Mr. Hyde - Beau's All Natural Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Vankleek Hill)

Mr. Hyde - Beau's All Natural Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Vankleek Hill) 7.0%

A polished copper colour in a glass with a bubbly, big, off-white head that faded rather quickly to a creamy but thin layer of foam over the beer.

A sweet, nearly caramelized aroma with cereal some subtle wood and earth tones, and a hint of red fruit. A bit like a bock. While it is true that everything is reminding me of autumn, since we're on the verge of full blown autumn here in Ottawa and it happens to be my favourite season, the aroma as I've described it really seems to be perfect for an autumn beer.

Unmistakable rye flavour, just like the bread: a bit of a darker grain flavour, earthy, rich and bordering on nutty but not nutty, with a bit of red fruit that lends a note that is barely tart to the beer. Quite a bitter aftertaste with a lingering roasted grain flavour. For a beer that is 7% ABV, the flavour is mild while also being multi-layered and certainly doesn't taste much of alcohol so, while Mr. Hyde is a beer deserving of slow consideration, it is also dangerously quaffable especially when it is cold. As regular readers know, I prefer my beers a bit warmer than most but Mr. Hyde especially needs to be given a chance to warm up from refrigerator temperature so that you can enjoy the full spectrum of flavours that may otherwise be missed. I don't believe I've had a Roggenbier before but if Beau's Mr. Hyde is typical of the style I will definitely keep my eye out for another: delicious!

Rye Pale Ale - Cameron's Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Oakville) 6.6%

Rye Pale Ale - Cameron's Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Oakville) 6.6%

A glowing orange colour in a glass with big a fluffy off-white head of foam that left nice lacing as it faded.

A sweet hoppy aroma of pineapple, cedar, resin and a little floral. Strong, bitter taste with hops first: cedar, resin, a little citrus (orange) and some of that pineapple. The rye flavour really comes out in a grain loaded finish and aftertaste but this bitter brew is all about the hops which are strong throughout.

If you aren't a full blown hop-head and find Cameron's Brewing's Rye Pale Ale too bitter at first you are probably not alone. My suggestion would be to let it warm up most of the way and give a chance for the toasted bread (rye bread of course) and light caramel tones to really come out. Warmer and this RPA is still bitter but shows more balance.

Montgomery's Courage (1830-1839) - Black Creek Historic Brewery (Canada - Ontario - Toronto) 5.0%

Montgomery's Courage (1830-1839) - Black Creek Historic Brewery (Canada - Ontario - Toronto) 5.0%

This beer has quite the aroma that I could smell immediately upon opening the bottle, even before I poured it: distinctly rye with some bitter cedar hops and a earthiness that gives the historic brew a rustic feeling of authenticity. A lovely glowing deep orange in a glass with a thin head that lacks some staying power.

Strong rye notes, grainy and hearty all in one, with cedar and resin hops flavours that demand to be taken seriously the moment the rye lead flavour subsides just a bit. The earthen tones of the aroma carry through in the flavour and, to my taste, do an excellent job of bringing together the hearty rye flavour, the Cracker-Jack caramelized sweetness with the resin and cedar bitterness. The finish is almost sweet with the hops peaking mid-mouth and the coming back strong, sticky and a little peppery in the aftertaste. I should note that I am drinking this quite warm (about 15 degrees Celsius at the time of opening) as I feel suits a historic brew such as this.

Montgomery's Courage is the third of Black Creek Historic Brewery's series of Historic Beers of Canada that brews it's way through the history of Canada one decade at a time, starting with Rifleman's Ration, followed by Dray Horse Ale and now Montgomery's Courage. Not only is it a delightfully historic recipe but it is so well balanced and delightful I think it will have to be the benchmark against which I measure all other Rye Pale Ales from this point onward. I look forward to whatever the Black Creek Historic Brewery has planned next.

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.

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.

Trappistes Rochefort 8 - Abbaye St-Remy (Belgium) 9.2%

 Trappistes Rochefort 8 - Abbaye St-Remy (Belgium) 9.2%

A dark, but not opaque, reddish brown colour in a glass. Sweet, toasty, honey and nectar filled, slightly herbal aroma; a little roasty and very appetizing.

Richly malty taste with touches of barley candy but very sweet with an interesting spicy herbal quality; strong tones of dried dark fruit (prunes and raisins). Some faint milk chocolate but mostly dark fruit and herbal yeasty flavours - typically Belgian Abbey beer and delightful. This Trappist ale has a certain vegetal, herbal quality that is appealing and though it is different from other styles of beers it is not entirely unique amongst Trappist beers and reminds me a little of a young Orval (I typically try to age an Orval a year before drinking it). Quite a bit of sediment that seems determined to remain at the bottom of the bottle: not much of it ends up in your glass without a swirl or two. From past experience more than a little of the sediment can make this type of beer more yeasty than ideal/more yeasty than the brewmaster (brewmonk?) intended.

Rochefort 8 reminds me a bit of an herbal liquore except with a few more dark fruit flavours. Very nice, as you'd expect from a Trappist beer, and, like all Trappist ales, something every beer geek and aspiring beer geek must try along with Rochefort 6 and Rochefort 10.

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.

Barghest Barleywyne - Big Rock (Canada - Alberta - Calgary) 9.5%

 Barghest Barleywyne - Big Rock (Canada - Alberta - Calgary) 9.5%

A dark fruit aroma (plum) sort of like a port, ginger bread (ginger and molasses), rye bread and just a bit spicy. A very dark brown or amber colour in a glass, depending on the angle.

Lots of dark fruit flavours, molasses and a bit of spice that has me thinking of ginger; the combination of molasses and ginger has me thinking gingerbread in turn. Powerfully malty but balanced to the point that it is dangerously easy drinking and though it is not bitter I'd say it's only moderately sweet. Truly an extraordinarily balanced beer.

A really nice, smooth, wine-like and slightly thick (without being viscous) mouthfeel with only light carbonation. More molasses as well as many chewy malt and bread flavours in the aftertaste. It is easy to overlook the hops but they're definitely there (how else could it be so well balanced?) with some high, faint green notes and some subtle wood tones that reinforce the impression that your drinking a wine made from barley.

The alcohol took my breath away at first along with such a strong and interesting collection of flavours. I want to be careful to point out that because Barghest Barleywyne is so well-crafted you don't taste the alcohol, not with so much else going on in this delightfully flavourful beer, but that you can feel it tingle on your tongue and warm your chest.

I drank it around 10 to 12.5 degrees Celsius and would suggest that's perfect temperature, though I'd rather have it warmer than cooler: I always feel it is better to err on the side of warmth with a Barley Wine. There is some light sediment at the bottom of the bottle that doesn't seem to make much of a difference to the taste if some of it makes it into your glass.

Barghest Barleywyne is one of the best examples of a Barley Wine I have had: the balance is truly impressive. If you are in the Calgary region make sure you go out and pick up one of these, they only made 3000 individually numbered bottles so I feel quite privileged to have gotten my hands on bottle 1376. And speaking of the bottles, these wax-sealed and individually boxed little 275 ml beauties are the perfect way to present a beer that so much care obviously went into crafting.

Leffe Brune (Belgium)

Leffe Brune (Belgium) 6.5%

Very dark brown in a glass. A floral, roasty aroma with yeast and dark fruit tones. The taste is floral with lots of apricot, figs and a hint of dark chocolate or more so molasses. Quite sweet, somewhat sherry-like. Better off served much warmer than the five degrees Celsius that the label suggests. Reminds me of those Christmas chocolates that have booze in them.

Two Mighty Beers from Garrison Brewing (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax)

Ol' Fog Burner - Garrison Brewing (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 11.5%

Amazingly bitter, sprucy, a touch sticky with a strong alcohol burn when served very cold. A nice smoky, sweet and mellowing aftertaste. A cloudy amber, a shade on the red side. It was served too cold, I think it ought to be taken out of the fridge several minutes before serving.

Upon further drinking it is definitely best served nearly warm as it changes from being barely drinkable to very nice. A thick liquid with a nice head. A sprucy flavour with tones of molasses flavour. Molasses, sprucy hops, sweet caramel and toasted bread aroma. Much better warm, as are many high alcohol beers.

Baltic Porter - Garrison Brewing (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 9.0%

Smells salty like seawater. Also quite sweet, caramelized, red, roasty, molasses, hoppy but more so than hoppy it is the high alcohol that come through. The taste is very much high alcohol, a bit of spruce, salty like kelp (almost or something), very roasty, dark malt and super salty finish. Amazing how a beer can taste salty, if I hadn't had the Rockbottom Balticus already I would say this is the first beer I ever had like this but it's along much the same lines.

Definitely high alcohol flavour, roasty, a touch of cedar along with the roast and molasses combines to make it somewhat resiny. A good beer but not for the faint of heart. A touch of plum carrying throughout, baked beans, very strongly molasses. Herbal and green tones comes through with the high alcohol, hops and yeast (lees). Fine sediment on the bottom of the bottle that it is best to leave in the bottle.