Beer Ratings!

Merry Christmas everyone!  Here's a round of reviews for you, featuring a lot of beers from the new LCBO winter release.  Be sure to grab the Breakfast Stout from the Founder's feature, a top notch Imperial Stout intensely flavoured with two kinds of chocolate and coffee.  If you are feeling cold, don't be afraid of it's foreign language name, the Sigtuna Brygghus Midvinterblot (Sigtuna Brewhouse Mid Winter Only), is winter drinking in it's essence.  Balanced sweetness, full body and warming alcohol do not disappoint.

Amsterdam Wee Heavy Scotch Ale
500 mL bottle. Dark brown with a thin beige cap. The heather really comes through, some Demerara, a hint of smokiness and medicinal phenolics. Only mildly sweet. Full carbonation, moderate body. Not for me.

Beau's Rudolphus IV
600 mL bottle. Pours hazy golden with a thick white head of foam. Aromas of mango, papaya, melon, orange, biscuit like malt, pine and a hint of yeasty spice. Flavour offers a hint of sweetness followed by a massive bitter hop bite. Hugely carbonated and waxy/sticky on the palate. Long lingering aftertaste of hop goodness. Good stuff.

Garrison Imperial IPA
500 mL bottle. Pours hazy amber with a foamy white head of lace. Aromas of tangerine, honey, beeswax, pomelo and grapefruit. Moderately sweet on the palate, followed by a bracing hop bitterness that balances out quite nicely. Medium plus body with slightly below average carbonation. Leaves a lingering sticky feeling on the palate. Not as dry as many; well done.

Beau's Burnt Rock Vanilla Porter
600 mL bottle. Pours black with a nice cap of khaki head. Aromas of bittersweet chocolate, coffee, Dr. Pepper, vanilla and raisin. Moderate sweetness with very subtle hopping. Thin on the palate with below average carbonation. Reminds me too much of a soft drink, sorry.

Beau's Doc's Feet Dubbel
600 mL bottle. Pours a rich reddish brown with a soapy white head. Raisin, over ripe pear, spicy hop, subtle bubble gum and yeast here. Mildly sweet contrasted well by the hops. Moderate plus carbonation but feels very light. A tasty, if Americanized, example of the style.

Founder's Pale Ale
355 mL bottle. Pours bright gold with a foamy white head that dissipates. Bright citrus and floral notes, herbal hop spice, subtle malt. Dry and refreshing with a long bitter finish. Crisp and clean on the palate despite the hoppiness. Very clean and well made. Average body and carbonation. A nice session beer.

Founder's Breakfast Stout
355 mL bottle. Pours black on black with a thick brown head of foam. Aromas of dark chocolate, rich coffee, almond liquor, cinnamon, deeply roasted malt. Sweet but never cloying, well balanced with the bitterness of all the coffee, chocolate and hops. Massively structured and thick with oats on the palate, moderate carbonation and a long lingering finish. Dangerously good.

Panil Enhanced
750 mL bottle, gushed like mad. Pours a hazy golden orange with a thick white head that never ends. Nose is funky with brett, white peach, ripe pear, cut grass and chamomile. A surprising note of sweetness here, contrasted by the overwhelming carbonic acidity. Moderate body with huge carbonation. Somewhat creamy on the palate with a layered finish of brett character. Interesting stuff; imagine a lambic with no sour.

Sigtuna Brygghus Midvinterblot
330 mL bottle. Pours dense black with a thin beige head. Aromas of rich chocolate, Demerara, sweet roasted grain and a hint of smoky earth. Moderate plus sweetness, balanced with hop and a hint of booziness. Thick and coating on the palate, slightly warming. A delicious winter drink.

Lake of Bays Old North Mocha Porter
750 mL bottle. Pours deep, dark mahogany with a thin white cap. Aromas of cocoa, sweet grain and a hint of coffee. Slightly sweet balanced by a slight hint of roastiness. Thin on the body for what I expect in a porter. Moderate carbonation. Sessionable.

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so many samples, so little time

A set of mostly product sample reviews.  Tastes from F&M/Stonehammer, Muskoka and Amsterdam.  The highlight here was the Nickelbrook Naughty Neighbour on cask.  My soft spot for cask ale aside, I loved the fruity hoppiness and extreme sessionability of this brew.  If you can't find that (it's not unlikely), grab a tall can of St. Ambroise Pale Ale for a great, inexpensive, old world style pale that puts commercial macros to shame.

Stonehammer Autumn Bock
Draft. Pours amber with a thick tan foam. Roasted nuts, light cocoa and deep toffee. Moderately sweet with a clean lager finish. Mildly herbal hop. Average body and carbonation. Very pleasant.

Nickelbrook Naughty Neighbour Pale Ale
Cask. Pours pinapple juice with a well sparkled head. Hop notes of tropical fruit on the nose; pinapple, mango, citrus and a hint of pine. A mild touch of biscuity malt. Dry and light bodied with a slightly bitter finish. A great pale ale, really accentuated by cask format.

Stonehammer Light
341 mL bottle. Pours very light with minimal white froth. Grainy nose with a hint of apple. Taste is faintly sweet, some yeast notes and more pilsner malt. Thin body and moderate carbonation. Light beer.

Stonehammer Pilsner
341 mL bottle. Pours gold with a lacy white cap. Grainy malt with straw and toasty barley. Lightly sweet without as much bitterness as I expect for the style. A hint of herb like hop. Light to medium bodied with average carbonation.

F&M MacLeans Pale Ale
341 mL bottle. Pours medium amber with a white cap. Mild fruit, apple, pear, butterscotch and grain. Slightly sweet with just enough hop to balance out. Moderate body and carbonation. Not bad, just not all that interesting.

Stonehammer Dark Ale
341 mL bottle. Pours walnut with a thin beige cap. Nutty toffee on the nose, some grainy malt, but lacking. Taste is a little sweet, watery, slightly bitter on the finish. Light to moderate body and moderate to full carbonation. Leaves a lot to be desired.

Stonehammer Cofee Oatmeal Stout
341 mL bottle. Pours a thick opaque black with a short lived khaki head. Aromas of coffee, dark chocolate, subtle roast and woods. Creamy mouth feel, mild sweetness and a well balanced, bitter and roasty finish. Quite clean. Moderate plus carbonation. Tasty.

Muskoka Winter Weisse
750 mL bottle. Pours mahogany with a tight off white head. Soft cocoa, slightly smoky clove spice, a hint of banana and light caramel. Subtly sweet with a relatively clean finish. Average plus mouth feel, light to medium body and high carbonation. Let it warm a few degrees to enjoy a little more.

St. Ambroise Pale Ale
473 mL can. Pours a very light amber with a thick frothy white head and lots of lace. Aromas of biscuity malt, assorted spices, pine, citrus zest and candle wax. Moderate to full bodied, average plus carbonation. Bready sweetness with a nice bitter backbone and old world hoppy finish. Sticky on the palate. Very approachable.

Amsterdam Downtown Brown
473 mL can. Pours dark walnut with a thin white cap. Caramel, coffee, roasted nuts and a hint of butteriness, some woody hop. Dry for the style with a lightly roasty and mildly hopped finish. Above moderate carbonation. A little too clean on the palate. Not bad.

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Switching to Kegging & Session Stout

About a month ago I decided to switch to kegging.  The main reason for this was that despite its start up cost, kegging is significantly easier than bottling.  No more washing and sanitizing bottles over and over again!  It also allows me to serve my beer faster from the date of packaging.  Carbonation via CO2 injection takes a mere week and a half on average, compared to the three week carbonation period required for bottle re-fermentation.  That being said, some types of beer benefit from bottle re-fermentation or extended ageing (which is much easier to do in bottle than in keg).  Therefore, my kegs will be used for simple day-to-day beers, while I will continue to bottle beers that are high in complexity, alcohol, funk, or a combination of the three.

A simple keg set-up consists of only a few parts:

Fridge:  Kegged beer and beer lines must be kept cold for optimal serving!  Any old fridge will do, so long as it can hold you kegs and lines and keep temperature between 35F and 45F.

Tap:  This is what you will use to control the flow of beer.  I opted for a 'pass-through' style tap, that is fitted through a hole drilled in the front door of the fridge.

Beverage Lines:  These carry your beer from the keg to the tap.  They must be food grade, and kept clean!

Keg: Homebrewers typically use soda kegs as they can be opened up for easy cleaning.   Your kegs have in and out fittings on the top, which connect to opposing fittings on the lines.  These hold 5 gallons, which is why most homebrewers also make 5 gallon batches.

Gas Lines:  These carry CO2 from your tank to your keg.  Without CO2 you couldn't carbonate your beer by injection, and there would be no pressure to force the beer out the tap.

Regulator:  This dictates the flow of CO2 of your tank.  Flow control is important to generate a good pour.

CO2 Tank:  Industry graded tanks for CO2 storage.  They hold your CO2.

After thoroughly cleaning and setting everything up (which takes a little bit of getting used to, and can be painstaking/messy) you are ready to hook up your beer.  Sanitize and fill your keg, and set the regulator to the correct pressure (this will vary based on beer style, storage temperature and a million other factors).  Allow to sit pressurized for 3-14 days until full carbonation is achieved.  Pour and enjoy!

I designed a simple recipe for a Session Stout that would let me make quick use of my fridge.  After receiving all my kit and checking to make sure it all works, I wanted something on tap ASAP.  This low gravity and low alcohol stout would take a quick 10 days to ferment and only 10 more to carbonate.

"Let Them Eat Keg" -- Stout/English Mild

OG: 1.039

FG: 1.011

ABV: 3.7%

IBU: 20

SRM: 35

Grain Bill:

5 lbs Maris Otter

1 lb Caramel 20L

1 lb Pale Chocolate Malt

8 oz Caramel 60L

8 oz Black Malt

Hop Bill:

2 oz Styrian Goldings (2.4%AA) @ FWH

Yeast:

1 pkg WLP002 English Ale Yeast

built to a cell count of ~160 billion

Brew Notes:

mashed @ 156F for 60 minutes

Fermentation Notes:

Fermented at 68F

Tasting Notes:
Pours just barely black with a thin beige cap that dissipates quickly leaving no trace.  Soft aromas of cocoa, woody hop and a hint of roasted malt.  Mildly sweet malt notes give way to a subtle roasted finish.  Mouth feel is moderate to low, low carbonation and thin body.

Although not a bad beer, I would certainly change some things next time around.  This lacks the gusto one usually associates with a stout, even if it was designed to be low-alcohol (it's a lot harder to get the same amount of flavor into a low ABV beer).  It comes off a lot more like a British Style Mild.  Next time this beer will be mashed higher and have oats added to the grist for more body and better head.  I'd also like to see a bit more malt character, I would up the 60L to a full pound, and perhaps change half of the Pale Chocolate for Chocolate Malt, and all of the Black Malt for Roasted Barley.  Hops could be increased as well.

Hope you enjoyed!

All Brettanomyces Claussenii Farmhouse Ale

I've been wanting to experiment with an all Brett brew for a while, and thought that I would put together a simple brew to see what this methodology has to offer.  While the original recipe was designed as a low alcohol table beer, the Brett attenuated amazingly well and this ended up around the 5% mark.

The Rural Refresher -- All Brett C Farmhouse

OG: 1.040

FG: 1.000

ABV: 5.3%

SRM: 5

IBU: 25

Grain Bill:

5 lbs Vienna malt

1 lb Wheat malt

8 oz Acid malt

8 oz Carapils

Hop Bill:

1.5 oz Czech Saaz (3% AA) @ FWH

1.5 oz Czech Saaz (3% AA) @ 10 minutes

Yeast:

1 pkg WLP645 Brettanomyces Claussenii stepped from a 1L starter to a 2L starter

Other:

1 tsp wyeast yeast nutrient @ 10 minutes

Brew Notes:

mashed @ 149F for 90 minutes

Fermentation Notes:

Fermented @ 78F

Tasting Notes:

Pours hazy gold with a one finger white head that leaves a pretty good lace.  The Brett generated really nice fruit notes of mango and pineapple that could easily be confused as heavy aroma hopping.  A slight hint of mustiness.  The mid palate gives way to the distinct biscuit flavour of Vienna malt, and it finishes off with a subtle spicy hop bitterness.  Moderate to full carbonation with a creamy wheat mouth feel.

I was really happy with the way that this came out.  I followed others' suggestions and pitched a massive amount of yeast to ensure a thorough fermentation, and had no issues with yeast laziness.  I'm amazed by the balance that the Brett gave this beer, it has a pleasant combination of yeast, hop and malt notes with no individual component taking over.

Some Greats

A very nice little group of beers here from the fall/winter release, as well as reviews on the Samuel Smith's gift pack.  The pack includes a pine glass and three trophy examples of great British beer.  Also check out the Rochefort 8, a top notch Belgian Trappist ale at a rock bottom price, a duo of massive stouts and a balls-to-the-wall IPA from Great Lakes that makes most beers seem as flavourless as a Molson's product.

Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale
550 mL bottle. Pours crystal clear, medium brown with a tight tan head. Aromas of almond, apple sauce, toffee, cocoa, and earthy hop. A hint of sweetness back by good hop bitterness. Moderate body with low to moderate carbonation. Palate coating. Get’s better as it warms, solid.

Samuel Smith's India Ale
550 mL bottle. Pours golden with a thin white cap. Mild biscuit like malt, saltine, herbaceous, earthy hop, citrus and wax. Not particularly bitter for the style. Light to medium body and moderate carbonation. Clean palate. Not bad, but I was hoping for more here.

Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout
550 mL bottle. Pours opaque black with a thin off white cap. Cocoa, cooked oats, meaty roast aromas, cooked apples and a hint of malty bitterness. Mildly sweet with a slightly bitter finish and a touch of roast. Full bodied with moderate carbonation. A tasty stout.

Rochefort 8
330 mL bottle. Pours hazy mahogany with a murky off white cap, leaves no lacing surprisingly. Rich aromas of bready malt, a hint of cocoa, dried fig, raisin. Slightly sweet balanced by moderate to high carbonation and a hint of alcohol. Luxurious texture, but not heavy at all. Do let this warm up before enjoying.

Amsterdam Tempest Imperial Stout
500 mL bottle. Pours opaque black with a nice tan head and lots of lacing. Rich chocolatey aroma with layers of vanilla, coffee, deep caramel, roast and herbal hop. Big lingering mouth feel with moderate carbonation and a full body. Lightly sweet offset by a good hop bite. Undetectable alcohol. Very well made.

St. Ambroise Stout Imperiale Russe
341 mL bottle. Pours black with a creamy khaki head that leaves lots of lace. Dark chocolate, espresso, vanilla, smoky oak and roasted malt. Rich and full bodied with a lingering mouth feel and lasting bitterness. Lightly sweet with a big bitter back bone. Sticky on the palate with moderate carbonation, only a slight hint of alcohol. A well balanced giant of a beer.

Great Lakes Brewing Lake Effect IPA
650 mL bomber. Pours a hazy light orange with a lot of yeasty bits. Aroma is pure American hop; mango, guava, grapefruit, pine, orange, only a hint of maltiness. Almost sweet from all the fruit notes, backed by a big bitter punch. Crisp, but not harsh. Clean on the palate with lingering bitterness. Very refreshing, goes down all too easy.

Nickelbrook Headstock IPA
473 mL can. Pours a hazy straw with a rocky white head. Aromas of mango, pineapple, grapefruit, resin and a hint of biscuit. Moderate and lasting bitterness. Light bodied with average carbonation. Clean and lightly bitter finish. Not bad, not great.

Waterloo Union Mills Porter
473 mL can. Pours dark reddish brown with a tan cap. Cocoa, coffee and a hint of tobacco like hop. Slightly sweet, a touch of roasty bitterness, and a hint of hop bite. Moderate body and carbonation. Alcohol well hidden. Not a bad beer, expected a bit more bang.

Wellington Quick Brown Fox ESB
Draft. Pours almond colored with a thin beige cap. Nuts, caramel, toast and apple on the nose. Starts out a little sweet and finishes with a rounded bitterness. Palate coating with moderate body and carbonation.

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Wintery Reviews

Ten good old fashioned beer reviews, loaded with winter favorites!  Milds, Milk Stouts, Sweet Stouts, Russian Imperial Stouts, Porters, Baltic Porters!  If it's darker than your morning coffee it's in this post!  Get your hands on the Deschutes Black Butte Porter for a brewery that makes its bread and butter on dark beer (that's right their flagship beer is a Porter, not a Pale Ale like most breweries), or try a Long, Dark Voyage to Uranus for a surprising change!

Sawdust City A Long, Dark Voyage to Uranus
650 mL bomber. Pours opaque black with a thin beige cap and leaves lots of lacing. Gloriously roasty with a big nose of dark chocolate, espresso coffee, burnt sugar and herbal hop. Dry, despite the sweet sounding aromas, with a huge lingering, boozy, bitter finish of both roasted malt and hop. Low carbonation and moderate body. A meal for after dinner.

Deschutes Black Butte Porter
650 mL craft bomber. Pours dark dark brown with a lacy beige head. Chocolate, breakfast blend coffee, dark fruit and herbaceous hop notes. Moderately sweet well offset by hop and roast bitterness. Medium-full bodied with moderate carbonation. Sits long on the palate. A distinctly American tasting Porter; very good.

Okanagan Spring Mild Winter Ale
341 mL bottle. Pours dark brown with a thin white cap. Roasted nuts, toffee and a hint of cocoa on the nose. Slightly sweet with some mild fruity tartness and only a hint of hop. Light bodied with low carbonation and a clean finish. Nothing outstanding, but tasty.

Beau's/Anders Kissmeyer Nordic Pale Ale
600 mL bottle. Pours pale gold with a thick lacy white head. Herbal aromas, a mix of familiar hop notes with some depth from the other additions (really wish I knew what these things tasted like individually), some slightly sweet fruit notes here (I’m assuming that’s the cranberry and maple in action) and a hint of grain. Dry, but somehow leaves the impression of sweetness, with a well bittered finish. Moderate carbonation and light on the palate. Very nice.

Les Trois Mousquetaires Grand Cuvee Porter Baltique
750 mL bottle. Pours a deep red tinged black with a thick cappuccino colored head. Aromas of deeply roasted malt, coffee, chocolate, black cherry, and a hint of smoke. Clean and subtly sweet with a nice bitter herbal hop finish. Palate coating and above average carbonation, moderate body and a long layered finish. Very tasty, strongly preferred this to their Doppelbock that was also available in Ontario recently.

La Trou du Diable La Buteuse
375 mL bottle. Pours medium amber with a nice white cap. Aromas of Belgian yeast spice, banana, grain, mango, and bubblegum. A slight sweetness, well balanced by above average carbonation, a touch of hop and a hint of alcohol. Medium body with a nice long finish. Dangerously drinkable.

Lost Coast 8 Ball Stout
650 mL bomber. Pours almost opaque and black, thick foamy head of beige. Dark roast coffee, bittersweet chocolate, red fruits and a touch of mint. Mildly sweet, with a nicely bitter roasty/hoppy finale. Creamy full texture with moderate carbonation. Very good, a fine sweet stout, which we don’t see enough of in Canada.

Innis & Gunn Oloroso Cask
330 mL bottle. Pours a little darker than golden with a white head that makes an exit quick. On the nose there’s fig cake, honeycomb, allspice, oak and herb. Moderately sweet, but not cloying like a lot of I&G beers. Offset by a nice hop flavor, high alcohol and moderate to high carbonation. Moderate body. Very nice.

King Pilsner
473 mL can. Pours golden with a tight white head that leaves a little lace. Bready and biscuity, hints of grass and floral notes. Subtly sweet with a refreshingly bitter finish. Full bodied with moderate carbonation. A great lager.

Charlevoix Le Vache Folle Milk Stout
500 mL bottle. Pours black with a thick and lacy hot cocoa coloured head. Aromas of bittersweet chocolate, roasted malt and roasted fruits. Nice lactose sweetness, offset by a boozy bite and highly kilned malty goodness. Full and coating on the palate with moderate carbonation and a slightly souring aftertaste. Leaves the glass a special kind of filthy; a sipper.

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State of the Brew'niun

Thought I would take a quick moment to update on the status of the brews!

'Oak to Joy'  Oak Aged Old Ale
An English style Old Ale that was partially aged in an oak cask.  Not going to let loose on the tasting notes here: you will have to try for yourself; these are Christmas gifts!  I packaged four bottles spiked with Brettanomyces Claussenii as well for a special treat. Labels courtesy of GrogTag.

'FunkleWeizenBock' Dunkelweizenbock with Brettanomyces Bruxellensis and Claussenii
A strong, dark German wheat beer with two kinds of Brettanomyces bacteria.  This is now six weeks old and the brett is really taking over.  Banana and clove notes provided by the initial wheat beer yeast were quickly replaced by tropical fruit brett flavors that are now developing into a funky mushroomy earth tone.  This is going to be interesting stuff when I can finally bottle in another 6 weeks.

'Unnamed' Biere de Garde

A traditional French lagered farmhouse ale.  After fermenting for ten days, this came down to lager temperature.  It has been cold aging for a little over two weeks and has a lovely clean, malty profile.  Nice notes of caramel, toffee, stale bread and a hint of apple sauce.  Will be packaging in corked and caged champagne bottles in two weeks.

FunkleWeizenBock (right) and Biere de Garde (left) samples.  Strikingly similar colors here.  Very, very different flavors.

'Rural Refresher' All Brettanomyces Claussenii Farmhouse Ale

The all brett fermentation here produced some nice light fruit and citrus notes to complement an otherwise very simple tasting beer.  Initially wanted this to be around 4% but the Brett C turned out to be a monstrous attenuator and took the beer from 1.040 to 1.000 in a little over a week (5.2%).  This should be a great thirst quencher when it's all said and done.  Bottling in two to three more weeks.

After these beers are finished I planned a couple of smaller brews to test out the kegging system I will be switching to next week.  A Session Stout (3.6%) and a Simple Rye Saison (with a double inoculation of reused Biere de Garde yeast and saison yeast I plan to harvest from a bottle of 'Dupont Vielle Provision' I've been holding on to) will be next.

GrogTag Labels

grogtag.com

10 Reviews

A pretty wide array of beers here.  Lots of Belgian styles, some I enjoyed, some I did not.  Highlights here were: Great Lakes Saison Du Pump (a pumpkin infused saison), which you can always buy tomorrow for Halloween; Brasseries Dunham IPA Belge, which I found to be painfully drinkable and refreshing yet complex enough to keep me captivated until the end of the bottle; and lastly (but by no means least) the absolutely massive Charlevoix Dominus Vobiscum Hibernus, the Belgian Dark Strong ale that just keeps giving up layers of flavor (but be warned it's a beastly 9.5% ABV, a hell of a sipper).

Charlevoix Dominus Vobiscum Hibernus
750 mL bottle. Pours dark mahogany with a thick tan cap of head. Solid aromas of dark fruit, rum, banana, medium treacle and oak. Sweet but well balanced by moderate carbonation, hop bitterness and alcohol bite. Dangerously smooth, full bodied and deep. Finishes with hops and spices. Delicious.

Spirit Tree Draught Cider
341 mL bottle. Pours light golden straw with a thin white cap that goes quick. Aromas of apple, honeysuckle and farmy funk. Mildly sweet but still quite dry, with low to moderate carbonation and an above average body for a cider. Love it for that yeast note, a complexity not commonly found in Ontario ciders.

M'Anis 7.3
500 mL bottle. Pours a deep honey color with a short lived white head. Notes of bread, toffee, nut, apricot and a hint of roast. A touch sweet offset by lively carbonation and a warming boozy bite. Moderate body with a sticky malty finish. Not bad, but not for me.

Great Lakes Brewing Saison Du Pump
650 mL bottle. Pours a cloudy straw with an obnoxiously lacy head of white. Aromas of pumpkin, nutmeg, banana, bubblegum and noble hop. Pleasantly palate coating, but bone dry with full carbonation and a nice bitter finish. Crisp and delicious!

Unibroue Noire de Chambly
750 mL bottle. Pours cola with a beige cap of tight bubbles. Aromas of prune, spice, a hint of roast and Unibroue house yeast. Moderate body and carbonation with a dry yeasty finish and subtle hop bitterness. Not overly impressed, but well made.

Uncommon Brewers Siamese Twin
473 mL can. Pours dark amber brown with zero head. Leaves no lacing. Caramel and spice aromas, with subtle notes of lime leaf and lemongrass. Bready caramel malt and slight hop bitterness on the finish. Sweet and rich, sticky, coating mouthfeel, moderate carbonation and a bit of booze. Too sweet for me, would like to see more of that citrus zip. Good idea, bad execution?

Brasseries Dunham IPA Belge
750 mL bottle. Pours a murky green tinged orange hue with a huge rocky white head that lasts and laces. Aromas of lemony hop, coriander spice, cotton candy and herb. Dry and perfume-like with a floral finish. Moderate body with high carbonation. Strangely well balanced. Tasty, and not what I expected.

Wellington Iron Duke Saison
Cask. Pours dark mahogany with a tan fluff. Aromas of bubblegum, cherry cough drop, spice, slight roast and yeasty funk. Dry, with a lightly bitter finish. Slightly medicinal with a bit of alcohol bite.

Northwinds Corduroy Rye IPA
Draught. Pours hazy copper with a lacy white head. Aromas of herbaceous hop, rye spice, mint and caramel malt. Dry for the style, with a lightly spiced finish. Moderate body and carbonation. Creamy mouthfeel, well balanced.

Lake of Bays Top Shelf Lager
473 mL can. Pours golden with a nice white head that leaves no trace. Cereal and biscuit grain flavor with a hint of toffee. Subtly sweet with a hint of hop bitterness. Full on the palate with a round mouth feel and moderate carbonation. Reminds me more of a Vienna lager than an American one. Not bad at all.

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Highland Park 1990

THE SCOTCH: Distilled in 1990 and packaged in 2010, this fine whisky is 20 years old.  Marked 'Created Exclusively For Global Travel Retail', I picked this up on a trip to the US.  Highland Park is the only distillery on the Isle of Orkney and are known for their scrupulous attention to quality. 40% ABV.

THE POUR: Golden yellow, average consistency.

THE NOSE: Banana, vanilla, clove, oak, honey, a hint of mineral.

THE SIP: Mellow and smooth, candied orange sweetness, round oaky mouthfeel and subtle peating.

OVERALL: An easygoing Scotch, superbly round and balanced.  Gently warming.  Ideally enjoyed neat, I found water ruined this one.

Cask Days 2013

There are few things that get beer geeks more excited than a cask of real ale.  Over 200 Casks of real ale all in one location is one of those things.  Cask Days is an annual (this year marks the ninth), two day celebration of real ale, and the largest of it's kind in Canada.

'Real Ale' is unpasteurized, unfiltered, living (there's plenty of yeast still in suspension), beer that has been conditioned in a cask  (formerly barrels, now likely to be a stainless steel vessel called a pin or a firkin) and served without the aid of carbon dioxide or nitrogen.  The beer is cloudy with yeast haze, served at cellar temperature (around 10C) and very lightly carbonated.  To the average consumer, this seems like a scam and a waste of delicious beer.  To those in the know, cask ale offers an opportunity to really showcase the flavour of a beer.  Only very well made beers can be served unpasteurized and unfiltered, thus setting a benchmark for how they are made.  There is no carbonation to disguise off flavours and the warmer serving temperature awakens aromatics normally muted when cold.

This years Cask Days was held at Evergreen Brickworks, an old quarry located in North York.  The outdoor setting created the perfect environment to keep over 200 unrefrigerated beers at serving temperature.  Food was offered up by Toronto favourites such as The Ceili Cottage, Bar Isabel, Tracy Winkworth, Pig Iron Coffee and Parts & Labour.  This year featured over 230 firkin of beer from all over Canada and the U.K.

Here's the list of what I got into, along with notes for the beers that I can recall clearly.

Amsterdam Highborn Farmhand (Saison with Brett and Noble Hops)
Cloudy straw colour.  Nice brett notes, musty and woody alongside spicy, herbal hop

Daniel Thwaites Lancaster Bomber (ESB)

Kensington Brewing Company Tragically Hopped (IPA)
A nice cask style IPA, on the lighter side of things, well balanced with pine and citrus hops.

Les Trois Mousquetaires Oud Bruin (Flanders Brown Ale)

Spirit Tree Dry Hopped (Dry Hopped Heritage Apple Cider)
Similar to their original cider, but with hints of citrus and woody hop,

Les Vergers de la Colline Rouge Dolgo (Crab Apple Cider)
Very tart, with a nice pink tinge.  Definitely tastes like crab apples.  Refreshing.

Snowman Make Like a Tree and Leaf (Gluten Free Maple Porter)
Spicy non-barley malt notes, a hint of maple sweetness and a bit of roast.

Amsterdam X Great Lakes Brewery Maverick and Gose with Raspberry (Raspberry Gose)
Tainted with diacetyl.  The only bad beer I consumed at the festival.  A shame, I had my eye on this one before we even got there.

Bellwoods Brettal Head with Lemon (All-Brett Wheat Ale with Lemon)
Very murky lemonade colour.  Slightly funky/musty with various layers of lemony-ness.  Smelled very much like Moroccan style preserved lemons.  Creamy mouth feel.  Probably my favourite taste of the afternoon.

Muskoka Masala ChaIPA (Chai Spiced IPA)
A well balanced IPA that finished hoppy and faded to spice notes, not by any means overpowering.

Half Pints Drunken Bunny (Chocolate Milk Stout)

Sawdust City X Nickelbrook X Nogne O Test Pilot (Eisbock)
A style you don't see much in Canada.  Beer that has been concentrated by slowly freezing and removing the water (which freezes before the alcohol). Surprisingly clear for a cask beer.  Notes of candied fruit and pure malt.  Warning, this one came in at 14% ABV.  

Sawdust City A Nun Rolling Down a Hill (Dry Stout)
Chocolate and roast, a nice dark reddish-black.

F&M Sour-Y About Last Year (Sour Bock)

Niagara Oast House Brewers Mild R'Oast (English Mild)
As close as one can get to coffee beer without actually having coffee in it.  Full bodied for the meagre 3.8% ABV.  Cask style at its finest.

Thornbridge Brewery Jaipur (IPA)

IPA Challenge Beer 2 (IPA)
Weirdly balanced.  Citrus and tropical fruit, caramel malt.  Didn't do it for me at all.

IPA Challenge Beer 3 (IPA)
Very light color, finite notes of yeast spice and Noble hop.  Got my vote.

IPA Challenge Beer 4 (IPA)
Full bodied and tropical with a dark and malty back bone.  Quite filling.

I discovered that I don't much care for sour beers on cask.  Strange that two of my favourite styles of beer don't come together to make a style I like even more.  The bracing acidity of sours is lifted and lightened by the carbonation, creating more of a contrast;  on cask these beers seem heavy and unlively.

All in all the festival was a great time!  Thanks again to Keep6 Imports/Bar Volo/Cask Days for throwing the event, I look forward to next year!  For more information please visit www.caskdays.com

10

A bunch of new beers here from the fell release as well as a few product samples.  For a harvest themed meal pairing try the Nickelbrook Wet Hop or Renaissance Punkin with your turkeys; or use the 8Wired iStout or LTM Doppelbock as an after dinner sipper, like a fine cognac.

Beau's Mr. Hyde
600 mL bottle. Pours amber with a frothy white cap. Rye and hop spices intermingle with a hint of caramel malt sweetness, cedar, applesauce and prune fruit notes. Slightly sweet but reasonably balanced. Moderate body and carbonation level. Nice complexity.

Beau's Two Weeks Notice
600 mL bottle. Pours very dark brown, almost black with a fuzzy light brown lid. Roasty malt, chocolate, coffee, licorice and Noble hop aroma. Quite bitter through and through with the dark malts on the attack and hop bitterness on the finish. Light on the palate, medium bodied and average carbonation.

Radical Road The Wayward Son
750 mL bottle. Pours golden with a thick lacy head of fuzz. Soft sugary aromas, Noble hop, pilsner malt, orange candy and fruit. Slightly sweet, light to medium body, full carbonation and a hint of bitter aftertaste. A good example of a Golden Strong; a style I don’t like much, but where’s the oak?

Nickelbrook Pie Eyed
355 mL bottle. Pours hazy burnt orange with a thin white cap. On the nose, clove, cinnamon and pumpkin and a hint of malt. Taste is somewhat watery, mildly sweet and spiced. Thin to moderate mouth feel and medium carbonation. Not to my taste.

Nickelbrook Ontario Wet Hop Pale Ale
750 mL bottle. Pours a pale golden with a thick foamy head of white. Nose is peach, mango, subtle pine and cedar. Crisp, with cracker like malt notes and a fruity finish. Moderate body and carbonation with a slightly bitter finish. Designed to showcase hop character. Quite enjoyed this, very sessionable.

Renaissance Enlightenment Series The Great Punkin
500 mL bottle. Pours dark garnet with a frothy off white head. On the nose, pumpkin, pie spices and bready malt. Slightly sweet with roasted vegetable and caramel malt notes. A nice spice and pumpkin balance that plays well with the maltiness, finishes slightly bitter. Medium body with medium to high carbonation. A good pumpkin beer, would have been better if it were more modestly carbonated.

8Wired iStout
500 mL bottle. Pours opaque black, period. Beige head. Aroma is intensely concentrated. Dark chocolate, coffee, deeply roasted malt and stewed fruit. Surprisingly sweet for a RIS; balanced, but not as bitter as is typical for the style, less roasty than anticipated. Full on the palate with low carbonation. The beer that eats like a meal. Still damn delicious.

Les Trois Mousquetaires GC Doppelbock
750 mL bottle. Pours dark amber with a foamy tan head that leaves no trace. Aromas of fruitcake, rum, candied orange, chocolate and demerara. Fairly sweet and firm bodied, moderate to heavy carbonation and full on the palate. Leaves a lingering sticky sweetness on the palate, gently offset by a touch of acidity and woody hop spice. Liquid bread indeed!

Amsterdam Calm Before the Storm
355 mL bottle. Pours a dark walnut with little to no head. On the nose; roasted nuts, bittersweet cocoa, rye spice. Dry with a lingering roasty hoppy bitterness. Thin palate with average carbonation.

Amsterdam Oranje Weisse
500 mL bottle. Pours a hazy golden with a thin head that exits quickly. Aromas of citrus juices, coriander, liquorice and yeasty spice. Moderately dry and fruity, very clean on the palate, average plus carbonation. Tasty but not that exciting.

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still breathing; still brewing

It's been a while since I've posted anything but ratings and thought I might put together a bit of a review of what's going on in the brewing department.

I got started immediately once we finished moving into our new place with an Christmas inspired Old Ale I've named 'Oak to Joy'.  The beer was drawn up to be a fairly strong sipping beer for the cold winter months and partially aged in oak.  The thing took near a month to ferment out!  I was expecting to be sampling it by now and instead I'm waiting for it to mellow out before bottling.

A week later I set down a beer that I intend to age out for a few months.  The idea was to spike a classic Dunkelweizenbock with Brettanomyces bacteria.  This will develop a gamey, musty, cellar-like character that I think will balance well with the malty, smoky notes typical to the style.  The weizen yeast is all done fermenting and the brett should be munching away at the residual sugars for the next three months before I package it.

Last weekend I brewed up my fourth solo batch, a Biere de Garde.  This is one of the few traditional French styles of beer.  Hallmarks include a very slow ale fermentation at low temperatures and long term lagering that results in a smooth malty beer with a mild yeast and hop profile.  The White Labs French Ale yeast I used fermented the beer out in an astonishing four days!  I let it rest for four more and have started bringing it down to a lager temperature of 40F.  The beer will age there for four weeks and continue to mellow.

I'm currently building up a starter for another experimental batch, an all Brettanomyces Clausenii blonde table beer.  All brett beers require a lot of patience and a large yeast starter, so despite the fact that I began propagating yeast today, I won't be brewing for two weeks time.  I selected a very lightly colored, mild malt base with a small amount of slightly spicy hops to really let the yeast flavour shine through.

On top of all that I'm working on switching from bottling to kegging.  I'm debating between converting my own keg fridge or purchasing a commercial one.  The switch should make brewing a lot cleaner: bottling is the messiest and fussiest part by far.

That's where things stand!

Ratings Double Header!

A trip to Caledon yielded some fine ciders from Spirit Tree Cidery.  There's some nice fall feeling brews in here, as well as half of the Beau's Oktoberfest gift pack!  Fans of dry stouts need to have the Le Trou de Diable Sang D'Encre!  Enjoy.

Spirit Tree Estate Reserve Cider
750 mL bottle. Pours a hazy light pear colour with a thin short lived mousse. Floral with notes of apple flesh and skin notes, malolactic fermentation, oak and a hint of funk. Bone dry and crisp with mild carbonation and a light body. Lingering notes of apple and lightly tannic oak on the mouth. Good stuff, but I prefer the pungent funkiness of the original. Nonetheless a very real cider, nothing to hide here.

Amsterdam Autumn Hop Harvest Ale
500 mL bottle. Pours a deep gold with a lacy white head. Aromas of earthy hop, citrus rind, biscuity malt, pine and bread. Taste is dry with a lingering hop bitterness. Sticky on the palate with moderate carbonation and light to medium body. A nice fall beer; and my favorite Amsterdam brew next to the Boneshaker.

Renaissance Voyager IPA
500 mL bottle. Pours a muddy amber color with a lacy white foam. Resiny hop aromas or grapefruit and beeswax with notes of crystal malt and yeast. Slighty sweet balanced by a hint of hop bitterness and floral aromatics. Low carbonation and surprisingly light on the palate. Distinctly British tasting.

Midtfiyns/De Molen X Porter
500 mL bottle. Pours opaque black with a creamy brown head that lingers and laces. Aromas of chocolate, coffee, burnt sugar and molasses. Hints of black cherry, prune and roasted malt. Starts out sweet and quickly turns roasty and bitter with hops. Rich and dense with a thick coating mouth feel. Full bodied with moderate carbonation. An enormous porter, made for after dinner sipping.

Cameron's Ressurection Roggenbier
650 mL bomber. Pours dark butterscotch with a thick white head and nice lacing. Aromas of spicy-sweet rye, medium crystal malt, a hint of plum, banana, apple and floral hop. Full carbonation with a lingering sweetness on the palate. Not bad but I expected more somehow...

Spirit Tree Perry
341 mL bottle. Pours a light pear juice color with a split second long white cap. On the nose is pear and musty funk reminiscent of olive brine. Fruity and thin bodied with a slightly tart, floral finish. Clean on the palate. Well made and tasty.

Beau's Smokin' Banana Peels
600 mL bottle. Pours hazy off yellow with a thick white head that laces nicely. Aroma is smoke, mineral, clove phenols and banana. Just smoky enough that you know it’s there but not intense enough to overwhelm the delicate hefe character. A mild sweetness with moderate body and full carbonation. An upgraded thirst quencher.

Samuel Smith's Old Brewery Pale Ale
550 mL bottle. Pours light ruby with a thin head. Caramel, bread, apple and spicy/herbal hop. Moderately sweet, balanced by a bitter hop finish. Medium bodied with moderate plus carbonation. A nice ESB.

Le Trou de Diable Sang D'Encre
375 mL bottle. Pours opaque black with a splotchy beige-brown head. Dark molasses, coffee, cocoa, dark bread and earthy hop notes. Dry and layered with notes of licorice and roast. Moderate to full bodied with lively carbonation; slightly sticky. Need more stouts this good to be readily available.

Beau's Oktobock
600 mL bottle. Pours crystal clear, liquid gold with a thick white head. Bready with caramel toffee, nut butter, lemon verbena, cracker and hop spice. Moderately dry, above average body and normal carbonation. Lingering bitter finish, slightly sticky on the palate. A big ol’ Helles.

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More Ratings!

Oast House Saison

750 mL bottle. Pours hazy golden straw with a firm white head and nice lacing. Grassy hop notes on the nose with a hint of wheat, spices, banana and cotton candy. A subtle fruity finish with a touch of sweetness. Light to moderate body with full carbonation and a creamy mouth feel.

Brasseurs RJ Cheval Blanc
341 mL bottle. Pours a hazy golden with a thin white head. Nose is deeply spicy, coriander, orange, yeast, dried herbs and pepper. Dry and creamy on the palate with moderate carbonation and a medium body. A well made wit.

Collective Arts Saints of Circumstance
330 mL bottle. Pours a light straw with a nice white cap. Aromas of lemon, orange, biscuit and tropical fruit. Crisp and dry, slightly sticky on the palate with a light body and moderate carbonation. Slightly bitter and citrusy hop finish. A thirst quencher with a twist.

Black Oak Brewing Ten Bitter Years
650 mL bottle. Pours dark orangey copper with a nice off white head that leaves beautiful soapy lacing. Orange and grapefruit with a bit of caramel malt sweetness, sappy pine/herb notes. Medium bodied and on the dry end of the style. A nice coating mouth feel backed by balanced hop bitterness. A well made IIPA.

Wellington Bike Ryed Summer Kolsch
473 mL can. Pours clear golden with a nice white cap. Grainy malt, a touch of hop, sight spice from the rye, very clean. Dry, thin bodied with moderate carbonation. A session quencher, nothing outstanding.

http://www.ratebeer.com/user/169526/ratings/

5 More Ratings!

More beer reviews!  A couple of nice Belgian style ales, a few beers from my new local, Wellington, and the highlight of the five, an IIPA from Central City.

Central City IIPA
650 mL bomber. Pours dark amber with a stable off white head and soapy lacing. Aromas of deep caramel malt, candied orange, a touch of licorice and herbaceous resin. Thick on the mouth and full bodied with low to medium carbonation and a sticky mouth feel. A well balanced and delicious IIPA.

Wellington County Trailhead
473 mL can. Pours golden with a nice white cap that fades leaving no lace. Simple with a touch of caramel sweetness, biscuity vienna malt and a hint of hop spice. Clean and dry with no aftertaste. Light body and moderate carbonation. A real domestic lager, but nothing outstanding.

Wellington County Special Pale Ale
473 mL can. Pours amber with a touch of white head. Aroma is mostly biscuit like malt with a hint of almondy diacetyl and a slight hop spice. Pretty uneventful. Thin and moderately carbonated. Kind of missed the mark for me.

Ommegang Hennepin
330 mL bottle. Pours a surprisingly clear straw with a full white head. Nice aromas of apple, banana, clove, grassy malt. Dry with a layered yeasty spiciness and a hint of herbal hop bitterness. Full carbonation and moderate body with a creamy mouth feel and a lasting finish. A tasty farmhouse style beer.

Chimay White
330 mL bottle. Pours honey colored with a slight haze and a foamy white head. Aromas of candied apple, raisin, earth, herbal hop and yeast spice/funk. Slightly sweet but well balanced by the alcohol and a touch of hop bitterness. Finish is long and laced with belgian candi sugar. Medium body and full carbonation.

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6 Reviews! Product Samples Edition!

One of the pro's of being in the restaurant industry is every now and again you get product samples.  The frequency of which is greatly increased for people in the craft beer industry.  Here's the latest samples I've been given.  The Chill Winston and Pumpkin ales are both available at the Great Lakes Brewery store in Etobicoke.  The St. Ambroise is likely to show up in the LCBO, and would make a good pear with your Thanksgiving Day turkey.  The KBC Tilt will only be available in select craft beer bars (and is worth seeking out).  The Waterloo products can be found in the Beer Store.

Great Lakes Chill Winston

650 mL bottle. Pours a hazy straw with a foamy white head. Nose is citrusy hop, tangerine, lemon, banana, coriander and clove like yeasty spice. Crisp and light bodied with moderate carbonation. Dry and clean on the palate with only a touch of bitterness and a fruit laced finish. Another great session saison from GLB.

Great Lakes Pumpkin Ale
650 mL bottle. Pours a light orange with a frothy head. Aroma is mostly nutmeg and pumpkin. Dry and light bodied with medium high carbonation. Seemingly thin with alternating vegetable and spice notes with a rather hoppy finish. Not bad, but not to my taste.

St. Ambroise Citrouille
341 mL bottle. Pours a dark copper colour. Nose is pumpkin, nutmeg, clove, ginger, molasses and biscuity malt. More balanced than I expected, dry and vegetal with depth from the malt and spices. Moderate body with medium carbonation. Rounded out with a hint of hop bitterness. Quite good.

Kensington Brewing Company Tilt
473 mL can. Pours a hazy straw color with a nice white cap. Aroma is layers of citrus fruit, a touch of mango, citronella and wax. Dry and fruity with a lightly hop spiced, bitter finish. Medium bodied and creamy on the palate, yet light and refreshing. Delicious.

Waterloo Dark
473 mL can. Pours a dark reddish black with a thin beige head that’s already gone. Caramel malt, raisin,a hint of chocolate. Thin body with little carbonation. Dry with a slightly tart finish. Uneventful, meh.

Waterloo IPA
473 mL can. Pours copper with a off white head. Muted nose with a hint of hop. Vienna and light caramel malts, a hint of herbal hop and toffee. Medium body and medium carbonation. Pretty one dimensional and bland. Pass.

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Belgian Tripel with N.Z. Hops

Happy 1st Birthday to LPDML!

I've been impatiently waiting for our 11th batch of beer to mellow.  At 9.7% ABV and with a lot of ester formation from fermenting at high temperatures, this beer certainly needed the time to come together.  Alas, after 7 weeks, it seems as though it has arrived at it's baseline.  It has aged enough to come together but still has a chance to mature further.

We wanted to brew a traditional Belgian Tripel, but spike it with fruity New Zealand hops instead of the traditional German or English varieties.  The grain bill was kept simple, with Pilsner malt as the base, a touch of Biscuit and Aromatic for color and complexity and three pounds of clear Belgian Candi Sugar for alcohol and an authentic dryness.  We used a combination of Pacifica and Motueka for bittering and flavor, and Nelson Sauvin for aroma and dry hop.  We selected a highly flocculant and fruity Belgian yeast strain, Wyeast Ardennes 3522, to produce a clear beer with a flavor complementary to the hops.  The beer was fermented very warm, and left to age for a month before bottling.

Beer Name: N.Z. Hopped Tripel
Style: Belgian Tripel
OG: 1.060 (1.081)
FG: 1.008
ABV: 9.7%
IBUS: 32

Grains:
10 lbs Pilsner Malt
1 lb CaraPils Malt
8 oz Aromatic Malt
8 oz Biscuit Malt

In the Boil:
.33 oz NZ Pacifica Hops @ 60 Minutes
.33 oz NZ Motueka Hops @ 60 Minutes
.33 oz NZ Pacifica Hops @ 30 Minutes
.33 oz NZ Motueka Hops @ 30 Minutes
.33 oz NZ Pacifica Hops @ 15 Minutes
.33 oz NZ Motueka Hops @ 15 Minutes
1 tsp Wyeast Yeast Nutrient @ 15 Minutes
1 tsp Irish Moss @ 15 Minutes
.5 oz NZ Nelson Sauvin Hops @ 5 Minutes

Fermentation:
Wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes Yeast in primary
3 lbs Belgian Clear Candi Sugar in Primary
Dry hopped with .5 oz Nelson Sauvin Hops in secondary
Primed with 7.4 oz Light Golden DME

Brew Notes:
19/06/13: Brewed
Single infusion mash @ 151F
Added hops too early, removed bag after 45 minutes, boiled for 15 minutes and then replaced and added 15 minute additions as well
Missed boil off volume by 2 quarts
OG 1.060, instead of 1.066 due to underboil
Added an additional lb of candi sugar to fermenter to compensate
Fermented in reflectix and sleeping bag
21/06/13: Krausen falling, added .75 lb of Candi Sugar
22/06/13 AM: Krausen falling, added 1.25 lbs Candi Sugar
22/06/13 PM: High krausen, added 1 lb Candi Sugar
30/06/13: SG of 1.008.  Quite alcoholic
02/07/13:  SG of 1.008, racked to secondary
16/07/13: SG of 1.008, bottled

Tasting Notes:
03/08/13: Still very flat and a touch sweet
19/08/13: Mostly carbonated, a hint of residual sugar, needs time
04/09/13: Pours a clear medium yellow color with a three finger white head that leaves a touch of lace.  Slightly spicy with some fruit on the nose, ripe pear, grape, golden raisin, bubble gum and a hint of clove and ginger.  Dry, yet somehow creamy on the palate with a medium body and full carbonation.  Finish is long with layers of clean malt and hop bitterness.

Overall, I really like the way this beer came out.  A higher pitch rate might have yielded a more complex yeast profile which would certainly be an improvement.  I think I would tone down the Candi Sugar in the next batch and add more malt for a bit more grain flavor and residual sugar.  I'd also like to try the new 5L Candi Sugar instead of the 0L for a more caramelized flavor and richer color.  A touch more hop bitterness would add welcomed dimension; more aroma/dry hop could be added for a 'New Zealand Hopped Belgian India Pale Ale' of sorts.  All in all a good first attempt at a Tripel, I will certainly be referring back to this recipe for next time.

Christening the New Place!

First off I'd like to apologize for the lack of interesting content lately, my girlfriend and I are in the process of moving in together and it has been a lot of work.  My brewing program has been put on hold and my time has been more valuable than gold it seems.  We're finally settled into the new place and life can go back to normal.

I recently upgraded my brewing setup to contain a stir plate so I can do efficient yeast starters for every batch.  As far as my research tells me, under-pitching is the number one culprit for making homebrew taste less superior than commercially produced craft beer.  I shall no longer fall victim to this!  I set up a batch of 'wort' to cultivate some Wyeast London Ale III for an old ale I'll be putting together later this week; check out my Instagram feed to see the beast in action.  My mini-barrel is also re-hydrating and closing up holes. It's been soaking in water for over a day now and is barely leaking anymore.  Five liters of the old ale will age in here for two weeks and then be blended back into the original batch before bottling.

Nonsense aside, Maegan and I finally have a place that we can call our own!  We decided we should Christen our first fully unpacked night in our own apartment with a bottle of fine champagne and some soul food.  Enter unexpected match made in heaven: Barons de Rothschild Blanc de Blancs and Arroz con Pollo.

This is a very serious bottle of house Champagne.  'House' refers to the non-vintage, staple offering that a Champagne producer will make in order to generate the funds to make specialty bottles and vintage wines.  This by no means says it is their lowest quality product.  The house wine will be the most produced, and it's flavor should be reflected in a houses premium offerings.  Barons de Rothschilds Blanc de Blancs is made from only white grapes, and pours a clear straw color with a tight mousse.  The bubbles stream continuously and the nose offers up notes of apple, lemon, biscuit, yeasty spice, a hint of oak and vanilla and a touch of butter.  A slight sweetness here and a long lingering finish; finely carbonated and a creamy body.

Arroz con Pollo strikes a chord with me for all kinds of reasons. It's a beautifully rustic, traditional dish that we ate once a week for staff lunch while I staged in Spain.  It showcases how simple, cheap ingredients can interact with one another to create a superlative dish.  Here's a quick recipe for my household version; feel free to adapt it as you please, garnishing it with peas, calamari, fried eggs, or chopped parsley can make a world of difference.

Arroz Con Pollo (Serves 3-4)

1/4 cup olive oil

2 large chicken thighs, deboned and sliced (leave the skin on)

6 slices jamon (prosciutto if you have to) or 1 piece of semi-dry chorizo, diced

4 cloves garlic, sliced

1 small red onion, minced

1 small red pepper, minced

1 tbsp pimenton (or Hungarian smoked paprika if you're in a bind)

2 bay leaves

2 cups Spanish Calasparra or Bomba rice (this can be difficult to find, an Italian risotto rice such as Arborio or Carnaroli can make a good substitution)

1 oz Spanish (or otherwise) brandy

1 large red tomato, diced

1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed

500 mL chicken stock

salt and pepper

In a large all metal frying pan over high heat, warm the olive oil and add the chicken pieces.  Season with salt and pepper and sear until browned, then remove the chicken, leaving the oil behind (don't throw it away!).

Lower the heat to medium and add your jamon or chorizo to the pan. Render until slightly crispy then add the garlic, onion and red pepper.  Add a pinch more salt and pepper and cook until the vegetables are browned and tender.

Add the spices to the pan and toast gently, then add the rice and do the same.  Deglaze with the brandy and quickly add the tomatoes, chick peas and chicken stock.  Season generously again and bring to a simmer.  Once your pan is simmering, transfer to a pre-heated 400F oven and cook until the liquid is evaporated and the rice caramelizes slightly to the edges and bottom of the pan (at this point the rice should be almost al dente but ever so slightly under cooked.  Remove from the oven, cover with a towel and allow to stand for 10 minutes.

Serve in a bowl or on a plate, ideally with utensils (remember this is peasant food).

These two work quite well together, but in lieu of expensive Champagne, one could substitute a quality bottle of inexpensive Cava or Cremant, or even a good sparkler from the USA or Australia.  The acidity and bubbles in the wine contrast the richness of the pork, beans and paprika and the creamy, bready notes complement the rice and hint of brandy.

As a side note, the one year anniversary of the blog will be on Wednesday, September 4th.  You've probably already noticed the face lift and I will be commemorating the date with a long awaited review of our Belgian Tripel, which has been mellowing in bottles for 7 weeks now.  Stay tuned!

Peach Wit Part III: Fermentation

If there ever was a natural process that could be described as magical it's fermentation.  Create an environment with the right nutrients, nourishment and living conditions then add your yeast and let them do their thing until you have a wonderfully flavored beverage.  It's even responsible for adding the bubbles.

Once I added my yeast (known as 'pitching' to brewers) I wrapped my carboy up in HVAC insulation and a sweater to help keep it warm and prevent UV exposure.  These warm temperatures will help ensure a thorough fermentation as Belgian yeasts really like it warm.  It also promotes the formation of esters and phenols, the most intense varieties of flavor compounds that yeast can make.  The photo on the left shows what the beer looked like 24 hours after pitching.  The color is creamy and homogeneous from the yeast in suspension. It also has a bubbly, pale green-gray colored cloud of protein and yeast on top known as krausen.  The yeast is consuming the sugars in the wort and producing alcohol and CO2, which is being released through the one way valve on top known as an airlock.  This is what you want to see!

After a week, the beer on the right looks very different.  The yeast has dropped out of suspension (flocculated) and fallen to the bottom of the carboy where it has formed a (hopefully) compact cake known as the yeast trub.  Trub can be harvested for future uses, or another wort could be poured directly onto this trub once i siphon off the beer.  This leaves the liquid relatively clear (remember theres a lot of wheat protein that will never clear out of this particular beer).  The krausen is no longer, all that remains is a ring of residue stuck to the inside of the carboy.  Under normal circumstances, one could leave the beer like this for two more weeks to complete secondary fermentation (clearing and conditioning), however, because I am going to be adding peaches, it is recommended to transfer to a clean vessel.  I also need to transfer into a container with a wider opening to spare me from having to add the peaches piece by piece through the mouth of the carboy. 

I reviewed my initial recipe a bit and decided to up the quantity of peaches from 6 pounds to 10.  I really wanted the peach flavor to shine, and went all the way down to Niagara on the Lake to buy some of the best peaches that Ontario has to offer.  I cut and pasteurized all the fruit by vacuum packing them into bags and cooking them in 170F water bath for an hour.  This makes sure that any bacteria on the peaches doesn't make it into my beer alive and cause it to spoil.  This all went into the bottom of my plastic fermenter bucket (a little less glamorous than a carboy, but equally effective).

The beer was racked over the peaches, and secondary fermentation ensued over the next two weeks.  During this time the yeast first ate and fermented the new sugars from the peaches. Afterwards it refines the existing flavor compounds.  This refinement is known as conditioning, and really cleans up the flavor of the final product.

After the two weeks have passed I bottled up the beer.  I add a little bit of additional malt sugar before bottling to give the yeast something to feed on in order to make the carbonation for the beer.  Wits are highly carbonated styles so I added more malt sugar than usual.  Over the course of the next three weeks the beer will eat up this last little bit of sugar, and flocculate to the bottoms of the bottles.  At this point the beer is ready for consumption!

Stay tuned for Peach Wit Part IV: The Final Product!

5 Reviews! Now Trending Edition!

Once I put together the list of my latest reviews I found they had something in common: these styles are all gaining popularity quickly.  Beau's Opa's Gose is an awkward German beer style that uses salt water and coriander and has popped up in Canada from a few brewers lately (GLB/Amsterdam, Les Trois Mousquetaires and Beau's themselves).  Both the Chouffe Houblon and GLB Audrey Hopburn are highly hopped spinoffs of the Belgian Tripel style, Chouffe arguably being the original creator of these 'Belgian IPAs'.  While somewhat more commercial, Mad & Noisy (from the makers of Creemore Springs) Nuts & Bolts is also in an up-and-coming IPA variant: the India Pale Lager.  Lastly, but certainly not least, Bellwoods Session Ale, the Wizard Wolf (a growingly popular style that features bold flavor and low alcohol, designed to be drank several in succession without causing too much bodily harm).

Beau's Opa's Gose

650 mL bottle. Pours a densely hazed peach color with a moderate white cap. Aromas of orange, coriander, grass, unmalted wheat, banana and a touch of candy floss. Light to medium body with full carbonation. Compares more to a saison or a wit than to the Great Lakes/Amsterdam Gose (the only other one I’ve had). Salt is unnoticeable. Good quencher, but not overly interesting or particularly to style. Added some of the extra salt and it becomes oddly creamy and muted.

Great Lakes Brewing Audrey Hopburn

650 mL bottle. Pours light amber with a mild head and nice lacing. Aroma is a pleasant mix of noble hop aroma and yeast spice: citrus zest, clove, tangerine, anise and a touch of bread. Medium to full bodied with full carbonation. Balanced sweetness with a bitter hop finish. Nice beer.

Chouffe Houblon Dobbelen IPA Tripel

330 mL bottle. Pours golden straw with a fuzzy white head and no lacing. Aroma is hugely hoppy; fresh cut grass, citrus, herb, a hint of honey like malt and belgian candi sugar character. Smooth beyond belief with no alcohol bite (be warned), high carbonation and medium body. Concentrated hop aroma with little to no bitterness, very clean on the palate. Dangerously drinkable and wickedly balanced.

Mad & Noisy Hops & Bolts IPL

473 mL can. Pours a woody orange color with a nice white cap and lingering lacing. Aromas of light caramel, citrus, tropical fruit, munich malt and a slight breadiness. Light to medium bodied with medium carbonation. Smooth on the palate, finishes crisp and bitter with a fruity hop note. Surprising quality.

Bellwoods Wizard Wolf Session Ale

500 mL bottle. Pours a hazy light amber with a tight white head that lasts well. Great citrusy hop aroma with a touch of tropical fruit and a light herbal note. Hints of caramel and bready malt. Super easy drinking, moderate body, moderate carbonation and great balance. A touch of sweetness and a nice bitter finish.

http://www.ratebeer.com/user/169526/ratings/

New Look!

The blogs one year anniversary is coming up on September 4th (wow), and I thought in celebration the old beast could use a bit of a work over.  The new modern look feels a bit more clean to me.  Sometimes you just need a change for fun.  Please expect the usual self absorbed writing.

Sorachi Ace Farmhouse Cider

When you learn to brew beer the hard way, making a simple cider from store bought juice is like child’s play.  Buy juice. Empty juice into carboy. Pitch yeast. Wait. Bottle.  It’s a refreshing change from beer and adds a little variety to your pipeline.

Knowing that apple juice has only simple, readily fermentable sugars, you know your cider will finish out crisp with a low, low gravity unless you can kill the yeast and force carbonate.  I don’t keg so I’m stuck with a bone dry cider; but that’s how I like them anyway.  In lieu of going to an orchard and blending the perfect mix of tart and sweet apples for a real authentic cider, I use store bought juice, it’s much more readily available.  Select a quality juice, one with no preservatives and preferably organic.  I use Whole Foods brand juice, it’s organic and paseutrized and is relatively cheap at $8.99 a gallon.  If you want to bulk your alcohol (which will be pretty high already because of the low FG) you can add simple sugar of any kind.  For complexity, maybe add spices, or dry hop.  Aside from that, dump the juice in the carboy and aerate.

Yeast choice is a matter of preference.  There are cider yeasts that are supposed to attenuate less and generate a slightly sweeter product, but I have never used one.  My first batch I pitched S-05, for this one I used Lallemand Belle Saison, hoping to generate a touch of spice and fruit notes.

We dry hopped our cider with Sorachi Ace.  A lot.  We used two whole ounces for a five gallon batch.  I really wanted to add something to this cider, and thought that the super pungent lemon aroma and hop freshness of Sorachi might be nice.

Here’s the recipe!

Beer Name: Sorachi Ace Farmhouse Cider
Style: Dry Hopped Cider
OG: 1.054
FG: 1.004
ABV: 7.2%

Grains:
5 G Pasteurized, Unfiltered, Organic Apple Cider

In the Boil:
Nothing

Fermentation:
Lallemand Belle Saison Dry Yeast in primary
Dry hopped with 2 oz Sorachi Ace Hops in secondary
Primed with 3.25 oz raw sugar

Brew Notes:
23/06/13: Brewed
Fermented wrapped in blankets
30/06/13: SG of 1.004
07/07/13: SG of 1.004, racked to secondary
21/07/13: SG of 1.00, bottled

Tasting Notes:  Pours a cloudy peach juice with a thin bubbly cap.  Medium to high carbonation with a thin body.  Aromas of lemon, herbal hop, apple, pear and a touch of yeasty spice.  Smooth and refreshing, a great summer quencher, just be careful, they pack a punch.

Overall, this is tasty stuff, the girlfriend loves it.  I really want to see how it comes along over the next six months.

Malty F*%!&R American Amber/Brown Ale aka 'Little Filthy'

You lose some you win some. After pouring out a whole lot of Bitter I'm glad to see that our next beer came together quite well.  Our American Brown Ale, which was originally planned as an American Amber, is suspiciously tasty.  It came up a little darker and wholesome looking than we anticipated, but the flavor profile is phenomenal.

The beer was initially designed to be a kick board for our 'Big Filthy' Barleywine; a good way to make a massive, healthy yeast starter to ferment our final farewell upon.  It turned out to be quite the tasty endeavor on it's own.

We wanted to brew something relatively clean, and it had to use the yeast we wanted to use in our Barleywine, Wyeast 1056 American Ale.  We'd never brewed an Amber so we started there.  Lots of Pale Malt as the base, Victory for some honey and biscuit notes, some leftovers from previous brews for depth (Aromatic and Biscuit), CaraPils for head retention, Crystal 77L for sweetness and a hint of Black Malt for color and roastiness.  Our local homebrew store recommended us to try out a new product, Zythos Hops, so we used those exclusively and spread the hop bill out a lot.  The yeast fermented quite neutral and let the ingredients shine, the hops are present and accentuate the malt bill very well.  Despite having a bite-y bitterness, this is really a malt-forward brew.  It was interesting to compare to our Belgian IPA, which also used 8 oz of Crystal 77L: I swear you can pick out the exact flavor notes it contributed to both brews.  Trying desperately not to drink all of this so I can try a bottle in a months time.  Here she be:

Beer Name: Malty F*%!&R aka Little Filthy
Style: American Brown Ale
OG: 1.046
FG: 1.010
ABV: 4.8%
IBUS: 38

Grains:
7 lbs Pale Ale Malt
1 lb Victory Malt
8 oz Crystal 77L Malt
8 oz CaraPils Malt
8 oz Aromatic Malt
8 oz Biscuit Malt
2 oz Black Malt

In the Boil:
½ oz Zythos Hops @ 60 Minutes
½ oz Zythos Hops @ 30 Minutes
1 tsp Irish Moss @ 10 Minutes
1 tsp Wyeast Yeast Nutrient @ 10 Minutes
½ oz Zythos Hops @ 5 Minutes

Fermentation:
Wyeast 1056 American Ale Yeast in primary
Dry hopped with ½ oz Zythos Hops in secondary
Primed with 4.25 oz Amber DME

Brew Notes:
02/07/13: Brewed
Single infusion mash @ 152F
Missed OG of 1.055, resulted in 1.046
07/07/13: SG of 1.010, added 1 tsp Wyeast Yeast Nutrient, roused yeast and raised temperature
09/07/13: SG of 1.010, racked to secondary
25/07/13: SG of 1.010, bottled

Tasting Notes: Pours a dark mahogany with an off white cap that leaves a touch of lacing.  Aromas of roasted malt, dark bread, butter toffee and a touch of dark fruits.  Alternating sweet malt and bitter hop notes that layer quite nicely and round out just slightly hoppy.  Medium to full bodied with moderate carbonation and a creamy mouth feel. Quite delicious actually, one of our better brews.  Really love the malty roundness to the whole thing.

I'd love to rebrew with a slightly more subtle hop and maybe scale back the medium toasted malts a bit in place of something a little more dark.  All in all quite enjoyable!