The Bar Towel

Revisited a few older favourties (and not so favourites) over the past couple days with a friend who came back from Ohio who's new to this whole "weird beer thing", roughly in order of how much I enjoyed them (or not):

DDC Aphrodite
Great Lakes Eliot Ness
Amsterdam Cruiser
DDC Equinoxe Printemps
Great Lakes Burning River
DDC Rose d'Hibiscus
Amsterdam Downtown Brown
Amsterdam 416
Amsterdam Big Wheel

I like Amsterdam and all, but geez do they make some pedestrian beer. The DDC Rose was worse than I remember it being. Dunno if the Burning River was old (I kinda suspect it wasn't) but I remember this being better too - either that or I've just had far better IPA in the last 5 years

sprague11 wrote:Revisited a few older favourties (and not so favourites) over the past couple days with a friend who came back from Ohio who's new to this whole "weird beer thing", roughly in order of how much I enjoyed them (or not):

DDC Aphrodite
Great Lakes Eliot Ness
Amsterdam Cruiser
DDC Equinoxe Printemps
Great Lakes Burning River
DDC Rose d'Hibiscus
Amsterdam Downtown Brown
Amsterdam 416
Amsterdam Big Wheel

I like Amsterdam and all, but geez do they make some pedestrian beer. The DDC Rose was worse than I remember it being. Dunno if the Burning River was old (I kinda suspect it wasn't) but I remember this being better too - either that or I've just had far better IPA in the last 5 years

Just wondering but were the last 3 ( "pedestrian" is being nice) for the benefit of your friend? I haven't touched those beers in years, 'though I had a Boneshaker last night which was quite good.

Great Lakes Burning River is a GREAT pale, last time I got a six-pack from Buffalo.

Now having a Stone Depth-Charged Double Bastard, close a black IPA in all but name owing to the roasty coffee character that subs in for the normal addition of chocolate and black malts.

Sawdust city little Norway lager-God, is this bad. Mad at myself for buying this.... I could barely finish it.
Jolly pumpkin bam biere- I think this is excellent, funky,dry,earthy and so refreshing. I'll be picking up more for the cellar
Collingwood saison- tasted like an average wheat beer to me. I'll give it another go sometime and see if my opinion changes.
Brew dog punk- I always like this, although this can was beginning to taste a bit old

Malcolm wrote:
Just wondering but were the last 3 ( "pedestrian" is being nice) for the benefit of your friend? I haven't touched those beers in years, 'though I had a Boneshaker last night which was quite good.

Really I could have used a number of adjectives but Pedestrian seemed the most PC The Great Lakes surprised me both in how indifferent I was to the Burning River (I'm starting to lean toward staler bottles) and how much I take the Eliot Ness for granted.

In retrospect I would have grabbed some Collective Arts stuff and an Old Flame can, but when at a (much) smaller LCBO you gotta make due with the selection you have. Also serves as a reminder as to why I stick with Boneshaker or the seasonals when I'm downtown.

At Bar Hop Brewco:
Sierra Nevada Nooner Pilsner (draft)
Muddy York Ward 3: Chinook (draft)
Dieu du Ciel! Le P’tit Blanc (draft)

At home:
Jolly Pumpkin Bam Biere
Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock

Right now:
St. Louis Gueuze Fond Tradition

sofakingdrunk wrote: Collingwood saison- tasted like an average wheat beer to me. I'll give it another go sometime and see if my opinion changes.

I've had this one on tap and in can and both times it seemed very wheat-y; a bit off balance for a saison.

Capitalizing on Volo's select 1/2 price bottles on Sunday with some friends:

Jester King Mad Meg
Jester King Vulgar Affectation
Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza

Tree Cutthroat, the English Pale Ale from BC with the fish on the can! Nice simple cottage quencher emphasizing roundness and some decent body.

@baker street station on the patio; DDC Moralite.....tasting Devine. Any Guelph people out there, get to Baker Street before the keg is gone

IPA tasting with the aforementioned friend. My scores:

1. Ransack the Universe
2. BTP Aromatherapy. This was close.
3 and 4 in no order:. Smashbomb and Immodest.

He didn't score anything but liked Ransack the best as he got Peach (his favourite fruit) in the aroma and taste. He's learning

*Edit* we've come a long long way since 2011.

Nicklebrook Half Bastard from their mix pack. A great stout, this should be a regular listing at the lcbo.

At a house party:
Cowbell Absent Landlord
Toboggan Lunatic Fridge IPA

At Milos' Craft Beer Emporium:
BeerLab! Amarillo Saison (draft)
Forked River Mild Mannered Reporter (draft)
Redline Air Ride IPA (draft)
Great Lakes Harry Porter (draft)
Beerlab! Nardo Farmhouse Ale (draft)
Sawdust City Bitter Beauty IIPA (draft)

St. Louis Kriek Fond Tradition - really straight lines and no funky stone cellar complexity, but still a very nice unsweetened sour cherry-fruited Lambic.

As this was aged 6 months on Morello cherries with pits, it's quite amazing the LCBO were not falling all over themselves once they detected the trace of Arsenic that must inevitably be present (and which amount may be less than that found in wines.)

sprague11 wrote:Revisited a few older favourties (and not so favourites) over the past couple days with a friend who came back from Ohio who's new to this whole "weird beer thing", roughly in order of how much I enjoyed them (or not):

DDC Aphrodite
Great Lakes Eliot Ness
Amsterdam Cruiser
DDC Equinoxe Printemps
Great Lakes Burning River
DDC Rose d'Hibiscus
Amsterdam Downtown Brown
Amsterdam 416
Amsterdam Big Wheel

I like Amsterdam and all, but geez do they make some pedestrian beer. The DDC Rose was worse than I remember it being. Dunno if the Burning River was old (I kinda suspect it wasn't) but I remember this being better too - either that or I've just had far better IPA in the last 5 years

tried a friend's Rose d'hibiscus that they got on tap. it was not good. no longer tart like in previous years. it's changed.
amsterdam's interesting. you have 2 very talented brewers - iain and cody - but you have a large, multi-provincially-distributed brewery. so i think that amsterdam and great lakes have flipflopped. GLB had the Tank 10 series that made you wonder why they still sold their regular offerings (Red Leaf et al.), but GLB either realized Tank 10 could make them good money or actually developed some pride in their product. look where they are now. Amsterdam still pushes Boneshaker, 416, Blonde and, yes, Starke's been launched in cans, but they've stopped with Tempest (inexcusable unless the sales #s were that bad) and their (real) raspberry sour they once released through the LCBO. think the big foreheads at Amsterdam are running that ship.