Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Paddock Wood's 606 India Pale Ale and Czech Mate

Paddock Wood is Saskatchewan’s first and only micro-brewery - at least according to their website they are. Of course, I (Jeff) have no reason to doubt them as I’ve never really heard of any beer coming out of Saskatchewan.

The two beers available through the Beer Store are the 606 India Pale Ale (5.4% ABV) and the Czech Mate Pilsner (5.2% ABV). I have heard that these are also (or were at one time) available through the LCBO, although I’ve never seen them. I’m a fan of the labels and the name’s are pretty fun - well, Czech Mate’s anyways.

The 606 pours a beautiful amber with a nice thick head. The creamy cap of head takes quite awhile to dissipate and leaves the surface covered in a thin layer of bubbles. I smell caramel and citrus in the nose - it’s not going to club you over the head, but it is there. I find this IPA to be very well balanced: a good level of caramel and biscuity malt to match the citrusy hops. If you don’t like your beers super hoppy, but still want to know that they’re in there, this is a good choice. You get bitterness on the finish, but the beer doesn’t feel like its ripping your taste buds out on the way down.

Czech Mate pours a bright, bold yellow. The head is miniscule compared to the 606. After a couple of minutes, you’re left with a couple of islands head. It has the classic aroma of grassy hops for a Czech pilsner plus some notes of lemon. The taste is slightly bready, somewhat lemony and has grassy and floral hops. It leaves somewhat of a sour taste - but in a refreshing way. I’d say this beer is more accessible to the hop aversive than the 606.

Saskatchewan’s lucky that their only micro-brewery is this talented. Both of these beers are great additions to the Ontario market. The rest of the regular line-up sounds pretty good too - I’d be really interested in trying their Black Cat lager (a schwarzbier). Plus on top of that, they have nine special releases - although they’re only distributed in Alberta and B.C.

I wish the LCBO would make more shelf space for products like these instead of the newest MolsonCoors product - did we really need Molson M or Miller Chill Lemon?

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