So, I’m leaving for Hawaii. I’ve got all the beers for the rest of the Calendar tasted and I’m scheduling some posts to happen while I’m away enjoying the beach. So, you can expect this weekend to see some Hawaiian check-ins coming your way. Let’s just hope my one-year old daughter enjoys the long plane ride…

Today we have a beer from Bridge Brewing Company located in North Vancouver, BC.  The beer is called Santa’s Sac and is a Belgian Golden Strong Ale.

Bridge Brewing Company opened in 2012 as Vancouver’s first nano-brewery. Bridge was housed in a 1,000 sq/ft space and was brewing beer in 800 litre batches. Craft beer drinkers loved their beers and they’ve been working hard to expand production as much as possible to meet their demand. They have since expanded their brew house and brought on some help in order to meet the demand for their beers.

What is interesting about Bridge Brewing is that they are committee trying to be a zero-waste brewery. At present, they are 99% waste free. As they brew in small batches their hops and grains in small quantities so that they make sure they get the most use out of them. This also helps them ensure high quality standards in all their batches of beer.

Speaking of beer, they brew quite a lot of different styles from year-rounds, their iron-worker series, as well as seasonal beers.  The beer we are having today is from the Seasonal selection and sounds pretty tasty.  I’ve had the opportunity to try another one of their season beers, their Uganda Sipi Coffee Brown Ale and I thought it was pretty good.

Belgian Golden Strong Ales are pale, complex, effervescent and highly attenuated Belgian styles of beer. They bring big fruity notes along with hoppy notes and phenolics from the yeast. Interestingly, there are many references to the devil in the naming of this style of beer. This is due to the high alcohol content and a tribute to the original example of this style (Duvel). The best examples are highly complex and delicate with the carbonation bringing out the flavours. I’m excited as I’ve come to rather enjoy Golden Strong Ales. Let’s get to it.

Appearance – Pours a cloudy golden colour almost like honey with a thin white head.
Smell – Fruit forward on the nose with some dark fruit like plums along with some pepper, citrus and Belgian yeast notes.
Taste – Flavour brings some honey notes along with hints of banana, toffee, candied sugar, bubblegum, and a slight alcohol warming.
Mouthfeel – Nice medium mouthfeel with some candied sweetness on the finish. Not overly sweet and with a balanced alcohol presence.
Overall – Quite a nice Golden Strong Ale. It brings some nice flavour notes from the Belgian yeast along with some good candied sweetness that isn’t overly cloying. It’s got a good alcohol warmth that isn’t too pervasive. The Alcohol is well hidden.
Do I like it? – Yes, I do. I enjoyed this beer. I am becoming more of a fan of some of these Belgian styles that I don’t too often get to drink. This was a nice beer for day 22.