Grand River Ploughman's ale

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 5:29 pm

Has a glass of this today at the Castle...big burnt toffe /caramel malts against some pretty tenatious hop bittering...this ale tastes like something Wellington would brew if they had balls.

Sweeter than the lager, this one has a good mix of malts from Caramel to toast to biscuit...the hop presense is more subdued than the lager but still very aggressive...they hang in there and leave a metallic puckering after taste.

wittaker · Post by **wittaker** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:28 pm

Has a glass of this today at the Castle...big burnt toffe /caramel malts against some pretty tenatious hop bittering...this ale tastes like something Wellington would brew if they had balls.

I am looking forward to trying this. I do miss the Wellington IS and can't wait for it's return.

shintriad · Post by **shintriad** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 12:26 pm

Sounds great...will we see bottles at the LCBO anytime in the foreseeable future? Or on tap outside the K-W region?

KwaiLo · Post by **KwaiLo** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 4:20 pm

I just picked up a growler each of Galt Knife Old Style, and Plowman's Ale. I was told that the next step was 500mL brown bottles, but wasn't told when.

I don't think there is much chance of this being at the LCBO until there is a bottle smaller than 1.9L.

Nice facility, though I won't know what the beer is like until tomorrow. I will have to raid the cellar one more night...

runes · Post by **runes** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 7:02 pm

i would love to see this at the lcbo!

Beer Geek · Post by **Beer Geek** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 11:34 pm

shintriad wrote:Sounds great...will we see bottles at the LCBO anytime in the foreseeable future? Or on tap outside the K-W region?

Rob mentioned that it was at Victory Cafe in Toronto.

crawler · Post by **crawler** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 4:39 pm

Was there this afternoon - they don't have it yet.

JerCraigs · Post by **JerCraigs** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 10:01 pm

Picked some up today from the brewery. It was pretty solid, but I managed to drain the glass before it warmed up enough to grasp the more subtle points. I have a growler brought home to give a second whirl.

The building is pretty cool and I can't wait to see it when they have had some time to get everything they have in mind up and running.

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 8:44 pm

I had a growler of the ale yesterday, and exchanged the growler for the lager today.

The Ale certainly isn't a pansy, wanna-be American pale ale. Apparantly they were shooting for IBU's in the low 50's, but underestimated the utilization of the high-alpha hops in their big boiler. I'm sure it's at least 60 IBU. Plenty of well-rounded hop flavour as well, not at all 'green' like the overtly citrus dry hopping you find in Durhams Hop Head. There's great underlying malt flavours too (mild biscuit/bread, toffee & caramel). The closest thing I'd compare it to is the Mill Street IPA (not the weaker Tankhouse)... yet this one's only 4.7%! Incredible session beer.

They've done a lot of work on the old building, with lots left to do. I was surprised by their capacity, but I guess they need a little more space to lager (which a lot of micro's don't do).

BTW, Rob says they're not in Toronto. Yet.

old faithful · Post by **old faithful** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 8:53 pm

I have now had this and it is superb indeed. It is a darkish amber ale, very well-hopped but still well-balanced. I get both American and English flavour notes in the beer. I had it cold and I think this may lessen any fruity character and accentuate the malt and hop qualities. It really does taste like a fine American-style Imperial or double pale (even allowing for its reasonable ABV level). The beer too is clean as a whistle, no off or discordant notes whatever: it is all beer. I have no doubt, too, it is reminiscent in its hopping levels of historical IPAs. A first class effort and a treat for fans of fine crafted ales.

Gary

viggo · Post by **viggo** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 9:58 pm

old faithful wrote:It really does taste like a fine American-style Imperial or double pale

I don't think you've ever had one then!

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 10:21 pm

Definitely not a double/Imperial... but one hell of a pale ale.

In a blind tasting, I think it would kill Sierra Nevada, Old Yale and even Alpha King. All of which I love (and are also stronger).

Heck... if I was still in Cambridge, I'd probably be keeping these guys in business!

old faithful · Post by **old faithful** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 10:38 pm

I agree it is not an Imperial or double pale, its ABV (as I noted earlier) is lower than for those, but its big malty taste, especially the very well-hopped flavour (not just the flavour but the hop bitterness), reminded me of some swallows of Imperials I've had in my time.

Anyway, a great beer, it stands on its own merits, I'll be buying it regularly.

Gary

pootz · Post by **pootz** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 8:34 am

Well Rob is best to clarify the style... but if I was to offer an objective guess, I'd say this is an amber ale (that is a wide classification) of the type that was brewed in the area before prohibition...it is primal Canadian ale from the pre-prohibition industrialization era....it has that stigma about it.

Besides having some big flavor, there is something primal and basic about this ale...it's a no nonsense ale..not overly complicated and with some good "bite" to it...a working man's drink from times past....aptly named, this could have been the type of local tavern ale that the area's foundery worker or farmer may have quaffed after a hard day at it.

I found the hop presence to be interesting...hard to put a handle on it...but it seems reminisant of the small golden cones that come from the native hops I have used in brews (I know they are Western US varierties as this is what Bob told me) but the variety is fairly straight forward in bittering without a lot of fancy side compounds and gives the impression of something local brewers in the past may have had to work with...that combined with the big amber and red malt mixture( Pioneer brewers didn't have access to much pale malt) and I think Rob succeeded in recreating an authentic pioneer Canadian ale and lager....if that's what he was going for.

northyorksammy · Post by **northyorksammy** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 7:45 pm

Old Faithful showed up on short notice with agrowler for us to polish off. This is one of those hype things that turns out to be true. I put a very good review on Ratebeer. Pootz, what;s with BA--an approval lag again? There are a dozen good breweries never getting listed, any pull with Viggio?