeted out this thread as a "blast from the past". Out of curiosity I checked the list now, and here it is:

1. Flying Monkeys BNL Imperial Chocolate Stout
2. Great Lakes Brewing Karma Citra
3. Great Lakes Brewing 25th Anniversary Imperial Black IPA
4. Bellwoods Witchshark Imperial IPA
5. Black Oak 10 Bitter Years
6. Bellwoods 3 Minutes to Midnight
7. Great Lakes Brewing 25th Anniversary Bourbon Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Stout
8. Flying Monkeys The Chocolate Manifesto
9. Great Lakes Brewing Lake Effect IPA
10. Amsterdam Tempest Imperial Stout

Quite something to see 10BY holding in the top 10 (#3 vs. #5). Everyone else from the old top 10 dropped out.

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 5:54 pm
by cratez
Cass wrote:Ben tweeted out this thread as a "blast from the past." Out of curiosity I checked the list now, and here it is:

1. Flying Monkeys BNL Imperial Chocolate Stout
2. Great Lakes Brewing Karma Citra
3. Great Lakes Brewing 25th Anniversary Imperial Black IPA
4. Bellwoods Witchshark Imperial IPA
5. Black Oak 10 Bitter Years
6. Bellwoods 3 Minutes to Midnight
7. Great Lakes Brewing 25th Anniversary Bourbon Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Stout
8. Flying Monkeys The Chocolate Manifesto
9. Great Lakes Brewing Lake Effect IPA
10. Amsterdam Tempest Imperial Stout

Quite something to see 10BY holding in the top 10 (#3 vs. #5). Everyone else from the old top 10 dropped out.
A solid list that we can certainly be proud of, and I would gladly recommend any of those beers to folks from out of province. Also, given current brewing trends and the rapidly improving state of Ontario beer, I wouldn't be surprised if we see one or two sours crack the Top 10 over the next few years.

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 9:09 pm
by sofakingdrunk
anyone else think that Lake Effect was quite a bit better than Karma Citra....or just me?

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 9:19 pm
by groulxsome
I always find it strange that two of the my "top five" worst (non-infected) beers I've ever had make the Ontario top ten. Especially considering how much it takes me to actually dislike a beer. I don't mean to slam those beers, I just find it strange how drastically different my taste is from most others in these two beers specifically.

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 9:23 pm
by midlife crisis
^ Agreed. Pretty confident we are thinking of the same two. Ugh.

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 9:23 pm
by liamt07
sofakingdrunk wrote:anyone else think that Lake Effect was quite a bit better than Karma Citra....or just me?
I agree, but Thrust still tops the list.