The Bar Towel

Recently I have had Big Rock's Hazy IPA at their Liberty Village location. It has juicy hop flavours with balanced malt. This is right up there with life in the clouds, when it is good. I am quite impressed. It seems the local brewer is more capable than the parent company's line up. Although they s...

Today and recently I have been enjoying Fuller's Bengal Lancer IPA. This is one of my favourite styles of beer, English IPA. Also it is my favourite Fuller's beet to date. It has that yummy English yeast strain with strawberry like esters and a herbal tea like earthy hop presence. I had it on draft ...

I dropped by this place tonight. First, I had their UPA Toronto IPA. It was good but not amazing. It did not not stand out in the variety of IPAs available in the province. It could ue more hop character. Next was the cinnabon stout. If you like cinnamon buns and 10% dessert stouts, then you will li...

In the spirit of Christmas, i had some Northern Maverick Mint Condition. This is an imperial stout with oatmeal, coacoa, and mint. While I like their regular imperial stout better, this was pretty good. Recently, i retried Black Oak ten bitter years. This recent sample was more like the formula when...

Went to Bandit last night. I ordered a DIPA and an east coast IPA. I'd describe both as if someone had taken a well-made example of the style and added water to it. They weren't bad, but they weren't amazing either. I am guessing there is some improvement since previous posters visited, but there is...

Surely that beer is a little past prime now? Wet hop beers age especially poorly and the hop harvest was a while ago. FWIW, I had both beers on draught, so it seems CA is still selling it. Don't know, if they have kegs sitting around in a warehouse or something... Also, there are a lot of harvest a...

Tonight, I had a Collective Arts Wet Hop pale ale. I found it lacking in hop flavour compared to other wet hop beers. Recently, I tried the harvest ale from 3 brewers, and I would rate it among the best harvest ales in the province. This is surprising given their core line up.

Right now: Fuller's Imperial Stout - I like this one a lot.
Recently: Bellwoods regular Skeleton Key -nice balance in something with a lot of flavour
MacLean's Cherry Porter - another winner from this brewery

Head to head wet hop showdown. Bellwoods Bine Hunter 5.0% abv For sale on Oct 20 Amsterdam Autumn Hop 5.6% abv Canned Sept 21 I had these both recently too, and I agree that the Bine Hunter had more hop flavour. The Bellwoods info on Bine Hunter states that they use Fraser Valley hops. I don't know...

Head to head wet hop showdown. Bellwoods Bine Hunter 500ml bottle $7.50 (IIRC) 5.0% abv For sale on Oct 20 Amsterdam Autumn Hop 473 ml can $3.25 5.6% abv Canned Sept 21 Where is Nickel Brook this year? Drinking the Bellwoods first I thought it was just nice. Solid hop pungency on the nose. Dank and...

Right now, I am having a tasty Amsterdam Autumn Harvest Ale.
Recently, I had Bellwoods and Other Half MylarShark. Very impressive. With more hop flavour then the stellar Runes beer, they should make this one a regular.

At the Orkney Island Brewey, I was able to sample some real ales including a outstanding bitter, and a very good Dark Island ale. It has been something like 20 years since the Lcbo carried Orkney's brews, but I remember enjoying them then. Right now I am thoroughly enjoying a tasty Drk Isld Rsrv. Th...

At 200 ibup it had plenty of hop flavoured. :o And how was the malted? Or just a plate shredder? The malt profile was what I would describe as a standard IPA with little malt complexity. To be honest, I preferred the Top Out IPA, and I would not describe Jackhammer as palate wrecker. It falls a bit...

^^^Try and lay your hands on some "Tempest" beers. Their hoppy stuff is fantastic if you can get it fresh. Last time I was gome(2016) they had some decent distribution in some of the local-ish shops(marks and Spencer's,asda,some local garden centres). Based on this recommendation I picked...

At the Salt Horse in Edinburgh Beavertown smog rocket - this is an English smoked porter. It has a smokiness between assertive and subtle with a balanced maltiness. Nice. Mount Saint Bernatd Tynt Meadow - this is an English old ale from a new trappist brewery that has only been available for three w...