Chimay Blanche (Belgium)

Chimay Blanche (Belgium) 8.0%

Sweet, clear, subtle nectar aroma with light spice, tones of pear and light wood. Somewhat cloudy gold with a white, resilient head of foam.

The flavour is quite spicy, flowery touches to the nectar, hints of alcohol with similar light flavoured fruit touches (pear, white grapes) as were found in the aroma. This is an interesting Belgian Tripel as it has the lighter, flowery sweet flavours without that very sweet flavour and somewhat heavier texture of other Belgian Tripels.

Channel Ocho - Beau's All Natural Brewery (Canada - Ontario - Vankleek Hill)

Channel Ocho - Beau's All Natural Brewery (Canada - Ontario - Vankleek Hill) 8.9%

It pours an opaque dark dark brown, bordering on black, with tan head of foam that faded fairly quickly. Lots of dark, dried fruit, like figs and prunes in the aroma; leather, dark chocolate, some plum, something a bit floral and a spicy note that makes my nose tingle.

This beer is spicy! And very chocolatey but the dark fruit flavours continue as well. I can't quite place the name of the spice (habanero?) but it is quite familiar and its flavour comes through as well as its heat. You cannot taste the alcohol but it may be contributing to the warming feeling I attributed to the spice. There is a bit of a gingery flavour too.

This is a nice spicy ale, I've had a couple (and tried to make one) but this is the best execution.

Fuller's Vintage Ale 2012 (United Kingdom - London)

Fuller's Vintage Ale 2012 (United Kingdom - London) 8.5%

Just on the amber side of gold and barely cloudy with not much of a head, although I am pour it out in dribs and drabs so that I can savour this beer that I have been saving for more than a year. Sweet, nectary, peach and apple pie aroma. Apple because of some esters but pie because of the sweet, somewhat roasty malt flavours. Subdued but solid resiny hops, earth tones and a touch of alcohol blends this all together tantalizingly.

Sweetly sugary but with malt tones like barley candy, dried fruit flavours (dates, raisins) and lingering peach or marmalade tones. These sweet flavours are grounded with spicy, herbal hops tones and medium bitterness. The aftertaste is slightly bitter, earthy, with a caramelized sweetness and leather hints with a faint lingering touch of that marmalade flavour. I think the flavour of Fuller's Vintage Ale 2012 is truly delightful. If I had to describe it in only one sentence I'd describe it as such: a lighter body and perhaps slightly sweeter barley wine but with all the complexity. Bear in mind that barley wines are among my favourite beer styles of all time so this is high praise indeed.

On the strength of Fuller's Vintage Ale 2012's flavour I plan to pick up two or three of their 2013 (and 2014 and 2015 and ...) edition: one for a year from now; one for a vertical tasting with a one-year-old 2014; and one for a vertical tasting with a one-year-old 2015 and two-year-old 2014. Vertical tastings take a long horizon and a good deal of planning and foresight (not to mention a place to actually properly store the beer) so I still haven't done a proper one (once, out of luck I managed to find a few Orval bottles at an NB Liquor store that were bottled eight months apart) but this beauty of a beer from more than twelve months ago has convinced me that it has to happen.

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.

Saison - Nogne O (Norway - Grimstad)

Saison - Nogne O (Norway - Grimstad) 6.5%

Gold and a bit cloudy in a glass; some sediment at the bottom of the bottle also. The aroma is lightly lemony, just a bit herbal and spicy.

The taste is sweet and lightly spicy with herbal hops and yeast, and just a bit of a floral flavour. A touch pleasantly thick, almost creamy, on the tongue but also well carbonated. Dry finish to this beer. Nogne's Saison is tasty and refreshing and like most Saisons it tastes a bit off the beaten path. The food pairings on the label are all good suggestions, sea food and light meat, to which I would add green salads and bread with hard cheese.

La Pitoune - Le Trou Du Diable (Canada - Quebec - Shawinigan)

La Pitoune - Le Trou Du Diable (Canada - Quebec - Shawinigan) 5.0%

Gold in a glass with a big white head of foam and that gradually collapsed into a large iceberg of very resilient foam in the middle of the glass. There is some very fine sediment and it makes the beer a little bit cloudy. A dry european hops aroma that is herbal and has a bit of yeast too.

The taste is drily bitter with a floral, herbal and lightly spicy touch. The herbal flavours sometimes comes across as the slightest bit of banana while the malty body has tones of grain and loads (or loaves?) of toasted bread flavours. It is refreshing and quite nice even though this style doesn't give the brewers at Le Trou Du Diable a chance to show off some of their exceptional flavours like their other beers do. La Pitoune is a nice Pilsner on the bitter side of the average Pilsner and also with more of a herbal taste.

River Walker Summer Ale - Lake of Bays Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Baysville)

River Walker Summer Ale - Lake of Bays Brewing (Canada - Ontario - Baysville) 6.0%

Full gold in a glass with a big, white, fluffy head. A nice ginger aroma that is sweet with hints of citrus (lemon) as well as some added melon tones, perhaps from the hops, that comes across as cantaloupe with just a hint of cucumber. But the ginger spice really is first and foremost and quite delightful.

The ginger continues in the taste but River Walker also has quite a bitter bite. There is also melon (still cantaloupe) and a grain sweetness. The ginger isn't overpowering at all but it is the main player. The citrus is fairly faint in the taste and the mouthfeel is a little creamy from the wheat but with a crisp, quite a dry finish. In the aftertaste, ginger and melon are there along side a distinctly toasted wheat taste, that builds to be quite toasty actually. The aftertaste is almost a little sticky with some resiny hops flavours presenting themselves.

The ginger and melon mixture actually reminds me of a few [pumpkin] beers I have had but is quite nice and, although it is marketed as a Summer Ale I think River Walker is better suited to late August and early September where there is just a touch of autumn in the air and you want to enjoy a summer day's warmth or savour the excitement of a late-summer night's chill.

The Matador Imperial IPA - Flying Monkeys (Canada - Ontario - Barrie)

The Matador Imperial IPA - Flying Monkeys (Canada - Ontario - Barrie) 10%


The first thing I smell from the aroma is sweetness, and a hint of citrus or passionfruit and then the strong cedar and resin tones that characterize this Imperial IPA aged on Spanish Cedar. It pours a cloudy orange-gold colour with a lingering white head.

The taste is sweet with almost peachy fruit tones along with lots of malty, nearly caramel tastiness and the lovely balancing bitterness loaded with cedar tones, from the hops as well as from the actual cedar. There's nearly no sign of the high alcohol content either, which is quite surprising for a 10% ABV beer. Lots of resin and a peppery, spicy finish exactly as alluded to on the label. This large bottle of excellent beer is indeed perfect for sharing with beer aficionados.

Alexander Keith's Hallertauer Hop Ale (Canada)

Alexander Keith's Hallertauer Hop Ale (Canada) 5.4%

Full gold, nearly brass coloured, in a glass. Not much of a head. The aroma is resiny with a bit of pine and grain; lightly spicy and vegatal. The taste is characterized by a dry vegetal and lightly spicy herbal hops character. There is also a little pine and resin as well. The finish is not very bitter at all but instead and dry with touches of that same herbal tone, but now even more mild, and some light grain. This is a pretty nice American Pale Ale. As I have written before I quite like the idea of this series of beers by Alexander Keith's, although they're not the first to do such a thing.

Blanche Neige - Brasserie Dieu du Ciel (Canada - Quebec - St Jerome)

Blanche Neige - Brasserie Dieu du Ciel! (Canada - Quebec - St Jerome) 8.3%

A surprisingly clear gold colour in a glass, there is some sediment in the bottom of the bottle but not much in solution. The aroma is a delectable, and strong, cinnamon and cloves combination that reminds me of late Autumn, early Winter nights.

The taste is very strongly, and still deliciously, cinnamon with the tasty spice of cloves joining the chorus of flavours. The malt body is pleasant and lends a perfect amount of balance with a creamy quality I associate with wheat in beers. There is a bit of an alcohol mouthfeel a mild chest warming sensation; not much considering it's 8.3%.

Dieu du Ciel!'s Blanche Neige has a bitter finish that fades into a sweet and spicy aftertaste. It is a very in teresting twist of a Wit Beer: spicy, potent and highly delicious.

The Premium Malt's - Suntory (Japan) 5.5%

The Premium Malt's - Suntory (Japan) 5.5%

Gold in a glass with a bubbly white head with some staying power. There is something about the heavy tappered bottle and the gold label that seems very Eighties chic to me.

The aroma is malty and sweet but there is also a dry hops character to it with some skunkiness, likely from being light struck despite the heavy and dark brown glass bottle. As regular readers of the blog may recall, I don't really mind a bit of skunkiness. Even though I know it is technically an off-flavour, I think it can bring out the hops nicely in the right beer.

Quite a dry bitter taste with some genuine hops flavour that is green, somewhat spicy and almost bordering on pine. Some light malty sweetness for balance but there is quite a backing of hops. This a very nice Pilsner actually, I must say I am pleasantly surprised by this beer. I would definitely have a Suntory Pilsner Beer again if I were in Japan and the situation called for a Pilsner!

Great Lakes Brewery 25th Anniversary Belgian Saison (Canada - Ontario - Toronto) 6.5%

Great Lakes Brewery 25th Anniversary Belgian Saison (Canada - Ontario - Toronto) 6.5%

The beer is gold and slightly cloudy in a glass with a light, white frothy head. The aroma is of nectar and spice (and everything nice); as I'd expect from a Belgian White or a Belgian Blonde Ale or really any ale made in North America with "Belgian" in the name. There is also wheat tones and just a a bit of hops to the aroma. It has a sweet taste with nectar, a bit of citrus (orange) and clearly coriander, some pretty substantial spiciness that's almost immediately mellowed by the wheat character, and quite a bitter aftertaste. The hops character is present but mellow, a bit of citrus a bit green, and entirely intermixed with the other lovely flavours.


A glance at the ingredient list confirms the coriander and also the taste of seeds of paradise which is actually forehead-smackingly obvious in hindsight (hindtaste?). I discovered from the ingredients list that the spiciness is due to the use of pepper. The pepper is a nice touch that manages to avoid dominating the flavour even though I can feel the spice is strong enough that it is faintly tickling my insides with heartburn since I'm drinking this on an empty stomach (part of review strategy). Great Lakes Brewery 25th Anniversary Belgian Saison could make an interesting or a dangerous pairing with spicy foods, it comes in a big enough bottle that I think I'll try it out at the end of this review. The alcohol isn't very noticeable but there is some chest warming from more than the moderate peppery spice.

Now to the food pairing, I tried it with a bit of salsa and chips and the pepper in the Belgian Saison definitely kicked the spice up a notch. As long as the spicy food you are eating isn't at the high end of your spice tolerance Great Lakes Brewery 25th Anniversary Belgian Saison is a tasty and perhaps unexpected pairing option. This Saison would also be a nice pairing with light dishes like a salad or fish (think white wine) but it is also delicious on its own. If you can still find one of these in stores I'd suggest picking it up and giving it a try.

Biere de Garde - Pump House (Canada - New Brunswick - Moncton) 7.5%

Biere de Garde - Pump House (Canada - New Brunswick - Moncton) 7.5%

It is an orange amber colour and barely cloudy in a glass. The aroma is spicy, apple, cranberry, malty with cedar hops. The taste is strongly caramel with cedar hops and bitterness initially, fading with drinking; tart some grain and plenty of cranberry-esque fruit esters with quite a bitter finish. Some barely smoky wood tones make it into the flavour along with a little bit of an earthy flavour. A nice beer that is a bit off the beaten path. Reminds me a bit of a darkish and hoppier saison.

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.

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.

Wild Rose IPA (Canada - Alberta - Calgary) 6.0%

Wild Rose IPA (Canada - Alberta - Calgary) 6.0%

Pours an orange gold in a glass the colour of which I find reminiscent of sap. A floral, piney, resiny, slightly metallic aroma with fresh-cut grass and (more so at first) more than a little grapefruit and orange. A big, fluffy, frothy head with good lacing. It's really nice served a little warmer than fridge temperature though the foam can get impressively crazy when its warm. Quite a bitter taste, spicy, floral hops with a taste of citrus, cut grass and a bit of earthy grain flavour. Wild Rose IPA has a sweet citrus and hoppy finish; a roasty and toasty aftertaste that is bitter and a bit sticky. The overall bitterness and lightly watery mouthfeel would make this a great beer to pair with food as it is palate cleansing while still being somewhat light and refreshing. With this beer Wild Rose has made a nice IPA that is similar to a West Coast IPA in someways but interestingly different in other ways.

Aventinus - G. Schneider & Sohn (Germany)

Aventinus - G. Schneider and Sohn (Germany) 8.2%

A cloudy orange-brown colour in a glass. Floral, sweet, roasty aroma; yeasty and wheaty. Spicy and herbal: coriander, cloves perhaps and hints of something nearly minty.

The flavour is distinctly a wheat while also very sweet, with vanilla as well as dark fruit tones like prunes and fig also very roasty and tones of banana. High alcohol hints but it doesn't taste very strongly of alcohol. A bit flat out of the bottle but it doesn't take away from the taste which is delicious. Some light sediment in the bottom, it wouldn't hurt to get a bit in the glass as it can add to the depth of flavour.

Oh Red Seal Ale, how I adore thee!

Red Seal Ale - North Coast Brewing Co (USA - California - Fort Bragg) 5.5%

An appetizing dark brass and amber colour in a glass. A full creamy head and a nice hoppy aroma with some dark hints of not quite coffee. A roasty, bitter, sweet and hoppy flavour. Initially it is the bitterness and red roasted malt that greets you, then sweetness with a hint of maple, a nutty flavour and the spicy hops character reveals itself along with some wooden tones. The wooden tones persist and soften into an aftertaste of spicy hops flavour which puts me in mind of rappinni or a similar green that is bitter, darkly green and mildly spicy.

I could drink this everyday: Red Seal Ale is intensely malty with pleasant roasty flavours, sweet with those bits of maple syrup and then bitter and spicy with a great mix of hops. It is a delicious, complicated, well-crafted and interesting beer but not strongly flavoured so I think everyone would like it unless they are die-hard lager-only drinkers (in which case who cares!?). Needless to say, a very nice beer.

On a personal note, I actually had Red Seal Ale for the first time 6 or so years ago while living Vancouver and not again until today and I remembered quite clearly liking it a whole lot then too - that doesn't happen with most beers from that pre-blogger stage of my life.