French Canadian frolics

Quebec is one of Canada's most unique provinces. In fact the french-speaking region is probably the most culturally unique region of North America, in food , language and now, beer.  Recently I saw a friend toting a beautiful 750 ml bottle of beer that turned out to be a bottle of Les Trois Mousquetieres Grand Cuvee Doppelbock.

This thing looks like it belongs in a cellar alongside your Chateau Petrus so I had to get myself a bottle to see if it drinks anywhere like it looks...
When I pours you get a rich dark brew with a rich slightly sweet aroma and a head that isn't too thick.  Drinking, this beer slides over your tongue with smooth flavours of chocolate and currents, and even hints of coffee. These flavours hang around in your mouth too. I  liked the way this drinks and it looks good in my cellar so I definitely need to drink this one again. If you can find it, geddit mayne :)

Toast to Oast!

I stopped at this a tiny brewery outside Niagara on the Lake called Oast House. They had a farmhouse saison that was quite tasty (6.5.% abv) It poured this great frothy head and had a bready, homey aroma that I found inviting. At first sip it has a slightly sweet taste that was pleasant though not complex, with a mild bite near the back of my tongue. Overall it was a pleasant drink, nothing special but a decent saison. I do like the trend of increasing availability of saisons....its a type of beer that I greatly enjoy. I have a few more saison reviews that I should share soon, Scaldis comes to mind.

After a hiatus - back to sampling delicious brews!
I was at the store yesterday and there I fell for a Belgian blonde......beer that is!
St Feuillien Grand Cru 9.5% was her name to be exact. Brilliant gold colour with a super creamy head that left lots of lacing and hung saround for a while Taking a whiff, there was a subtle yeasty scent with a hint of citrus. taking a li'l swig,  its really smooth and slightly sweet. I got hints of  hops bread and grapefruit on my tongue and especially the aftertaste. I understand that this beer lacks the spices that other Belgians possess, but thats ok, tis oe is one of the clesnest and most balanced beer I have ever had.
Please.......get this.

Rep yo hood #1

Kensington Brewing Company Augusta Ale

Whats up suds sippers, today we will begin the first of my reviews of brews from Toronto neighbourhoods. Now, the neighbourhood scene in Tdot is still growing, and there are not alot of local brews out there, but I want to monitor this trend because I think it is significant. In the old days, brewers brewed beer for their neighbourhoods and towns. Lack of transportation and refrigeration facilities meant that beer was consumed close to where it was brewed. With the onset of the microbrewery trend and the public's increasing desire for hand crafted and flavourful brews, it now seems possible that the concept of neighbourhood breweries could make a come back. The other day I was in the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) and I saw something called Augusta Ale by Kensington Brewery. Now, the combination of the words Kensington with Augusta really made me do a double take because Augusta Ave runs through the heart of Kensington Market district of Toronto. I knew this  had to be a neighbourhood brew! I grabbed a can and cracked it forthwith....

I poured it into my Duvel giant tulip glass, and it poured a burnt orange colour with a creamy 3 com head that dissipated very slowly. taking a big whiff, I got a big blast of hops along with orange peel. So far so good. I took a first sip, and need a couple more to really understand what was going on. I got marmalade, at first (yes really), toasty flavours and caramel. It was a full mouth flavour experience, although not overly complex. I wasn't really blown away by it, but It was emminently drinkable and would be a perfect for a summer session on a patio on Augusta Ave..... overall, a decent brew but not outstanding.  Nonentheless, I will press on with reviewing some more TO brews, Bellwoods form Ossington Ave and maybe Mill Street from the Distillery. I will be hard at work lol. Till next time!

Suds in the City: Black Creek Brewing

The craft beer scene is growing by leaps and bounds in Ontario, and brewers are springing up in some of Toronto's more interesting and fashionable neighbourhoods. We are going to sample some of these local brews right here folks  cuz drinking a beer from your own home town is the right thing to do...rep  your hood! The first beer we're gonna get to is from Black Creek Brewery. Why? Because its brewed in Black Creek Pioneer Village.It takes us right back to our roots when beer was brewed and consumed locally. It seems this is a re-emerging trend, and that can't be a bad thing for diversity and quality!

I picked up a 500ml bottle of their Hand Crafted Porter for starters. It pours a VERY dark brown.....not quite black like a stout, but not far off either. The head was about 2cm thick but disappeared quickly. Smells. This thing smells DELICIOUS. Coffee, caramel, malt.....for starters. Another whiff and I got some toffee and chocolate cake. I wanted to take a bite out of this beer. Of course, you want to know what it tastes like of course right? Well, it tastes....exactly as it smells LOL. It really coated my mouth with rich flavours. If you are new to stout or find Guiness too strong, and are willing to give the genre another try, you might want to try one of these porters. Stout is really just a very dry porter,and  this one has alot of flavours smells and mouthfeel to keep you interested. Yeah I like this one!

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Bavarian Suds - Dunkler Hirsch

I'm new to blogging. Hi! I've decided to blog about beer...nice huh? Todays post is all about a lovely Bavarian gem I found. The brewery is Der Hirshbrau of Sonthofen Germany. I mean this is real German beer peeps, these beers have minimal english on them. In fact, they seem to have added some English over the past year i've been drinking their beers. Ok enough of that, what am I having today? Dunkler Hirsch, a dark wheat beer 5.2 ABV. Poured into a traditional Hefeweizen glass, its a dark copper with some rust colour in there too. The head was a decent two fingers thick. Cool. I had a good sniff, got some sweet malty scents  with a little spice thrown in, but nothing remarkable. So what does this taste like? First mouthful.....is surprising for its lack of heaviness. Its kinda tangy, and I can taste banana bread right off the bat. I also got a bit of bitterness and a toasty, caramely aftertaste. Ok. so this is a decent beer, well crafted and with enough stuff going on to keep me interested. Not my favourite brew from these guys, but not bad at all. This beer came in a 4 bottle gift pack, so I will sample all of them and give you my verdict. Till next time peeps, keep the glasses full!