Beer

Mighty AC · August 7, 2013

I feel your pain. NB has a generally poor selection.

Last time out East I had a very pleasant Blueberry Ale by a brewery called either Firehouse or Pump House.

Black Dog · August 7, 2013

I love the Back hand of God.

Alibi Room FTW.

cybercoma · August 7, 2013

I think it's a couple of things:

Men are naturally lazy and you don't have to stop and mix a beer

It's too easy to overdo it on hard liquor and wind up embarrassing yourself

Beer keeps on tasting good. Sweeter liquors like coolers and ciders get sickening after a couple.

my 2 cents.

I had Seagram's cider recently. *shudder*

It was disgustingly sweet. Cloyingly sweet even. It was as though the added carbonation to apple juice. So horrible.

Having said that, dry ciders can be fantastic and refreshing with more of a crisp smoothness to them, rather than sweetness. So I encourage you not to write them all off if you were unfortunate enough to only have the barf-inducing sweet ones.

cybercoma · August 7, 2013

Last time out East I had a very pleasant Blueberry Ale by a brewery called either Firehouse or Pump House.

Pump House Blueberry Ale. Yup. It's not bad. If you order it in a bar on tap out here, they actually put blueberries in the beer. Cute gimmick. Mediocre beer, imo.

Edit: Here's a pic of it with the blueberries in it.

Edited August 7, 2013 by cybercoma

cybercoma · August 7, 2013

My absolute favourite beer is Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier. It's a smoked beer. No kidding. You crack it open and the stuff smells like a campfire. I love smoked foods, so I gave it a try at an ale house one time. Absolutely delicious. If you've ever had lapsang suochong tea it reminds me a lot of that (they smoke the tea leaves to dry them). The guy at the tea house here jokingly calls lapsang suochong the "bacon tea" because, funny enough, it tastes a bit like bacon due to the smokiness. Well, Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier is a bit like bacon beer. And really? What's not to love about that?

schlenkerla+marzen_1.jpg

The_Squid · August 8, 2013

That looks interesting CC... I've had a couple smoked ales and they haven't been to my taste... but those Bavarians know how to make beers!

Another good, easy drinking ale comes from Lighthouse Brewing in Victoria. It's got some good hop taste, but not so much that it could be called an IPA.

bleeding heart · August 18, 2013

i don't know about others, but I genuinely enjoy the flavour of hops. Moreover, I find really hoppy beers to have more interesting and complex flavour palettes. In Halifax Garrison brewing makes an Imperial ale that is extremely bitter, but after your taste buds adjust, you notice the other wonderful flavours in the beer. It's kind of like dark roast coffees. I drink dark roast coffee without cream or sugar and after awhile it begins to stop tasting like you're licking the bottom of your BBQ and you start to recognize the subtleties of the beans. To the uninitiated though, they taste horrendous (dark coffees and hoppy beers). If you stick with it though, I think they're incredibly rewarding.

Yes, and yes. Bitterness is, popularly speaking, an under-appreciated asset of beer and coffee.

Mighty AC · September 24, 2013

I just tried 'Montgomery's Courage' one of Black Creek's 'Historic Beers of Canada' series. The brewery is located in Black Creek Pioneer village and they operate like a traditional brewer, using actual period recipes. This one is a nice full flavoured amber with a hint of hops and slightly carbonated. If you like Mill St. Tank House you'll probably like this as well.

The_Squid · October 11, 2013

Well, the fresh (wet) hopped ales came out... and WOW! They're terrific again. Fresh hopped ales are made with fresh, rather than dried, hops. Obviously they are only available after the harvest season.

In particular, I like Hoyne Wolf Vine ale. Fantastic hoppy taste. http://hoynebrewing.ca/#beers

Driftwood, makers of the best beer ever Fat Tug IPA, have a Sartori Harvest IPA that is their fresh hop offering. Very nice as well. Has a very distinct odour and taste of pine/floral(?)... Not in a bad way... http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/18858/53309

http://www.opb.org/artsandlife/article/fresh-hop-beers-celebrate-northwests-brewing-culture/

Anyone else drink any fresh hopped ales this harvest season? (ok, a few weeks after the actual harvest... takes time to make the beer of course)

Is this a Cascadia thing? I think it might be. But that's where most hop farms are, so it makes sense.

GostHacked · October 12, 2013

Nothing wrong with those types of beer at all; blame pisswater like Coors Light and Budweise for giving them a bad name. There's a definite trend towards "more is more" in craft brews and not just in IPAs. I'm seeing a lot more Double IPAs/American Pale Ales (stronger and hoppier than IPAs), Imperial Stouts (+9% ABV), Belgian sour beers and other taste-bud destroyers. I think it's partly machisimo and partly a way to distinguish craft beers from the inspid lagers and pilsners that make up the bulk of the beer market.

You know I have been seeing regular Coors in the stores lately and I am quite happy about that. Coors light sucks ass, but Coors is a nice beer.

Ones I have been liking as of late.

Baltika (Russian)

Żywiec (Polish)

Moslon M

Innes & Gunn (beer brewed in spiced rum barrels .. yeah it's that good)

Not a real fan of the IPAs I did give the Barking Squirrel a try, was not a fan of it. Also Mill Street has been mentioned a few times, and I will say that I like the Organic a lot.

The_Squid · October 17, 2013

A couple more fresh hop beers for any of you BCers out there who can get your hands on them:

Green Reaper

Mad Dash fresh hop ESB

Great beers.

The_Squid · October 22, 2013

Foggy, damp, chill nights call for a stout...

My absolute favourite stout, and in my top 3 of all time fave beers, is HUB 7 grain Survival Stout.

Some unusual grains for beer like quinoa, spelt and kamut. Add coffee and more hops than a stout usually calls for to the mix and you have something awesome!

Oh, it's organic too. Hopworks Urban Brewery in Portland is a very rare brewery that makes organic beers, but that's not their selling point... They are just damn fine brews.

cybercoma · October 22, 2013

It's too bad there isn't some consistency across the country, so we could have a good discussion of craft beers and whatnot.

In any case, I recently had Unibroue's Terrible and it was one of the best beers I've ever had.

I've also been quite fond of Hop City's Barking Squirrel. I recommend it.

Mighty AC · October 23, 2013

I quite like Barking Squirrel and would also recommend it. I've tried Maudite, Raftman, Blanche de Chambly and La Fin Du Monde by Unibroue and look forward trying Terrible....if I can find it. Just did a product search on the LCBO website and Terrbile isn't listed, but Noir de Chambly is stocked at a store nearby. I think I'll try it tonight.

cybercoma · October 23, 2013

I can't get Terrible here either. A friend brought it from Montreal. I've had all the ones you've listed, as well as Éphémère both apple and currant and Trois Pistoles. Out of all the Unibroue beers that I've tried, Terrible is the absolute best, imo.

Mighty AC · October 23, 2013

Well the LCBO was out of Noir de Chambly, but I did see Pumphouse Blueberry for the first time since I was on the East coast. Unfortunately, it seems that sitting on the deck of an ocean side cottage, on a perfect summer day, watching lobster boats collect their catch may have inflated my opinion of the beer.

I also picked up some Russian Imperial Stout by Wellington. I'm not a lover of stouts but I find this one to be very good. I'm going to drink it while I watch the first snow fall of the year in my area.

Mighty AC · October 26, 2013

Who has a favourite pumpkin ale? My favourite is the Highballer Pumpkin Ale by Grand River Brewing. It's a tiny brewery located in Southern Ontario and their reach isn't all that far so it will be hard to find. The owner actually grows the pumpkins himself. He also grows the hops that go into a few seasonal beers.

cybercoma · October 26, 2013

I've yet to have a pumpkin ale. I'm having a hard time bringing myself to try it. It just doesn't sound appealing. However, I was pleasantly surprised with Mill St.'s lemon tea beer, so I should give the pumpkin a go, I guess.

Edited October 26, 2013 by cybercoma

The_Squid · October 26, 2013

Pumpkin ales are not to my taste. Lots of folks enjoy them though. There seems to be more pumpkin brews than ever.

http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2013/10/07/more-pumpkins-ales-than-ever-before/

cybercoma · October 26, 2013

Picaroon's out here makes a beer called Melon Head. It's a watermelon cilantro beer. I find it horrendous. Absolutely appalling. People out here seem to love it though.

GostHacked · October 27, 2013

Well the LCBO was out of Noir de Chambly, but I did see Pumphouse Blueberry for the first time since I was on the East coast. Unfortunately, it seems that sitting on the deck of an ocean side cottage, on a perfect summer day, watching lobster boats collect their catch may have inflated my opinion of the beer.

Possibly, but I did try Pumphouse Blueberry recently, and was quite impressed how good it was. And I had none of the surroundings you did to enhance the experience.

cybercoma · October 27, 2013

When you order Pump House Blueberry on tap out here (NB), they actually put blueberries in your beer.

Pump House Scotch Ale is their best, imo. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite taste the same in bottles as it does right on tap in the brewery in Moncton. A pint of that stuff from the brewery's restaurant has an amazing smokey, peaty scotch flavour that doesn't quite come through in the bottled versions. On tap it tastes a lot like a smoked beer. I love it, but I have a preference for all things smoked.

Edited October 27, 2013 by cybercoma

Mighty AC · October 27, 2013

Possibly, but I did try Pumphouse Blueberry recently, and was quite impressed how good it was. And I had none of the surroundings you did to enhance the experience.

I didn't intend to bash the beer. I had just over hyped it in my mind.

kimmy · October 28, 2013

I tried samples of a couple of Alexander Keith's new single-hops beers recently. One (a German hops) was pretty good, but the other (forgot what it was called) was just too citrusy. Tasted like somebody zested a whole lemon into the beer.

-k