8th Sin - Hop City (Canada - Ontario - Brampton)

8th Sin - Hop City (Canada - Ontario - Brampton) 5.0%

Very dark, nearly opaque, with an off-white head which is lighter than I expected for a beer with such a dark body. Milk chocolate aroma, with a subtle earthiness, a bit of coffee, a tiny bit of grain. Chocolatey flavour with a bit of dark, dried fruit tones and a grounding earthiness as well as the taste of the crust of dark bread. The mouthfeel is a bit surprisingly (and pleasantly) light while still being creamy. The aftertaste is more strongly earthy with light prune and raisin flavours to match the chocolate.

This is a really tasty beer, I can honestly say I have never had a Black Lager that had this depth and breadth of dark malt flavours. The is something to it that I am finding hard to put into words that seems more like a lager than an ale but I think I would be bluffing if I asserted that, in a blind taste test, I'd be able to tell the difference between this and an equally tasty dark ale with a similar light mouthfeel.

Sham Bock - Railway City Brewing (Canada - Ontario - St. Thomas)

Sham Bock - Railway City Brewing (Canada - Ontario - St. Thomas) 6.8%

Just about opaque in a glass with a thick mocha head of resilient foam. Chocolate aroma with maple and a bit of hops as well as maybe just the slightest bit of booze.

Maple and chocolate flavour. Sweet but with an earthy tone as well as roasty malt flavours and a bitterness in the finish that keeps Sham Bock grounded. Railway City's use of maple merges better with the dark roasty malt flavours than I would have expected for quite a tasty beer.

Smoked Oatmeal Stout - Trafalgar Ales and Meads (Canada - Ontario - Oakville)

Smoked Oatmeal Stout - Trafalgar Ales and Meads (Canada - Ontario - Oakville) 5.0%

Quite flat out of the bottle but with a delectable aroma: chocolate, smoke, with a touch of grain (oatmeal) and some earthiness. Smoky dark chocolate is the theme for this beer. This stout also has roasty coffee tones and some very subtle dark fruit hints. There is also a distinctly satisfying oatmeal characteristic to both the flavour and the mouthfeel.

The mouthfeel is very smooth since, though it is not flat, this particular bottle is somewhat flatter than I think it is supposed to be. Or perhaps not, I just realized that Trafalgar's full name is Trafalgar Ales and Meads: the same people that make a fantastic Mead Braggot I had. Because of their stated "authentic methods and ingredients" used in making their mead I suppose this may be a naturally carbonated product in which case a less than typically carbonated may be the product of their methods. But I digress, this is a tasty, smoky, chocolaty, refreshing, roasty ale whatever the level of carbonation.

Doc's Feet Dubbel - Beau's All Natural Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Vankleek Hill)

Doc's Feet Dubbel - Beau's All Natural Brewing (Canada Ontario - Vankleek Hill) 7.6%

Reddish, dark brown colour in a glass with a large off-white head. It gets cloudier as the bottle goes, and darker too: the first pour was only somewhat brown, not nearly as cloudy and the head of foam was fairly fast fading. Sweet, honeyed, nectary, herbal aroma (bordering on floral) with a roasted malt and lightly spicy background.

Strongly herbal flavour, sweetly caramelized, bordering on roasty, but with a moderate hops character that is drily bitter with faint hints of cedar and resin. The hops flavours are a pleasant surprise and work well with the other flavours. A mild alcohol taste comes through at times but not as much as one might expect from a beer with 7.6% ABV. The aftertaste is quite roasty, a bit chocolate like and also with echos of the yeast flavour. This is an interesting Belgian Dubbel; quite tasty.

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

Bog Water - Beau's All Natural Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Vankleek Hill) 6.6%

A deep, cloudy brown colour in a glass with a thick head of meringue like foam. Yeasty aroma, nectar and herbs, but with a strong floral, no more like a fruity touch.

The yeast continues to lead in the flavour along with the strong fruit (tropical fruit?) flavour that comes on strong at some points but fades away just as quickly only to reappear with later sips. In addition to the herbal yeast flavours,  this Eastern Ontario Gruit has quite a darkly malty body with tastes of dark bread blending into roasted tones. A grain and roast aftertaste with traces of the herbal yeast tones. Overall, a very tasty and interesting beer.

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.

Maredsous Brune (Belgium)

Maredsous Brune (Belgium) 8.0%


Yeasty, spicy aroma with floral hints and a dark malt back. Very roasty with a high alcohol burn that borders on a hum; floral and fruit tones (fig, prune). Very carbonated but that can be easily handled in the pour. Very nice brown version of you should expect from a Belgian Abbey Ale - perfectly balanced and bursting with character. Some light sediment that doesn't take anything away from the flavour.

Kostritzen Schwarzbier (Germany) 4.8%

Kostritzen Schwarzbier (Germany) 4.8%

A dry hoppy aroma with a bit of sweetness and a darker malt roast tone that dances between molasses and wooden tones. The beer is black, nearly opaque. Good head and lacing.

The taste is mild considering the appearance but darkly roasty, closer to coffee grounds than coffee, quite bitter with a Euro Lager dry hops flavour. Easy drinking, quite bitter moderately sweet. No alcohol flavour which some people find unpleasant because it's only 4.8% but the dark roasty flavours and bitterness are often associated with stronger beers - it is a little like low alcohol Yule Beers in that way. Pleased it came in a (stylish) 500 ml bottle as it is quite nice and I was glad to be able to top up my glass. Definitely worth trying: an interesting style well executed.

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.

Pénombre - Brasserie Dieu du Ciel! (Canada - Quebec - St. Jérome) 6.5%

Pénombre - Brasserie Dieu du Ciel! (Canada - Quebec - St. Jérome) 6.5%

A very dark brown, not quite opaque with a tan head that leaves behind good lacing. The aroma is roasty with dark chocolate and coffee/espresso hints but also some resiney hops. I'm looking forward to tasting this one - the aroma sets my mouth watering.

Sooo nice, smoky, dark chocolate, roasty malt with bitterness especially in the aftertaste. There is a pleasant and mild cedar or resin flavour to the beer as well. A bit of pine comes out as the beer warms. Pénombre is a really nice beer, it bills itself as a Black IPA but it seems more like an American Stout but it's a blurred line not a clear demarcation so if they want to call it a Black IPA I'll call it a delicious one.

Innis and Gunn Irish Whiskey Cask Scottish Stout (Scotland) 7.4%

Innis and Gunn Irish Whiskey Cask Scottish Stout (Scotland) 7.4%

This beer is very much a stout; dark and nearly opaque in a glass, Innis and Gunn Irish Whiskey Cask Scottish Stout has strong elements of chocolate, coffee and smoke from the darkly roasted malt in the taste and the aroma. The task is quite sweet but there is a earthiness (peat?), a bit of a nutty flavour in there as well as wood notes, something red and caramelized and a bitter, lightly smoked taste that lends balance. At 7.4% there is also a cheek-tingling high alcohol feeling though the alcohol does not show up too much in the taste.

Innis and Gunn Irish Whiskey Cask Scottish Stout is an excellent high alcohol stout, the only knock against it (if you can call it that) is that it doesn't stand out from the pack quite so much as one might expect. Innis and Gunn's more unique, and delicious, offerings are barrel tone heavy versions of their respective styles; Irish Whiskey Cask Scottish Stout, however, is clearly a stout with some barrel tones, not the other way around. If you like other high alcohol stouts, like Russian Imperial Stouts, you'll probably like this easy drinking (dangerously easy drinking) version of a high alcohol stout (like a Russian Imperial Stout without the hoppy bitterness). On the other hand, if you find some of Innis and Gunns other beers too sweet or you don't like the strong flavour imparted by the barrel aging process you may find Innis and Gunn Irish Whiskey Cask Scottish Stout to your liking.

Saint Peter's English Ale (England) 4.5%

Saint Peter's English Ale (England) 4.5%

Very dry, sweet malt aroma with a touch of creamed corn and hones. Some hoppy wooden tones. Slightly roasty. Full gold in a glass.

Warm toasty toffee malt taste to go along with quite a bitter finish. Roasty, a slightly herbal spice touch along with quite a punch of hops for a beer that isn't dominated by hops though that must be what explains why it is as bitter as it is.

A great ale overall: nice tasting, nicely delivered in its cool bottle, nicely bitter, nice on the world (organic) and even a nice story.

The Cannery Collection - Cannery Brewing (Penticton)

IPA - Canning Brewery (Canada - British Columbia - Penticton) 6.0%

A dark amber colour in a glass with a nice frothy head and good lacing. A malty aroma with a hefty dose of resin and pine. Quite a bitter hops taste with roasty malt and full of resin and pine. Just a few red fruit flavours intermixed throughout and maybe just a touch of citrus in the finish.

Naramata Nut Brown Ale - Cannery Brewing (Canada - BC - Penticton) 5.5%

A very dark brown in a glass, nearly opaque, with a big frothy head. Roasty molasses and brown bread aroma. A nutty brown bread taste with molasses, touches of hops and some dark fruit hints. A pretty nice brown with a light mouthfeel that keeps it refreshing.

Anarchist Amber Ale - The Cannery Brewing Co. (Canada - British Columbia - Penticton) 5.5%

A roasty and bitter aroma that is yet a little spicy and tangy with red fruit esters. Amber in a glass with a big fluffy head. Definitely some floral red fruit esters in the taste too, a bit of red ale stickiness and a fair amount of hops comes through with a little pine, a bit of something astringent and some spiciness like a very mild cilantro. Malty also with grain flavours, toast and caramel sweetness with a roasty aftertaste.

Leute Bokbier - Brouwerij Van Steenberge (Belgium) 7.5%

Leute Bokbier - Brouwerij Van Steenberge (Belgium) 7.5%

A dark brown in a glass with a red hue; not opaque. There is some very light sediment at the bottom of the bottle, not much at all. Earthy like fresh tilled soil, sweet, roasty, nutty (like nuts coated in sugar and roasted over a fragrant smelling wood fire), salty and bitter aroma with hints of fig and darker malt tones that verge on being coffee-like or chocolate. Very strong flavour, quite sweetly roasty and almost sticky with red fruit hints (apple, pear, fig) but with a bitter dry hops overlay and roasty, slightly nutty, malt backbone. A long, very lightly bitter, umami finish. Reminds me of Yule Beers. A truly great ale perfectly crafted and balanced.

Doppelbock - Pump House (Moncton) 9% in cask / 10% in bottle

Doppelbock - Pump House (Moncton) 9% in cask / 10% in bottle

Cask:

Reddish brown, very dark in a glass. Nice head. Hard to get much of an aroma out of a pint glass: sweet, a bit stout-like, nearly chocolate/coffee and smoke, but faint.

Lots of dark fruit, nearly syrupy sweet black currant. Very little alcohol flavour just a bit in the finish with those same stout chocolate/coffee and smoke flavours from the aroma. Slightly tangy due to its strength and a slightly acrid finish. A touch of something lager-like and a bit of maple. Hops are clearly there as there is a bit of a green touch and by implication since the sweetness of Pump House's Doppelbock is being balanced nicely by something.


Bottle:

Their look is same in cask and bottle while the aroma is better from the bottle because I'm pouring it into a snifter instead of drinking it out of a pint glass: malty, roasty and a little sticky with dark fruit along with lots of dark malt touches of chocolate.

The taste is just awesome, powerfully malty with that faint lager yeast touch, a split between roasty, sticky malt flavours like I'd expect from a red and chocolate and wood tones I'd expect from a dark beer. Lots of dark fruit tones likes prunes and raisins. Barley candy with an acrid bitter smoky finish that still manages to be tasty. Some alcohol notes but not much considering it is 10%. I don't pick up the light touch of hops that I did from the cask but the beer is still nicely balanced.

I strongly suggest picking up a 6-pack or two of this fine seasonal offering ASAP. Also, because it's 10%, not to mention so rich and complex, I'm going to keep a 6-pack in my cellar for a few months and see how the flavour changes. Plus at $12.98 a 6-pack (tax and deposit included) the price just can't be beat.

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.

Trappistes Rochefort 10 - Abbaye St-Remy (Belgium) 11.3%

 Trappistes Rochefort 10 - Abbaye St-Remy (Belgium) 11.3%

Dark cherry and oak aromas. Touches of caramelized sugars and just a touch of alcohol. The taste is very sweet, a bit of high alcohol, lots of chocolate, some light and smooth molasses flavours and a touch of hops coming through with light wooden tones - faintly cedar. It tastes like a gourmet, rum soaked milk chocolate cake. At first all you taste is the sweetness followed quickly by alcohol and definition to the sweetness: molasses, milk chocolate. Then comes bitterness, some wood tones and finally a long sugary and roasty, baked finish like brownies with a continued alcohol hum that fades slowly and compelling you to take another sip. This one is awesome. Opaque brown with an red or amber hue and well carbonated with a substantial amount of dark sediment on the bottom of the bottle.

Yukon Red - Yukon Brewing (Canada - Yukon - Whitehorse) 5.5%

Yukon Red - Yukon Brewing (Canada - Yukon - Whitehorse) 5.5%

A nice deep amber colour in a glass. A surprisingly hoppy aroma, roasty with a bit of a glaze-like aspect. Also a touch of molasses or toffee in the aroma.

A very appetizing mix of hops bitterness, red fruit esters, roasty sweetness and touches of grain. There is plenty of malt and just a bit of something chocolatey in the dry finish. The hops character is relatively muted but it provides a nice balance some mild spice. The hops character is slightly astringent with a little pine and a some fresh cut grass but none of these stand out very much because of the robust and positively yummy malt flavours.

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.

Discovery - Yukon Brewing Company (Canada - Yukon - Whitehorse) 5.5%

Discovery - Yukon Brewing Company (Canada - Yukon - Whitehorse) 5.5%

A darker amber in a glass. A roasty aroma with hints of grain and honey. The taste is sweet then more bitter then sweet again with a particularly sweet honeyed finish. Grain, malthouse and roast flavours with a mellow barely spicy honey throughout and a lingering but subtle nuttiness. Yukon Brewing set out to make a Honey Extra-Special-Bitter and by my measure they did just that: it's quite nice!