Boundary Ale - Moosehead (Canada - New Brunswick - Saint John)

Boundary Ale - Moosehead (Canada - New Brunswick - Saint John) 5.3%

A deep amber colour in a glass with a head of off-white foam. An earthy but also resiny and sticky hops aroma with caramelized sugars and a malty body.

A slightly sweeter flavour than I expected, caramelized sugars that are on the red side of the Maillard process and just not quite roasty. Definitely still some hop tones: resin, cedar and a dry bitterness with just a bit of citrus. This ale is nicely balanced and has an appetizingly bitter aftertaste.

In my opinion this is the best beer that Moosehead makes (as a New Brunswicker that is saying something) and it's very nice: refreshing and complex. Boundary Ale is a lot (but not exactly) like an English IPA even if its hops character is a touch resiny.

Fredericton Craft Beer Festival 2013

Fredericton Craft Beer Festival 2013

The inaugural Fredericton Craft Beer Festival took place this past weekend (March 9th, 2013) at the Delta Fredericton. The event was well attended and thoroughly enjoyable with an impressive selection of great beers. Where some beer festivals have a number of international lagers that we've all had before, Fredericton Craft Beer Festival was a tribute to craft beers and had none of these "filler beers".

I was very pleased to be able to try beers by Bushwakker, based in Regina, Saskatchewan and by Shiretown out of Dalhousie New Brunswick. I'm not normally able to get my hands on these brews so that was interesting.

Also Picaroons had a cask version of their Yippee IPA that was just amazing. The most surprising beer of the festival had to be Moosehead Cask, it was flavourful and really interesting - not what I expected from Moosehead to be honest.

As fun as the festival was I feel like I could have had a better time if the event had done a better job of getting information to us. When I arrived I was handed a roll of tickets without explanation. None of the volunteers inside the venue that I asked knew what the tickets were for. I eventually went back out to the gate, asked the staff there and found out that the tickets were for the "Garrison Beer Education Room" but with no indication as to what the "Garrison Beer Education Room" was.

I eventually made my way to the Beer Education Room and, to my utter astonishment, found what seemed like more than a dozen more ales, barley wines and bock beers to sample by Unibroue, Brooklyn brewery and plenty of other breweries that had not been advertised in the lead up to the event and were not even included in the beer checklist pamphlet I received when I arrived!

Jackpot.

... Except, the Garrison [District Ale House] Beer Education Room closed an hour before the end of the main event and precisely ten minutes after I discovered it, bummer. However, I still got to try Brooklyn Brewing's Monster Barley Wine and their Local 2, so I'm grateful for that.

Edit: The organizers of the Fredericton Craft Beer Festival contacted me after this post went up to explain why the Garrison Beer Education Room worked the way it did. According to them the Beer Education Room had to be treated as a separate event due for licensing reasons as a result they weren't able to promote in the same way as the main event. This explains a lot and I am grateful to the organizers for reaching out to me to explain this.

All in all, I am very glad I went. The venue was very nice, it was a great opportunity to meet some brewers and fellow beer geeks and to try a wide variety of really excellent beers. The VIP ticket was definitely worth it as the pass got me admitted to the event a half hour early and gave me access to the Bushwakker beers for only $10 more. Also the free chips and popcorn was a nice touch and the water jugs at glass rinsing station were always kept full. Next time (and I'll happily go again) I won't leave the Beer Education to the last few minutes. Also, it would be nice to be able to buy a few bottles to take home though I'm sure that would be another regulatory nightmare for the organizers.

James Ready Light - Moosehead (Canada - New Brunswick - Saint John)

James Ready Light - Moosehead (Canada - New Brunswick - Saint John) 4.0%

A lightly creamy malt aroma and slightly skunky. Pale gold in a glass. Not much of a taste, a touch of malt and barely a touch of hops. The barest hint of toast. A pretty good mass-produced light beer even though light beers are not my thing.

Moosehead Cracked Canoe (Canada - New Brunswick - St John)

Moosehead Cracked Canoe (Canada - New Brunswick - St John) 3.5%

Very pale gold. A sweet, ever so slightly hoppy aroma with light malt and grain tones. Very mild flavour: mostly sweet, barely malty with a hint of grain as well as the faintest hints of hops. Watery mouthfeel. Fully (but not overly) carbonated and very refreshing. Pretty good for an ultra-light beer - an individual certainly cannot expect a pile of flavour from a beer of this style - so I would not dispute their use of the "Premium" tag.

Alpine Max 6.0 - Moosehead (Canada)

Alpine Max 6.0 - Moosehead (Canada) 6.0%

Pale gold to gold in a glass. Has a malty, very slightly yeasty aroma. Malty and a little sweet: typical bland international lager taste but with a slight alcohol burn even though it's only 6.0%. The alcohol probably stands out because there is so little actual flavour going on that there is nothing to mask it. This would be a fine choice if all you drink is bland international lagers and are looking to get drunk on the cheap, otherwise you aren't missing much by missing Alpine Max 6.0.

James Ready Lager - Moosehead (Canada - New Brunswick - Saint John)

James Ready Lager - Moosehead (Canada - New Brunswick - Saint John) 5.0%

A full to pale gold colour in a glass. A malty, slightly hoppy aroma. An unremarkable but pleasant lager flavour: malty, sweet, barely hoppy, a little bitter. James Ready Lager is everything refreshing, yellow and fizzy that international lagers usually are but it is also very cheap in New Brunswick (NBLC) so if lager is what you like, give it a shot this summer.

Moose Light Ginger (Canada) 4.0%

Moose Light Ginger (Canada) 4.0%

This beer is gingery as promised, it tastes like real ginger and is spicy and sweet but manages to not be too spicy or sweet making it possible to drink more than one. A very nice summer beer.

I look forward to pairing it with different foods (stir-fry?).

Cheers!

[EDIT: Moose Light Ginger is, according to its label, a malt beverage - not actually a beer.]