Smoke 'n Oak - Stack Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Sudbury)

Smoke 'n Oak - Stack Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Sudbury) 5.5%

A crystal clear burnt amber colour in a glass with an off-white head of soda like foam. A smoky, maple aroma that made me say "Mmm!" outloud to myself. Oak tones as well and the smoke aroma is quite strong, just on the tasty side of acrid; which is exactly what I would expect from a smoked ale that even has smoke in the name.

A sweet flavour, oak and smoke;  that list is roughly in the order of flavour strength. The smoke and oak in Smoke 'n Oak really comes across as a flavour you could imagine being from fresh cut oak boards that were toasted just long enough for some of those wood sugars to caramelize without very much charring. Also, that could be exactly what it's from. Smoke 'n Oak is a tasty smoked beer that is a bit on the sweet side and makes good use of oak.

Angry Moose - Stack Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Sudbury)

Angry Moose - Stack Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Sudbury) 9.0%

A crystal clear amber gold in a glass. A sweet and somewhat peachy aroma mixed in with all those hops! Cedar, resin and citrus. As it warms there is a bit of toffee

Bitter flavour with lots of evergreen flavours a mix of cedar, pine and ... well that's just about all the evergreen trees I know. Oh wait, spruce! A caramelized sweetness that reminds me of the way burning sap smells which is exactly where some sweeter barrel tones come from as the charring on the inside of barrels before their use in aging beer or spirits brings out and caramelizes the sap and sugars in the wood. This beer is really amazingly balanced and it really conceal its alcohol content well. If they can produce this beer consistently to this high quality, and consistency can be a problem for new microbrews as they start up, I can see this Imperial IPA bringing home some awards for Stack Brewing.

Dinner Jacket O'Red IPA - Arch Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Guelph)

Dinner Jacket O'Red IPA - Arch Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Guelph) 6.3%

A red hued gold in a glass with a big head of off-white foam. Cedar and resin aroma, with a scent of some sticky caramelized sugars you would expect from a Red Ale.

Very bitter, hops forward flavour at first and a very bitter aftertaste - a little metallic even. Honestly, Dinner Jacket seemed too bitter at first but I got accustomed to it quite quickly and more of the flavours came out rather than solely bitterness. Resin, cedar, pine and other faint wood tones form the hops character while crusty bread, and some nearly sticky candied fruit tones in the malty body. As promised on the label and by the use of oats, Dinner Jacket O'Red IPA does have a creamy mouthfeel.

In the end, the malt body of a Red Ale is what distinguishes this from other IPAs and a bit more of those Red Ale malt flavours as well as a bit less of the bitterness would make this beer a real standout.

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.