Blue Buck - Phillips Brewing (Canada - British Columbia - Victoria)

Blue Buck - Phillips Brewing (Canada - British Columbia - Victoria) 5.0%

Full gold in a glass with a resilient if not overly large head of foam. Nice caramel touch to the slightly raw malt flavour that reminds me of a malthouse. The hops are subtle but lend balancing hints of cedar and forest tones to the flavour. This beer delivers as promised as a tasty session ale, one that features more malt than hops character.

Premier George Coles Cream Ale - PEI Brewing Company (Canada - Prince Edward Island - Charlottetown)

Premier George Coles Cream Ale - PEI Brewing Company (Canada - Prince Edward Island - Charlottetown) 5.0%

A very lightly hopped malty aroma. Light flavour with a bit of creaminess and just a little bit of hops. The malt character is somewhat sweet with some flavours of toasted rolls and a subtle honey aspect. This is a sessionable and mildly flavoured cream ale.

Cream Ale - Cameron's Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Oakville)

Cream Ale - Cameron's Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Oakville) 5.0%

A full gold in a glass. Roasty aroma with a hint of fruit esters and a faint touch of grain. Well carbonated but a creamy mouthfeel. Umami and roast flavours dominate; overall well balanced with moderate sweetness and bitterness. Cameron's Cream Ale is sessionable and very pleasant, not overly strong tasting but nice.

Naughty Neighbour - Nickel Brook Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Burlington) 4.9%

 Naughty Neighbour - Nickel Brook Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Burlington) 4.9%

Gold in a glass with a fizzy white head. A nice aroma of cedar, pine and the faintest bit of resin as well as some toasted bread malt aromas. Hops continue to lead in the taste as well with further pine, floral almost melon hop notes and a bit of citrus (lemon and orange) as well. Naughty Neighbour is bitter but still light and refreshing with just enough of a sweet malty flavour for balance. The finish has hops (especially melon and pine) and a bit of grain, while the aftertaste is a pleasant pine and cedar buzz. A great American Pale Ale that is very sessionable at only 4.9%.

Big Mouth Pale Ale - Hop City Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Brampton)

Big Mouth Pale Ale - Hop City Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Brampton) 5.0%

A brassy gold colour in a glass with a finger of white foam. The aroma is resiny but also has touches of mango and citrus. The taste is bitter but with less of a pronounced hops character than the aroma. Cedar and resin (without much sticky sweetness until the beer warms a little) are the primary flavours while the mango that I found to be fairly prominent in the nose, especially immediately after pouring, is more subdued. The malty body is toasty and pleasant but this American Pale Ale is mostly about the hops and the refreshing bitter bite.

Alexander Keith's Cascade Hop Ale (Canada) 5.5%

Alexander Keith's Cascade Hop Ale (Canada) 5.5%

A clear brass colour in a glass with a fluffy white head. The aroma is roasty and very sweet with the distinct Cascade notes of resin and citrus (tangerine): it is a aromatic combination that is quite appealing. The taste is not quite as hoppy as the aroma but the hops are clearly there: resiny and green with notes of cedar and light citrus (orange). Alexander Keith's Cascade Hop Ale is fairly sweet, moderately bitter and the malt body is there (and roasty) but really only as a stage for the hops character to play upon. All in all this beer drinks as a pretty good American Pale Ale which is honestly a bit of a surprise since it is an Alexander Keith's product. It could do a better job of portraying the Cascade hop flavour if it had a bit of a stronger hop flavour but that is getting nit-picky. Worth trying though and actually sessionable.

Yona Yona Ale - Yo-Ho Brewery (Japan - Nagano) 5.5%

Yona Yona Ale - Yo-Ho Brewery (Japan - Nagano) 5.5%

A deep orangey gold colour in a glass with a big off-white head that leaves nice lacing. A pleasantly malty aroma with more than a little roast and some resiny hops.

Quite a sweet taste with nice citrus notes (orange and lemon), a little papaya and a bit of resin all from the hops. This is a very tasty American Pale Ale. Very drinkable with moderate hop bitterness and some light spiciness while the malt gives the ale a bit of a light caramel flavour. Yona Yona Ale is very tasty and would make a great session beer. It would also pair well with many types of food with its pleasant flavour and well balanced bitterness. Not a surprise that Yona Yona Ale has won craft beer awards in Japan.

Special Old Bitter - Pump House Brewery (Canada - New Brunswick - Moncton) 5.0%

Special Old Bitter - Pump House Brewery (Canada - New Brunswick - Moncton) 5.0%

Gold with an amber hue in the glass. A big fluffy head with good resilience and nice lacing. Resin and cedar hoppy aroma with a bit of roast and a malty, slightly raw, grain touch. Quite a hoppy, cedar and resin taste. A bitter initial flavour with a roasty, and quite a sweet, middle and a bitter resiny hops finish.

This is such a nice "west coast style session beer" and one of my favourites. The freshness of the malt paired with the touch of roast and the perfect amount of hops bitterness makes this Pump House's S.O.B. a great pairing with any pub food from pizza to flavourful pasta to burgers. A great beer, sessionable, interesting and refreshing.

India Pale Ale - Big Rock (Canada - Alberta - Calgary) 5.5%

India Pale Ale - Big Rock (Canada - Alberta - Calgary) 5.5%

Earthy, malty aroma with some honeyed sweetness and a green hops touch that reminds me of fresh celery. Moderately bitter with some melon (cantaloupe) tones, sweet and slightly musty. A slightly amber colour in a glass with a decent head and lacing. Not a bad beer at all, very sessionable, but not quite the taste I expect from an IPA, the hops character is just a little more subdued than some other IPAs.

Artisan IPA - Bowen Island Brewing (Canada - British Columbia - Vancouver) 5.5%

Artisan IPA - Bowen Island Brewing (Canada - British Columbia - Vancouver) 5.5%

A hoppy aroma of grapefruit and pine, a touch metallic. A shade darker than full gold in a glass with a frothy head. A mild IPA with a pine taste followed by malty, toasty sweetness (really quite sweet, though balanced) and a citrus finish. This is a really nice sessionable IPA: mild tasting but still interesting and true to the style as well as being low enough in alcohol that you can have several.

Espresso Stout - Big Rock (Canada - Alberta - Calgary) 4.2%

Espresso Stout - Big Rock (Canada - Alberta - Calgary) 4.2%

Pours a dark, dark brown in a glass: nearly black, nearly opaque. A bitter aroma of dark black coffee and grain with a touch of milk chocolate, more than a touch of smoke like burnt toast. Very smooth mouthfeel, fairly sweet and not as bitter as I was expecting. A moderate coffee flavour (much stronger in the aftertaste), milk chocolate, a faint grain flavour. Big Rock's Espresso Stout is a very nice beer with subdued but pleasant and interesting flavours. It's tasty even though its coffee flavour (and stout flavour for that matter) isn't nearly as strong as I expected it would be: more of a sessionable stout.

Lions Winter Ale - Granville Island Brewing (Canada - British Columbia - Vancouver) 5.5%

Lions Winter Ale - Granville Island Brewing (Canada - British Columbia - Vancouver) 5.5%


A brownish, reddish amber in a glass. Lots of vanilla, wood tones (oak?), and a touch of molasses in the aroma; maybe a hint of chocolate. Vanilla and quite a bit of something milk chocolatey to the taste. After the frist few sips the chocolate (milk, not dark chocolate) aspect of the aroma really came out. Lots of "chewy" malt flavours in there, enough it would seem, to support a high ABV but at the same time it's nice to have a winter ale that has a sessional alcohol content. The wood tones from the aroma can also be found in the taste but they're actually a blend of the subtle hops character (that balances the malt nicely by the way) and the vanilla which I associate with a bourbon or whiskey even as it plays so nicely in Lions Winter Ale. Suggested food pairs on the back ("sweeter full-flavoured foods and cream-based sauces") look promising. Maybe it's the Rocky Mountains on the label but I think it'd go great with fondue as an apres-aki. This is a really nice beer and a splendid Winter beer. Not that they have a real winter in Vancouver but I guess thye do at altitude in the mountains.

Wellington County Dark Ale (Canada - Ontario - Guelph)

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

A red hued brown colour in a glass; a quite fading head with limited lacing. It has a musty earthy aroma, that reminded me of clay, with roast and wood tones as well. Delicious milk chocolate and fresh brown bread, molasses and just the perfect touch of hops and bitterness to finish. A slightly smoky, roasty and moderately bitter finish with a pleasant biscuit aftertaste. Quite a light mouthfeel making it sessionable and pub-appropriate. I'd suggest serving it around 6 or 7 degree Celsius to allow the flavours to really stand on their own. Wellington County Dark Ale is brewed to be an English Brown Ale and I'd have to say they do a very nice job.