Belgians and IPAs

The new spring beer release is out at the LCBO and it features a great number of some of my favorite styles of beer; Belgians and IPAs.

The Belgians
Although Belgian is more of an origin than a style, all Belgian beers tend to have a few things in common. Because the Belgians are so passionate about beer, high quality, hand crafted ales are most popular. Another thing that ties them together is the use of pungently flavored yeasts.  No matter what the style, yeast plays a large role in the flavor profile.

Abbaye des Rocs Grand Cru
330 mL bottle. Pours a dark chestnut colour with a foamy off white head. Complex nose of layered fruit, fig, liquorice, prune and honeycomb. Sweet and roasted with notes of chocolate, dark treacle and nut. High carbonation and a thick mouth feel with a layered finish. No noticeable hop flavor. Another very tasty Belgian brown.

St. Feuillien Grand Cru
330 mL bottle. Pours a light straw color with a active white head that dissipates quickly with no lacing. Subtle hop spice on the nose, clove, candi sugar, papaya, golden raisin and a touch of alcohol. Moderately sweet with high carbonation and champagne like texture. Offset with a touch of hop bitterness. Not as complex as I anticipated.

Dupont Monk's Stout
330 mL bottle. Pours a very dark reddish brown, almost black. A thin beige head. Burnt caramel on the nose, smoke, charred wood and dark roast coffee. Little body here, very mild, nice and bitter with a slight herbaceous note. Dry and fairly hopped, thin body with mild carbonation. A tasty mild stout.

Gouden Carolus Tripel
330 mL bottle. Pours a slightly cloudy golden with a thick mousse. Aromas of banana, clove, coriander, chewing gum and a touch of ginger. A touch of sweetness, and a yeasty mid palate, leading into a zesty hop finish. Herb and floral notes on the lingering finish. Creamy on the palate with high carbonation. A solid tripel, well made.

The IPAs
IPAs were originally invented as a way of preservation.  Ales were fermented with more malts so that they would have a higher alcohol content, and more hops for their antioxidant qualities.  This allowed them to survive the long trip via boat from the UK to India; hence the name, India Pale Ale.  Look for malty sweetness overtoned with bitter notes of hop. North American brewers have made a name for themselves crafting intensely hopped beers with strong aromatic qualities.

Sam Adam's Latitude 48 IPA
355 mL bottle. Pours a clear toffee color with a soapy white head that doesn’t last that long. Nose is hoppy with earth, mushroom, and a touch of citrus and bread dough. Mildly sweet and moderately carbonated, featuring a smooth mouth feel with a finish bittered with hop and tinged with woodiness. A tasty commercially available IPA; nothing mind blowing but certainly plausible as someones go-to.

Green Flash West Coast IPA
355 mL bottle. Pours clear copper with a two finger white head and messy lacing. The nose is largely yeasty, with notes of bread, toffee, grapefruit and floral earth. Moderately sweet and medium bodied with with overlapping layers of hop, but very well balanced by the malt and alcohol, leading to a long bitter finish. Sticky on the palate, medium carbonation. A well built IPA.

BIA IPA
330 mL bottle. Pours a cloudy light gold with streaming bubbles and a thin white head. Big yeast aroma here from the bottle conditioning. Lots of grassy notes, earthy and floral, citrus, apricot and spice. Fairly dry and well hopped. Light to medium bodied with lots of carbonation, slightly sticky finish. An interesting European styled IPA.

8Wired Hopwired IPA
500 mL bottle. Pours a perfect amber with a pillowy beige head. Aroma is quite nice, floral, with a touch of caramel malt. Tangerine, honey and grape flavours. Moderately sweet but surprisingly clean on the palate, with moderate carbonation and an earthy bitter hop finish. A very well balanced IPA, fruity without any waxiness or cloying sugars. Annoyingly easy to drink, an interesting new world take on the IPA, would buy more.

Other

Les Trois Mousquetaires SS MaiBock
750 mL bottle. Pours a cloudy amber with a tight white head, lots of lacing. Aromas of banana, cotton candy and fresh cut grass. A little buttery diacetyl. Mildly sweet with a touch of caramel and Vienna malt flavor. A creamy mouth feel with high carbonation, sticky on the palate with a slightly sour finish and mild hop spice.

As always, check out more of my reviews here:
http://www.ratebeer.com/user/169526/ratings/

Bar Isabel

A brief look at my Facebook feed prompted me with a notification from Keep6 Imports (an importer of popular craft beer to Ontario and owner of the exceptional BarVolo) regarding an upcoming Trou de Diable event at Bar Isabel.  Having never heard of the place before I checked out their website to find out more.  I was surprised to find it had newly opened. Toronto charcuterie guru Grant VanGameren (the original chef and previous co-owner of The Black Hoof) has opened a new venture.  Alongside VanGameren is Isabel's Chef de Cuisine Brandon Olsen; he was CDC at the Hoof while VanGameren was there, and took over as Executive Chef after VanGameren's departure.  VanGameren has a bit of a cult following after the immensely successful Hoof, and I had the pleasure of working with Olsen for a few months, so I found no reason not to head down at the nearest opportunity.

Anticipating the place would be riotously busy, I gave a call in advance.  Being a Saturday night, I was informed that reserved tables were sold out, but the bar was available on a first come first serve basis.  Good enough for me.  We arrived just before 8 to find the place mostly full, including the bar.  The hostess was kind enough to try to work something out.  She asked us if we wouldn't mind coming back in about 15 minutes for a space where we would be able to have a drink while we waited for room at the bar to open so we could eat.  We were pleased to find out when we came back that chairs had conveniently opened at the bar and we were seated promptly.

The interior gives the feeling of a prohibition era saloon, with the exemption of the flooring which was every flamenco dancers dream.  A long closed bar was simply done in polished wood and left plenty of show space for the active bartenders. Concealed inside was a very large bar rail and cabinetry with doors of framed frosted glass.  Cocktail lists were handed out, as well as a wine and beer list with the menu on the reverse.  The cocktail list was extensive and featured both classics and modern fair. The wine list offered both glass and bottle selections of solid value.  A moderately sized beer list featured exceptional quality.  Large format bottles from Trou de Diable headlined, followed by draught pours from Trou de Diable, Bellwoods and House Ales and lastly a standard format bottle selection--all craft beers once again.

The menu was largely Spanish influenced tapas, rounded out with a few larger plates for sharing.  'Bar Snacks' included cheese, charcuterie (surprisingly not house made, but of very good quality) and oysters.  The rest of the menu was divided into 'To Begin', 'Vegetables', 'Meat' and 'Fish'.  We stuck with many of the more authentic Spanish dishes on the menu: boquerones went excellently with pickled japapeno pepper; mojama garnished with citrus supremes, Marcona almonds and a liberal quantity of good olive oil, and grilled hanger steak pinchitos with shishito peppers (called padron peppers in Spain, these tiny green peppers are simply grilled or roasted and served, the trick is that albeit most of them are sweet, a few of them are spicy). We also had the 'Whole Fish' ceviche which was fantastic.  A whole sea bream was filleted and marinated, garnished with avocado, tamarind and crispy leeks, it was served atop the deep fried fish carcass which made for great grazing material as well.  For dessert we opted to share the house cheese plate, which was generous in size, but accompaniments must be ordered separately, as well as the Basque Cake with Boozy Cream which was rich and buttery with an almost cookie like, crunchy texture.  The menu offered a lot of modern options as well, but we shied away from them as many of them contained flour, which is off limits for my girlfriend.  Devilled duck eggs with morcilla, bacalao and hollandaise sounded appetizing, as well as the cold rice with crispy pigs ears and the chicken wing escabeche.

Overall an excellent meal, great beer and wine.  It was nice to visit an old friend.  Meal for two with 5 drinks, tax and generous tip, a jealousy-inducing $140.

Bar Isabel
barisabel.com
797 College Ave
Toronto

How to Make Beer, Part Two; a Photodocumentary (Como Hacer Cerveza, Segunda Parte; un Photodocumental)

Take regular specific gravity tests!
Tomar pruebas habituales del gravedad especifica!

When the beer is finished fermenting, change the fermenter and continue to age!
Quando la cervesa ha terminado la fermentacion, cambiar el fermentador y continuar a  envejecer!

When you are done aging, transfer your beer to bottles and wait for them to carbonate.
Quando eres terminado con el envejecimiento, cambiar la cerveza a botellas y esperar a que los convertan carbonatada.

Enjoy!
Disfrutar!

Thyroid Cancer Canada Walk/Run!

This entry is a little personal, but most of you know me personally anyway.  On June 8th Maegan will be participating in a Walk/Run for Thyroid Cancer Canada.  They are a great group of people raising money, awareness and information for those diagnosed with this kind of cancer.  Please visit her sponsorship page here if you wish to donate.

https://www.runningroom.com/dashboard/donations/index.php?raceId=9178&eventId=28193&memberId=UDMKPgVpB2dRNQcxUWc%3D&item=8&guest=1

Thanks to all those who can afford to help!