Beau’s keeps sending new beers out our way and I’m happy about that. While I am mostly focused on what’s happening here locally, and what beers we can get from our local folks, I do enjoy reviewing these beers from Beau’s.th.
I did a pretty in-depth write up about Beau’s when I met with co-founder Steve Beauchesne, but I do want to reiterate a bit about the brewery. Founded in 2006 in Vanleek Hill, Ontario by father and son Tim and Steve Beauchesne, Beau’s is an employee-owned and completely independent Canadian craft brewery. They are also the official beer of Canada’s 150th anniversary.
This New Lang Syne is already available in Liquor Marts and beer vendors around the city. So now is the perfect time for a writeup of this beer.
*Writer’s Note: I did receive this beer review free of charge. *
The style of beer we are drinking today is a Beligan Tripel. The name Tripel comes from the brewing process of this beer. Essentially it means you are adding three times the malt as you would in a Beligan “simple”. This increases the sugar content in the beer and results in a highly alcoholic beer. The best Belgian tripels hide this strong alcoholic flavor making them delicious but dangerous. They have a surprisingly light color, typically bright yellow to golden, which is a result of the addition of Belgian candy sugar (up to 25% sucrose). Tripels are the most brewed of the Belgian styles and are highly adored due to their deep color, soft maltiness and unique yeast flavors. Even with their high ABV (usually 8-12%) they are highly approachable when done right. Let’s get to the beer.
What’s unique about this beer is that it has been aged in pinot gris wine barrels for 4 months and then blended with an unaged batch of the beer to provide an interesting meld of beer. It is a bottle-conditioned beer and has been described to me as bridging the gap between beer and wine. I’m excited to give it a try.
ABV – 9% Appearance – Pours a slightly hazy golden with a nice frothy white head. Smell – The nose brings some citrus zest, some nice sweet malt notes, along with an interesting white wine character and some oak. Taste – This beer has a lot going on. With the use of a Belgian yeast you are getting some nice yeast esters bringing some bubblegum, apricot and pear. This works incredibly well with the white wine character which compliments these notes. There is a candied sugar sweetness that is slightly cut by the oak on the finish. The finish is a blend of this oak and yeast spice along with some tannins from the wine. Mouth Feel – Medium bodied, nice carbonation, and very little sign of the 9% alcohol. Overall Thoughts – Nice beer. It makes a good representation for the Tripel and brings a lot of those characteristic notes including a unique yeast character, nice maltiness combining with the white wine and oak notes from the barrel aging. Do I like it? – I did enjoy this beer. It was unique and did bring some wine characteristics to the beer. I felt it could be described as bridging the gap between beer and wine. Overall I really enjoyed this beer and think it would make an excellent beverage for you on New Years Eve!
I hope that this write-up was informative. I encourage you to get out and try as many new beers as you can. Broaden your horizons and your palate.
Keep following along as I keep doing what I can to write about beer, breweries and brewers.
To those who celebrate – MERRY CHRISTMAS!
And, to those who will be celebrating it, HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Beau’s keeps sending new beers out our way and I’m happy about that. While I am mostly focused on what’s happening here locally, and what beers we can get from our local folks, I do enjoy reviewing these beers from Beau’s. Luckily, this beer is both! It’s a beer brewed in collaboration with Half-Pints Brewing Co. as part of the nationwide collaboration brews Beau’s is doing for Canada’s 150th.
I did a pretty in-depth write up about Beau’s when I met with co-founder Steve Beauchesne, but I do want to reiterate a bit about the brewery. Founded in 2006 in Vanleek Hill, Ontario by father and son Tim and Steve Beauchesne, Beau’s is an employee-owned and completely independent Canadian craft brewery. They are also the official beer of Canada’s 150th anniversary.
The Killer Kvass from Beaus is starting to pop up on shelves in Liquor Marts and beer vendors around the city. So now is the perfect time for a writeup of this beer.
*Writer’s Note: I did receive this beer review free of charge. This did not influence my write-up. *
Killer Kvass
The Kvass has been a common drink in Europe since the middle-ages. It is comparable with other grain based fermented beverages, like beer, but was invented by the Slavs and became a popular drink among this group. The word “kvass” first appears in 996 C.E. following the Christianization of the Kievan Rus. The first mention of Kvass in an English text wasn’t until 1553. In Russia, under Peter the Great, it was the most common non-alcoholic drink in every class of society. In Russia, the Kvass has been touted as a more “patriotic” alternative to drinks like Coke or Pepsi.
A Kvass is a style that I had never heard of before Beau’s and Half-Pints announced they’d be brewing one. A Kvass is a traditional Slavic beverage that is typically made using Rye Bread. The colour of the chosen bread will affect on the colour of the beer. Much like other fermented beverages like Kombucha, a traditional Kvass is classified as non-alcoholic typically having between 0.5%-1% alcohol content. In many instances, the Kvass is flavoured with fruit or herbs.
This Kvass is a “Killer” Kvass. The folks at Beau’s and Half-Pints have amped it up and produced a whopping 2.5% alcohol. This Kvass was brewed using 70kg of organic rye bread croutons, organic lemon peel and organic raisins. A portion of the sales of this beer will go towards supporting D’Arcy’s Arc in Winnipeg. For that reason alone, I encourage you to give it a try.
Beau’s did a really great video introduction of this beer with Chris from Half-Pints. I’d recommend checking that out if you haven’t seen it already. You can view it here.
ABV – 2.5% Appearance – Pours a hazy golden colour with a nice amount of head that dissipates quickly leaving on a little bit of foam. Smell – A nice bready aroma combined with some herbal notes and a hint of citrus. You can certainly tell it was made using rye bread as this comes through on the nose. Taste – A lot lighter than I had expected but with a good amount of flavour. The rye bread notes come through along with a noticeable yeasty character. There is a nice raisin sweetness and that subtle lemon citrus just at the end. Mouth Feel – Light bodied, clean drinking, good finish and rather refreshing. Overall Thoughts – Having never had this drink before, I was rather impressed with it. It is an easy drinking beer that brings a nice punch of flavour for only 2.5%. Do I like it? – I did enjoy this beer. I found that it brought a lot to the table for being only 2.5%. As someone who enjoys drinking Kombucha, a Kvass might be right up my alley.
I hope that this write-up was informative. I encourage you to get out and try as many new beers as you can. Broaden your horizons and your palate.
Keep following along as I keep doing what I can to write about beer, breweries and brewers.
There are a lot of really good beers for me to write about these days. That along with the fun beer related events, breweries in the city, and being back at work, it’s gonna be an interesting year all around. Today I’ve had the good fortune of being able to sample Beau’s Fall Pack which should be coming to Liquor Marts before too long. It’s a pack of four beer, Lug Tread and three others, and I’m looking forward to giving them a try.
I did a pretty in-depth write up about Beau’s when I met with co-founder Steve Beauchesne, but I do want to reiterate a bit about the brewery. Founded in 2006 in Vanleek Hill, Ontario by father and son Tim and Steve Beauchesne, Beau’s is an employee-owned and completely independent Canadian craft brewery. Led by head brewer Matt O’Hara, the focus at Beau’s is to brew interesting and tasty beers using only quality, certified-organic ingredients and local spring water.
This “Best of Beau’s” pack contains four beers. Lug Tread – Beau’s core beer which is a their take on a Kölsch, Sargeant Stripes -A Jamaican Export Stout, Cranberry Derby – a pale ale infused with cranberry and using oat as part of the malt profile, and the Spice Principal – a take on the German weissbier using 12 organic spices from coriander to ginger to cayenne.
*Writer’s Note: I did receive this pack to review for free. *
Lug Tread is a hybrid style beer. It is top fermented like an ale but cold-aged like a lager to create this crisp and refreshing take on a German Kölsch. This is Beau’s flagship beer and it has won over 20 awards for brewing excellence since 2006.
A typical Köslch is crisp and refreshing with subdued hop and a subdued maltiness throughout. This brings a nice refreshing beer with a crisp finish that is enjoyable during the summer months. Beau’s take on this style is a bit more malt forward and brings a bit of warmth so that it can even be enjoyed during the winter months when it’s cold outside and one is seeking that warming.
This style of beer originated in Cologne, Germany. There had been a tradition of top-fermenting beers in Cologne since the Middle-Ages. The “Köslch” that we drink today wasn’t produced until the 1800s and was developed in large part to combat the bottom-fermenting pale lagers which were being produced in other regions of Germany and Europe.
The name Kölsch is an appellation protected by the Kölsch Konvention (1986) and is restricted in use to the 20 or so breweries around in and around Köln. The Konvention simply defines the beer as a “light, highly attenuated, hop-accentuated, clear, top-fermenting Vollbier.” So, while you may have had a beer that is brewed in this style, you’ll only have had a true Kölsch if it’s from one of the breweries permitted to use the name.
ABV – 5.2% Appearance – Pours a clear pale straw in colour with a nice white head that quickly dissipates. Smell – Smell is clean with a biscuity note to it, dried apple and hay Taste – Nice light malt notes bring that bready feel to the beer. Light fruit notes follow along with some light hop herbal spiciness finishing with both refreshing and crisp. Mouth Feel – Good level of carbonation with a malty herbal hop dry finish. Overall Thoughts –While not a Kolsch, this beer does well in representing the style by bringing great flavour without overwhelming the beer. It remains highly drinkable and refreshing. Do I like it? – This is a nice easy drinking beer that is great on a warm day or sitting inside in the cold. I do like this beer and think it is a good representation of what Beau’s can do.
Sergeant Stripes is Beau’s take on an export stout. There are numerous styles of stouts ranging from Dry Stouts, to Porters, and Oyster stouts and my favorite Imperial Stouts. The specific stout style, Foreign Extra Stout, were stronger stouts than those typically brewed for today’s market. Not quite getting to the Imperial Stout ABV but ranging in the 6.3-8% range. Those brewed before WW1 had the same Original Gravity (starting sugar content) as Extra Stouts but because it had a long secondary fermentation with Brettanomyces it ended up with a higher alcohol content. They have a history stretching back to the 18th century when they were more heavily hopped versions of stronger export stouts.
Hops, of course, act as an excellent preservative and allow the beer to keep as it travels. Guinness Foreign Extra Stout (originally, West India Porter, later Foreign Extra Double Stout) was first brewed in 1801 per Guinness. It was brewed with extra hops to give it a distinctive taste and a longer shelf life.
Export Stouts were brewed to be able to keep and be enjoyable after taking a long journey to hotter climates. Most of the export stouts today are found in these hotter climates including Africa, Asia and the Caribbean and the Guinness version makes up ~40% of the Guinness brewed today.
ABV – 7.9% Appearance – Pours dark as the night sky with a nice tan head. Smell – Roasted malt, some chocolate and a strong aroma of sweet molasses come through on this beer. Taste – The first word that comes to mind is sweet. This beer brings some nice roasted malt with a huge burst of molasses sweetness, subtle mocha and coffee notes and a nice alcohol warming. Mouth Feel – Solid silky body with a warming sweet finish. Overall Thoughts – Nice roasted malt, good sweetness, nice alcohol warming and overall solid export stout. Do I like it? – I did like this beer though I found it more of a sipping beer. The sweetness went better when I was eating food then on its own where I found it to be a bit on the sweet side for me. Still, overall, I enjoyed it.
With the wild oat series, Beau’s reimagines recipes and brews something interesting and creative. This beer falls in that category. Using a combination of German hops, Canadian cranberries, cranberry juice and oats along side Vienna, caramunich, carared and acidulated malts to bring a light ale base complimented with tart cranberry.
While this doesn’t really fit into any specific style, it would fall under the generic category of Fruit/Vegetable beer. These are beers that are brewed using a base style with the addition of fruit.
ABV – 6.3% Appearance – Pours with a pale reddish tinge and a nice white foamy head. Smell – Biscuity malt notes come through with nose of cranberry tartness. Taste – Interesting taste here. It starts of with a light refreshing crispness and then flows into that sublte cranberry tartness and leaves an almost cookie like taste. Nice tartness that doesn’t dominate this beer but works in tandem with the malt and oat cereal backbone of this beer. Mouth Feel – Light carbonation with a subtle tart semi-sweet finish. Overall Thoughts – This beer brings a nice pale body with a well-balanced malt/oat profile complimented with the use of cranberries and cranberry juice. The mild tartness and semi-sweet beer is a nice beer for a crisp autumn day. Do I like it? – I did enjoy this one as well. This is not a sour beer, but it does have a nice tartness to it that works well with the sweet malt profile. It isn’t overwhelming or overt in either of these areas but subtle like the crispness of a fall day. It’s refreshing.
The Spice Principle is a German-style Weissbier that has been brewed using twelve organic spices. The spices include: coriander, tumeric, cumin, fenugreek, cayenne, black pepper, yellow mustard, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and nutmeg.
German Weissbiers are typically a pale refreshing wheat beer with high carbonation, dry finish and a light airy mouthfeel. Typically, due to the yeast esters, they also have a banana-clove yeast character to them. This style of beer has an interesting history. While it does date back hundreds of years to Bavaria, it was originally exclusively brewed by the Bavarian royalty. Modern versions of this beer date back to 1872 when Schneider began production.
While the typical Weissbier has that almost expected banana-clove yeast character, The Spice Principle takes this up a notch and will certainly have a far more unique and interesting flavour profile. The spices listed above bring a huge range of notes that are quite exciting. This certainly is a unique beer and I’d expect nothing less from Beau’s.
ABV – 5.6% Appearance – Pours a hazy golden straw colour with a good white head. Smell – There is a lot going on in this beer. There are aromas of pepper, banana, and cumin. There is a bit of a twinge in the nose from subtle cayenne and some pumpkin spice notes coming from the use of nutmeg and cinnamon. Taste – Quite a lot going on here as well. The spices themselves aren’t easily identified at the start. What you do get is some nice banana and cumin notes that are followed by a very subtle spice from the cayenne and a blend of the other spices working together in tandem to give a really rich experience. If you focus you can pick out individual spices but they seem to work really well together. Mouth Feel – High carbonation with a really light mouth feel and a nice spiced finish. Overall Thoughts –Really interesting take on the style. You do actually get some of those esters you’d expect in a weissbier, though they are quickly overtaken by the multitude of other spice profiles working together to bring you a really rich overall beer. Do I like it? – This is one of those “you have to try it” beers. I don’t think I’m doing justice to the taste profile. If you’ve hate Dieu de ciel’s Route d’epices then you have a decent idea what this is like. It is not as hot as that beer, but it’s got the same amount of interesting and unique flavour profile going on. I did like this beer.
Overall, I was quite impressed with the beers in the Fall mix pack. I can see why they chose each of these beers. They provide a wide range of styles with some great flavours. Definitely get out and try these beers. Beau’s does some fun stuff and these beers give you a bit of a look at some of that.
I want to finish by thanking my friend Cody over at beercrank.ca for letting me use his sweet pictures in this review. Be sure to check his blog out as well. You’ll get another take on some of the same stuff.
As always, I encourage you to get out and try as many new beers as you can. Broaden your horizons and your palate.
Beau’s keeps sending new beers out our way and I’m happy about that. While I am mostly focused on what’s happening here locally, and what beers we can get from our local folks, I do enjoy reviewing these beers from Beau’s.
I did a pretty in-depth write up about Beau’s when I met with co-founder Steve Beauchesne, but I do want to reiterate a bit about the brewery. Founded in 2006 in Vanleek Hill, Ontario by father and son Tim and Steve Beauchesne, Beau’s is an employee-owned and completely independent Canadian craft brewery. They are also the official beer of Canada’s 150th anniversary.
The Full-Time IPA from Beaus is starting to pop up on shelves in Liquor Marts around the city. So now is the perfect time for a writeup of this beer.
*Writer’s Note: I did receive this beer review free of charge. This did not influence my write-up. *
Full-Time IPA
IPAs or India Pale Ale, have a storied history. The first known use of the term comes from the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser in 1829. At this time, they were also referred to as a “pale ale as prepared for India”, “East India pale ale”, and “Export India Pale Ale”. These types of IPAs were widely popular amongst the East India company and, while considered very hoppy, they were not much stronger than other beers brewed at this time. Hops are used as a preservative of sorts, to help keep the beer fresh. If you were preparing a beer for a long trip from England to India, you’d need to add a lot of hops. So, while the IPA if consumed in England before shipping would be quite hoppy, at the other end it likely would not. Today, the tradition of hopping beers continues, but we don’t have as far to send them, and the goal is to make a hoppy beer. If you’re curious about IPAs check out Wikipedia, the BJCP Guidelines (Page 37) or IPA Beer.
While these beers are part of the pale ale family, they are strongly hopped and often showcase the variety of flavours and complexities that can come from the simple ingredients used to brew beer. Many will say the IPAs are an acquired taste, and they are rather unique, the bitterness brought using a large quantity of hops is not for everyone. On most IPAs you’ll see an IBU (international bitterness units) number that gives you an idea of how bitter it might be. For comparison, Torque’s American Pale Ale (Foundation) comes in at 30 IBUs, Half-Pints little Scrapper comes in at 50, and Barn Hammer’s Saturday Night Lumberjack at 75 IBUs.
Beau’s has used their skills to bring us a 6.7% abv 60 IBU IPA. This beer has used simcoe, cascade, nelson sauvin and citra hops which will bring out aromas of pine and citrus and tropical fruit. Simcoe and Citra are two of my favorite hops for the profiles they bring. So, how does it taste.
ABV – 6.7% Appearance – Pours a hazy golden with a nice fluffy white foam that retains well. Smell – Simcoe hop bringing the pine aroma along with some citrus and tropical fruit notes. Citra has a very distinct smell and comes through nicely. Taste – Ver similar to the aroma. The pine notes come through from the simcoe on the front followed by the nice citrus juiciness tropical fruit. Finish is a nice dry lingering hop bitterness with those fruit notes hanging around as well. Mouth Feel – Medium bodied, pine and fruit front with a lingering bitterness. Overall Thoughts – Well balanced IPA bringing good aromas and flavours from the hops. Bitterness is there but not overpowering and the beer is easy to drink. Do I like it? – Yes, I did like this beer. I don’t always go seeking IPAs these days, but I do enjoy a good one. This is a beer I’d be happy to have in my fridge regularly and I hope I’ll have the chance.
I hope that this write-up was informative. I encourage you to get out and try as many new beers as you can. Broaden your horizons and your palate.
I’ve got another post coming this week. I had a chance to check in with Stone Angel, so look for that coming tomorrow.
Keep following along as I keeping doing what I can to write about beer, breweries and brewers.
Beau’s keeps sending new beers out our way and I’m happy about that. While I am mostly focused on what’s happening here locally, and what beers we can get from our local folks, I do enjoy reviewing these beers from Beau’s.
I did a pretty in-depth write up about Beau’s when I met with co-founder Steve Beauchesne, but I do want to reiterate a bit about the brewery. Founded in 2006 in Vanleek Hill, Ontario by father and son Tim and Steve Beauchesne, Beau’s is an employee-owned and completely independent Canadian craft brewery. They are also the official beer of Canada’s 150th anniversary.
The Patersbier from Beaus is starting to pop up on shelves in Liquor Marts around the city. So now is the perfect time for a writeup of this beer.
*Writer’s Note: I did receive this beer review free of charge. This did not influence my write-up. *
Patersbier (Father’s Beer)
While it might be surprising to some of you, those monks who brew all the delicious Belgian strongs, tripels and quads, do not spend their time drinking these high alcohol beers. If they did, I’m sure they wouldn’t get a whole lot done. Instead, they brew this style of beer, a lighter variety called Patersbier (literally “Father’s Beer” in Dutch). They drink this beer instead of their high ABV products to allow them to enjoy the fruits of their labour while still being able to carry on the tasks of the day.
This style of beer is also known as an Enkel (single in Dutch) a name that likely comes from when the monks do an additional sparge on the grains to extract any remain sugars and then then use this collected sparge water to brew a highly sessionable beer. Singles from Trappist breweries are rarely available outside of the monasteries. So if you want to try one from a true Trappist monastery, you might have to travel.
Lucky for us, Beau’s has used their brewing skills to produce for us a Patersbier we can enjoy. With the weather warming up, these low ABV beers are a godsend for those days toiling away out in the sun on gardens, mowing lawns, or playing your favorite sport. So, how does it taste?
ABV – 4.7% Appearance – Pours a light yellow with a slight haze, likely from acidulated malt and wheat malt, with a small bit of white foam that dissipates quickly. Smell – Sweet notes of honey and subtle floral notes as well as some bready notes from the malt. Taste – Sweetness on the front with a bit of an odd metallic note, as well with notes of lemon, and a touch of clove as well a bit of pepperiness. Mouth Feel – Light bodied, clean drinking, good finish and rather refreshing. Overall Thoughts – Overall this beer comes as described. The beer is easy to drink and has some nice flavour notes to it. It is a touch metallic upfront which is a bit odd. Despite that, the beer is as described, a great lawnmower beer that is refreshing and tasty. Do I like it? – I did enjoy this. Despite the somewhat odd metallic note which wasn’t overly noticeable and easy to ignore, the beer was well done. It is refreshing and has some of those same Belgian characteristics that you get from other abbey style beers.
I hope that this write-up was informative. I encourage you to get out and try as many new beers as you can. Broaden your horizons and your palate.
I’m really looking forward to next week. Not only do we have the Manitoba Brewers’ Event happening down at Brazen Hall on June 6th, we also have Surly arriving in town on June 7th and Flatlanders’ Beer Festival coming up the weekend. It’s a pretty sweet time to love beer in Winnipeg and I’m psyched to partake as much as I can.
Keep following along as I keeping doing what I can to write about beer, breweries and brewers.
Beau’s keeps sending new beers out our way and I’m happy about that. While I am mostly focused on what’s happening here locally, and what beers we can get from our local folks, I do enjoy reviewing these beers from Beau’s.
I did a pretty in-depth write-up about Beau’s when I met with co-founder Steve Beauchesne, but I do want to reiterate a bit about the brewery. Founded in 2006 in Vanleek Hill, Ontario by father and son Tim and Steve Beauchesne, Beau’s is an employee-owned and completely independent Canadian craft brewery. They are also the official beer of Canada’s 150th anniversary.
Now I know I said I’d do the Patersbier next, but Beau’s Buenos Dias gruit is already here in town. So, I figured I’d write about it first. Hope you don’t mind. On to my review of their Buenos Dias Gruit.
*Writer’s Note: I did receive this beer review free of charge. This did not influence my write-up. *
Buenos Dias – Gruit
Gruits are an ancient style of beer that finds it origins somewhere around 700 CE. The Gruit reached the height of its consumption between the 9th and 13th centuries. Like many other ancient beer recipes, it was the women from whom this ale was produced. The recipe would be passed down through the generations. As time progressed, it shifted to being a task done within monasteries. The monastic communities gained economic prowess, having the best harvests, the best fabrics, etc… and they soon moved into producing beer.
During this time the gruit was a lot different from what we find today. Being made of an often-top-secret blend of herbs and spices. During the height of its popularity, the Gruitier was held in high regard and often had body guards to help protect the recipe. Holding positions of high regard and often luxurious houses, gruitiers all proclaimed their recipe to be the best and often boasted healing or medicinal properties. The use of the herbs and spices had a more practical reason, to keep the beer from spoiling. As hops were not used, these beers needed some other means of keeping for longer periods.
Today, a Gruit is a top-fermented ale that will still use blends of herbs, spices, or citrus. Most gruits produced today do use some level of hops but do so in a way that it imparts no hop flavour on the beer itself. Rather, these beers focus on being clean and imparting flavours from the use herbs, spices and botanical. The Buenos Dias gruit from Beau’s that we are trying today uses lime, orange, coriander and salt.
ABV – 4.5% Appearance – Pours a light yellow with a slight haze, likely from acidulated malt and wheat malt, with a small bit of white foam that dissipates quickly. Smell – Easily identifiable notes of citrus from the lime and orange with subtle notes of coriander. Taste – A clean drinking beer with a nice lime note, much more pronounced than the orange. There is a bit of a salty note there as well that leaves a dry finish. Mouth Feel – Good carbonation with nice bubbles and a dry salt finish. Overall Thoughts – Having not had many gruits to compare this too, I can’t say. This beer certainly seems to hit the notes for the style and provides a nice clean enjoyable beer. I like the use of salt and think it pairs well with the lime. Do I like it? – Yes, I did enjoy this beer. Having made a Margarita Gose myself, this is right along those lines minus the sourness. It’s a great warm weather beer and is refreshing.
I hope that this write-up was informative. I encourage you to get out and try as many new beers as you can. Broaden your horizons and your palate.
I’ll be meeting with Adrienne Johnson from Barn Hammer this week for the next installment of my “Get to know a Brewer” series. So watch for that soon as well as my review of Beau’s Patersbier.
I’ve got a few more Beau’s Beers that have been sent my way for review. I feel lucky to be able to get these beers in advance from Beau’s so that I can taste them and give my thoughts. I’ve got three beers on the way this week, but I’m gonna do each as a separate post as I drink the beer. Today’s will be Beau’s Imperial Koslch – Haters Gonna Hate.
I did a pretty in-depth write up about Beau’s when I met with co-founder Steve Beauchesne, but I do want to reiterate a bit about the brewery. Founded in 2006 in Vanleek Hill, Ontario by father and son Tim and Steve Beauchesne, Beau’s is an employee-owned and completely independent Canadian craft brewery. They are also the official beer of Canada’s 150th anniversary.
*Writer’s Note: I did receive this beer review free of charge. This did not influence my write-up. *
Haters Gonna Hate – Imperial Kolsch
A Kolsch is a style of beer originating in Cologne, Germany. It is a top fermenting beer that has been brewed since the middle-ages. The “koslch” that we drink today wasn’t produced until the 1800s to combat the bottom-fermenting pale lagers which were being produced in other regions of Germany and Europe.
Kolschs are clean, crisp and delicately balanced with subtle fruit notes and subdued hoppiness. As this is an Imperialized version of Lug Tread, it has a higher ABV and is much hoppier than a typically kolsch, on purpose.
When we talk about “imperializing” a beer, we really mean that we’ve amped it up. More malt and hop provide a higher ABV and more robust beer than it’s counterpart. The term Imperial tends to come from the Russian Imperial Stout, a style of strong stout that was originally brewed in England for the Russian Imperial Court. Today we use Imperial, or Double, to denote a beer that is a stronger version of the named style.
Beau’s describes the creation of this imperial Kolsch as such:
“Though first brewed by in 2015, the history of Haters Gonna Hate goes way back to 2006 and the very first batch of Lug Tread, Beau’s flagship lagered ale (a.k.a. Kölsch). Due to some faulty beer-making equipment, it ended up “imperialized” – that is, brewed to higher strength and intensity than intended. With the release of Haters Gonna Hate, Beau’s has opted to recreate this happy accident on purpose. In fact, the name of the beer is a bit of a cheeky tribute to those events as well.”.
So, let’s get into the beer and see what it’s like.
ABV – 7.1% Appearance – Pours a golden-orange colour with a good 2” head that retains well Smell – Hop notes are apparent right up front with a crisp fruity note which is likely from the nelson sauvignon hops. Taste – Hop notes come through right away with a pop. It’s a surprise in fact and quite pleasant. The fruit notes are reminiscent of passion fruit and mango with a nice crisp bitter finish. Mouth Feel – Good carbonation with nice bubbles and a bitter crisp finish. Overall Thoughts – While certainly not at all like Lug Tread, this beer is crisp with a noticeable bitterness and great flavours from the hops. Do I like it? – I really liked this beer. The hop notes weren’t overly prominent and it certainly wasn’t reminiscent of an IPA. It had a nice hop kick to it that complimented the crisp underlying beer well. It was clean with great flavours and was easy to drink. I’d love to have this beer again.
I hope that this write-up was informative. I encourage you to get out and try as many new beers as you can. Broaden your horizons and your palate. This beer will be making it’s way to Manitoba in the near future, so keeps your eyes peeled.
Next up I’ll be writing about Beau’s Patersbier. I just should drink it first.
I was pretty excited to get a package from Beaus with a few more beers to review. They have a number of things coming up for us folks in Manitoba and I’m excited for the future.
I did a pretty in-depth write up about Beau’s when I met with co-founder Steve Beauchesne, but I do want to reiterate a bit about the brewery. Founded in 2006 in Vanleek Hill, Ontario by father and son Tim and Steve Beauchesne, Beau’s is an employee-owned and completely independent Canadian craft brewery. Led by head brewer Matt O’Hara, the focus at Beau’s is to brew interesting and tasty beers using only quality, certified-organic ingredients and local spring water. While not the only completely organic brewery in Canada, they certainly have made a name for themselves with their business practices: they’ve won over 85 awards for their brewing, packaging design and business practices. This includes two gold medals at Mondial de la Biere (Strasbourg, France, and Montreal Quebec); six gold medals at the Canadian brewing awards, seven times “Best Craft Brewery in Ontario” and seven times “Best Regularly Produced Beer in Ontario” at the Golden Tap Awards.
Beau’s Brewing Company is the Official Beer Partner of Ottawa 2017 and Beau’s Lug Tread will be the Official Beer for Canada’s 150th anniversary celebrations in the nation’s capital As part of this achievement, they are planning to do collaborations across Canada. I had the chance to try the collaboration they did with the Fogo Island Inn located on Fogo Island, one of Canada’ oldest settlements. It was a Myrrh smoked Gose and it was pretty tasty.
Beau’s did confirm with me that they are going to be doing a collaboration brew with a Manitoba brewery. What is still to be confirmed is the brewery and the style of beer. What I do know is that we are getting some beers from Beaus coming our way. In fact, the first one is on the growler bars now and is the focus of this article. Their Farm to Table 80 Schilling Scotch Ale.
The Beer
*Writer’s Note: I did receive this beer to review free of charge. This did not influence my write-up. *
80 Schilling is a Scottish style ale. These beers originated in the 1800s and the “schilling” classification had to do with the alcohol content. Typically, these beers would range from 60 schilling (light) to 90 schilling (wee heavy). The 80 schilling variety was a popular style and was considered to be the “export” of this style of beer.
Scottish exports are typically malt-focused and are generally caramelly with a few esters and occasionally a subtle butterscotch aftertaste. Hop notes are only present to balance the beer and support the malt which is to be the star. Beau’s farm to table series is focused on brewing traditional styles of beers and is a compliment to their more experimental “wild oats” series of beers.
ABV – 4.7% Appearance – Pours a copper colour with a nice 1” quickly fading white head. Smell – Smells of caramel with a toasty malt note and some biscuit notes. Taste – Up front malt sweetness with a crispness to it. The bitterness in this beer is very mild but is present as a compliment to the sweetness and generally caramel notes of the malt. Mouth Feel – Soft carbonation with a dry finish. Overall Thoughts – Very good representation of the style of beer as it is described. Malt is the star with a nice caramel and toasted biscuit notes. The hop presence is subtle and compliments the malt sweetness. Do I like it? – As I’ve been noticing, Beau’s beers are quite on point. While this particular beer is not really one I’d seek out to buy I enjoyed it. If you are looking for a malt-forward yet easy to drink beer, this is worth a growler/howler fill.
Coming soon
While this is the first beer we have coming from Beau’s this year, we can expect more. In March we will see the arrival of “Strong Patrick”, an Irish-style red ale, as well as their Buenos Dias Gruit coming in May. Beau’s has also submitted to bring another seasonal beer, yet unknown, for the Liquor Marts coast to coaster promotion in June. Beau’s will also be at the Flatlander’s beer festival and there will be a seasonal beer coming to Manitoba in July, likely their Wag the Wolf Hopfenweisse. The Tom Green Beer Golden Vox Rye Pale Lagered Ale and Lug Tread are also listed for restaurants to purchase to put on tap.
We are starting to see more and more of Beau’s beers come into Manitoba and complimenting the great selection we are getting locally. I, for one, am very excited to see what the collaboration beer will be. Keep following along as once I know you will too. I’ve also got a follow-up with One Great City on the books coming hopefully later this week.
Sometimes I feel pretty lucky doing what I do. I had the opportunity to try out the Best of Beau’s pack a little bit early so that I could spend some time tasting and writing about the pack. This pack is already listed on the MB Liquormarts website and I’m hoping that this write-up of the four beers contained within will prove helpful to you. Overall the pack presents some diversity of styles with some interesting twists.
I did a pretty in-depth write up about Beau’s when I met with co-founder Steve Beauchesne, but I do want to reiterate a bit about the brewery. Founded in 2006 in Vanleek Hill, Ontario by father and son Tim and Steve Beauchesne, Beau’s is an employee-owned and completely independent Canadian craft brewery. Led by head brewer Matt O’Hara, the focus at Beau’s is to brew interesting and tasty beers using only quality, certified-organic ingredients and local spring water. While not the only completely organic brewery in Canada, they certainly have made a name for themselves with their business practices: they’ve won over 85 awards for their brewing, packaging design and business practices. This includes two gold medals at Mondial de la Biere (Strasbourg, France, and Montreal Quebec); six gold medals at the Canadian brewing awards, seven times “Best Craft Brewery in Ontario” and seven times “Best Regularly Produced Beer in Ontario” at the Golden Tap Awards.
This “Best of Beau’s” pack contains four beers. Dark Helmut – Imperious Schwarzbier, Bush-Fire – Rooibos Honeybush Beer, Collabrrrewnaut – Espresso Pilsner, and Quads & Rockers – Belgian Quad.
Dark Helmut – Imperious Schwarzbier
Dark Helmut is a beer brewed in the style of a Schwarzbier, a German dark lager that literally translates to “Dark Beer”. The “imperious” nature of it both plays on the Dark Helmut (reminiscent of both Darth Vader and Lord Helmet) as well as the fact that the ABV on this beer comes in at 7.3%.
Schwarzbiers are typically a balanced beer. Presenting both a smooth roasted malt characteristic along with a moderate hoppy bitterness. Lighter in body and lacking the deeper roasted malt and heavy aftertaste make Schwarzbiers easy to drink.
While the history on this style is fairly sketchy, it is a regional specialty of Thuringia, Saxony and Franconia in Germany. Popularity for this beer came back after German unification and it served as an inspiration for Japanese brewed black lagers.
ABV – 7.3% Appearance – Pours charcoal with a thin quick fading off-white head. Smell – Smells of caramel and toffee, dark fruit and roasted malt Taste – Bitter roasted malt notes along with sweet malt and caramel. Lingering bitter slightly astringent after taste. Mouth Feel – Soft carbonation with a dry bitter finish. Overall Thoughts – A very nice well-balanced beer that has a bit more flavour from the extra malt used to make this imperious(imperial). Do I like it? – I found this beer to be quite tasty. It wasn’t too rich or filling but still carried a nice malt and hop balance. Easy to drink and flavourful.
Bush-Fire – Rooibos Honeybush Beer
Bush-fire is brewed using a blonde ale as a base with the addition of rooibos and honeybush teas. Blonde ales are traditional malt oriented with interesting hop or floral flavours and aromas. Light bodied, easy to drink and refreshing, these beers typically don’t overwhelm the senses with flavour. They are typically well-balanced and clean on the finish.
Typically, this style of beer is brewed as an alternative to a lager, which requires a period of lagering making it a more time consuming beer to produce. This particular blonde ale from Beau’s certainly contains a punch of both aroma and flavour that is clean on the finish and very satisfying to drink.
ABV – 5.8% Appearance – Pours amber with a short lived thin white head. Smell – Smells of Honey right upfront with hints of southern sweet tea, and rooibos Taste – Nice sweetness reminiscent of honey with a dry tannic bitterness on finish from the tea. Not overpowering by any stretch but flavourful and enjoyable. Rooibos and honey bush bring really nice flavours to this blonde ale Mouth Feel – Medium carbonation, light mouthfeel with a lingering dry finish. Overall Thoughts – Overall quite a good beer. Teas bring a very good balance and depth to the blonde ale base. Honey sweetness and dry finish make for an enjoyable drink. Do I like it? – While I tend to find blonde ales not to be up my alley, this one had nice flavours to it that added quite a bit to the easy drinking blonde ale base. So, yes, I did like it.
Collabrrrewnaut – Espresso Pilsner
Collabrrrewnaut is a really interesting blend of a Bohemian-style pilsner base and cold brewed organic fair trade coffee. Done as a collaboration between Beau’s and Ottawa’s Bridgehead Roastery, this beer brings some really interesting flavours to an already delicious style of beer.
Pilsners are one of the most popular beer styles in the word and originate in the City of Pilzen in 1295. While Pilsners are considered to be bottom-fermented beers now, they were actually top-fermented until about the mid-1840s. The taste and standards of this older styles varied widely and in many cases entire barrels of beer were dumped out. In 1839 the city of Pilsen founded a city owned brewery (now Pilsner Urquell) which was to brew beers and pioneer the Bavarian style. Brewers had already begun to brew using bottom-fermenting yeasts that were fermented and stored in colder temperatures to be drunk later. This is where the term lager comes from. Lagern is the German word for storing and comes from this process.
Using Pilzen’s soft water, local saaz hops and this Bavarian style of lagering produced a clear, crisp and refreshing beer that became the standard for the style. With the introduction of modern refrigeration there was no need to use caves for beer storage and this enabled the brewing of bottom-fermenting beers in many new places.
ABV – 5% Appearance – Pours a straw colour with an effervescent white head. Smell – Smells of slight herb and spice and a subtle espresso note. Taste – Deceptive. While it has a very subtle bitterness and a clean dry finish it contains interesting depth of notes from coffee to subtle fig and hints of chocolate. Mouth Feel – Medium body, medium carbonation with a lingering dry finish. Overall Thoughts – While I tend to characterize pilsners as having a bit of a “bite” to them on the finish, this beer finishes clean. The really interesting flavours brought in by the use of coffee provide a variety of flavours that don’t typically crop up in pilsners. Do I like it? – This beer was deceptively good. The initial pour is light in colour and gets the mind ready for a lighter crisp clean beer. While this beer certainly had a clean dry finish, the flavour profile was really interesting. I rather enjoyed drinking this beer and trying to pick out the different components. The coffee used definitely added.
Quads and Rockers – Belgian Quad
Quads and Rockers is a Belgian strong ale that has been brewed with a focus on tradition and style. Full-bodied and full-flavour, these beers are often quite heavy, bring rich malty sweetness.
The name Quadruple comes from the brewing process of this beer. Essentially it means you are adding four times the malt as you would in a Belgian “simple”. This increases the sugar content in the beer and results in a highly alcoholic beer. The best Belgian quads hide this strong alcoholic flavor making them delicious but dangerous. Quads are highly adored due to their deep color, soft maltiness and unique yeast flavors. Even with their high ABV (usually 8-12%) they are highly approachable when done right.
ABV – 10.5% Appearance – Pours Dark brown with a thin beige head. Smell – Smells of banana, mocha and raisins. Taste – Rich malty sweetness that has notes of cocoa, banana, and some peppery notes. Mouth Feel – Nice medium carbonation with a full mouthfeel and a lingering warmth on finish. Overall Thoughts – Overall a nice Belgian quad carrying good esters from the yeast and a full sweetness that lingers warm. Alcohol is well masked. Do I like it? – I’m a big fan of big bold beers. This was a full and enjoyable Belgian Quad that brought some really tasty flavours and a nice warmth from the alcohol. ABV is Well masked, but certainly still a sipping beer, I definitely enjoyed this one as well.
Overall I was quite impressed with the beers in the “Best of Beau’s” mix pack. I can see why they chose each of these beers. They provide a wide range of styles with some great flavours.
I hope that this write-up was informative. I encourage you to get out and try as many new beers as you can. Broaden your horizons and your palate.
*Writer’s Note: I did receive this pack to review free of charge. This did not influence my write-up. *
It sure seems like it has been a long time since I’ve written about any of the beers I’ve been drinking. It might be that – or the number has grown so large it’s a bit overwhelming when I look at the ones I wanted to write about. Whatever it may be, I’m back with a write up. This time, I’m talking about one of the beers we’ll see on Liquor Marts’ shelves soon: Beau’s The Tom Green Beer.
I did a pretty in-depth write up about Beau’s when I met with co-founder Steve Beauchesne, but I do want to reiterate a bit about the brewery. Founded in 2006 in Vanleek Hill, Ontario by father and son Tim and Steve Beauchesne, Beau’s is an employee-owned and completely independent Canadian craft brewery. Led by head brewer Matt O’Hara, the focus at Beau’s is to brew interesting and tasty beers using only quality, certified-organic ingredients and local spring water. While not the only completely organic brewery in Canada, they certainly have made a name for themselves with their business practices: they’ve won over 85 awards for their brewing, packaging design and business practices. This includes two gold medals at Mondial de la Biere (Strasbourg, France, and Montreal Quebec); six gold medals at the Canadian brewing awards, seven times “Best Craft Brewery in Ontario” and seven times “Best Regularly Produced Beer in Ontario” at the Golden Tap Awards.
The Tom Green Beer was produced in collaboration with comedian and actor Tom Green. For those of you who saw his sketch comedy show, you’ll remember he was known for drinking milk straight from the cow’s udder. His love for milk surely played a role in him wanting his beer to be a Milk Stout.
What I really admire about Beau’s is they give away a lot of details about their beers. So here are the technical specifications for the Tom Green Beer for those of you who are interested:
TECH SPECS
ALC/VOL: 5.0%
INGREDIENTS: Local Spring Water, Organic Barley Malts, Organic Oats, Organic Lactose, Organic Hops, Ale Yeast.
As I’ve said many times on this blog, stouts are one of my favorite styles of beer. Stouts are a dark beer made using roasted malts (or roasted barley), hops, water and yeast. Traditionally the term stout was used to describe the strongest (most alcoholic) porters, typically around 7-8%, produced by a brewery. The name ‘stout’ referred to the often stouter bottles these brews were sold in, which eventually became the term used to describe the style of beer.
There are numerous sub-styles of stouts ranging from Dry Stouts, to Porters, and Oyster stouts and my favorite, Imperial Stouts. While they had lost popularity after the First World War, they’ve started to have a bit of an upswing due to the growing popularity in craft beer and breweries. Stouts are very versatile, allowing for a lot of creativity in adjuncts and flavouring. You can see a number of craft breweries playing with stouts regularly. Higher alcohol stouts also often age well, making them a wonderful cellaring beer.
This particular stout is known as a “sweet stout,” which are much sweeter and less bitter than most other stouts. This is a traditionally English style of stout developed in the early 1900s as a tonic for invalids and nursing mothers. Originally called Milk or Cream stouts, this designation is no longer permitted in England (even if it is everywhere else) and the name derives from the use of lactose, or milk sugar, as a sweetener in the beer. Lactose is not a fermentable sugar and remains after fermentation is complete, which gives this beer its sweet and creamy nature.
ABV – 5.0% IBU – 27
Appearance – Opaque black with a nice tan head that leaves little lacing. Smell – Slight roasted malt notes, coffee notes, sweet dough, and chocolate Taste – Nice silky sweetness from the lactose, notes of toasted nuts and some caramel or brown sugar Mouth Feel – Silky mouth feel with a nice carbonation. Dry start with a sweet finish
Overall Thoughts – A bit of a lighter bodied stout than others I’ve had of this style. The sweetness isn’t overwhelming and provides a really nice contrast to the roasted notes and dry start of this beer. Very approachable beer that is easy to drink and provides some nice flavours. Do I like it? – I do like this beer. I’m a big fan of stouts and I really like trying a good milk stout. For me, the lighter body of this stout makes it less heavy in the stomach and makes for an easier drinking beer. I think this is a solid milk stout and I’d love to have it again.
As with all of my write ups on beers, this is my opinion. I encourage everyone to get out and try new beers. If this sounds good to you, give it a try, if not, give it a try anyways.
Beer Winnipeg 