Summer Ale - Bridge Brewing (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax)

Summer Ale - Bridge Brewing (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 5.5%

Bridge Brewing's Summer Ale pours a clear, full gold in a glass with a quick fading white head. As the bottle was finished more sediment reached my glass for a cloudy and pale light gold colour. The aroma is floral, sweet and lightly spicy in such a way that reminds me of clover. Also some citrus in the aroma as well as a herbal touch and some banana.

Sweet and lighter than Bridge Brewing's other ales, the taste has herbal tones, a little bit of citrus, a bit of spice (almost peppery) and a bitter punch. The bitterness is a bit of a shock at first but this light and bitter Saison/Farmhouse Ale mellows with each subsequent sip and, like Bridge Brewing's Strong Dark Belgian, the bitterness blends much better with the rest of the flavours if you let it warm up to just about room temperature. It's fairly light on the tongue so you'll find it refreshing if you like beers more towards the bitter end of the spectrum and it will also pair well with flavourful barbecue and similar foods.

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.

Farmhouse Ale - Bridge Brewing (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 7.5%

Farmhouse Ale - Bridge Brewing (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 7.5%

This ale pours a cloudy amber colour in a glass with a big frothy head that leaves lovely lacing. The nose is led by Belgian yeast aromas: floral and herbal tones as well as sweetness. Bridge Brewing describes the aroma as candied fruit and I have to say I agree, a little bit of something gingery in there too. There is a lot of stuff going on in the aroma (I expect everybody will get something a little bit different) and it is really quite nice.

The yeast notes continue in the taste, herbal, nectar, maybe a hint of banana and something like not-quite-ripe mango, but rounded out by a sweet and roasty malt body. There is a bit of pine tasting hops, a bitter bite to the finish as well as a tart touch from the mix of yeast flavours. Also, the aftertaste has a bit of a resiny hops taste to it. You can feel the alcohol warming your chest and as a tingling in your mouth but it barely comes through in the flavour except to accentuate the bitterness. As regular readers of the blog can probably guess I like this ale even more as it warms: the roasty flavours come out more and also the tart yeast flavours, the bitterness as well as the alcohol all blend better in my opinion.

For those of you not aware, Bridge Brewing is an interesting new brewery and project based out of Halifax, their website and this copy printed on the back of their reusable 750 ml ceramic bottles tell their story.