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.

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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!