Holy Smoke - Church-Key Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Campbellford)

Holy Smoke - Church-Key Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Campbellford) 6.2%

Dark brown in a glass, like a chestnut. Very smoky, peaty and slightly salty aroma. Based solely on the aroma I am sure this beer would appeal to Scotch drinkers that like a smoky, peaty Scotch. There are also some dark malt tones, like dark dried fruits such as fig or prunes, in the aroma.

The flavour is quite sweet and dark malt flavours now take the lead ahead of the smoke and peat flavour though the latter does continue to feature. A watery mouthfeel and some alcohol does come through but it would be highly suitable for a drink in a pub.

Regular readers of the blog will know that I tend to prefer my beers on the warm side. Particularly very malty and high alcohol beers. This beer also benefits from being served a bit warmer as the smoke and the malt flavours come out. Overall, Holy Smoke is very drinkable, the smoke and peat flavours are well done and tasty but its malty body is a wee bit thin, still a fine beer when it is all said and done.

104th Regiment - Picaroons (Canada - New Brunswick - Fredericton)

104th Regiment - Picaroons (Canada - New Brunswick - Fredericton) 4.2%

A clear brown colour in a glass with a head of off-white foam. Roasty, biscuit, caramel and brown sugar aroma.

A watery mouthfeel and quite carbonated (a bit of a more aggressive pour would have dealt with that though, I think). Biscuit and roasty, not quite coffee, sweet with caramel and brown sugar. Drinkable and pub appropriate if a bit sweet for a brown ale. Quite nice and I think it may be even better on tap.

Arkell Best Bitter - Wellington Brewery (Canada - Ontario - Guelph)

Arkell Best Bitter - Wellington Brewery (Canada - Ontario - Guelph) 4.0%

Full gold in a glass, nearly amber. Roasty aroma with nutty tones. Caramelized malt and grain flavours are first and foremost but the flavour is fairly light overall with just a hint of creamed corn (DMS) and a subtle touch of red fruit all of which suit an English style Best Bitter. Not overly sweet, refreshingly bitter but mostly just balanced. The mouthfeel is also light which also makes it refreshing and Arkell Best Bitter has a pleasant lightly toasty aftertaste. This beer would go down well with standard pub fare.

County Dark Ale - Wellington Brewery (Canada - Ontario - Guelph)

County Dark Ale - Wellington Brewery (Canada - Ontario - Guelph) 5.0%

A dark mahogany colour in a glass with not much of a head. Creamy, nutty (hazelnut) and coffee tones to the aroma along with some light roasty and caramelized malt tones, a little like barley candy.

A chocolate forward beer with some earthy smoke tones and some roasty malt flavours of a red. Pub appropriate, easy drinking, refreshing with a nice mix of flavours Wellington County Dark Ale isn't going to blow you away with exotic flavours but it's an excellent after work pint.

Lancaster Bomber - Thwaites Brewery (England)

Lancaster Bomber - Thwaites Brewery (England) 4.4%

Lightly floral/nectar aroma, roasty, a bit of caramel and wood tones and hops like melon or cut grass. It tastes quite sweet, a bit nectary, a very nice watery refreshing mouthfeel, toasty with wood tones, a slightly bitter taste but quite a bit more bitter finish.

Lancaster Bomber has a creamy head, lacing and is a reddish chestnut/mahogany colour in a glass. Overall a classic English pub ale, bitter and quite nice.

Newcastle Brown Ale (England - Dunston)

Newcastle Brown Ale (England - Dunston) 4.7%

Mildly malty and moderately bitter, this brown is very drinkable and refreshing which probably explains why it finds its way (in draft form) into pubs and bars all over the world.

It is a dark reddish brown in a glass, well carbonated, fairly sweet and tastes a little like caramel. A mix of nuttiness from the malt and barely green hops flavour give this ale a few wooden tones.

All in all a good beer; not a heavily malty brown that could be intimidating to those more accumstomed to beers that are gold and fizzy. This beer is definitely easy to drink and to enjoy for people with a wide variety of tastes. For those looking for a beer that sticks to your ribs and leaves tiger stripes on your glass, you're better off with a thicker brown or a porter.

King Brewing Vienna Lager (Canada - Ontario - King Township)

King Brewing Vienna Lager (Canada - Ontario - King Township) 4.8%

Full gold, bordering on brass, colour in a glass. Quite a roasty and bitter aroma. Very sweet taste with a punch of fruit like flavours and an alcohol taste which is stunning since it's only 4.8% - it actually has hints of sherry despite the low alcohol. A moderately bitter aftertaste with some flavour of crusty bread. A very tasty beer all and all, despite the surprise alcohol flavour, with nice roast flavours. Reminds me of Spitfire Premium Kentish Ale specifically and UK Pub Brews in general.

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.

Tennent's Original Export Lager (Scotland) 5.0%

Tennent's Original Export Lager (Scotland) 5.0%

A pale gold colour in a glass with lacing actually. Creamy sweet malty aroma with a the barest touch of dry hops. Light malty and sweet taste but with a bitter finish not much of an aftertaste - a touch of durum semolina (the main ingredient in pasta).  Overall Tennent's is a pretty innocuous ale, so I can see why it is popular in pubs: it is not bad but not really much there.

Martello Stout - Garrison Brewing (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 4.8%

Martello Stout - Garrison Brewing (Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax) 4.8%

A delectable aroma that is bitter and dark, full of coffee and chocolate tones with hints of sweetness and a touch over something that makes me think of black olives. Opaque and black in a glass with a tan head of foam that leaved behind nice lacing. The taste is also dark and delicious. Garrison's Martello Stout has a strong coffee flavours and a pleasantly creamy mouthfeel. A few mild touches of hops come through at different point balancing the malt nicely. A bitter almost smoky long lingering aftertaste makes sure you won't forget what you're drinking. This thick (nearly meal replacing), malty yet refreshing and low alcohol beauty of a stout should be a pub staple.

Wellington County Dark Ale (Canada - Ontario - Guelph)

Wellington County Dark Ale (Canada - Ontario - Guelph) 5.0%

A red hued brown colour in a glass; a quite fading head with limited lacing. It has a musty earthy aroma, that reminded me of clay, with roast and wood tones as well. Delicious milk chocolate and fresh brown bread, molasses and just the perfect touch of hops and bitterness to finish. A slightly smoky, roasty and moderately bitter finish with a pleasant biscuit aftertaste. Quite a light mouthfeel making it sessionable and pub-appropriate. I'd suggest serving it around 6 or 7 degree Celsius to allow the flavours to really stand on their own. Wellington County Dark Ale is brewed to be an English Brown Ale and I'd have to say they do a very nice job.

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.

UK Pub Brews

The flavours and mouthfeel of the following five beers are characteristic of beers I associate with pubs in the United Kingdom. There are many nice flavours but the slightly watery mouthfeel keeps all of these beers refreshing so that you could easily drink more than a couple. Enjoy!


Spitfire Premium Kentish Ale (England - Faversham) 4.5%

A warm toffee, roasty flavour. A pleasant sweet grain taste as well as a lively hops taste; somewhat bitter as a result (of the hops). A mild sherry-esque flavour of fruit rounds out the mix. That same fruit sherry aspect is prominent in the aroma along with toffee and roasted tones. A unique and pleasant drinking beer.

Ruddles County Traditional English Ale (England) 4.7%

Smells of bitter hops and is smooth on the tongue and almost a little watery. Tastes like toasted bread, lightly caramel, pleasantly bitter with a hint of coffee and a sprucy hops aftertaste although it's not nearly as hoppy as the smell initially led me to believe. A refreshing and interesting mix of flavours.

Belhaven Best (Scotland) 4.8%

I can see why this would be as popular in Scottish pubs as the can claims (though I saw more Tennets, London's Pride and Stella Artois). Belhaven Best's aroma is chock full of caramelized malt, as is the flavour, though there are also smoke and wooden tones that make it tasty if you like reds or, ahem, Scottish ales. Also its creamy head of foam and slightly watery mouthfeel make it very much pub-appropriate and session-able. It is a reddish brown colour in a glass and quite enjoyable.

Boddingtons Pub Ale (England) 4.7%

When you pour this ale from it's charming tall-can you are rewarded with a gold coloured curtain of tiny cascading bubbles that forms an extremely creamy head of foam. The aroma is of fresh bread and lots of roasty notes with hints of hops and spruce.

The ale itself is smooth and creamy as promised, and fairly sweet with a caramel touch. While it has roast tones and is bitter, it is also watery in a way that makes it dance on your tongue: hitting here and there while never being too strong tasting. Seems like an ideal summertime beer even though I'm drinking it in the depths of February. Highly drinkable and very pleasant, authentic to the style and it pairs well with a variety of dishes, those containing Dijon mustard in particular.

Old Speckled Hen - Morland Brewing (England - Suffolk) 5.2%

A fruity bouquet and a extra-reddish sort of amber colour in a glass with a full head. In true English fashion, this beer should definitely be served a little warmer than most in order to get the full flavours. It is malty, and bitter but also sweet (just the way ale should be). The malt taste is roasty and there is a little bit of spiciness lurking there too. Something about Old Speckled Hen always reminds me of sun-dappled wood floors.

Overall it is not too strong tasting, so drinkers with tastes that tend to the more bland beers could try this for a initial excursion into the wonderful land of full flavoured beers and ales. Also, I feel Old Speckled Hen is a good example of an English ale or at least it puts me in mind of a few of the better ones I had the good fortune to imbibe while I was in the UK.

Chin chin!