When I think of Germany and Ireland, I think that the two countries have nothing in common. Their language, their culture, and their climate is pretty different.
But both Germans and the Irish are known for their beer, and their best beer, I find is dark and malted.
Also, there are a lot of Germans and Irish in Canada.
So, when a southern-Ontario brewer came out with a spring doppelbock in time for St. Paddy's Day, I was all over it.
Sham-Bock (6.9% ABV)
Railway City Brewing Company
St. Thomas, ON
Beer O'Clock rating: 4
Appearance: walnut-brown with red highlights; a creamy, beige head that pours to an ample foam and settles to a solid, thick cap.
Nose: chocolate, corn syrup, lots of malt.
Palate: rich malts with a slightly sweet maple-syrup flavour and a touch of herbs. A full body that ends in a rich finish.
Overall impression: this is an excellent bock, with tons of flavour and a rich, full body that delivers from beginning to end. With our winter hanging on and no sign of spring in sight, this is an ale that warms you inside.
Because Sham-Bock is a seasonal, you're going to have to search the LCBO for it, but lots of outlets have plenty in stock, so grab some while you can. And, for St. Paddy's Day, go for a dark beer with a difference.
Cheers!
Is it a coincidence that after I open a bottle of beer that features a curling rink on its label that Canada wins the gold medal in both the men's and women's curling?
I think not.
And while I was looking forward to enjoying this vanilla porter from Canadian craft brewers, Beau's All Natural Brewing Company, I was in for a bronze medal.
It's a winner, but not the best. It's not what I remember it to be, that is.
I first tried this porter about a year ago, at the 2013 WinterBrewed festival. That year, the event was held on Sparks Street in downtown Ottawa, and the festival ran over one of the coldest weekends of the season. Patrons of the festival huddled around outdoor heaters and fire pits while vendors struggled with hair dryers to thaw their frozen tap lines. As the photographer of the event, I had to constantly swap the battery from my camera, warming the cold battery under my arm while the other tried to maintain its charge.
When I visited the Beau's kiosk, not far from its ice bar, I was pleased to find their vanilla porter flowing. I remember the taste and marvelling at the fresh vanilla flavour. As it was frigid outdoors and the porter was colder than it should have been, I could hold the liquid in my mouth and draw out the flavours as it warmed.
I loved it.
Flash forward to today, when I opened a bottle of this ale, which had been sitting in my basement since the Christmas holidays. After the 2014 WinterBrewed, I was ready to try this porter that had warmed my heart a year earlier.
Burnt Rock Vanilla Porter (4.9% ABV)
Beau's All Natural Brewing Company
Vankleek Hill, ON
Beer O'Clock rating: 3
Appearance: deep brown to black, with a foamy, taupe head that settles to a thin cap.
Nose: dark-roasted espresso and full malts, with hints of dark chocolate.
Palate: burnt vanilla and oak, with a dash of clove. There is a light, almost watery finish.
Overall impression: I don't know if the recipe has changed since last year's batch, but I don't remember the finish dropping off as sharply, and I found it disappointing to have such a strong start, with its robust aroma and initial mouth feel. This porter starts high and ends on a bit of a low.
But it's still a great porter, worthy of a try. It can still be found at the brewery, and some LCBO stores may still have the festival four pack on their shelves. Shop around.
Cheers!
In a time where beers are becoming more and more complex, with flavours most unnatural for a traditional ale—peanut butter, maple syrup, bacon, banana, crème brulée—it's good to go back to the basics.
As many of you know, I prefer a stout to any other style of beer. And, as many of the above ingredients are added to stouts and porters, I really prefer a simple, dry stout. If you're going to add anything to a stout, oatmeal, in my humble opinion, is the way to go.
At this year's WinterBrewed festival, I had the privilege of trying a wide variety of ales, and my favourite of the event was an oatmeal stout by a relatively new craft brewery that has created a little magic.
Midnight Oatmeal Stout (4.5% ABV)
Whitewater Brewing Company
Foresters Falls, ON
Beer O'Clock rating: 4
Appearance: walnut brown with a creamy, dark taupe head that settles that remains for a good portion of your glass as you drain it. For my review, the growler had been opened for a while and the head dissipated to a fine lace.
Nose: smoked oysters, dark-roasted coffee, and cocoa.
Palate: smoked sausage, reminiscent of one of my favourite smoke beers.
Overall impression: for a simple oatmeal stout, Midnight Oatmeal is incredibly complex, lots of smoke, ample body with a great balance of malt and hops, Whitewater has made my favourite style of beer simply magical.
This microbrewery, located in the heart of whitewater rafting country, along the Ottawa River, is the dream of three adventurous buddies: James Innes, Chris Thompson, and Chris Thompson (no, that's not a typo—there are two Chris Thompsons, and I had the honour of meeting both of them at WinterBrewed). While on a rafting trip, the three pals decided to start a brewery, and Whitewater is already off with a rush.
Their beer can be purchased directly from the brewery, but if you don't want to drive that far up the Ottawa Valley, they can be found at various pubs in Ottawa and the surrounding area. Check their Web site.
I also tried and enjoyed their IPA, and I look forward to trying their other offerings. I suggest you seek them out and treat yourself to some magic in a bottle (or pint glass).
Cheers!
I know: I've been negligent.
It's been more than five weeks since my last review and I've kept a low key over the weeks when it's come to beer. I haven't been at any beer-related events in more than six weeks, have only been at my regular haunt a couple of times since the holidays. I haven't even been in an LCBO yet this year.
But I'm back, and this week I plan to review a couple of brews.
And, this weekend, I attended the second WinterBrewed festival.
This year, the event was held indoors, for which I'm sure many of the vendors were thankful. No frozen lines, no shivering behind the counters, and no one complaining that they couldn't taste the beer because it was too damned cold!
It was great to see some new craft breweries that have joined the growing community: Sawdust City, Turtle Island, Junction, Perth, Covered Bridge, and Whitewater. I enjoyed meeting the new brewers and tasting their creations. Most notably, I enjoyed the Bridge Over the River Chai, a beautifully spiced brown ale, the rich Black Velvet Lager, the mind-blowing On Her Majesty's Imperial Stout, and (my personal favourite) a smoky Oatmeal Stout that I will be reviewing in full later this week.
Some unusual but enjoyable stouts came from Sawdust City: a peanut-butter stout and a chocolate-almond biscotti stout. They delivered exactly what they advertised and I enjoyed the experience.
In addition to the new breweries, I was pleased to see some well-established breweries return: the two big breweries of our region, Beau's and Mill Street, plus Beyond The Pale, Cassel, Broadhead, Flying Monkeys, Muskoka, and Amsterdam. I enjoyed the return of Beau's vanilla porter (again, a review is forthcoming), loved a bourbon-barrel-aged Imperial IPA, and a kick-ass brown.
But I also noticed that some local breweries were missing: most notably, Ashton Brewing Company. And where was Big Rig? Where was McAuslan?
As it was, the Fifth Avenue Court was packed with vendors and beer lovers, and there was lots to enjoy. If you didn't get a chance to come out this weekend, you have to add the beer festivals of the National Capital to your must-do list in the future.
As the photographer of the event, I took so many photos of the event that it will take me a while to get through them all. You can see more of them, on Wednesday, at The Brown Knowser. I will also be creating a Flickr photo album, where you can see many, many more.
Thanks to everyone who stopped to chat with me, to the breweries that shared their wonderful brews, and for the great conversations.
Cheers!
I've been incredibly negligent in my beer reviewing, since Christmas. After reviewing a stellar chocolate milk stout, I had a Belgian IPA that did very little for me (and so, I didn't review it), then overindulged on one of my favourite beers, and then settled right down, drinking only three wee bottles of beer for the rest of the holidays.
I did have some amazing wine with friends, as we celebrated the new year, and a spectacular 1991 Tokaji Aszú (pronounced toke-eye ah-zoo, it's a sweet Hungarian dessert wine) that my wife and I had stashed in our cellar but finally opened and shared, with family, on Christmas Day.
But I digress.
All this to say I didn't have much in the way of beer over the past couple of weeks. But, last night, I decided that a review was overdue. And I had two good reasons to break out a bottle: two friends were celebrating birthdays, so I promised that I would raise a glass to one and dedicate a beer review to the other.
Cheers to you both! To Miriam, The Merry Runner, and Marissa, The Beer Gypsy!
As it turned out, the beer that I chose to review is a favourite of Marissa's, so there's an added bonus to opening it. Actually, I should have suspected as much, because I believe it was Marissa who brought a bottle of this Baltic porter to the last Ottawa Bottle Share. At that time, I only had a small sip of it: this time, I had an entire bottle to savour for myself.
Let's take a look:
Lost River Baltic Porter (ABV 8.5%)
Bellwoods Brewery
Toronto ON
Beer O'Clock rating: 3.5
Appearance: deep walnut with a creamy, dark taupe head that settles to a full cap.
Nose: dark chocolate, fresh, ground walnuts, and prunes.
Palate: dark-roasted coffee, prunes, and cedar, with a bitter, slightly alcoholic but well-balanced finish. As the porter opens up, the alcohol becomes less-defined.
Overall impression: this is a bold and bitter porter with distinct, roasted notes. It's a celebratory ale that would pair well with a good cigar—which is appropriate for my tasting.
For me, Baltic porters have larger-than-life flavours and come off as being boozy. The Porter Baltique Grande Cuvée by Les Trois Mousquetaires is a classic example of a heady porter. But while Lost River is big in flavour, it lacks in the boozy characteristic.
And, for me, that puts it heads above the other Baltic porters.
While this brew is not available through the LCBO, you can get it directly from the brewery. And because I don't live in Toronto, that makes me sad. I can only hope that Bellwoods gets its product in the stores and in Ottawa.
Because, when I want to toast my friends on their birthday, I want easy access to good beer.
Cheers!
Some of you may recall that I love stout ales; in particular, milk stout.
My favourite beer of all time is one that is really hard to find. In fact, I haven't seen it anywhere above the Mason-Dixon Line. But, in my humble opinion, it is the best. Beer. Ever.
Or, possibly, was.
Since I had The Duck Rabbit Milk Stout, I have been in search of a milk stout to either match or rival that fine beverage.
This weekend, I think I've found it.
The Chocolate Manifesto
Triple Chocolate Milk Stout (10% ABV)
Flying Monkeys Craft Brewing
Barrie, ON
Beer O'Clock rating: 5
Appearance: deep walnut with a creamy, deep-taupe head that settles to a thin cap.
Nose: an incredible, intense chocolate, like a malted milkshake, with a hint of sweet chocolate syrup.
Palate: rich, malted chocolate and a light touch of licorice. A full finish with a definite taste of alcohol that does not overpower the other flavours.
Overall impression: I am in love! This is an incredible, creamy, chocolate treat. Where I felt I could eat chocolate-chip cookies and wash them down with The Duck Rabbit, this creamy-smooth stout has the chocolate-chip cookies in the milk.
Brewed with chocolate nibs, cacao powder, and chocolate malt, this is a decadent treat. It's rich without being sickeningly rich; sweet without being cloyingly sweet; and high in alcohol without being boozy. It's well-balanced.
It's perfect.
Because it comes in a 750ml bottle, it's also perfect for sharing, especially at this time of year.
This is a seasonal that I hope the folks at Flying Monkeys brings back, and brings back often. With so few truly exceptional milk stouts, it would be a shame to make people search.
Cheers! And Merry Christmas!
Sometimes, there's just too many craft beers out there to drink, and you have so little time. Sometimes, you wish you could try many different beers but to do so would leave you intoxicated, unable to do anything else.
For times like that, I recommend joining a group of beer drinkers and sharing bottles.
This weekend, the second Ottawa Bottle Share was held with 20 craft beers from across North America. The premise is that everyone brings a bottle that is not easily acquired: you can't get it in the LCBO, nor can you find it in great supply.
It might sound like a lot of beer to drink in one sitting, and true, by the end of it all, your taste buds are exhausted. But because you pour no more than an ounce or so of each beer (sometimes, I put much less in my tasting cup), and you drink for about three hours, you have less than two pints.
For this tasting, I calculated that I drank, at most, one pint.
But what a tasting.
The majority of beers at this bottle share were stouts and porters, with a couple of Scotch ales, pale ales, and barley wines. My favourites of the afternoon were the MacKroken Flower Reserve Scotch Ale, the Barley Days Yuletide Cherry Porter, the Dogfish Head American Beauty, and the Heady Topper.
Not to toot my own horn, but I brought a taste of Ottawa brewing history that held its own with the other samples: a 2005 Tsarina Katarina Imperial Stout. Yes, that's an eight-year-old stout, from my friend, Perry Mason, of the gone-but-not-forgotten Scotch-Irish Brewing Company.
This is the beer that made me want to start reviewing beer. I first wrote about this Imperial stout two years ago, when I couldn't believe a beer could last for six years. Two years later, it still holds its body and flavour, with very little hint of its nine-percent alcohol level. For me, it was a treat to revisit.
I wish to thank Sasha and Matt for opening their house to this tasting, and to all the participants who brought amazing beer. I can't wait to do this again.
For those of you who wish to attend the next Ottawa Bottle Share, follow the Ottawa Beer Events blog.
Cheers!
