Picaroons: PART ONE

Picaroons is a great brewery located right in my own "backyard" here on the East Coast of Canada. I have had the good fortune to try eleven of their beers and will be posting reviews of each them.

Presented here in PART ONE, and in alphabetical order, these are the first five. Cheers!


Best Bitter - Picaroons (Canada - New Brunswick - Fredricton) 5.2%

Sweet, delicious roasted caramel malt flavour that matches the pleasant burnt amber colour it has in a glass. A bitter aftertaste hits late but is a nice counterpoint to the caramel. The smell is almost surprisingly sweet like a malty candy store.

Blonde Ale - Picaroons (Canada - New Brunswick - Fredricton) 5.0%

Scent of hops spice mixed with malt. Quite a mellow sweet malt taste, a little buttery with a slightly bitter finish. Very drink-a-lot-able and pleasant.

Dark and Stormy Night - Picaroons (Canada - New Brunswick - Fredricton) 4.8%

Dark in a glass but translucent. Roasty and malty; bitter and a little sweet. It was a litle oddly sour but that does not detract from the other flavours. Good but tastes a little thin which could be a bit of a drawback if you were looking for a stick-to-your-ribs dark ale, however, on the plus side, it also means you could happily have more than one or drink it with food. Though it is a dark beer it is very drinkable even for people who wouldn't normally drink anything darker than a lager or maybe a red.

Feels Good Imperial Pilsner - Picaroons (Canada - New Brunswick - Fredricton) 7.0%

Smells like a strong pilsner. Tastes like a strong pilsner drowning in hops: way too bitter and green for my tastes. Also with a long lingering aftertaste that makes it slow to drink. In time, (ie. through much of the bottle) the hops mellows and the beer tastes sweeter but is still really bitter. If you just can't get enough of hops, then this one would be great for you!

Fox Tail Ale - Picaroons (Canada - New Brunswick - Fredricton)

Made specially for the Snooty Fox restaurant in Fredricton, New Brunswick, this draught beer is amber in a glass and has the typical Picaroons crystal/caramel malt taste, but its flavour is also fairly dark and roasty. A little waterier than most Picaroons offerings presumably because it's a draught beer rather than from the bottle; all in all, a fine choice from the taps.