Got an email and just spoke to Ken Woods, President of The Black Oak Brewing Company. They kegged their first ever Christmas Nutcracker yesterday and will be starting to deliver it tomorrow.
"There's only 18 kegs of it and boy is it good" exclaims Ken. The beer is a spiced Porter (using cinnamon). All 18 kegs are sold.
It will arrive at Smokeless Joe's tomorrow afternoon and likely kegged by tomorrow night.
He's trying to get it to C'est What also but the owner needs to sample it first. If not, it'll be at the Bow & Arrow.
As for other places, it'll be at The Angel Inn in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Sweeney Todd's in St. Catharines and the Merchant Ale House in St. Catharines. Coincidentally, heh heh heh, I'll be in the Niagara/St. Catharines area this Sunday to Wednesday. So... I'll definitely get a taste or twelve of it!
Get it while you can!
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We have a trivia question in order to register to prevent bots. If you have any issues with answering, contact us at cass@bartowel.com for help.
Introducing Light Mode! If you would like a Bar Towel social experience that isn't the traditional blue, you can now select Light Mode. Go to the User Control Panel and then Board Preferences, and select "Day Drinking" (Light Mode) from the My Board Style drop-down menu. You can always switch back to "Night Drinking" (Dark Mode). Enjoy!
Black Oak Christmas Nutcracker
I visited Sweeney Todd's in St. Catharines on Sunday afternoon and they indeed had the Black Oak Christmas Nutcraker on tap.
It pours with a generous creamy head. It has a very light nutty smell. The taste is clean, a little nutty but not as overwhelming as a nut brown, with a slight hint of cinnamon. There is a slight bitterness accompanied with a somewhat dry, but pleasant aftertaste. Overall, an extremely well balanced, refreshing, enjoyable beer. I went back on Tuesday and Wednesday to have more!
I stopped by at The Angel Inn in Niagara-on-the-Lake and they had not received yet. The Merchant Ale House in St. Catharines had not received it yet either but expected it sometime this week. The Merchant Ale House did have a seasonal beer on tap, however, simply called a Hazelnut. Wow, what a beer! Right from the strong hazelnut smell to the rich hazelnut taste, what an incredible beer this is, with little to no bitterness. I liked it better than their Cask-Conditioned Drunken Monkey Oatmeal Stout, which is also a nice beer but very bitter!
One last note... I was fortunate enough also to try the Niagara Falls Eisbock on tap at Sweeney Todd's. If any of you happen to come across this beer on your pub journeys, do yourself a favour and have a pint of this exceptional brew! No words can accurately describe this beer... It must be experienced first hand.
It pours with a generous creamy head. It has a very light nutty smell. The taste is clean, a little nutty but not as overwhelming as a nut brown, with a slight hint of cinnamon. There is a slight bitterness accompanied with a somewhat dry, but pleasant aftertaste. Overall, an extremely well balanced, refreshing, enjoyable beer. I went back on Tuesday and Wednesday to have more!
I stopped by at The Angel Inn in Niagara-on-the-Lake and they had not received yet. The Merchant Ale House in St. Catharines had not received it yet either but expected it sometime this week. The Merchant Ale House did have a seasonal beer on tap, however, simply called a Hazelnut. Wow, what a beer! Right from the strong hazelnut smell to the rich hazelnut taste, what an incredible beer this is, with little to no bitterness. I liked it better than their Cask-Conditioned Drunken Monkey Oatmeal Stout, which is also a nice beer but very bitter!
One last note... I was fortunate enough also to try the Niagara Falls Eisbock on tap at Sweeney Todd's. If any of you happen to come across this beer on your pub journeys, do yourself a favour and have a pint of this exceptional brew! No words can accurately describe this beer... It must be experienced first hand.
Ah, Eisbock on tap. Brings back many memories of university when Future Bakery in the Annex (of all places!) regularly tapped it during winter. Many nights were spent enjoying pitchers of Eisbock and mashed potatoes while philosophizing and debating universitylike topics...
Anyway, I tried the Black Oak nutcracker on tap last night at Joe's. Strange, I didn't notice as much of the flavours I was expecting. It was quite carbonated, and was slightly reminiscent of an Our Special Ale. However, the bartender noted that the previous keg had a stronger cinnamon and clove flavour. Worth another try...
Anyway, I tried the Black Oak nutcracker on tap last night at Joe's. Strange, I didn't notice as much of the flavours I was expecting. It was quite carbonated, and was slightly reminiscent of an Our Special Ale. However, the bartender noted that the previous keg had a stronger cinnamon and clove flavour. Worth another try...
I had a pint of Black Oak Nutcracker at C'est What? on Dec. 27. What a surprise. From the look of it, I expected a more malt accented beer in the style of an English Old Ale. What I found was a beautifully flavoured deep brown ale, with a good smack of hops balancing the malty background. Very yummy indeed. I didn't get much in the way of cinnamon or cloves, but the hop aroma and drying bitterness more thsn made up for this. I drove to Hamilton afterwards, and I swear I could taste the finish of this beer the whole way. Kudos to Ken Woods and the team at Black Oak for giving us this great ale.
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Uncle Bobby
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