The first time I tried Tempest Imperial Stout, more than a year ago, I thought it was a boozy ale that was overpowering in flavour. When I saw that there was a year added to the label, I figured that it was meant to be laid down, not consumed right away. Because I had purchased two bottles, that's exactly what I did. I figured that this strong stout needed some time to settle down.
I was right.
Tempest Imperial Stout, 2013 (9% ABV)
Amsterdam Brewing Company
Toronto ON
Appearance: dark walnut with a taupe head that quickly settles to a dense lace or thin cap.
Nose: licorice and prunes.
Palate: burnt malt and charred wood; coffee and alcohol come through in the finish.
Overall impression: this stormy brew still packs a punch and still needs more time to settle down. The flavours come together and make its name appropriate—this is a tempest, for sure.
But I enjoyed it more than I remember from my first bottle, and I only wish I had another 2013 to store in my beer/wine cellar. I think 2018 would be a good year to try it again.
If you have any, hang onto it, unless you like intense, unbridled flavours and strong alcohol.
Beer O'Clock rating: 3.5
Cheers!
I think one of the marks of friendship is the ability to share not only interests but also aspirations. It's something special to have a friend confide in their hopes and dreams, and as their friend, your job is to listen and support his or her support of whatever that dream is.
I have two friends who told me of their aspirations for owning a brewery and creating some tasty craft beer, and I have supported them, if not in action, in spirit. It takes a special person to put themselves out there, to toil and sweat and make something to share with the public, and to have that public scrutinize that creation.
When I met Perry Mason, he was managing an Ontario wine boutique and teaching wine-appreciation courses on the side, but at heart he was a beer lover who had been making home brews for decades. He had forgotten more about beer than most people would learn over a lifetime, and he hadn't forgotten much.
When he opened the Scotch-Irish Brewing Company in 1998, four years after I had first heard of his dream to be a brewmaster, I was living in Korea and was unable to share in his success. It wasn't until April of 1999 that I was able to try his flagship beer, Session Ale.
And I knew that his years of hard work had paid off.
In December, 2005, Perry created his first Imperial stout, and when he delivered my first case to me, he said that he suspected that this creation would last 10 years. I kept him at his word.
I drank Tsarina Katarina regularly into the spring of 2006, but didn't have any again until December, 2011, on the brew's sixth anniversary. Since then, I've had it again in December of 2013 and this past December, and I'm happy to say that on its ninth anniversary, drinking it with Perry and some Ottawa beer aficionados, the Imperial stout was still holding strong.
And for my review of Imperial stouts, I thought I would give it another official review.
Tsarina Katarina Imperial Stout, 2005 (9% ABV)
Scotch-Irish Brewing Company (no longer open)
Fitzroy Harbour ON
Appearance: deep walnut to black. No light comes through. A thick, foamy, dark taupe head still poured thick but quickly settled to a solid cap, and then a thin cap, and finally a full, tight lace.
Nose: sweet dates and ripe prunes, with a hint of licorice. The nose drops off after a few minutes but does not entirely go away.
Palate: bitter chocolate and rich malt, with some fruit. The beer has mellowed but all the elements are still there. There is a full, cedar and eucalyptus finish.
Overall impression: I am amazed at this beer, but not surprised: amazed, that a beer can hold on for so long and still run strong with a younger crowd; not surprise, that this beer met the expectations that my friend said it would fulfill.
I have only one bottle of this treasure left. I shall open it in December of this year, on its tenth anniversary. I look forward to finishing the end of a great era of a great brewmaster.
Beer O'Clock rating: 5
Another friend of mine, someone I have only know for a few years, also expressed his desire to own a brewing company before he actually brought his dream to fruition. And his beer is already off to a great start.
J.P. Fournier has made some interesting beers in less than two years with his brewery, Turtle Island. He has made a sour-cherry ale, a hibiscus ale, and the strongest dessert beer-liqueur I've ever had. But there is method in J.P.'s madness.
When J.P. created his Imperial stout, in 2013, he introduced it at a beer market in Manotick, and it won the distinction of best beer of the event. In 2014, and the same event, he presented a cask from the same vintage, and again, his Imperial stout was deemed the best of the show.
Being a good friend, he gave me a couple of bottled versions. This weekend, I opened one of them.
H.M.S Imperial Maple Stout (14% ABV)
Turtle Island Brewing Company
Ottawa ON
Appearance: black—I think light was getting sucked into the glass, as everything around it seemed to darken (I had to overexpose the photo by more than two stops to capture it properly). A creamy, mid-light-taupe head sustained good depth as I drank it.
Nose: I didn't get much off the nose. This baby was holding onto its secrets like family jewels.
Palate: BAM! Lots of alcohol with strong flavours of prunes and cedar. The maple comes through in the finish and tastes slightly burnt, like the caramelization in a crème brulée.
Overall impression: if you're at home and only want one beer, this one is it. The alcohol will hit you by the time you reach the end of your glass, and you ain't goin' nowhere. This is a royal stout that is a little to heady to quaff all night long. This ship fires all guns at will, and it will sink you.
But it does hold up an intense flavour that should balance it out as it ages. I'm going to set my second bottle down and try it again in a few years.
Maybe, with Perry.
Beer O'Clock rating: 4
When you love Imperial stout, like I do, it's good to have friends in the beer industry, who have followed their dreams and produced wonderful ales.
The beers are a good thing. The friendship is the true benefit.
Cheers!
When the temperature drops, I tend to seek the warmth of the indoors, where I can relax, share time with family and friends, and enjoy a good pint.
My choice of beer over the winter months is a good stout or porter, and there is no shortage at this time of year. And the king of dark ales is the Imperial stout.
Over the past few years, I have collected a variety of these powerful ales, and this month, I've decided that I cannot wait any longer to try them. And so, for the next few weeks, I plan to share my opinions of these Imperial stouts.
Some of these ales were purchased as recently as a couple of weeks ago; many have been held for a year or two. One is entering its tenth year in the bottle. So, most of these beers are not available in stores.
Why share my opinion, you may say? Why write about beer that you cannot seek? I'm hoping that, in showing how these strong stouts age over time, you may want to conduct a similar experiment, may want to age beers yourself, so that, when you finally crack one open, you can enjoy a similar experience.
That, or maybe I'm just rubbing in what I have and you may not.
I have nine Imperial stouts from eight different breweries. Seven of these breweries are from Ontario (though one of them no longer exists); one brewery is in Québec, and one more is in New York state. I will review anywhere from one to four ales in a post.
So get ready for some heavy drinking on an empirical level.
I decided to start with an ale that I picked up just a few weeks ago and is still available in the LCBO. I have had this stout many times before but thought I should share my thoughts.
Bolshevik Bastard Imperial Stout (9% ABV)
Nickel Brook Brewing Company
Burlington ON
Appearance: dark walnut to black, with a creamy, deep-taupe head that has rusty highlights, and settles to a thin cap.
Nose: dark-roasted coffee, cedar, and a tinge of turpentine.
Palate: rich coffee with a mild, black licorice, and a hint of cocoa. A good balance of malt and alcohol, with a slightly bitter aftertaste.
Overall opinion: this is a rich but easy-to-drink Imperial stout. It exhibits complex flavours, while being pleasing on the palate. It's a great start to my exploration of strong stouts and will help keep me warm on cold nights.
Beer O'Clock rating: 3.5
I know I've been lax in my reviews of late. But rest assured, February will be full of beer, and I will be sure to share my thoughts on more styles of ale over the year.
Cheers!
Ottawa's beer scene is thriving: sometimes, it's hard to keep count.
To date, I've counted about 18 breweries in the Ottawa region, from Pembroke in the west to Vankleek Hill in the east and from Gatineau to Merrickville—north to south, respectively.
It's a good thing we craft-beer lovers are so darned thirsty. There still seems to be plenty of room on our palates.
Enter the latest brewery to hit Ottawa, and I have two reasons to love them: one, they make good beer; two, the brewery is owned by cycling enthusiasts.
Bicycle Craft Brewery (12-850 Industrial Avenue) has been open for only two weeks, and seems to have both wheels firmly on the ground. Owners Fariborz Behzadi and his wife, Laura, took their love of travel to explore the world of craft beer, and they recently moved to Ottawa to make the capital richer with the knowledge that they gained.
The brewery currently offers four staples and two seasonals. While I visited their brewery a day early of their latest seasonal, a pumpkin ale, I did have the opportunity to try everything else. Some, I loved, others I liked. One, I did not care for.
Here's a quick rundown of my findings:
Isodore's Harvest Ale (4.9% ABV, 42 IBU)
I loved the richness of aroma on the nose and the balance of hops and malt in the body. This is a great autumn ale and my only regret is that I didn't leave the brewery with a growler of the stuff. It was my second-favourite beer that the brewery offers.
My Beer O'Clock rating: 4
Belle River Blonde (4.7% ABV, 22 IBU)
This is a light and refreshing ale, and while I myself don't care for this style of beer, I have to say that I appreciated it for what it was. If you like blonde ales, this is definitely one to try.
My Beer O'Clock rating: 3
Base Camp Oatmeal Porter (5.1% ABV, 30 IBU)
I liked this porter so much I brought some home to give a proper review, so let's do it:
Appearance: dark walnut to black, with red highlights and a creamy taupe head.
Nose: rich espresso coffee and tobacco.
Palate: dark-roasted coffee and cedar, with a higher bitterness than the IBUs would suggest. It all mellows in a medium-bodied finish.
Overall impression: while I don't get the relationship between this porter's name and cycling (sounds like a name that I'd associate with mountain climbing or hiking), I do get the easy-drinkingness (new word) of this porter. The flavours come off immediately as bold but then mellow out to an intensity that I associate with a classic porter—that is, not overpowering. This is a great ale.
My Beer O'Clock rating: 3.5
Abyss Chocolate Stout (5.7% ABV, 31 IBU)
When I learned that this brewery's pumpkin ale wasn't available on the day that I planned to visit, I was tempted to go to the LCBO to pick up my weekend beer. But when I learned that they made a chocolate stout, I had a change of heart. Stouts are my favourite beer style: chocolate is an added bonus.
One of the things that I noticed straight away, when Fariborz poured me a sample, was that the stout appeared to be flat. Had the half-growler been open a long time, I asked? No, was the answer: this stout was made with little carbonation by design, Fariborz told me.
That was a shame. I found that the stout was not only flat in the glass, it felt lifeless in my mouth. While there were still good flavours of malt and chocolate, I feel that carbonation helps a stout feel creamier in the mouth, and I missed that in my sample.
I did not care for that design. Had the stout been infused with gas, I feel it had the potential to be so much better.
My Beer O'Clock rating: 2
Velocipede India Pale Ale (6% ABV, 70 IBU)
Of the brews that were available, this IPA, by far, was my favourite. Like the porter, I brought some home to conduct a full review (oh, what I do for my readers).
Appearance: an unfiltered, deep caramel, with a creamy beige head that had an orange tint.
Nose: orange citrus and lush hops.
Palate: creamy orange, almost like a Creamsicle from my childhood, but without any sweetness. There is rich fruit with intense hops that balance beautifully. There is bitterness without having that teabag feeling on the roof of your mouth. The long finish is incredibly satisfying.
Overall impression: this IPA is a definite keeper and should be Bicycle Craft Brewery's flagship ale. As a direct appeal to Fariborz and Laura—change nothing about this beer: it's a gem.
My Beer O'Clock rating: 5
Bicycle Craft Brewery is a welcome addition to the Ottawa brewing community. For myself, I especially like that they are well-situated (not exactly in my end of town, but not much of a detour from my commute between work and home). I am excited to try the pumpkin ale and I look forward to watching Fariborz and Laura grow their business.
Cheers!
This summer has turned out to be a great one so far, with lots of sunshine, near-perfect temperatures, and plenty of excellent beer to go with it.
Also, when I think of summer, I think of getting out and enjoying the outdoors, with concerts, festivals, and all that the community has to offer. That's why, when I saw the colourful six pack from Collective Arts Brewing, I thought I might have found another perfect summer beer.
And I was right.
This Burlington brewery is founded on the belief that creativity inspires more creativity, and that art manifests itself in all of our culture: through music, through film, through visual art, and through brewing.
Craft brewing is an art form in which I thoroughly believe.
I think their video, on their Web site, says it all:
In keeping with Collective Arts' philosophy, the brewery incorporates art into their labels, each bottle in their six pack showing a different artist's work.
They truly have some of the most beautiful bottles I've ever seen. (Although, they do need to work on that sticker on the bottle neck: four of the six bottles in my pack had those little circles lifting off.)
But it's what's inside that counts, and I was eager to give them a try.
Rhyme & Reason Extra Pale Ale (5.7 % ABV)
Collective Arts Brewing Ltd.
Burlington, ON
Beer O'Clock rating: 5
Appearance: a dull, murky (that is, unfiltered) apricot and a creamy head the color of grapefruit rind.
Nose: intense tangerine and honeydew, with a hint of honeyed sweetness and a touch of malt.
Palate: bitter grapefruit and a fine balance of hops and malt. The finish is clean and thirst-quenching, and left me wanting more.
This is an excellent summer-patio beer. Though it has a higher alcohol content than many session ales, it reminded me of the Muskoka Brewery session ale that I've been drinking this summer. It's full bodied but clean, making it seem deceptively light.
I could see myself sipping a pint of Rhyme & Reason while enjoying an outdoor concert or at a film festival (I'm going to one this weekend: too bad they won't allow alcohol in the theatre).
One thing is for certain: I now have two favourite summer ales. My cellar is going to be well-stocked this season.
Rhyme & Reason is available at the LCBO.
Cheers!
If you know anything about me, you know that I can't go for long without either beer or coffee. They are staples in my life: rarely a day goes by where I don't drink coffee; rarely a couple of days go by where I don't have a bottle or pint of beer.
And when beer and coffee mix, it's like sex in a glass.
Again, if you know me, you know that my two favourite styles of beer are stouts and IPAs. And, this weekend, I had the opportunity of sampling both, beautifully flavoured with coffee.
Because it's been a while since I've written a review for Beer O'Clock, I thought I would share both of these outstanding ales in one post. This is not a comparison, because that wouldn't be fair. I could never compare an IPA with a stout: it would be like me comparing coffee to beer.
Both the coffee'd IPA and stout are from fairly new, local craft breweries. One, I have reviewed before, the other, I have tried before but have never taken the time to examine closely. I'm glad I now have.
Newly opened this spring, Covered Bridge Brewing Company has already made waves with Ottawa craft-beer lovers. Owner and brewer, John VanDyk has brought his ales to WinterBrewed, to the Ottawa Beer Market, and just recently, to the Watson's Mill Craft Beer Event. His microbrewery, located in Stittsville, has a great selection of regular offerings, such as The Dirty Blonde and Bridge Over the River "Chai," as well as some one-offs, like the Raspberry Princess, and some seasonals, like the sweet La cabane à sucre.
But my favourite of the Covered Bridge beers that I have had so far is their coffee and chocolate stout, Double-Double.
The Covered Bridge Double-Double (7.4% ABV)
Covered Bridge Brewing Company
Stittsville, ON (Ottawa)
Beer O'Clock rating: 4
Appearance: dark walnut with a cocoa head that pours to a fine lace and then quickly disappears.
Nose: dark chocolate and sweet coffee.
Palate: rich chocolate, mild prunes, dates. A lengthy coffee finish that accumulates into a solid taste of alcohol.
While this Double-Double may be as sweet as it's Tim Horton's counterpart, the coffee flavour puts the giant coffee chain to shame. The coffee flavours in this stout are richer and more satisfying than anything that Tim's puts out. The chocolate is sweet and cloying, but not overpowering, and the alcohol cuts down the overall richness.
I have to admit, the first time I tried this stout at the brewery, and then again at the event at Watson's Mill, I detected more of a creamy richness. The bottle that I drank two weeks after picking it up from the brewery had more of the dates and prunes, and the alcohol finish was more pronounced. But it was still incredible.
The other coffee ale I tried this weekend came from Whitewater Brewing Company, farther up the Ottawa Valley. I met two of the brewers, both named Chris Thompson, at this year's WinterBrewed Festival. I told Chris "Low Tower" that I would visit his brewery, and two weekends ago, I kept that promise.
While neither Chris was there, I did meet a third brewer, Sierra, who introduced me to a fabulous seasonal that I couldn't resist. Nor could I leave without.
Jacked Rabbit Espresso IPA (6% ABV)
Whitewater Brewing Company
Foresters Falls, ON
Beer O'Clock rating: 4
Appearance: steeped Orange Pekoe tea—a reddish toffee brown, with a creamy beige head that holds a good cap almost all the way down the glass.
Nose: rich, dark-roasted coffee, malt, and mild chocolate.
Palate: coffee and hops, perfectly balanced, though I would have liked to taste a slightly fuller finish. The finish is, though, clean, with no strong alcohol flavours. Though this beer was brewed to a bitter 95 IBUs, the addition of the cold-steeped espresso—from Neat Café—after brewing, mellows the hops.
In fact, the coffee is strong in this beer. So much so, that at times I felt I was drinking a beer-infused espresso, rather than a coffee-flavoured IPA.
Not that there was anything wrong with that.
I loved this IPA and hope that the folks at Whitewater keep this seasonal in their repertoire.
Yes, coffee is a wonderful thing, as is beer. And when you bring them together, as Covered Bridge and Whitewater have done, magic happens.
Cheers!
Many of the beers that I drink and like are bold, with lots of flavour. Take a full-bodied stout, a hoppy IPA, or a malty scotch ale. Big, in-your-face ales that hit you right away.
If a beer's flavours are light, almost watery, you can bet that my review of that beer won't be favourable. If I even choose to write about it at all.
(Lately, I'm reluctant to write about beer that I've rated as a 2, or lower.)
There are some beers that don't grab me right away but sneak up as I drink them.
Such as the latest flavoured beer I tried.
Ginja Ninja (5.5% ABV)
Granville Island Brewing
Vancouver, BC
Beer O'Clock rating: 3
Appearance: pale apricot with a white head that leaves a fine lace and a solid collar.
Nose: ginger and honey.
Palate: light hops, ginger; slightly yeasty, with a light finish that at first came off as thin.
I like non-alcoholic ginger beer but I often find the alcohol version too sweet, too cloying. Not so with Ginja Ninja. The ginger is there (it's 100 percent real ginger) and the aroma of honey gives it good flavour, but I found this ale quite tame in the mouth. With my first few sips, I found the flavour subtle, almost washed out.
But this ale builds as you drink, and I found that the finish stayed longer the more I consumed. It's almost like the beer snuck up on me, stealthy-like.
Like a ninja.
Where I thought I would be disappointed, I ended up enjoying this ale. On a hot day, it's a refreshing choice. It's not about to be a favourite with me, but I'd happily drink it again.
This is a seasonal beer and, having come out in the LCBO only within the past few weeks, I imagine it will be around for the next couple of months. Then, like a ninja, it will disappear without a trace.
Cheers!
