The Bar Towel

My wife picked up a few bottles of John By Imperial Stout at the brewery in Carleton Place for me today so I was lucky enough to be able to sample this one tonight.

My initial impressions are that this quite good and definitely different from Tsarina Katarina. Big malt backbone with a nice dark chocolate bitterness and slightly creamy mouthfeel. Tsarina was definitely sweeter and leaning more towards a molasses flavour. The strength is also quite a bit lower, weighing in at 6.7%. In many ways, it reminds me of the old Hart Stout of yesteryear, though I'm finding my memory is getting worse as I get older.

Recommended.

But I want them BOTH!

Is it even possible for an IS to be at 6.7%? Odd. Although I did hear, or, read, somewhere that John By is supposed to be a slightly milder version of the American IS's.

Has anyone seen it listed on their website? I have seen no clue of it, nor even a hint of the winter warmers release.

Please don't suggest I ask a KGBO store clerk if they have it, it's like talking to a tree (unless you happen to be in his kinesiology class or have a C-cup or better). You'd be better off asking the toothless guitar playin' guy outside the store.

I have a C-cup and it does me no good at all. Must be the hair on them. The John By is in Toronto, albeit only at Queen's Quay and Summerhill so far. As for the alcohol, our measurement was 3.3% abv higher.

PRMason wrote:As for the alcohol, our measurement was 3.3% abv higher.

That would explain my sluggishness this morning...

A couple of other kudos to add to this one:
- I've never been very fond of the Heritage lagers so it is really refreshing to see them release (via Scotch Irish) both a solid porter and excellent stout in succession
- I like the tying of the beer to events in local history (Rideau Canal) and to current cultural attractions (Bytown Museum). I wished more breweries took this approach to build their local markets.

I feel like we are starting to really see the benefits and influence of the Scotch Irish acquisition.

inertiaboy wrote:
I feel like we are starting to really see the benefits and influence of the Scotch Irish acquisition.

*whew*

Grand River names all their beers after quasey local historic stuff, or at least local things. The original two beers (Plowman's Ale, Galt Knife Old Style Lager) were sort of throw-backs to classic styles of beer that were popular in the area decades and decades ago. The logo for Town Hall Lager is a picture of Galt's town hall. You get the idea. Scotch Irish isn't the only one. Unless you're just talking about Ottawa.

Not to mention that Ploughmans Ale is my favourite Ontario beer at the moment.

Plowman's Ale is quite the tasty brew. I've been meaning to go pick up another growler lately since I haven't had it in a while. I'm just a little constrained financially at the moment .

This is a beaut. Absolutely love it Perry.

It's all roasted malt, tastes like I've been chewing on the actual grains. I also get a good deal of tobacco, like I've been smoking a cigar. You know the alcohol is there but it doesn't take over by any means.

This took me back to Ireland, specifically the old-style stouts at the Porter House (except this is much better IMO). Perry, think you might get Whalesbone Oyster House interested in this? This just begs for some oysters!

And I love the reference to the Bytown museum, way to promote Ottawa's heritage.

I bought some today at the Wilson and Dufferin LCBO. So, is it really 6.7% in ABV or somewhere nearer 10.0% as Perry states? That's quite a big difference in alcohol and I don't know how LCBO can mess up in their lab testings. But from using the formula as stated in Wikipedia for determining the final alcohol percentage, ((OG - FG) / 0.00738) = ABV, and from Perry's measurements, the final ABV should be at 10.2%. Just being a little curious...

people were picking up 6, 12 at a time
fear it is limited

Strangely, Front street currently still has 184 on hand?

Hopefully a few more (closer) stores will get it.

Picked up 6 of these at the Royal York LCBO, which seemed to have a good supply, but doesn't even show up on the LCBO site. Anyhoo, this makes a lovely looking beer, nice and dark with an attractive milk chocolate head. The flavours I get out of this lean towards bittersweet chocolate, and espresso. It really is a fantastically crafted beer, and congratulations to all involved.

None at the Yonge & Summerhill location last night...