atomeyes wrote:gordonpeterwiebe wrote:GLB, sawdust and nickelbrook (unfortunately, not recently for nickelbrook though) are all far better imo.
I just don't get the fanboyism for bellwoods. I love that they put out a tonne of different beers... but, it all tastes a little amateur to me.
that's probably the funniest thing i've read in a while.
FYI, when i go to Belgium, all they want is that amateur Bellwoods stuff. trading with the states? they want Bellwoods.
i still put BW in my top 3 ontario breweries and def in the top 5 in canada. i think their barrel projects are ambitious, as are the styles they're brewing. they were using brett when few other Ontario breweries (Amsterdam and GLB would, on occasion, for keg releases) were doing it.
i had a pint of 3min on Saturday. i really, really enjoyed it. it's a perfect beer to have with chocolate. alcohol heat is low. fruit's at a perfect balance.
I'm a bit of a Bellwoods fanboy, but it's really hard to think of anyone that can consistently compete with them across the board within Ontario. Not many breweries produce excellent IPA's, sours, and a range in between. Of course, I don't love every beer, and I'm almost certainly going to be trading some of my 3 Minutes to Midnight purchase, as it just didn't wow me for the price. But for me, it's a stylistic thing...I think I just don't like beers with that much sweetness/booziness.
I'll also second the notion of people outside the country knowing of/loving Bellwoods. I've gotten Bellwoods bottles to bars/shops in Amsterdam and Japan to much excitement and appreciation. I don't think someone would give me a 750 of Cantillon in exchange for a bottle of Sawdust City, but they happily did so in Amsterdam.
Finally, take a look at prices for barrel-aged releases elsewhere. I recently learned that the Rare Barrel in Berkeley is now commanding $20-$30+ per bottle for barrel-aged beer. So $12 is not at all unreasonable.