Coming Back

It's a tough blog to keep down.

A lot of my friends and Twitter buddies have contacted me over the months, since I published what I thought would be the last post on Beer O'Clock, telling me how much they liked the blog and were sorry to see it go. Some asked me to reconsider shutting it down.

I have posted a couple of beer reviews on my other blog, The Brown Knowser, but sometimes I have a few beers that I want to share and I don't want to limit myself to once a week, or once every couple of weeks.

I want to feel that I can post a beer review whenever the mood strikes me. And I don't want to use Brown Knowser real estate to do it.

And so, Beer O'Clock is coming back, starting Monday, September 9, with two reviews from some fabulous Québec brews. Later in the week, I'll post a long-overdue review of a great BC brewery that offers what I consider to be my favourite brew of the summer.

Stay tuned.

Cheers!

So Long, and Thanks For All the Beer

Beer O'Clock is no more. At least, not here.

If you're looking for future beer reviews, I will periodically add one to my main blog, The Brown Knowser.

Thank you for following and for the lovely comments and encouragement that I've received over the months.

Cheers!

Last Call

I've always promised myself that I would always blog for as long as I felt I wanted to, as long as what I did was out of a sense of wanting to. As soon as I felt I had to, that I felt my blogging was more of a chore than a treat or means of escape, I would stop.

The reason that I haven't written a post for Beer O'Clock in more than a week is that I kept saying to myself, as I was opening a bottle of suds, was that I had to get out my camera, I had to take down notes, because I had to write about that beer that I just sat down with.

Had to? What happened to wanting to?

The truth of the matter is that I have gotten myself into the habit of not opening a bottle or can, or not trying something new on tap without feeling that I had to share it with my readers.

Don't get me wrong: I love that my beer blog has received so much attention. Thank you for following Beer O'Clock.

But I no longer feel that I can just have a beer and enjoy it on its own. And if I like a beer and want to share it on my blog, I feel that I have to write about it right away. And, if I wanted to write something for The Brown Knowser, I would find myself at my computer for a couple of hours before bed.

I don't want to do that any more.

Since my last beer review, I've tried several other beers, and I've kept them to myself: no photos, no notes. Just me and the pint glass.

So, this is the last post for this blog.

I will still drink beer. I will make notes for the truly outstanding brews that I try. And, from time to time, I will write up a review. Just not here.

When I started reviewing beer, more than two-and-a-half years ago, I started periodically, on The Brown Knowser. Those posts became so popular that I started reviewing a new beer every week, on Mondays. I may return to that format. Not necessarily every week, but whenever I have a beer that is truly worth attention.

That is to say, any beer that rates a 5.

If you use Untappd and want to see what I'm drinking, follow me. I'm RossBrownfoot. (If you follow me on Twitter, I also tweet about the beer I happen to be drinking at the moment.)

Being my final post, what beer would I choose to close this blog?

What's my favourite style of beer? Stout. What is my favourite stout? Milk stout.

I've already blogged about what I consider to be the best beer I've ever had, and since then I've searched for more of that style, because my favourite beer isn't available anywhere near me.

A couple of years ago, while having lunch with some of my colleagues at Chelsea Pub, I tried an obscure stout that just became available at this restaurant. It was by a company that I had vaguely heard about but had never tried.

I enjoyed the stout so much that I wrote down its name, but then promptly forgot about.

A couple of months ago, when I was browsing the bottles at Bières du Monde, I recognized the label of this stout and its name. And then, on closer inspection, I read something that I hadn't noticed when I was at Chelsea Pub.

This beer was a milk stout.

Time for a review.

La Vache Folle Imperial Milk Stout (9% ABV)
Microbrasserie Charlevoix
Baie-Saint Paul, QC
Beer O'Clock rating: 3.5

Appearance: a deep walnut that allows no light through, with a dense, light-taupe foam head that goes nowhere (except down my throat).

Nose: dark chocolate and rye.

Palate: bitter chocolate, dark-roasted coffee, burnt toffee, with a alcohol finish that provides a bit of a kick and a slight burn at the back of the throat (but don't worry: that head coats it and makes it all better). Over time, your tongue develops a slightly sweet coating.

Overall impression: this is a serious stout with attitude. I didn't associate this milk stout at all with the creaminess of The Duck Rabbit, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. This is not your chocolate-chip-cookie-accompanying stout.

The bottle suggests that you enjoy this stout with dark-chocolate squares. Perhaps, but I preferred it on its own. And only one bottle at a time.

La Vache Folle isn't so much a mad cow as a raging bull, but I would don a red cape and face the pen again.

Cheers!

Rethinking Gluten-Free Beer

I had just finished taking notes for my fifth gluten-free beer, ready to condemn most of them, when I had a epiphany of sorts.

I was going about my approach to these beer-like, alcoholic beverages the wrong way.

I'm a beer snob. I turn my nose up at far more beers than I embrace. I look at the major producers as corporations who have more passion for making money than making beer. I look at clear, pale-yellow beer with much disdain.

I love craft beer that has body, flavour, and character. And if your beer tastes anywhere near the mainstream piss that they try to sell you at Swiss Chalet or Denny's, I won't touch you with a 20-foot cattle prod.

But that's just me and my snobby opinion: life's too short to drink mediocre beer.

I realize that there are many people who like that generic-tasting style. Many more, though the number of craft-beer drinkers is growing (but is still a fraction of the population).

I think that the brewers of gluten-free beer are trying to appeal to that wider audience. And so, I am rethinking my comments on the Nickel Brook beer I tried earlier this week. I owe an apology to the brewers. It must be hard to create a beer without gluten, and then to target an audience that will appreciate it. I'm thinking that you went for the beer drinkers who are used to Labatt or Molson. And, I think, to that end, you succeeded. I'm sure that that audience will enjoy that beer and appreciate that you had their interests in mind.

To the Glutenberg folks, you also made a blonde ale that would appeal to a wide audience of mainstream beer drinkers, but you also made a couple of styles that would be targeted towards the craft-beer fans. And for that, I tip my hat.

Last night, I tried another beer that I also think targets the mainstream beer drinkers.

Bard's Gold (4.7% ABV)
Bard's Tale Beer Company
Utica, NY
Beer O'Clock rating: 1.5

Appearance: a clear, deep gold with a foamy, white head that dissipates immediately to a thin cap, and then to nothing.

Nose: soap and grass.

Palate: lemon and petrol, that fade to a watery finish.

Overall impression: the first taste wasn't bad for a mainstream beer. I felt that in successive sips, it fell short on flavour. I didn't get much off the nose or in the mouth, and what I got I didn't care for.

When I sipped at my first glass, I noticed that the bubbles fell off to a tiny, faint stream of pearls, and then stopped altogether. By the time I was halfway through my glass, my beverage was flat.

I thought this might have been a fault with the bottle, so I opened a second. Again, halfway into my glass, my drink was flat.

Granted, when I review a beer, I drink slowly. Often, as with this review, I write the post while I'm still drinking. As I write this paragraph, I'm about three ounces from the bottom of my glass and Bard's is flat, lifeless, and tasteless.

If you want to drink this beer, drink up. Don't write, don't download photos. Hell, don't talk. Just pour it back.

If you're a fan of the major breweries Bard's Gold may be okay for you, especially if you can't have wheat or other glutenous grains in your beer (this ale is made with sorghum).

On the other hand, if you're a craft-beer lover, this beer may disappoint: it lacks body and character.

This week, I tried five different gluten-free beers. My favourite? The APA from Glutenberg (Brasseurs Sans Gluten). It had the flavour that I look for in a beer. And while it wasn't outstanding as an APA, it was pretty good. It didn't taste like a generic beer and had character of its own.

There are still other gluten-free beers out there that I didn't try and won't try. You'll just have to experiment for yourself.

In Ontario, Nickel Brook and Bard's is available at the LCBO. The Glutenberg beers can be found in Québec, at Bières du Monde and Broue Ha Ha.

Cheers!

The Search for GF Beer Continues

After such a disappointing foray into gluten-free beer, I was ready to give up on this style of alcoholic beverage. I was about to tell my friends and acquaintances, who were looking to get gluten out of their bevvies, to drink wine.

Wine is great: it comes in different styles, such as sparkling, fortified, or dessert. It uses different varieties of grapes, each with a unique flavour. It is made world-wide, and the terroir comes through in the end product.

And wine is gluten-free. Always has been, always will be.

But what kind of beer reviewer would I be if I gave up after only one can of gluten-free brew? (Note to Stacey, who called me an "expert." That was very kind of you, but I'm not a beer expert. I'm just a guy who has tried a shit-load of beer, who likes to share his experiences on this blog. But thank you.)

The other night, as I sat on my front steps, anticipating rain as thunder storms passed overhead, I tried three more gluten-free offerings from a brewery that was recommended to me a while back. I have purchased these beers on two occasions for folks who must avoid gluten, based on that recommendation, without trying the beer for myself.

Let's look at them now.

Glutenberg Blonde Ale (4.5% ABV)
Brasseurs Sans Gluten
Montréal, QC
Beer O'Clock rating: 2

Appearance: pale straw with a creamy, white head that retained a thin cap.

Nose: slightly malty, with grass, a light, honey melon, and a faint hint of ginger ale.

Palate: sour ginger and creamed corn. The ginger lingers at  the back of the throat in the finish.

Overall impression: not bad. Again, I'm reminded of a light, generic ale: not a lot of character, not much flavour. However, on a hot summer's day, it would quench your thirst, but it had me craving more flavour, more body.

Add a lime to it, however, and you're good to go. You might have a gluten-free version of Corona.

The second gluten-free ale piqued my interest as I poured it.

Glutenberg American Pale Ale (5.5% ABV)
Beer O'Clock rating: 3

Appearance: copper, with light-brown highlights, and an off-white, foamy head that dissipates to a full lace.

Nose: dark honey or light toffee.

Palate: burnt toffee and butter, sour hops, and a lingering herbal finish that tasted more and more like oregano as I drank it. The alcohol also coats the tongue in the finish.

Overall impression: of the gluten-free beers that I've tried so far, this was the best. It tasted the closest to conventional beer. This APA is made with quinoa, which would make my wife happy (she likes to feed it to me all the time), and displays the most body of the GF beer I've had.

The third choice was also promising.

Glutenberg Belgian Double (6.5% ABV)
Beer O'Clock rating: 3

Appearance: copper-red with a light beige head that dissipates to a thin lace.

Nose: cherry, backed by a chemical and candied aroma.

Palate: sharp apple and tart cherry that comes to a clean finish and lingering alcohol.

Overall impression: this Belgian-styled ale was by far the most flavourful of the bunch. There was quite a bit of body to this beer: had I not known that this was a gluten-free beer, I would not have guessed it.

But as I drank more (I didn't pour any of these beers down the drain), the strong fruitiness started to remind me of wine that came from a bottle that had been opened for a couple of days. It wasn't necessarily bad, but it wasn't what I would expect from a beer.

But maybe that could be a good thing. If my gluten-avoiding friends don't want to stick to wine, would like to try a beer-like alcoholic beverage, this is somewhere in between.

On Friday, I'll review one final gluten-free beer and will give my overall impression.

Cheers!

Going Gluten-Free

A few friends have asked me, why don't I review gluten-free beer? There are plenty of people who have gluten allergies and others who are trying to reduce gluten intake for dietary reasons. So perhaps I could find a beer that doesn't contain gluten but tastes good.

I first accepted the challenge to find a good, gluten-free beer almost a year ago, when a friend, who has allergies, said she couldn't find a gluten-free beer that had any flavour. I was able to find her a beer, in Québec, and she later told me it "wasn't bad."

I never tried the beer myself.

A few months ago, an acquaintance also asked me about gluten-free beer, and had I tried any. I hadn't. Hadn't brought myself to trying what, to me, is the beer equivalent to decaffeinated coffee. That's not coffee: that's a hot coffee-like beverage.

Last week, when yet another friend asked me about gluten-free beer, I decided to pony up. To put my prejudice aside and judge this specialty beer myself.

Yesterday, I did just that.

But I made the tasting interesting, having the brew back-to-back with a beer—a true beer—by the same brewery.

I say "true" do describe a beer because one of the key components in beer is, in fact, gluten. Gluten is a protein composite that is found in grains: for beer, primarily wheat, barley, and rye. As a protein, it helps bind the molecules and helps give beer its body.

As its name suggests, it's a food agent that acts as glue. Without gluten, a beer can be astringent, without body. It can have a lifeless taste.

In theory, anyway.

But, to be fair, over the next few days, I will try some gluten-free beer and give my honest opinion of them.

To start, I chose a Burlington, Ontario, brewery, and I compared it with one of its regular, gluten-laden, ales. The brewery is Better Bitters Brewing Company, which operates under the name Nickel Brook.

About a year ago, I tried a draft of theirs, Naughty Neighbour. At the time, I really liked it. So when I discovered that it was recently made available in bottles, I had to pick some up and give it proper attention. But, because my main focus was the gluten-free beer by this brewery, I put the Naughty Neighbour aside until afterwards because I didn't want the taste of it to interfere with the gluten-free brew.

Gluten Free Alcoholic Beverage (5.8% ABV)
Nickel Brook
Burlington, ON
Beer O'Clock rating: 1.5

Appearance: deep straw with a white head that quickly dissipates to almost nothing, but retains a good effervescence.

Nose: light grass and honey melon.

Palate: bitter grass and sour hops. It lacks body. As I took more sips, the flavour made me think of what it would taste like if I sucked on rubber bands. The alcohol comes out in a watery finish, which is lengthy, though I wished it would end.

Overall impression: Nickel Brook got one thing right: they called this drink an "alcoholic beverage" and not a beer. Although, after the first sip, it reminded me of one of the big-brewery ales: grassy and sharp, with very little flavour. In that first sip, I thought, "okay, I see what they are aiming for, but it's not my cup of tea." I was prepared to give Nickel Brook credit for their attempt. I also thought, "it's not bad, but it's not great, either."

But after a few more sips, I wanted the taste to leave my mouth. I looked at my glass, knowing I couldn't finish, and so I did what I rarely do: this.

It was time to move on to the beer that I chose to compare the Gluten Free with.

Naughty Neighbour American Pale Ale (4.9% ABV)
Beer O'Clock rating: 3

Appearance: an unfiltered, bright gold, with a foamy white head that held a dense cap.

Nose: intense citrus—a honeyed orange with rich hops.

Palate: sour grass, orange and grapefruit rind, mixed with a peppered, black tea, and hops, all of which end in a medium finish.

Overall impression: my memory of this draft version is different, which makes me wonder if Nickel Brook created two versions of the Naughty Neighbour. I remember the colour being more orange and the flavour also containing more orange in the mouth. I also remember bolder hops: my memory made this neighbour to be very, very naughty. And nice.

So either this is not the same beer or I don't have the beer imprint memory that I pride myself on.

Nevertheless, this Naughty Neighbour was enjoyable and helped me get rid of the taste of the gluten-free, alcoholic beverage.

My search for a good gluten-free beer continues.

Cheers!

Beer and Gourmet Food

Beer and food always go together. There's nothing I love better than enjoying some excellent craft beer with a good burger, or pizza, or steak.

But when really good beer is paired with gourmet food, I'm in absolute heaven.

Last Friday, I had the pleasure of attending another Brewmaster's Dinner at Mill Street, and once again, my favourite brew pub surpassed all expectations.

From the wild boar amuse bouche, to the rack of lamb, to the "beervertail" dessert, I savoured all of the flavours.

As expected, the beer was great. Though not all of the beers were my preferred style, they were all delicious with the food pairings. My favourite of the evening, Tankenstein, is a hopped-up version of my favourite ale, Tankhouse.

There was also a bonus bevvy: a schnaps, made by Mill Street in Toronto, that was made with some of their Frambozen Raspberry Wheat Ale. On the nose, you could catch a faint sniff of raspberry... if you used your imagination and sniffed with your mouth open. On the palate, the 45-percent alcohol pretty much blows your taste buds away. But it was a great experience. I'd be curious to compare this schnaps with their Cobblestone and Tankhouse ales.

The host of the evening, Mill Street Brewmaster, Joel Manning, was entertaining as always, enlightening with stories about what went behind the creation of these brews and some education about what makes those beers so special.

I'm not going to review the beer I drank nor the food I ate. The overall experience rates a 5: I will continue to go to these dinners as often as I can and I highly recommend that you come out as well, if you haven't already.

I will leave you with a visual recap of the evening. If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, or both, you've seen most of these images.

My thanks goes to the kind and generous folks at Mill Street for making this a memorable dinner. See you at your next one, in September!

Cheers!