Dragon's Milk - New Holland Brewing (United States - Missouri - Holland) 11.0%

 Dragon's Milk - New Holland Brewing (United States - Missouri - Holland) 11.0%

Dark brown in a glass with a silky head of mocha coloured foam. A really nice, almost chewy, aroma of dark fruit and chocolate; plenty of oak and vanilla as well.

Dark fruit flavours, and oak and vanilla abound. There is some distinct alcohol tingling in the mouth and warming of the chest. Strong bourbon spice in the finish, that same spice may explain some of the tingling I had ascribed to the alcohol. The mouthfeel is creamy as you drink it but thin once you swallow leaving a nice espresso, vanilla and hints of oak aftertaste but very little lingering texture for a stout (probably because of the cleansing properties of the high alcohol content).

I have found in the past that oak accentuates the taste of alcohol (and I don't think that's just because I, as a bourbon fan, associate oak with hard liquor BTW) but I think the strongish alcohol sensation and a bit of a taste are actually from the alcohol content. Now you may wonder why I'd comment on this when reviewing a beer that is listed at 11% but I've had other 11% beers that carried their alcohol less obviously. All that said, I think Dragon's Milk might be even stronger than the 11% indicated on the label, considering how squishy my head is feeling already. While Dragon's Milk carries its booze a bit more obviously than some other ales I think they did a bang-up job making a tasty chocolatey and oaky stout that is well suited to their High Gravity (aka high alcohol) series.

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.

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.

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

Screamin' Beaver - Beau's All Natural Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Vankleek Hill) 9.9%

A shade more gold than burnished copper in a glass with a head of off-white foam. Alcohol, oak, resin and cedar in the aroma. I'm excited to taste this one, an oak-aged Imperial IPA is not something I come across every day. It'll probably need to warm a bit from refrigerator temperature for it to be best since a high alcohol content, hops AND an oak flavour all tend to stand out a bit too much, in my opinion, and overwhelm the malt when a beer is too cold.

Cedar, a touch of alcohol then sweet, toasty, caramelized malt tones, resin follows and then the oak kicks in. A toasty but very bitter finish with a bit of alcohol and resiny bitter aftertaste that has some fleeting metallic touches.

Indeed as it warms the aroma does change, the alcohol no longer stands out, the oak comes to dominate. Predictably the alcohol also fades out of the flavour as it warms and the malt comes out much more. Screamin' Beaver is an indulgent beer, indeed the very idea of a oak aged Imperial IPA is indulgent. So go ahead, indulge yourself or even better, indulge yourself and a friend or two because at nearly 10% ABV this delicious beer is made for sharing.

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.

Vanilla Barley Wine - Flying Monkeys (Canada - Ontario - Barrie)

Vanilla Barley Wine - Flying Monkeys (Canada - Ontario - Barrie) 11.3%

This magnificent barley wine is a dark cloudy brown in a glass (a pint glass!) on the Patio at the Arrow and Loon in Ottawa, with a creamy and resilient head of foam.

The aroma is straight vanilla at first but also toffee, caramel and sticky malt that comes to dominate. Some oaky wood tones, a bit of leather and some sweet espresso/coffee with milk added.

A creamy mouthfeel with caramel, vanilla, leather, smoke and mild wood flavours. Sweet initially with alcohol tones (though not as strong as you might expect from a beer that clocks in at a whopping 11.3% ABV) but the taste shifts (although it does so, so smoothly that it's much more like a glide) to a bitter finish and an aftertaste of barley candy. Overall, this is a really nice barley wine: sweet but balanced, malty, boozy and delicious featuring some very nice vanilla.

Scottish Pale Ale - Innis and Gunn (Scotland)

Scottish Pale Ale - Innis and Gunn (Scotland) 7.0%

Sweet, caramel-heavy aroma filled with barrel tones but not dark, smoky barrel tones. Instead it is a light oakiness of a white wine. Full gold in a glass and crystal clear with a fairly thin head.

A taste that is sweet and yet more balanced overall than many Innis and Gunn oak aged beers. The oak comes in rather light, is in balance with the sweetness and there is even some subtly peppery hops bitterness. A lightly sugary finish of caramel and a lingering oak aftertaste.

Innis and Gunn's Scottish Pale Ale is deceptively high in alcohol. I say deceptively because it is easy drinking and you certainly do not taste any alcohol despite it being 7.0% ABV. Innis and Gunn's oak aged beers, though still very good, are often very sweet and very oaky but, because of the amount of hops used, their Scottish Pale Ale is neither really. As a result, if you found some previous Innis and Gunn's beers too flavourful, this one may be more your speed; however, for those of you hoping for a hops forward beer from Innis and Gunn, this one is not it but it is still very good.

Grande Réserve 17 (2012) - Unibroue (Canada - Quebec - Chambly)

Grande Réserve 17 (2012) - Unibroue (Canada - Quebec - Chambly) 10.0%

A cloudy reddish brown colour in a glass with a smallish but resilient head. The aroma is loaded with oak along with some spice, cinnamon and nutmeg and herbal characteristics typical of Unibroue's brand of Belgian style ales.

The taste is again very oaky with an alcohol content you can feel. Sweet and spiced with fruit, raisin and herbal flavours, some light hops. Really spectacular and distinct. At various points in drinking the beer it reminded me alternatively of a white wine, a red wine, brandy or cognac. This is a phenomenal beer and a 'must try', there is so much to this beer that I think each person might take away something different.

Innis and Gunn Canada Day 2012 (Scotland) 7.7%

Innis and Gunn Canada Day 2012 (Scotland) 7.7%

Oaky and very sweet aroma but with some dry European hops hanging around too. A dark amber in a glass with a off-white head. The taste is strong in oak barrel tones (as are all of Innis and Gunn oak aged beers) but less sweet and more bitter than many of their other brews and there is a fairly prominent dry hops character to the taste as well. The malt is flavour is caramelized and sweet.

The suggested serving temperature is 4-6 degrees Celcius (39 to 43 degrees Fahrenheit) which seems more than a touch too cold in my judgement. At that temperature the alcohol taste is a bit strong. As Innis and Gunn Canada Day 2012 warms, the malt tones develop some more sugary caramel characteristics and the dry hops continue to figure prominently but the alcohol doesn't come out in the taste as much anymore. At any temperature you'll feel some alcohol warming and a tingling sensation on your tongue from the walloping 7.7% alcohol by volume.

Innis and Gunn Canada Day 2012 is an interesting beer and distinct from the rest Innis and Gunn's other offerings, although it certainly hails from the same region on the taste spectrum: the detectable use of hops is unique, as far as I have experienced, but the barrel notes and the high level of sweetness is typical of Innis and Gunn ales. It drinks a lot like a Scottish Wee Heavy actually although it is probably too light on the malt characteristics to fit that mould perfectly. Nice to see (taste?) that this special beer is indeed special and not just any other Innis and Gunn is a pretty box.

Innis and Gunn Original (Scotland) 6.6%

Innis and Gunn Original (Scotland) 6.6%

Quite a pleasant and very sweet toffee flavour at first which is an interesting prelude to the oak, peat, and scotch flavours that follow. A truly unique beer, it tastes so much more like the scotch bearing barrels it is aged in than it tastes like a beer. An unforgetable taste that deserves to be savoured.

Innis and Gunn Spiced Rum Finish (Scotland) 7.4%

Innis and Gunn Spiced Rum Finish (Scotland) 7.4%

A toffee aroma that will buckle your knees. Vanilla and also a hint of alcohol along rum and a hint of spice mixed with oak tones. Such a nice aroma I could sit with my nose in the glass all afternoon!

A distinct warming of the chest as I sipped on this delicious ale. A touch of bitterness, alcohol and even a hint of hops at the very first. Then very sweet with toffee and vanilla. As the toffee fades, spices and oak come out with as the spiced rum makes it presence felt.

Innis and Gunn Spiced Rum Finish is a spectacular mix of the warm toffee flavours of Innis and Gunn's Scottish Ale and the flavours of vanilla, oak and others from a fine spiced rum missing only the strong, burning alcohol taste of hard liquor. Very enjoyable and memorable like all the other Innis and Gunn products I have tried.

Innis and Gunn Blonde (Scotland) 6.0%

Innis and Gunn Blonde (Scotland) 6.0%

A bunch of sediment in the bottom, thought that was a bit odd especially since it's new to the store. Gold in a glass, the sediment did a good job staying on the bottom of the bottle - thankfully.

Very sweet, oak wood tones aroma. The taste is candy sweet, brown sugar, caramel touches along with plenty of vanilla and oak wood tones and a little bit of malt. Innis and Gunn's Blonde is quite nice if you are prepared for how sweet it is because it really is very sweet. The oak tones are balanced and not overpowering. This is a nice ale suitable for sipping or quaffing.

Rickard's Oakhouse - Molson Coors (Canada)

Rickard's Oakhouse - Molson-Coors (Canada) 5.5%

A really nice, light vanilla, brown sugar sweetness and slightly spicy oak aroma to this beer which pours a brass colour in a glass. Lots of oak in the taste with that same malty brown sugar-like sweetness, and some baking spices mixed in there for good measure. However, after the initial drink, much of the sweetness fades and is a touch overpowered by the oak. The oakiness, which can be a touch on the tangy side naturally, mixes with the hops to form a slightly sour taste.

The beer I immediately think of when I think of oak done right is Innis and Gunn's line of barrel aged brews. Each of them are much sweeter, higher in alcohol than Oakhouse and are ales rather than a lager. The sweeter and more robust malt flavours in an Innis and Gunn balance the barrel tones; and the body of an ale seems better suited to carrying those wood flavours than the thinner, less robust body of a lager.

I have very much enjoyed some other Rickard's seasonals produced by Molson-Coors but while this one delivers on the promised oak flavour, the rest of the beer simply does not have the legs to carry these pronounced oak tones.

Four From Fullers (England)

Fuller's London Pride (England) 4.7%

A hoppy green aroma at first. As the head fades the aroma changes to one of sweet lightly bitter maltiness. The taste is sweet and roasty with hints of caramel but also lightly spicy with hops and some mild wood tones. The moderate bitterness and the half-watery, half-smooth mouthfeel keep the beer refreshing as a good pub beer should be. An glowing orange colour in a glass.

Fuller's ESB Champion Ale (England) 5.9%

Malty and quite sweet but with a bitter finish and quite oaky. Many of Fuller's have stronger wooden tones than most. Pretty mildly carbonated. Tastes a little like Innis and Gunn's Rum Cask, which is high praise indeed. Best served warmish (8 to 10 C'). Mix of coffee/chocolate and plum sherry (alcohol and fruit).

Fuller's Organic Honey Dew (England) 5.0%

A sweet malty aroma that is lightly hoppy with cedar and a touch of fresh cut grass. Gold in a glass.

Fuller's Organic Honey Dew tastes sweet and a little spicy. The hops are certainly in there, bringing that spice and moderate bitterness, but you certainly wouldn't call this beer hoppy. The honey is also there, smoothly sweet and building in a sweet crescendo from the initial taste, where it is masked by the bitterness, towards the end of the drink where the whole flavour becomes sweet warm honey before the slightly metallic and slightly bitter aftertaste. A very pleasant organic beer with a cute and interesting bottle cap.

Fuller's London Porter (England) 5.4%

Sweet classic porter aroma: hints of molasses, maple, coffee and barley candy, with hops hints that come across as lightly wooden. Amazing coffee flavour at first and then it changes a little towards the chocolate end of the dark malt spectrum before fading into a bitter aftertaste of hops and smoke. There is a taste of a pleasant taste of oats throughout. Dark in a glass to point of being nearly opaque with a smooth, creamy mouthfeel.

Fuller's London Porter is perfectly executed and tastes just like actually beer blended of coffee or chocolate and yet it is made only from malt, water, hops and yeast. Porters like this make me feel that other porters that use actual coffee or chocolate in the brewing process are not only "cheating", but doing so completely unnecessarily.

Greene King (England - Suffolk)

Greene King Abbey Ale (England - Suffolk) 5.0%

A clear glowing burnt orange colour in a glass. Quite bitter with touches of caramel and roast. Numerous fruit tones combine to make give this Abbey Ale a heady taste with sherry-like hints. In fact it tastes as though it has an alcohol content quite a bit higher than it actually does. Despite the many different flavours Greene King Abbey Ale is fairly mild except for its bitter roast and its caramel flavour.

Greene King IPA (England - Suffolk) 5.0%

Very strong initial oak and caramel tones in the aroma. The aroma changes to something more of caramel and roast with quite a bitter backing though wooden tones do still linger. A nearly fiery copper colour in a glass.

The taste is very sweet: plenty of caramel or crystal malt in this beer! Also bitter, the wooden tones continue from the aroma to the taste, and a hint of alcohol which I find a touch surprising since it is only 5.0% ABV. The aftertaste is not particularly long lasting: flavours of roast and caramelized sugar fade slowly into a very warm and encouraging (to take another drink) glow.