Dominus Vobiscum Double - Microbrasserie Charlevoix (Canada - Quebec - Baie-Saint-Paul) 8.0%

Dominus Vobiscum Double - Microbrasserie Charlevoix (Canada - Quebec - Baie-Saint-Paul) 8.0%

A cloudy beer with a creamy tan head of foam. It is a deep brown colour with a deep amber hue very much like the colour of mahogany (like the label says).

A strong and unique aroma: there are apple juice tones, which is a bit weird but the other aspects balance it; there is grape, raisin, biscuit and molasses; finally, barley candy with subtle leather and an underlying earthiness. Makes for a heady, intriguing and delicious aroma.

The flavour is strongly malty with molasses and barley candy sweetness and lots of dark, dried fruit flavours like raisin, dates and prunes. There is a floral aspect to the overall flavour that is likely contributed by the yeast present in this bottle-conditioned beer. Dominus Vobiscum Double is neither overly sweet or bitter but just very flavourful and interesting. A really lovely beer full of character.

Fuller's Vintage Ale 2012 (United Kingdom - London)

Fuller's Vintage Ale 2012 (United Kingdom - London) 8.5%

Just on the amber side of gold and barely cloudy with not much of a head, although I am pour it out in dribs and drabs so that I can savour this beer that I have been saving for more than a year. Sweet, nectary, peach and apple pie aroma. Apple because of some esters but pie because of the sweet, somewhat roasty malt flavours. Subdued but solid resiny hops, earth tones and a touch of alcohol blends this all together tantalizingly.

Sweetly sugary but with malt tones like barley candy, dried fruit flavours (dates, raisins) and lingering peach or marmalade tones. These sweet flavours are grounded with spicy, herbal hops tones and medium bitterness. The aftertaste is slightly bitter, earthy, with a caramelized sweetness and leather hints with a faint lingering touch of that marmalade flavour. I think the flavour of Fuller's Vintage Ale 2012 is truly delightful. If I had to describe it in only one sentence I'd describe it as such: a lighter body and perhaps slightly sweeter barley wine but with all the complexity. Bear in mind that barley wines are among my favourite beer styles of all time so this is high praise indeed.

On the strength of Fuller's Vintage Ale 2012's flavour I plan to pick up two or three of their 2013 (and 2014 and 2015 and ...) edition: one for a year from now; one for a vertical tasting with a one-year-old 2014; and one for a vertical tasting with a one-year-old 2015 and two-year-old 2014. Vertical tastings take a long horizon and a good deal of planning and foresight (not to mention a place to actually properly store the beer) so I still haven't done a proper one (once, out of luck I managed to find a few Orval bottles at an NB Liquor store that were bottled eight months apart) but this beauty of a beer from more than twelve months ago has convinced me that it has to happen.

Wellington Russian Imperial Stout (Canada - Ontario - Guelph)

Wellington Russian Imperial Stout (Canada - Ontario - Guelph) 8.0%

Black and opaque with a slight red hue topped with a full, fluffy and fairly resilient brown head. A dark chewy malty aroma with some nice smoky tones. The taste is very malty and filled with dark dried fruit tones like prunes and dates as well as molasses and the same smoky wood tones as in the aroma. Some hints of alcohol in the aftertaste and some tongue tingling but still highly drinkable.

Just like lots of high alcohol and very malty beers I prefer this one fairly warm, maybe even quite warm. I find the alcohol blends better with the overall flavour and many more individual flavours reveal themselves for your enjoyment. There isn't too strong a hops flavour, though there is some pine, even though this Russian Imperial Stout is fairly bitter after all you'll get a fair amount of bitterness from your darker malts anyway. This is quite a nice Russian Imperial Stout though it doesn't have the hop forward taste some of the more aggressively hopped RISs do.

Barrel Full of Monkeys - Paddock Wood (Canada - Saskatchewan - Saskatoon) 10.0%

Barrel Full of Monkeys - Paddock Wood (Canada - Saskatchewan - Saskatoon) 10.0%

Super dark in a glass and completely opaque. A hefty, thick, delicious, dark and strongly malty aroma: raisins, dates, a bit of pear, chocolate, wood tones, some alcohol as well as a hops impression that adds only bitterness and balance. At times this tasty aroma reminds me a bit of molasses cookies.

Coffee and dark chocolate for an instant but then washed over by a spectacular flood of dark dried fruit flavours of raisin, prunes, dates and smoky wood notes; chocolate returns only with a little alcohol which puts me in mind of liquere and fruit filled chocolates. The beer definitely imparts a alcohol glow right away but the alcohol doesn't do anything but accentuating the flavour; Barrel Full of Monkeys doesn't taste at all like it is one tenth pure ethanol (at least). The malty, smoky aftertaste with touches of the aforementioned dark fruit is very appetizing so while this beer deserves to be savoured on it's own it would go very nicely with some darker olives and other such strong flavoured finger food.

Words don't seem to do it justice in describing how tasty this beer is and they also make a cherry version. Paddock Wood's Barrel Full of Monkeys is only an annual release so if you get the chance to buy some DO IT!