The Bar Towel

Continued evidence of Ontario brewing excellence. This bottle was bought at Summerhill LCBO, dated to December of this year, the freshness shows. The beer's top note is a rich fruity quality, soft black fruit-like, very English-estery. The abv is 4.7%, that very American 4% by weight in other words, and I note that the label states 1 U.S. pint + 6 ounces [22 ounces] so I wonder if most of the bottles are being exported to the U.S. The mouthfeel is medium in weight. The beer shows good grainy integrated flavours underpinned with flowery Kent hops. My sense is they are using North American (not U.K.) two row malt but very skillfully. The beer finishes dryish with good length. I can see how Fuller's ESB might have influenced this beer although Elora's is a lighter version: in fact it is quite similar to that Fuller 1845 bottle-conditioned beer we had here a while back except lighter all-'round which is fine by me for the season we are in. (I used to add sparkling water sometimes to that Fuller to bring it down to 5% abv and it tasted very close to Elora ESB). An interesting counterpart to Hockley Dark, not in how it tastes but in the Englishness of its character. On cask this would be sensational. A must buy.

Gary

old faithful wrote:in fact it is quite similar to that Fuller 1845 bottle-conditioned beer we had here a while back except lighter all-'round which is fine by me for the season we are in. (I used to add sparkling water sometimes to that Fuller to bring it down to 5% abv and it tasted very close to Elora ESB).

Gary

Aaahhhh! I nearly choked on reading that one...How anyone can defile an 1845 in such a manner...should be illegal.

However, I'll try it\\the Elora ESB anyway and think of the 1845 as I do to see if your comparison holds any water...couldn't resist!

When you say holds water, no pun intended right?

I sometimes add sparkling water to beers to reduce the final gravity, I'll tell you where I got the idea. Many years ago in a beer book I read that an old-time brewer - it may have been FX Matt - said he'd never make a light beer and if he wanted to drink a beer that was less strong than his regular product he'd just open one at home and add fizzy water to it. Ever since then I've done this when a beer seems too strong or concentrated to me. I don't always do this but once in a while I do (more in the summer). Brewers (not just the majors I believe) sometimes adjust down from a high gravity brew, so that's all it is. Sure it's not brewed from the OG to end up like that but I find in practice it doesn't matter, the beers I do it to are so flavourful anyway the difference is hardly noticeable. What I have found is it makes quite a difference what water you add. Perrier for example doesn't work - it has a "hard" taste, metallic-like I find, when added to beer. Soft waters are better. Any Canadian spring water will generally do but once I added one and it clouded the beer! Too much calcium in the water, maybe

Gary