The Bar Towel

Hi,

I saw this at a café for 9.95 in Kingston and went 'gee neat, they must have this for less at the LCBO.' A regional organic beer, encouraging.

It is actually a Kölsch-style beer that comes in a 750ml swing-top ceramic bottle (I think it was $7.50 - apparently the bottle is quite expensive to source & costs about four dollars from the supplier.)

All in all I was not blown away, but then I don't generally drink Kölsch and just really wanted to try it. This is a beer that would ultimately make sports fans happy, refreshing with somewhat short/strong sweetish grain flavors, restrained fruitiness and a finishing lager 'edge'. I went back to it a few times & then relinquished it to the other BBQ drinkers while I enjoyed a Rogue ESB and a Welty with my nicely grilled burg.

I look forward to more trips to Köln to explore this often poorly-appreciated style while searching for unusually good examples. I also want to try the Beau's on tap if possible. Keep up the efforts Beau's. You can do Kingston proud.

Do Kingston proud? Dude, Beau's is Ottawa valley through and through, the brewery is in the lovely town of Vankleek Hill about an hour east of O-Town. They've become incredibly popular in Ottawa. Kingston is the farthest south they will go, they don't want to overextend themselves into the GTA.

I actually find it better from the bottle, I think there are freshness issues with the stuff I've had on tap. It tends to lose it's nice floral touches and noticeable grainy malt. The bottles are partly meant to encourage people to visit the brewery as they give a much better deposit on them there, at least I saw that somewhere on these boards I think.

Their bogwater was also very interesting. Worth a trip if you're in the Ottawa area.

Bytowner wrote:Do Kingston proud? Dude, Beau's is Ottawa valley through and through, the brewery is in the lovely town of Vankleek Hill about an hour east of O-Town. They've become incredibly popular in Ottawa. Kingston is the farthest south they will go....

Well, 'Dude' if you are going to bring all that petty geographical accuracy into the discussion, yes I guess you are right. But don't say Ottawa doesn't WANT to be Kingston. After all, that whole "Nation's Capital" thing? - that is SO following in Kingston's footsteps. (Not very deep, permanent footsteps I do realize...)

Poor Kingston, next your gonna be pretending to have a bigger ice-skating trail than us like Winnipeg.


re: popularity of Beau's

http://beausbeer.blogspot.com/2008/03/w ... -week.html

Belgian wrote:

Bytowner wrote:Do Kingston proud? Dude, Beau's is Ottawa valley through and through, the brewery is in the lovely town of Vankleek Hill about an hour east of O-Town. They've become incredibly popular in Ottawa. Kingston is the farthest south they will go....

Well, 'Dude' if you are going to bring all that petty geographical accuracy into the discussion, yes I guess you are right. But don't say Ottawa doesn't WANT to be Kingston. After all, that whole "Nation's Capital" thing? - that is SO following in Kingston's footsteps. (Not very deep, permanent footsteps I do realize...)

I don't really care about this either way, but Kingston isn't exactly "close" to Ottawa...and I don't think it was a petty thing to mention, rather just a mention that Beau's is closer to Ottawa and that is their main market. When I was in Ottawa (go sens!) just recently, I saw Beau's in literally almost every pub I visited. I had the Kolsch a few times and really enjoyed it, and now I have a growler of the Bogwater thanks to my "friends" in Ottawa, and I am very much looking forward to drinking it. Certainly a brewery worth watching out for.

I would rather stop at Kingston. Do you think Alfredson or Fisher could deliver some Bogwater since they aren't busy?

wittaker wrote:I would rather stop at Kingston. Do you think Alfredson or Fisher could deliver some Bogwater since they aren't busy?

Why not stop at both?

Yes, I just talked to Alfredson and Fisher respectively. They have been delivering beer to the leafs, who are now on the golf course. They are doing this to gain strength so they can hopefully play in the playoffs.

The website also mentions it on tap in a few places now in Kingston, including a favorite haunt, the Queens U Grad Club.

SteelbackGuy wrote: I don't really care about this either way, but Kingston isn't exactly "close" to Ottawa...and I don't think it was a petty thing to mention, rather just a mention that Beau's is closer to Ottawa and that is their main market..

Was not serious. Are you kidding or did you totally miss that I was kidding?

VanKleek Hill is probably closer to Montreal than to either Kingston or Ottawa. That we don't have free trade East-West will probably keep Beau's out of the Quebec market.