Category Archives: Beer Review

Phillips – Sax in the Dark Sour

April 12, 2016 beerwinnipeg Leave a comment

Today I’m going to take a stab at another beer that has recently arrived here in Manitoba. Phillips Sax in the Night Dark Brown Sour Ale.

This beer has quite the lengthy name. While we’ve been getting beers from Phillips for quite some time now (Their Double IPA Amnesiac seems to be a staple at the Liquor Marts) it is only recently we’ve started to get some of their seasonal releases. It’s also only recently we’ve started to see more and more sour beers making their way onto the shelves of the liquor marts here in Manitoba.

About the Brewery

Phillips opened in Esquimalt BC in 2001. The brewmaster Matt Phillips, formerly the brew master at Spinnakers Brewpub and Wild Horse Brewing, had always been passionate about beer and dreamed one day he would be able to make beers he wanted to drink. In 2008 they moved the brewery across the bridge to downtown Victoria. This gave them space to grow and to produce new and interesting beers.

Sadly, there isn’t much information on their website about their brewing capacity. A friend of mine from BC told me they are his “Picaroons”. Picaroons was the craft brewery I grew up with on the East Coast. I loved the beer they made; they were my first introduction to craft beer. So, if Phillips is that for British Colombians, then I say good work.

The beer I am trying today is a new release from Phillips. Released on March 14 from the brewery, we’ve just received it here in Manitoba. Be sure to check Liquor Marts’ listing page to see where you can find it. This is the second beer in their “Sour Notes” series, but the first we’ve gotten here.

This beer is a sour beer and it’s important to understand what that means. All clean beers are brewed using a genus of yeast called Saccharomyces. While there are a variety of different strains of this yeast, the Genus is the same. It is responsible for all clean brewed beers and has a big role to play in brewing sour beers as well. It is a fast-acting high IBU resistant yeast that is responsible for most of the alcohol production in beer, even in sours.

About the Style

What makes a sour beer? Well, that depends. There are two different ways a sour beer can be produced. The most common is controlled. This is where a brewer will specifically choose what he is going to do the beer to make it sour. The second way is to leave the fermenter open to the air and allow bacteria or wild strains of yeast access to your beer. This particular beer was produced using the controlled method, so that’s the one we will focus on.

In the controlled method, the brewer does something to the beer to lower its pH. This can be done by adding other strains of yeast or bacteria (Typically Lactobacillus or Brettanomyces or Pediococcus), by using an Acidulated Malt (this meets German purity laws) or by adding Lactic Acid (an acid produced by Pedioccous or Lactobacillus) or Acetobacter, a less common bacteria. Check out this blog from the American Home Brewers Association. It goes into detail about all these different strains.

This beer used Lactobacillus, a bacteria that acts similarly to a yeast by eating up the sugars in the wort (unfermented beer). Rather than converting the sugars to alcohol like our beer yeast, it turns them into lactic acid. The lactic acid lowers the pH of the beer rather quickly and gives the beer a sour but clean taste. It is most commonly used in sour German styles of beer Berliner Weisse or Gose.

While this style of beer is not a specifically recognized BJCP style, it falls under the Mixed-Fermentation Sour style, which is a variation of any base style of beer that has been soured. This particular beer is a Dark Ale that has been soured with Lactobacillus and aged on Grape Musts.

Review

ABV – 5.0%

Appearance – Clear dark amber colour with a quickly dissipating head.

Smell – Smells musty, some red-wine notes, as well as some caramel and dark fruit notes. Some light yeast funkiness is present on the nose as well.

Taste – Nice tartness on the tongue with a subtle malty sweetness, toffee and caramelized malt. It tastes almost like a lightly fouled red wine, but not necessarily in a bad way. There is almost no hoppiness to this beer at all.

Mouth Feel – Really forward carbonation with the bubbles almost frothing on your tongue as you drink. Good medium body and nice off-dry finish.

Overall Thoughts – The sourness is there, but not really. It’s not hard to drink. It is a decent offering in the style, but there are certainly better ones out there.

Do I like it? – After trying other sours that we’ve had in town recently, I had hoped for a good sour offering from Phillips as well. This one was underwhelming. While it isn’t bad and I enjoyed drinking it, I think I had my expectations high and this didn’t live up to them. Like always, I recommend people give it a try, but for me this one was just ok.

Black Bridge – Double IPA

April 9, 2016 beerwinnipeg Leave a comment

I’ve been thinking quite a bit recently about whether or not I want to review beers on this blog. I’ve had a few people ask me if I could or if my site is a good place to read about different beers.

While I have reviewed beers in the past for the Craft Beer Advent Calendar, I haven’t really done too much of it outside of that. Given that we will soon have some new craft breweries opening up here in Manitoba and we seem to have a lot more new craft beers coming in, and as a way to help educate myself and others, I’ve decided to post reviews.

What I won’t be doing is giving beers a score anymore. I made this decision after my last advent calendar review. I want to provide people with information about the beer and what I think about it. I don’t feel I need to give it a score for that. So, what I am going to do is just give you information about the beers and whether I liked it or not. You can read a bit more about it on my about page.

So each review will be structured as follows:

Beer name, location, and style of beer.
Description of the style, origins and information about the brewery.
- Appearance (Body, Colour, Head, Retention)
- Smell
- Taste
- Mouth feel (Light, Medium, Heavy, Smooth, Coarse)
- Overall thoughts
- Do I like it (Yes or No) and why.

My hope is that my reviews will encourage you to get out and try new beers. Not all of my reviews will include this preamble.

The Review

Today I am going to review Black Bridge Brewery’s Double IPA. We’ve had their regular IPA! in our liquor marts for quite some time now and I’m excited to give the Double IPA a try. It just arrived in the city and you can find it around town starting on Monday. Right now It’s listed at Grant Park, but be sure to check its listing page at Liquor Marts to get details about where you can find it.

Black Bridge Brewery is located in Swift Current Saskatchewan. They employ 5 full-time folks as well as two casual employees at their brewery and taproom. The name of the brewery comes from a local landmark, a black bridge, which is located in the south of the town. The bridge is rumored to be haunted and if you grew up in the area it’s something that you are likely quite familiar with.

The brewmaster, Clayton Stevenson, opened this brewery back in 2014 with his wife Kari. Originally it was just the two of them. Clayton had been a homebrewer for 10 years and had always wanted to open a brewery. They run a 20 hectolitre system and have already made waves, winning a bronze medal for the Milk Stout at the Canadian Brewing Awards.

The style, Double IPA, is a beer that is an American craft beer invention that began in the 1990s. Craft breweries were trying to “push the envelope” on their beers and appease the hop aficionados who were growing ever more interested in the flavor and variety that this plant can provide. By the 2000s this style had become much more mainstream and provides a way for brewers to experiment and be creative with hops. The adjective “Double” really doesn’t mean anything other than this beer is stronger than a regular IPA. You will see “Imperial” used quite regularly as well. It’s the same style.

The style should be intensely hoppy and fairly strong with an IBU (international bitterness unit) in the range of 60-120, an ABV of between 7.5% and 10% with a lighter colour. Drinkability of the style is important and it should be well balanced with strong malt backbone and residual sweetness.

Black Bridge Double IPA

Black Bridge Brewery Double IPA
ABV – 8.5% IBU – 80

Enjoy as Fresh as Possible

Appearance – Light copper, a persistent thick foamy white head that leaves lacing on the glass as it dissipates. Great clarity especially for an unfiltered beer.

Smell – Very floral with hints of tropical fruit likely coming from the addition of Mosaic hops. Subtle grapefruit and piney aroma as well possibly from Chinook or Simcoe.

Taste – Great use of hops. Good floral notes, resin and spice as well as some really subtle hints of grapefruit. Strong bitterness, subtle malt that brings some pretty good balance to the beer. Good bitterness on the finish, not overly harsh.
Note: I quite enjoy hoppy beers. This one is fairly bitter and if you are not used to very bitter beers it might be harsher for you.

Mouth Feel – Medium body, smooth, good carbonation.

Overall Thoughts – Great use of hops in this double IPA, it’s got the strength of bitterness and ABV but it doesn’t taste overly strong. Good balance with the malt.

Do I like it? – Yes, I do like this one. I’m pretty impressed with the quality of this Double IPA. It tastes fairly fresh, which isn’t always the case for IPAs at our Liquor Marts. Very smooth, nice flavor. For the alcohol content of this beer it is dangerously drinkable. I enjoyed this one.

Beer Review, Craft Beer Advent Calendar 2015, Uncategorized

Advent Calendar 2015 – Wrap-Up

January 10, 2016 beerwinnipeg 2 Comments

Sorry this took so long. I had a great time travelling and am now back and ready for the New Year. It’s a pretty exciting time to be writing about beer. While last year when I started it was all about what might come, it is now about what is coming. I met and interviewed a lot of up and coming breweries last year. This year, I get the opportunity to write about them opening. Like I said, exciting. I’m in the midst of setting up follow-ups and looking forward to Winnipeg’s craft beer community growing.

Once again I’ve been really impressed with the craft beer advent calendar. While I know there are qualms and concerns with the beers sitting for so long, having a chance to try unique and one-off beers is well worth it. So, let’s wrap up with some statistics.

Once again we had 24 beers, this time from around North America.
There were 15 from the USA and 9 from Canada
States and Provinces represented:

United States

Canadian Provinces or Territories

– California (3)

– Washington

– Massachusetts

– Colorado

– Montana

– North Carolina (2)

– Maryland

– New York

– Connecticut

– Michigan

– Kentucky

– Alabama

– Yukon

– British Columbia (2)

– Ontario (4)

– Alberta

– Saskatchewan

One of the beers, Evil Twin’s Smoked Pilsner, technically doesn’t come from anywhere in particular as the brewer uses other breweries. That particular one came from Connecticut, but he is based out of Brooklyn, NY.
62.5% of the beers came from the United States and 37.5% from Canada

I’m a bit disappointed that most came from the United States, but I suppose they were the ones who chose to participate. I’d like to see a more Canadian advent Calendar and I’m actually hoping next year there will be enough breweries here in Manitoba I can just build my own local version. Or maybe we will get a collaboration pack for Christmas…hint hint.

Over the 24 days there were some hits and misses. Out of all the beers though, my favorite came to us from:

Spider Bite Brewing Company, Holbrok, Long Island and was Boris the Spider Russian Imperial Stout

Once again it’s been a lot of fun doing this blog-a-thon of beers from the advent Calendar. I brought some pretty interesting ones back from my trip and I’m looking forward to trying those. As for this blog, I’ll be returning to my focus on beer in Manitoba. I can’t wait.

Beer Winnipeg

Beer Review, Craft Beer Advent Calendar 2015

Day 23 – Sound Brewery – Yonder Star English Strong Ale

December 24, 2015 beerwinnipeg Leave a comment

Sorry for the late post. Here in Hawaii it’s 4 hours behind Winnipeg, so it isn’t always easy to remember that. I’ve been enjoying some good local island beer, and also, some of the great American stuff they have. But, as for the Calendar, only one left after today. I hope it’s going to be a good one. So far this has been a pretty solid advent calendar and I’m happy I managed to get it. I hope next year they will have the packaging issues sorted out. There are a lot of interesting calendars coming out. Who knows, maybe next year I’ll be reviewing a collaboration pack from the new local Winnipeg breweries (here’s hoping.)

Today’s beer comes to us from Sound Brewery in Washington State and it is called Old Yonder Star and it is a Yorkshire Style Christmas Ale.

Unfortunately, their website does not really provide a whole lot of details on them. I can’t seem to find much in general. Maybe I’m not looking hard enough because I’m on vacation, so if you have better luck, let me know. What they do list is their beers and there are a number of them. They have some good info on each one so that is at least worth a read.

This beer is brewed in the style of an English Strong Ale. Now, English Strong Ales are somewhere in between a Pale ale and a Barleywine. They are strong, complex, and rich in flavours. Typically, with a colour between deep amber and reddish copper, they usually have bold fruity flavours and a malty mix of toasted and chocolate malt. Hops can vary depending on brewer but they can have full blown hop potential to a subtle bitterness. Alcohol is usually evident with even some solvent taste to it depending on quality. Many of this style are unfiltered and bottle conditioned.

I’m interested in trying it, so let’s get to it.

Rating: 79/100

Appearance: Jet black with a really thin dark brown sliver near the edges.
Smell: Molasses, alcohol, black cherry notes
Taste: Roasted malt combines with malty sweetness and finishes with a slightly bitter oily finish.
Mouthfeel: Very fine carbonation. Oily slightly bitter finish with alcohol warming.
Overall: Overall, not bad. It doesn’t have the full body and depth that a barley wine might have nor does it have the light hoppy notes of a pale ale. Overall it’s a good balance between these two.
Do I like it: It’s alright. I’m not a huge fan of it. I think it could be doing a lot more. Overall it’s not bad, just not really right up my alley right now.

Beer Review, Craft Beer Advent Calendar 2015

Day 22 – Yukon Brewing – Longest Night Cascadian Dark Ale

December 22, 2015 beerwinnipeg Leave a comment

So, the beer made it through a plane ride just fine. I had them wrapped well and no breakage, super awesome. As I’m on holiday and don’t really have a lot of time to be writing these given there is so much to see and do, I’ll be keeping these last ones a bit shorter. I also don’t have my photo editing program, so, no titles on the pictures unfortunately.

Today’s beer comes to us from Yukon Brewing based out of Whitehorse in the Yukon. It’s called the Longest Night and is a Cascadian Dark Ale.

Yukon Brewing originally opened its doors in 1997, but under a different name. Originally it was called Chilkoot Brewing Co. Ltd. The owners, Allan and Bob, came up with their idea for the brewery around a campfire on a canoe trip. Being from Ontario originally, they have both lived and worked in the Territory for most of their lives.

The plan was to open a quality brewery while keeping jobs in the Territory and service the north with good beer. Over a decade later, this is still the main goal of the brewery and they now employ over a dozen staff and support many local events every year.

Bob and Allan still act as the chief officers and now Yukon distributes its 9 brews outside the Yukon to Alberta, BC, Manitoba and some finding their way into Quebec and even all the way over to German. They’ve got a good blog on their website and chat a bit more about their beers. Take a look if you have a chance.

The style of beer we are having today is called a Cascadian Dark Ale. Now this style of beer has raised a bit of controversy over what it should actually be called. Some say it is a Black IPA, others an India Black Ale while, like this one, others call it a Cascadian Dark Ale (CDA). The US Brewers’ Association accepted it as a style in 2010 and dubbed it the “American Style India Black Ale”. Whatever it is called, it is essentially a dark hoppy beer.

The style has been described in a couple of different ways and this site has a pretty good exploration of that. Essentially what it comes down to is that it is a darker beer with between 50-90 IBU and good combination of malt characteristics and hopiness. I’m looking forward to it, so lets give it a try.

Rating: 78/100

Appearance: Deep amber with little head that fades quickly leaving some minor lacing
Smell: Roasted malt, chocolate, bit yeasty, slight hop notes and toffee notes.
Taste: Resinous hop flavour, slight chocolate and roasted malt. Very little else.
Mouthfeel: Finishes with resinous bitter note that lingers. Medium-light bodied not withstanding how dark it is.
Overall: Overall, not bad. Decent dark ale but would likely be better with food. Something to bring out the subtle flavours of the malts.
Do I like it: It’s pretty decent. I’d be happy to have it again if I was at a friends but I’m not going to go out and buy it.

Beer Review, Craft Beer Advent Calendar 2015

Day 21 – Clown Shoes Beer – Bombay Berserker Indian-Stlye Chocolate Stout

December 22, 2015 beerwinnipeg Leave a comment

Only a three beer left after today. It’s been quite a run. I can’t believe it’s already almost over. I’m heading out of town shortly too, but I’m bringing the beers with me so that I can still get my posts up. It’ll be a sweet trip and I’m hoping to manage to get to some of the breweries in Hawaii so I can try some of the beer. I’ve already scoped out a sweet pub near where I’m staying that has a ton of beer on tap from all over the USA. Should be fun.

Today’s beer comes to us from Clown Shoes Beer and it is a variation on a Chocolate Stout called an Indian-Style Chocolate Stout. The name of the beer itself is “Bombay Berserker” and it sounds pretty tasty.

Founded by Gregg Berman and a group of friends after losing a beeradvocate naming contest. They decided that they could make Clown Shoes beer themselves and they didn’t need Beer Advocate to be the ones to use the name. They started off thinking it’d be one brew, just for fun. After getting some good feedback on their beers, they decided what the heck, let’s keep going. While they don’t provide too many details about the formation, brewhouse, or anything at all really on their website, they do at least give us a look at the variety of the beers that they make. They’ve got a ton of special releases, seasonal bombers, 4-packs, and a whopping list of retired beers. As the name might suggest, while clown shoes represent humility and humour, the brewery itself represents producing beer without pretension while being free to be a little crazy. They put a big focus on experimentation and the list of beers on their site point to a lot of that.

This is another stout, although a different variation on the style. There have been a lot of stouts in this advent calendar. This likely has to do with their ability to age. Now, I already did a write up on stouts on Day 2 and so if you are interested in reading a bit more about the Stout style, feel free to take a look at that one. Like I indicated on the first chocolate stout we tried, they are beers which have noticeable dark chocolate notes both in flavor as well as in colour. This is done through the use of darker, more aromatic malts. Specially, chocolate malts, malts which have been roasted or kilned until they develop a chocolate colour. This beer is a variation on this variation. While still using the same malts in the beer they have added a number of spices including: chai tea, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon and vanilla. I’m pretty excited about this one, it sounds tasty. So, enough about it, let’s get to it.

Rating: 79/100

Appearance: Pours solid dark brown. 1” of puffy foam with tan head.
Smell: Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cardamom, star anise, some caramel malt as well as some chocolate malt. Some earthy hop notes are present as well.
Taste: Bready caramel malt, toffee, chai spice, cardamom is really present, ginger is noticeable but as a bitter lingering finish.
Mouthfeel: medium bodied, smooth, some creamy notes as well.
Overall: Pleasantly spiced with a lot of layers and different notes coming through along the way. It’s got a good body to it that carries these flavours overs the threshold. Good sipping beer for sure. Only complaint is that the spices overpower any of the underlying stout and I don’t really get to taste the beer, just the spice.
Do I like it: I enjoyed it. I think it had a lot of interesting characteristics going for it. I’d be interested in trying it again but I’m not going to seek it out.

Beer Review, Craft Beer Advent Calendar 2015

Day 20 – Paddock Wood Brewing Company – Marzyana Belgian Tripel

December 21, 2015 beerwinnipeg Leave a comment

Well, only a few beer left of the Advent Calendar before getting back to the regular blogging routine. It’s always a fun time doing this calendar and I hope that while my reviews are that of an expert, that they’ve at least been helpful or mildly interesting. Today I got to go see Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and I’m impressed. That’s all I’ll say. Go see it if you are interested.

Today’s beer comes to us from our neighbor, Saskatchewan, and is Paddock Wood’s Marzyana Belgian Tripel.

Paddock Wood Brewing Co. has its origins all the way back in 1992. Founder, Steven Cavan and his wife Kathleen James-Cavan, had recently moved to Saskatchewan to take up positions at the University of Saskatchewan. Steve quickly discovered that there was no craft beer in Saskatchewan, so he decided to make his own. From this endeavor Paddock Wood began, not as a brewery, but as a mail order brewery supply store.

A lot happened in between with various business ventures and some road bumps along the way. There is a really good article on their website that I’d suggest you take a read through, it’s pretty interesting. Today, Paddock Wood is brewing beer through experimentation, trial and error, and a true love for the craft. They pride themselves on trying to be unique and different and, thankfully, you can find some of their beers here. They have a lot of interesting beers as well as a number of special and seasonal brews. I’m going to need to make sure to take a visit there the next time I pass through Saskatchewan.

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.

Rating: 80/100

Appearance: Light copper with sediment floating around in it. A good 1” of head that retains very well.
Smell: Smells of alcohol, very sweet fruit notes like apple. Caramel and Candi-sugar as well as some hop notes.
Taste: Caramel, candi-sugar, fruit notes but not overly so. While alcohol is on nose, beer is smooth and balanced for the 9.2% abv.
Mouthfeel: Carbonation is spot on, great full mouth feel.
Overall: Pretty tasty. Solid body, good flavours, great balance. Decent beer all around.
Do I like it: Yeah, it was quite nice. I enjoyed this one and would be happy to have it again.

Beer Review, Craft Beer Advent Calendar 2015

Day 19 – Back Forty Brewing Company – Cuban Coffee Stout

December 20, 2015 beerwinnipeg Leave a comment

Can you believe it has been 19 days since this calendar started? I think I’ve managed to keep this blogathon going pretty well. Only 5 days left to go (2 of which will be in Hawaii…sweet!)

Today was a pretty decent day. Not only did we get pretty much everything prepped for our trip, I managed to get 4 of the 6 chapters of my thesis ready to upload. Awesome. Also, I am going to see Star Wars tomorrow (no spoilers, I promise) and Half Pints put their Simcoe Spruce on tap. All in all a good day. I am hoping that today’s beer, a Cuban Coffee Stout from Back Forty Brewing Company, makes it all the better.

Back Forty Brewing Company is based in Alabama, a place that the brewery describes as a “wasteland of craft beer”. Their name comes from the agricultural term for the forty acres of land situated furthest from the farm. These forty acres are the hardest to maintain and are often overlooked, a metaphor for how the brewery sees Alabama.

What is likely the largest contributor to the lack of a craft beer market, is the legal framework under which Alabama found itself up until 2008. Before 2008, it was illegal to sell beer in Alabama with an ABV over 6%. Needless to say, this eliminated dozens of styles of beers. It was also illegal to operate a tasting room, sell beer directly to the public or package beer in bottles larger than 455ml. So, no bomber bottles either. While these laws have loosened and it has become possible for craft breweries to exist, it is to this day illegal to offer investment opportunities to anyone who owns a restaurant or distributor within the state making it very challenging to get funding.

In 2008, founder Jay Wilson got in touch with a renowned brew master, Jamie Ray, and asked for help developing recipes for Back Forty Brewing Company. The goal was to expose southerners to the same craft beer Wilson had been a part of for the past 10 years. In June 2009, Back Forty released its first beer, Naked Pig Pale Ale, and after its success, the second hit the shelves in March, 2010.

Today, Back Forty employs 22 individuals from all over the country, has six beers on offer, and has seen its capacity tripled since 2012. They even have another 2X expansion slated to happen soon.

The beer style we have today is one that any Half Pints drinker will be familiar with. It is a Coffee Stout. Now, as the name suggests, Coffee Stouts are essentially stouts with the addition of coffee during the brew. As you know I wrote about stouts on Day 2, so I won’t repeat myself again and bore you all. I will say that coffee stouts carry with them a really nice coffee flavor and are typically paired with complimentary malts. This one, for example, uses chocolate malts that will bring with a it kind of mocha pairing, I’d expect. I’m looking forward to trying it, so let’s do it.

Rating: 81/100

Appearance: Jet black with beige head that retains nicely leaving no lacing.
Smell: Smells like chocolate malt and coffee. Some slight hints of toffee or caramel. Really, it smells a lot like a hot chocolate with baileys.
Taste: The coffee comes through on this beer right away on the start. It fades slightly to a bit of a bitter finish. The chocolate notes compliment the coffee nicely, but overall the coffee is the star. It has a light sort of grainy note to it, like coffee grinds, but not in an unpleasant way. It’s more that it leaves a lingering astringent coffee note on the tongue.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, medium-low carbonation, slightly astringent finish.
Overall: Overall it’s a pretty solid. I feel the body could have been a bit more full, the lightness of the body somewhat detracted from the overall enjoyment of the beer. The flavours are solid and true to the name. I’ve had Cuban coffee a number of times and this certainly rings true in the flavours of the beer.
Do I like it: It’s pretty good. I think that if it had a fuller body I would have enjoyed it more. Overall it was tasty and I’d be happy to drink it again.

Beer Review, Craft Beer Advent Calendar 2015

Day 18 – Black Oak Brewing Co – Neck of the Woods Vintage Ale

December 18, 2015 beerwinnipeg Leave a comment

Well, today I had the opportunity to try some pretty good beer. The Liquor Mart near my house was doing a tasting of the Westvleteren 12. For those who are unfamiliar, Westvleteren 12 is considered by many to be some of the best beer in the world. It is made by Trappist monks in Belgium and has been brewing beer since 1838. They brew in incredibly small batches and they are VERY hard to get. They had to fix their roof in 2012 and so some actually made it over to Canada. Today I got to try one of those that had been aging since then. But, that’s another story.

Today we have a beer coming to us from Black Oak Brewing Co. based in Etobicoke, Ontario. It is a beer made especially for this advent calendar and is called “Neck of the Woods” and it is an Old Ale.

Black Oak Brewing was founded in 1999 in Oakville Ontario by Ken Woods, owner and president of the brewery. In 2008 they made the move to Etobicoke and have been brewing there ever since. Like most craft breweries, they really care about the beer they are making and are sticklers for quality. They take extreme caution in the production of their beers and only use traditional brewing processes and quality, Canadian, ingredients. As well, they make an effort to use environmentally friendly materials throughout the whole process.

Black Oak Brewing brews using a 20 hectolitre brew house. They have four 40 hectolitre unitanks and two 40 hectolitre bright beer tanks in their 11,000sq/ft space. All of their brewing equipment is stainless steel and custom made in Canada. They have a strong team and produce a number of interesting sounding beers, from year-rounds, to seasonal, to special series of beers. I’ll be interested in making a visit the next time I visit Toronto.

The beer we are drinking today is an Old Ale. Really, it is an American Strong Ale, but this term is a catch all that refers to a number of different styles. Based on some of the reading, I’m leaning towards this one being an old ale. Old Ales range from dark amber to almost black in colour. With soft aroma and varying levels of bitterness. Dark fruits are common as are intense malt flavours and sharp alcohol notes. The brewer describes this beer as being “strong, yes smooth: a full-bodied ale. You’ll get lots of dark fruit and caramel notes too!” It sounds pretty nice and I’m excited to give it a try.

Rating: 85/100

Appearance: Dark amber, off white head that fades relatively quickly (stays long enough for a picture)
Smell: Salted caramel, dark fruit and alcohol are prominent with hints of roasted malt and chocolate
Taste: Roasted malt, alcohol, raisins and black currants come through. Caramel is not noticeable in the flavor as much as it is on the nose. Sharp bitterness on the front with a warm alcohol finish that lingers.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, good carbonation, sharp bitterness on front and warm lingering alcohol finish.
Overall: Pretty good indeed. I’d be interested to see how it would age. There are some sharp notes that might balance out. Overall I found this one to be quite a strong beer with a lot of different flavours going for it.
Do I like it: Yeah, I did. Like I said above, it might be interesting to age one and see how it turns out. I thought it was nice as is and would be happy to drink it again. It makes me want to visit even more.

Beer Review, Craft Beer Advent Calendar 2015

Day 17 – Black Market Brewing – Tradecraft Sour Ale with Cherries

December 18, 2015 beerwinnipeg Leave a comment

So, remember a long time back when I was complaining about how the beer I took out was the wrong one. That it resulted in me having to have all the beers taken out and organized because the box was annoying. Well, today, I finally get to try that beer! It is day 17 and I’m looking forward to it.

The beer we have today comes to us from Black Market Brewing in Temecula California. It is there Tradecraft Cherry Sour.

Not only does Black Market Brewing have a pretty cool name, they also have a really well done website. Starting out from humble beginnings of essentially a large garage and a 1 barrel system, Black Market Brewing has always put the emphasis on creating good beer. Starting with what is now one of their most loved beers, a hefeweizen, they have always committed to using only the best malt, hops and yeast that are all hand selected by the brewing team.

Black Market is one of Temecula’s first craft breweries and helped to introduce locally crafted beers to the community. Coming from wine country they had a lot of discerning wine lovers to convince, and they’ve done that. Now sold not only all over Southern California, but also in Washington State and Arizona.

Founded by Kevin Dyer dream to start a brewery began with watching the growth of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company and how it built itself into one of the finest American craft breweries. Having worked in corporate America for a time, he grew bored and in 2007 founded what would become Black Market Brewing in an 800sq/ft garage. As Black Market grew, so did the team, as have the wide variety of interesting, spy inspired, beers.

The beer we have today is a Sour Cherry beer. It is essentially a Berliner Weisse that has had syrup infused into it rather than added afterwards. Berliner Weisse is a really interesting style of beer, one that we will have the chance to try here in Winnipeg once Peg Beer Co. opens.

Berliner Weisse literally translates to Berlin White and it is a regional variation on the white beer style from northern Germany which dates back to the 16^th century. The fermentation of this style takes place with a mixture of yeast and lactic acid bacteria (lacto-bacillus for example) which is what creates the distinguishing feature of a Berliner Weisse.

By the 19^th century, it was the most popular style of beer in Germany with up to fifty breweries making it. By the 20^th century, it had gone almost extinct with only two breweries left making this style. What is interesting about this beer is that it has been given geographic indication protection. This means that only this style brewed inside of Berlin can legally be sold as “Berliner Weisse”. In America and Canada they are typically labelled and sold as “Weisse” beers.

The style is traditionally served in bowl like glasses with a number of different syrups that can be added to provide additional flavourings. The beer can also be mixed with other styles, like a pale lager, to balance the sourness. I’ve always thought that a Canadian Berliner Weisse would be served with maple syrup and perhaps a garnish of candied bacon. Who knows? In the case of the beer we are trying today, it has been already flavoured with Cherries but is described on the breweries website as using their “Berliner Weisse” as the base.

Rating: 66/100

Appearance: Light pink in color, good head that fades quickly leaving small bubbles on surface.
Smell: There are slight cherry notes, but, predominately is a cheese smell. Like stinky cheese and not wholly appealing.
Taste: Starts of nice on the front with sour cherry notes. The finish is that of stinky cheese that grows and continues to invade your taste buds. Unfortunately this was incredibly unappealing and I could not push through it.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied with good carbonation, sour/cheese finish.
Overall: Unfortunately this beer tasted more like stinky cheese with slight sour cherry notes than what I would expect. Overall it was unappealing and I was unable to finish it.
Do I like it: Nope. Stinky cheese flavor that grew as I drank it. Could not handle this one and made me feel nauseous.

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