Iron Duke - Wellington Brewery (Canada - Ontario - Guelph)

Iron Duke - Wellington Brewery (Canada - Ontario - Guelph) 6.5%

A deep yet red hued brown colour in a glass with a tan head of foam and a sweet, sticky malty aroma.

This malty beauty has a sweet, toasty, chewy dark fruit, molasses and lightly caramel flavour with some light smoky wood tones. There are some hops detectable, especially with the first few sips (hop aromatics and flavours come from more volatile compounds than sugars so they tend to be most noticeable at first especially in the head on the beer), but this is a malt forward beer for sure. This strong ale reminds me a little of a Wee Heavy and is just plain good.

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.

Rauchbier - Mill Street (Canada - Ontario - Ottawa)

Rauchbier - Mill Street (Canada - Ontario - Ottawa)

A red hued brown in a glass (aka huge stein) with a smoke and spice forward aroma backed with malt flavours.

The flavour is also strongly smoked with a light mouthfeel and a fairly light malt character but with earthy tones and a very faint flavour that reminds me of dark cherries. The finish is also predictably smoky but in it more malt tones also come out with toasted bread and subtle molasses aspect.

Deviator Doppelbock - Cameron's Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Oakville) 8.6%

Deviator Doppelbock - Cameron's Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Oakville) 8.6%

Earthy, molasses, dark fruit (prunes) and sticky sweet aroma with the bourbon barrel notes coming through clearly and deliciously. Very dark but actually clearly translucent if you hold it up to a bright light which reveals a deep red hued brown colour. Some sediment towards the bottom of the bottle but very light and without a noticeable effect on the flavour.

Make sure you allow this and all Doppelbocks to warm up from refrigerator temperature before you drink them. Of course you don't have to wait for it to warm all the way up before you open it, in fact pouring it and warming it with your hands and sampling it over time allows you to pick out the temperature you prefer.

Smoky, malt flavours with chewy dark fruit undertones. Bourbon barrel flavours like oak, smoke and a little bit of spice are again quite prominent, which delights this bourbon fan. This beer is bitter with the smoky malt flavours and some subtle hop bitterness but has a molasses-like sweetness too. Something about the mix of flavours reminds me of chocolate and cherry confectionary such as a black forest chocolate cake or those chocolate orbs stuffed with a cherry and syrup that everybody's mom seems to like. This is a nice Doppelbock and the barrel aging complements the flavour excellently.

Gilgamesh - Beau's All-Natural Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Vankleek Hill)

Gilgamesh - Beau's All-Natural Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Vankleek Hill) 8.9%

Very dark brown, a bit cloudy and, in combination, this makes it just about opaque.

Dark fruit, and brown bread aroma with touches of molasses. Some earthy wood tones. Gilgamesh is still pretty cold at the moment but I still pick up a bit of the rum barrels: subtle spice, that touch of molasses and noticeable alcohol. Of course I would have to say that the wood tones fit with the rum barrels too.

Strong molasses flavour and sweetness, reminds me of gingerbread cookies that are heavy on the molasses and light on the ginger. Or are those molasses cookies? But I digress. Slight tongue tingling from a combination of the alcohol and some pleasant run spiciness. Chewy dried dark fruit flavours (raisin), as well as the previously referenced molasses and malty goodness all along. Gilgamesh delivers a delightful mix of dark malt flavours and a subtle roster of rum barrel flavours, very nice and dangerously drinkable to my taste.

Dogstalker April Bock - Grand River Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Cambridge)

Dogstalker April Bock - Grand River Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Cambridge) 6.0%

Pours a orange, reddish amber in a glass without much of a head; some sediment at the bottom of the bottle. The aroma has caramel sweetness, actually more like toffee, brown or even molasses bread and some, nay lots, of apple-ey red fruit as well as some dark fruit (prune) notes.

The aroma is a bit like malt syrup used in homebrew but isn't nearly that sweet. The occasional roasty smell drifts in and out but it never shows up in the flavour, instead it is well on the sweet, caramelized, red ale side of the Maillard process. Lots of brown bread and toffee. There is some underlying tartness and syrupy sweetness reminds me of sherry and unfortunately it is the cooking kind that springs to mind not the drinking kind. When combined with overly forward red fruit flavours it kind of ruins this beer for me. 

The difficulty for me with invented (or at the least styles I haven't heard of and don't show up in my beer encyclopedia) styles like an April Bock is that I'm not sure what the brewer was going for. It could be that they nailed this and it is just not to my taste because I have liked other Grand River Brewing products but I am not really a fan of this one. If I am on the right track with what the concept, an April Bock would be pretty good if the fruit flavours had been a bit more subdued and if the sweetness was less syrupy and more malty. 

Obsidian Imperial Porter Rum Barrel - Cameron's Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Oakville)

Obsidian Imperial Porter Rum Barrel - Cameron's Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Oakville) 9.2%

This barrel aged brewed pours as dark as its namesake with a head of fine, tan (nearly brown) bubbles. The aroma is molasses, caramel, rum barrel tones, alcohol and burnt sugar. It tastes of chocolate flavours (both dark and milk chocolate) oak, dark dried fruit (like prunes and raisins) leather, black coffee, smoke, a bit of nearly maple as well as molasses tones and a somewhat spicy booziness that reveal the rum influence. Overall, Obsidian tastes like a sweet rum and chocolate fruit cake.

It may be too late to buy this beer but if my description sounds appealing keep an eye out for the next addition to Cameron's Oak Aged Series.

Edit (November 21st, 2013): I have been informed by Cameron's Brewing that Obsidian is still available at the brewery and at the LCBO.

Doppelbock - Les Trois Mousquetaires (Canada - Quebec - Brossard)

Doppelbock - Les Trois Mousquetaires (Canada - Quebec - Brossard) 8.6%

A reddish chestnut colour in a glass with a big head of frothy, resilient, off-white foam.

A malty, sticky, caramelized aroma with red fruit, a sugary molasses, and some alcohol tones tones a bit like fruitcake. A really delicious fruitcake.

Sweet with some flavour tones that remind me a bit of sherry but with much more depth and breadth than I have ever taste in a sherry. Some red fruit tones, as in the aroma, tastes of a light molasses, a hint of wood (likely from the hops) and plenty of dried fruit like raisin, dates or prunes but with a lighter taste to them.

Les Trois Mousquetaires' Doppelbock has a surprisingly light mouthfeel which keeps this beer very enjoyable and without allowing the sweetness to become cloying even at warmer temperatures (the suggested serving temperature is between 10 and 14 Celsius). There is a little sediment at the bottom of the bottle and it tends to make the beer a bit more yeasty and just the slightest bit sour so I would leave the last centimeter of beer in the bottom of the bottle to avoid that.

Captivator Doppelbock - Tree Brewing (Canada - British Columbia - Kelowna) 8.0%

Captivator Doppelbock - Tree Brewing (Canada - British Columbia - Kelowna) 8.0%

Dark brown that is deep and nearly opaque but acquires some darkly glowing amber tones when you hold it up to the light; a fairly thin off-white head of foam. There is some light sediment at the bottom of the bottle but nothing you need to avoid.

The aroma is delicious. What, you want me to be more specific? Ok, it's richly malty and sweet with touches of caramel and white cake but it is heavily laden with sweet dark fruit tones like baked raisins or prunes as well as molasses tones and vanilla.

The taste is quite sweet and very malty, dark fruit tones and molasses a more than bit of vanilla. A mix of dry hops, tastes of alcohol and some faint wood tones takes some of the edge off of the sweetness but this is a very sweet and very delicious beer. This is a sweeter and lighter doppelbock than some that have more roasty or coffee, chocolate and smoke flavours but it is still loaded with malt flavour and it is quite high in alcohol

It is a limited edition so I strongly recommend checking your local stores to see if they have any left and buy a few. Enjoy one now and set aside a few for aging or for a special occasion.

Le Sang D'Encre - Le Trou Du Diable (Canada - Quebec - Shawinigan)

Le Sang D'Encre - Le Trou Du Diable (Canada - Quebec - Shawinigan) 5.5%

As is to be expected from a beer with a name such as this one (translated to The Blood of Ink), Le Sang D'Encre is pitch black, completely opaque and also features a solid head of off-white to light brown (or mocha if you prefer) foam that leaves nice lacing.

The aroma is darkly malty, light wood tones, coffee, some hints of molasses and smoke. The mouthfeel is smooth and creamy though the beer is well carbonated. Coffee first and foremost, malt and some dry hops; chocolate, smoky wood tones and the lightest hints of caramel. The aftertaste is rather bitter and smoky but very pleasant.

Sticke Alt - Les Trois Mousquetaires (Canada - Quebec - Brossard)

Sticke Alt - Les Trois Mousquetaires (Canada - Quebec - Brossard) 6.0%

A reddish brown and slightly cloudy colour in a glass with an off-white head of resilient foam. The aroma is sweet and sticky with dark fruit and caramelized sugar tones that border on light molasses. Toasted bread and nuts with some faint wood tones as well in the aroma.

Roasty sweet taste with a strong, nutty, grain flavour. Quite a bitter finish and just a bit spicy from the hops. Raisin, molasses (not blackstrap, much lighter instead), prunes, touches of apple. Put all that together and I would say Les Trois Mousquetaires's Sticke Alt tastes like baked red apples, prunes and raisins with honey, and half-caramel molasses over toasted nutty bread with a bitter finish and a umami aftertaste. A beer such as this is best paired with food and, as the label suggests, grilled food and semi-soft cheeses are well suited.

Imperial Stout - L'Alchimiste (Canada - Quebec - Joliette)

Imperial Stout - L'Alchimiste (Canada - Quebec - Joliette) 7.9%

Black and very much opaque in a glass with brown head of foam similar in colour to coffee with cream. Coffee, prunes, leather, chocolate and molasses make up the aroma with some slow-to-present wood tones.

Strong dark fruit flavours initially, fades to smoky wood tones with some dark red fruit esters (light hints of red apple) and into a long lingering, chewy, smoked molasses aftertaste. This is a delightful Imperial Stout with deep immersive flavours; sweet and balancedly bitter but without any bite of hops that you might expect from other Russian Imperial Stouts.

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.

Grande Noirceur - Brasserie Dieu du Ciel (Canada - Quebec - St Jerome)

Grande Noirceur - Brasserie Dieu du Ciel (Canada - Quebec - St Jerome) 9.0%

Black, black, black in the glass. Completely opaque with a finger of brown head. The aroma is thick with dark malt flavours of smoke, prunes, a bit of coffee, an earthy sweetness with wood tones and little leather as well.

The taste is bitter and loaded with dark fruit flavours, no lighter esters of cherry but prunes and raisin flavours, as well as smoke, just a bit of grain and some molasses. The aftertaste is very bitter, smoky as well as a little boozy. The alcohol flavour fades quite a bit as the beer gets a little bit warmer. All in all, a strong and very nice Imperial Stout.

Solstice d'Hiver - Brasserie Dieu du Ciel! (Canada - Quebec - St. Jerome) 10.2%

Solstice d'Hiver - Brasserie Dieu du Ciel! (Canada - Quebec - St. Jerome) 10.2%


A glowing reddish brown in a glass with a nice off-white head that leaves behind good lacing. There is a little bit of sediment in the bottom of the bottle. The aroma is sticky and malty with dark fruit tones, a bit of alcohol, raisins, molasses, cherries and barley candy.

There is definitely a taste of alcohol but that doesn't obscure too much of the nice flavour of dark and red fruits (particularly cherry) along with roasty, toasty and sticky malt. While sweet, Solstice d'Hiver is also just a little bit hoppy with some wood tones (pine mainly) and a quite bitter aftertaste. A nice Barley Wine, a bit more bitter than others I've had.

Propeller Extra Special Bitter (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 5.0%

 Propeller Extra Special Bitter (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 5.0%

Roasty aroma of crusty brown bread and more than a touch of hops. A very dark brown in a glass; a good head with some lacing. Nice taste, sweet in a caramelized sort of way - tones you'd find in a Red. Some faint floral hops tastes and a satisfyingly bitter finish. Plenty of roast and bitterness in the body too; dark bread tones with hints of molasses and a touch umami. Some mild wood tones and a light smokiness is there too as a result of a mixture of the bitterness of the hops and the dark roasted malt. A nice bitter, emphasis on the bitter, no surprise it is one of Propeller's best sellers. The bitterness and the robust roasted malt flavour make Propeller's Extra Special Bitter an ideal ale to pair with hearty stews or roasted dishes.

Anchor Porter (USA - California - San Francisco) 5.6%

Anchor Porter (USA - California - San Francisco) 5.6%

A black in a glass that is nearly opaque but with amber hints anywhere the light sneaks through. Quite a fluffy, creamy tan head. Roasty, black licorice and molasses, some red and dark fruit and just a little resiny hops.

An amazing but light black licorice flavour from mixing the touch of resiny hops and the full dark malt flavours. The hops are most noticeable in the finish but still not as prevalent as I expected from this American Porter. There's also molasses, a little grain and some red fruits. There is definitely some but I'm not getting a lot of chocolate or coffee tones. Of what there is there is more coffee than chocolate, which is a little different from a typical porter but the licorice flavour is really nice in my opinion and goes very well with the light coffee that does come through.

Overall a very nice American Porter with a more subtle hops touch than Victory Brewing's Storm King Imperial Stout (but sort of along the same lines) and a unique lightly licorice twist. Definitely worth trying.

15th Anniversary Malt: Vanilla and Cocoa - Garrision Brewing (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 9.0%

15th Anniversary Malt: Vanilla and Cocoa - Garrision Brewing (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 9.0%

Opaque, dark chocolate black/brown in a glass with a thick beige head. Bitter dark chocolate aroma with a mix of faint dark fruit and some doughy rye bread tones with some subtle hops aromids too. Some light sediment at the bottom of the bottle that adds some grain and fairly prominent oatmeal flavours. The sediment really adds an interesting dimension to the beer so I'd strongly suggest pouring the whole bottle into one glass (or into a pitcher and then into glasses if you are really intent on sharing).

Strong tasting: roasty, a little smoky, slightly tart dark fruit and dried red fruit tones, alcohol with the bitter flavour of the darkest of chocolates.  This mixing of light sweet malts with touches of caramel (crystal and caramel malt) with a smorgasbord of dark (and very dark) malts and then coupled with the high alcohol tastes like an alcoholic fruitcake made with brandy (maybe a splash of whiskey - if anyone actually makes fruitcake with whiskey) and absolutely loaded with dried fruits.

Not entirely unexpectedly, this beer gets better as it warms: the fruit esters and touches of high alcohol are still decidedly there but mix more deliciously with the deep malt flavours and the vanilla really starts to come out. It is still very bitter, and there are still chocolate flavours, but rather than striking me as a mostly dark chocolate flavoured beer I'd almost say molasses and maple with some smoke sum up the flavours better (with the aforementioned fruit esters and tastes of alcohol). The hops flavours also come out more as it warms but this brew is still a celebration of malt rather than hops. Obviously there's a lot of depth to this malty beauty: try it cool, try it warmer and enjoy it all round.

Barley Wine - Grizzly Paw Brewing (Canada - Calgary - Canmore) 11%

Barley Wine - Grizzly Paw Brewing (Canada - Calgary - Canmore) 11%

A sweet honey, and molasses, roasty aroma with a touch of hops and a bit of coffee. A nearly opaque walnut colour in a glass. Chewy malt taste with a bit of tartness, alcohol warming and dried red fruit esters. Roasty and sticky with darker malt tones that are not quite coffee or chocolate. And a smoky aftertaste that reminds me of barley candy. Overall a very nice barley wine.

St-Ambroise Scotch Ale - McAuslan Brewing (Canada - Montreal)

St-Ambroise Scotch Ale - McAuslan Brewing (Canada - Montreal) 7.5%

A brown amber in a glass. Initially a dry, lightly hoppy aroma that reminds me of euro lagers (which was unexpected) but after the head faded (which happened rather quickly, actually) dark malt aromas of grain, peat (that's probably because I'm looking at the word scotch too much but it is a touch smoky), roasty glaze and not quite coffee tones continuing on into a quite sweet aroma with molasses, light wood tones and vanilla is a late arriving scent. The vanilla is very pleasant and very noticeable once some of the other aromas fade. Really, the vanilla comes to dominate with dark malt sweetness and the hops sticking around and keeping the balance nicely. No alcohol really detectable in the aroma but that may change as it warms up.

Bundles of flavours to taste here. Clearly high in alcohol that you can taste in the roof of your mouth but carried so nicely by chewy malt flavours of molasses, dark bread and some dark fruit touches like prunes or dark candied cherries. The aftertaste is long lingering, less sweet and hoppier with grain flavours as well as the shadow of dark malt flavours. As St-Ambroise Scotch Ale warms, caramel flavours reveal themselves from the mix and assert themselves quite strongly and round out this Wee-Heavy inspired winter seasonal. The mix of flavours is just perfect for a cold winter's night (or day).