Gilgamesh - Beau's All-Natural Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Vankleek Hill)

Gilgamesh - Beau's All-Natural Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Vankleek Hill) 8.9%

Very dark brown, a bit cloudy and, in combination, this makes it just about opaque.

Dark fruit, and brown bread aroma with touches of molasses. Some earthy wood tones. Gilgamesh is still pretty cold at the moment but I still pick up a bit of the rum barrels: subtle spice, that touch of molasses and noticeable alcohol. Of course I would have to say that the wood tones fit with the rum barrels too.

Strong molasses flavour and sweetness, reminds me of gingerbread cookies that are heavy on the molasses and light on the ginger. Or are those molasses cookies? But I digress. Slight tongue tingling from a combination of the alcohol and some pleasant run spiciness. Chewy dried dark fruit flavours (raisin), as well as the previously referenced molasses and malty goodness all along. Gilgamesh delivers a delightful mix of dark malt flavours and a subtle roster of rum barrel flavours, very nice and dangerously drinkable to my taste.

8th Sin - Hop City (Canada - Ontario - Brampton)

8th Sin - Hop City (Canada - Ontario - Brampton) 5.0%

Very dark, nearly opaque, with an off-white head which is lighter than I expected for a beer with such a dark body. Milk chocolate aroma, with a subtle earthiness, a bit of coffee, a tiny bit of grain. Chocolatey flavour with a bit of dark, dried fruit tones and a grounding earthiness as well as the taste of the crust of dark bread. The mouthfeel is a bit surprisingly (and pleasantly) light while still being creamy. The aftertaste is more strongly earthy with light prune and raisin flavours to match the chocolate.

This is a really tasty beer, I can honestly say I have never had a Black Lager that had this depth and breadth of dark malt flavours. The is something to it that I am finding hard to put into words that seems more like a lager than an ale but I think I would be bluffing if I asserted that, in a blind taste test, I'd be able to tell the difference between this and an equally tasty dark ale with a similar light mouthfeel.

Smoked Oatmeal Stout - Trafalgar Ales and Meads (Canada - Ontario - Oakville)

Smoked Oatmeal Stout - Trafalgar Ales and Meads (Canada - Ontario - Oakville) 5.0%

Quite flat out of the bottle but with a delectable aroma: chocolate, smoke, with a touch of grain (oatmeal) and some earthiness. Smoky dark chocolate is the theme for this beer. This stout also has roasty coffee tones and some very subtle dark fruit hints. There is also a distinctly satisfying oatmeal characteristic to both the flavour and the mouthfeel.

The mouthfeel is very smooth since, though it is not flat, this particular bottle is somewhat flatter than I think it is supposed to be. Or perhaps not, I just realized that Trafalgar's full name is Trafalgar Ales and Meads: the same people that make a fantastic Mead Braggot I had. Because of their stated "authentic methods and ingredients" used in making their mead I suppose this may be a naturally carbonated product in which case a less than typically carbonated may be the product of their methods. But I digress, this is a tasty, smoky, chocolaty, refreshing, roasty ale whatever the level of carbonation.

Doc's Feet Dubbel - Beau's All Natural Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Vankleek Hill)

Doc's Feet Dubbel - Beau's All Natural Brewing (Canada Ontario - Vankleek Hill) 7.6%

Reddish, dark brown colour in a glass with a large off-white head. It gets cloudier as the bottle goes, and darker too: the first pour was only somewhat brown, not nearly as cloudy and the head of foam was fairly fast fading. Sweet, honeyed, nectary, herbal aroma (bordering on floral) with a roasted malt and lightly spicy background.

Strongly herbal flavour, sweetly caramelized, bordering on roasty, but with a moderate hops character that is drily bitter with faint hints of cedar and resin. The hops flavours are a pleasant surprise and work well with the other flavours. A mild alcohol taste comes through at times but not as much as one might expect from a beer with 7.6% ABV. The aftertaste is quite roasty, a bit chocolate like and also with echos of the yeast flavour. This is an interesting Belgian Dubbel; quite tasty.

Bog Water - Beau's All Natural Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Vankleek Hill)

Bog Water - Beau's All Natural Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Vankleek Hill) 6.6%

A deep, cloudy brown colour in a glass with a thick head of meringue like foam. Yeasty aroma, nectar and herbs, but with a strong floral, no more like a fruity touch.

The yeast continues to lead in the flavour along with the strong fruit (tropical fruit?) flavour that comes on strong at some points but fades away just as quickly only to reappear with later sips. In addition to the herbal yeast flavours,  this Eastern Ontario Gruit has quite a darkly malty body with tastes of dark bread blending into roasted tones. A grain and roast aftertaste with traces of the herbal yeast tones. Overall, a very tasty and interesting beer.

Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier Dunkel (Germany) 5.3%

Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier Dunkel (Germany) 5.3%


This wheat ale pours a cloudy brown colour in a glass with an impressive head of resilient off-white foam.

It has a stronger yeast aroma than I was expecting, probably because I gave it a gentle roll to agitate the yeast before I opened the bottle: you don't want all that flavour just staying on the bottom of the bottle. Floral, nectar and blossom aromas as well as banana and cloves, just like a typical hefeweissen except there is dark malt background of lightly earthy, roasted malt with touches of chocolate.

Banana and cloves lead the slightly tart flavour when drinking through about three quarters of an inch of head. These flavours are followed by roasty and caramelized malt flavours that remind me of barley candy with some milk chocolate tones. It is this second group of flavours, along with mild red fruit tones, that come more to the forefront once the foam mostly subsides. Of course the yeast tones remain and feature strongly in the finish.

County Dark Ale - Wellington Brewery (Canada - Ontario - Guelph)

County Dark Ale - Wellington Brewery (Canada - Ontario - Guelph) 5.0%

A dark mahogany colour in a glass with not much of a head. Creamy, nutty (hazelnut) and coffee tones to the aroma along with some light roasty and caramelized malt tones, a little like barley candy.

A chocolate forward beer with some earthy smoke tones and some roasty malt flavours of a red. Pub appropriate, easy drinking, refreshing with a nice mix of flavours Wellington County Dark Ale isn't going to blow you away with exotic flavours but it's an excellent after work pint.

Grande Noirceur - Brasserie Dieu du Ciel (Canada - Quebec - St Jerome)

Grande Noirceur - Brasserie Dieu du Ciel (Canada - Quebec - St Jerome) 9.0%

Black, black, black in the glass. Completely opaque with a finger of brown head. The aroma is thick with dark malt flavours of smoke, prunes, a bit of coffee, an earthy sweetness with wood tones and little leather as well.

The taste is bitter and loaded with dark fruit flavours, no lighter esters of cherry but prunes and raisin flavours, as well as smoke, just a bit of grain and some molasses. The aftertaste is very bitter, smoky as well as a little boozy. The alcohol flavour fades quite a bit as the beer gets a little bit warmer. All in all, a strong and very nice Imperial Stout.

Strong Dark Belgian - Bridge Brewing (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax)

Strong Dark Belgian - Bridge Brewing (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 8.0%

It pours a glowing red hued amber with an off-white head that leaves nice lacing. Sweet, candied and roasty caramelized sugar aroma with floral and clove-like nectary yeast tones. The taste is along much the same lines, plenty of floral yeast tones with roasty sweetness balanced out (or perhaps more than balanced out) by quite a bit of bitterness and a fair amount of alcohol comes through in the taste at 9 C'. There is also a little acidity adding some tartness.

This beer's balance improves as it warms: the alcohol mellows and blends a bit better, some brandy and cherry flavours come out along with roasty red/dark malt to sit nicely in the aftertaste. Additionally, and most importantly, the bitterness and acidity are now playing nicely with the malty sweetness rather than standing out all on their own. Strong Dark Belgian is at least 8.0% as I can certainly feel its effects after splitting only half of a 750 ml bottle.

So, when you try Bridge Brewing's Strong Dark Belgian be prepared for a strong, full flavoured ale and be sure to let it warm up quite a bit - I think you'll enjoy it a lot more if you do.

Picaroons Tap-Takeover at Ducky's Pub (Canada - New Brunswick - Sackville)

Picaroons Tap-Takeover at Ducky's Pub (Canada - New Brunswick - Sackville)

Sackville is my hometown and a 2008 Cultural Capital of Canada, and smack-dab in the middle of Sackville is the new and improved Ducky's Pub, established in 1989, shifted and refurbished in 2013. With the move has come a renewed focus on tasty regional craft beers as well as a full menu from a partnership with their new neighbour Pickles European Deli. This past weekend I had the great pleasure of attending a Picaroons tap-takeover at Ducky's.

Under the watchful gaze of Picaroons reps Tony and Dave each of Ducky's twelve taps were "taken over" and instead of pouring a variety of craft beers poured only tasty Picaroons brews for the evening. As you can read below, I took this opportunity to review two special edition ales that had been aged in Glenora whiskey barrels from the highly rated distillery in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. I also enjoyed Picaroons' seasonal Plaid to the Bone, an ale brewed with heather that will be hitting NB Liquor shelves soon.

Barrel Aged Winter Warmer - Picaroons Brewing (Canada - New Brunswick - Fredericton)

A lot of the whiskey barrel in the nose and dark but not quite opaque. The alcohol content is not quite a known factor but is likely higher than the 7.3% of the non-barrel aged version since the aging process along with some added sugars for an additional fermentation will kick the alcohol up a notch.

Lots of barrel and whiskey notes in the taste such as vanilla but also a sweetness along with a hefty malt body and flavours. More than detectable levels of alcohol - you can really taste it as you draw your next breath.

It reminds me a little of a Russian Imperial Stout without the hops because it has actual wood tones where wood tones in a typical RIS are just an interaction between the flavour of the hops and the alcohol. I liked Picaroons' original Winter Warmer but the Barrel Aged Winter Warmer is just spectacular.

Barrel Aged Timber Hog - Picaroons Brewing (Canada - New Brunswick - Fredericton)

Opaque in a glass and this hefty stout even looks like it'll stick to your ribs. The aroma is similarly filled with barrel notes but with more of a peat emphasis than the Barrel Aged Winter Warmer. As a result the aroma is very whiskey-like when coupled with the sweetness and alcohol content that a thoughtful sniff reveals.

The Barrel Aged Timber Hog definitely has a more mellow flavour than the Winter Warmer but it is full of dark malt flavours of chocolate and coffee. A bit of subtle cherry and molasses as well. There is no confusing this with a RIS though, as it does not have the same bitterness or alcohol content as the Barrel Aged Winter Warmer.

The Barrel Aged Timber Hog is highly drinkable for a beer so hearty. The barrel aged version is particularly good but the Timber Hog you can get year round in bottles is also quite good.

Warsteiner Dunkel (Germany) 4.8%

Warsteiner Dunkel (Germany) 4.8%

Warsteiner Dunkel is a dark brown with only a hint of amber and a off white head that faded fairly quickly. The aroma is an appetizing mix of sweet milk chocolate and light coffee with just a hint of smoke from the roasted malt.

The taste is exactly along the same lines: quite sweet with milk chocolate and hints of light coffee. This really is a nice dark beer that is light on the palate but still well representative of dark malt flavours.

Propeller Extra Special Bitter (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 5.0%

 Propeller Extra Special Bitter (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 5.0%

Roasty aroma of crusty brown bread and more than a touch of hops. A very dark brown in a glass; a good head with some lacing. Nice taste, sweet in a caramelized sort of way - tones you'd find in a Red. Some faint floral hops tastes and a satisfyingly bitter finish. Plenty of roast and bitterness in the body too; dark bread tones with hints of molasses and a touch umami. Some mild wood tones and a light smokiness is there too as a result of a mixture of the bitterness of the hops and the dark roasted malt. A nice bitter, emphasis on the bitter, no surprise it is one of Propeller's best sellers. The bitterness and the robust roasted malt flavour make Propeller's Extra Special Bitter an ideal ale to pair with hearty stews or roasted dishes.

Double Chocolate Stout - Rockbottom Brewpub (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 5.5%

Double Chocolate Stout - Rockbottom Brewpub (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 5.5%

This Double Chocolate Stout pours a very dark brown in a glass. The aroma has a surprising amount of melon hops in it along with milk chocolate and a bit of something like Earl Grey Tea. The mouthfeel is creamy just like a stout should be. The taste is again surprisingly hoppy, though mellow melon rather than cedar or pine tones; sweet milk chocolate flavours with some yummy caramel. Quite an interesting stout, not quite as chocolatey as I expected but it has a very nice. Only available until the end of February so go, go out and get some.

Black Chocolate Stout - Brooklyn Brewing (USA - New York - Utica) 10.0%

Black Chocolate Stout - Brooklyn Brewing (USA - New York - Utica) 10.0%

Thickly black and opaque in a glass with a short tan coloured head. A deep dark chocolate aroma with toffee, dried fruit tones and some hints of earth - sweetness and bitterness intermixed but with bitterness coming out on top. Hints of alcohol come through as a suggestion of wood tones.

Dark chocolate is the first flavour along with a high alcohol hum that carries with it lots of dried red fruit tones and more than an inkling that some floral hops tones might be underneath all this delicious malt. Brooklyn Brewery's Black Chocolate Stout is also pleasantly earthy and has an almost charred finish of smoke, espresso and dark chocolate that is quite nice and just what I expect from an Russian Imperial Stout inspired brew. There are some sweet points that fade in and out providing a nice counterpoint to the primarily bitter primary flavours of dark chocolate, espresso and dried fruit. An excellent beer, really an impressive brew for special occasions rather than a session and although, Brooklyn Brewery's Black Chocolate Stout is delicious on its own, it could probably pair nicely with some chocolate heavy deserts.

Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout - North Coast Brewing (USA - California - Fort Bragg) 9.0%

Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout - North Coast Brewing (USA - California - Fort Bragg) 9.0%

When I spotted this beer, named after one of the more interesting figures in history (in my opinion) and brewed by the folks responsible for one of my most favourite beers ever I had to have it.

It pours black and opaque in a glass with a nice and thick tan coloured head. The aroma is boozy, and a little hoppy with plenty of dark fruit and dried red fruit as well as a certain black licorice hint to the dark chocolate that itself smells like Black Forest Cake. It's enough to set my mouth watering.

The taste is divine: dark fruit and dried red fruit at first, and really throughout, followed by wood tones, I think from a mix of a light pine hops character, smoky dark malt flavours and the alcohol which will warms your cheeks and tickle your chest; sweet and chocolatey middle but balanced by the aforementioned wood tones and hefty bitterness that arrives just before the delectable coffee finish and the lingering coffee and smoke aftertaste.

Anyone not familiar with the Grigori Rasputin's tale should do themselves a favour and give it a read before they drink this Russian Imperial Stout to add some background. Oh and it wouldn't hurt to check out the song too.

Granite Brewing Sample Tray (Canada - Halifax and Toronto)

Granite Brewing Sample Tray (Canada - Halifax and Toronto) 

Best Bitter

Quite a bit of grain and floral in the taste. Bitter, clean, crisp, lightly green in its crispness, roasty and sweet.

Best Bitter Special

Really just the best bitter with a long lingering hops flavour. Cloudy for some reason, more fruit or more accurately nectar and floral tones from the hops. A bit of barnyard in the aroma.

Peculiar

Roasty and sweet, an alcohol taste oddly enough for 5.6%, quite bitter and sticky and red tasting. A touch sour and cherry-like before the long sweet roasted glaze-like finish. The sour touch works and makes this ale interesting, unique and pretty good overall.

Keefe's Irish Stout

A good creamy head, dark but not opaque in a glass. Sweetly creamy, milk chocolate, a touch of smoke in the aroma. A touch of dark fruit (like figs) and the hops come through as a touch of herbal. Kind of thin for a stout - more like a brown.

Ringwood

The aroma is sweet malted grain aroma, actually checked to see if it was a wheat. A nice touch of hops. The taste is very sweet, plenty of grain, not hoppy, lightly nutty. Springy on the palate but mostly grain flavours overall - not much else to this pale blonde ale.

Revolution Russian Imperial Stout - Propeller (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 8.0%

Revolution Russian Imperial Stout - Propeller (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 8.0%

Opaque and black in glass. A big frothy, thick, brown head that leaves behind formidable lacing. The aroma is coffee, smoke, mild hops, a little caramel and maple, some wood tones - lots going on. The taste is similarly complicated: bitter, dark chocolate forward melding into more of a coffee flavour as each sip progresses, the powerful malt flavours overmatch a hops character that would be strong nearly in any other beer but in Propeller's Revolution Russian Imperial Stout it only balances. Smoke and umami, sweet touches of maple and molasses bread. Barely a few touches of alcohol and some faint fruit esters poke at the edges of my perception playfully adding yet another layer to this splendid flavour.

Propeller's Revolution Russian Imperial Stout is not a beer to be rushed. It's also a beer I like a little on the warm side and although it is nearly a meal in and of itself, it would probably pair well with some strong flavoured hard cheeses.

Cobblestone Stout - Mill Street (Canada - Ontario - Toronto) 4.2%

Cobblestone Stout - Mill Street (Canada - Ontario - Toronto) 4.2%

I don't believe in these nitrogenating beers being sold in beer cans (Guinness on a can is a poor imitation of Guinness on tap in my experience) but we'll see how this one goes. Well Cobblestone Stout actually has the tiny bubbles and cascading foam action you should expect of a nitrogenated beer even if the can opened with quite a roar of escaping nitrogen (which doesn't dissolve in a liquid as well as carbon dioxide).

An extremely thick, highly resilient beige head that leaves impressive lacing. Lovely coffee malt aromas, grain, sweet with milk chocolate hints. It has a really nice flavour that is sweet with lots of coffee and actually it tastes a lot like a latte: coffee, milk chocolate, sweetness and very creamy mouthfeel. Some grain or maybe more accurately biscuit flavours as well make this solid stout almost qualify as food. The coffee flavour in the beer gets a little washed out after you taste a mouthful of the foam revealing some roasty caramel and light touches of hops.

Cobblestone Stout is a nice beer and pretty great proof that nitrogenated stout in a can actually works.

Trappistes Rochefort 8 - Abbaye St-Remy (Belgium) 9.2%

 Trappistes Rochefort 8 - Abbaye St-Remy (Belgium) 9.2%

A dark, but not opaque, reddish brown colour in a glass. Sweet, toasty, honey and nectar filled, slightly herbal aroma; a little roasty and very appetizing.

Richly malty taste with touches of barley candy but very sweet with an interesting spicy herbal quality; strong tones of dried dark fruit (prunes and raisins). Some faint milk chocolate but mostly dark fruit and herbal yeasty flavours - typically Belgian Abbey beer and delightful. This Trappist ale has a certain vegetal, herbal quality that is appealing and though it is different from other styles of beers it is not entirely unique amongst Trappist beers and reminds me a little of a young Orval (I typically try to age an Orval a year before drinking it). Quite a bit of sediment that seems determined to remain at the bottom of the bottle: not much of it ends up in your glass without a swirl or two. From past experience more than a little of the sediment can make this type of beer more yeasty than ideal/more yeasty than the brewmaster (brewmonk?) intended.

Rochefort 8 reminds me a bit of an herbal liquore except with a few more dark fruit flavours. Very nice, as you'd expect from a Trappist beer, and, like all Trappist ales, something every beer geek and aspiring beer geek must try along with Rochefort 6 and Rochefort 10.

15th Anniversary Malt: Vanilla and Cocoa - Garrision Brewing (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 9.0%

15th Anniversary Malt: Vanilla and Cocoa - Garrision Brewing (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 9.0%

Opaque, dark chocolate black/brown in a glass with a thick beige head. Bitter dark chocolate aroma with a mix of faint dark fruit and some doughy rye bread tones with some subtle hops aromids too. Some light sediment at the bottom of the bottle that adds some grain and fairly prominent oatmeal flavours. The sediment really adds an interesting dimension to the beer so I'd strongly suggest pouring the whole bottle into one glass (or into a pitcher and then into glasses if you are really intent on sharing).

Strong tasting: roasty, a little smoky, slightly tart dark fruit and dried red fruit tones, alcohol with the bitter flavour of the darkest of chocolates.  This mixing of light sweet malts with touches of caramel (crystal and caramel malt) with a smorgasbord of dark (and very dark) malts and then coupled with the high alcohol tastes like an alcoholic fruitcake made with brandy (maybe a splash of whiskey - if anyone actually makes fruitcake with whiskey) and absolutely loaded with dried fruits.

Not entirely unexpectedly, this beer gets better as it warms: the fruit esters and touches of high alcohol are still decidedly there but mix more deliciously with the deep malt flavours and the vanilla really starts to come out. It is still very bitter, and there are still chocolate flavours, but rather than striking me as a mostly dark chocolate flavoured beer I'd almost say molasses and maple with some smoke sum up the flavours better (with the aforementioned fruit esters and tastes of alcohol). The hops flavours also come out more as it warms but this brew is still a celebration of malt rather than hops. Obviously there's a lot of depth to this malty beauty: try it cool, try it warmer and enjoy it all round.