Best wife ever? Nah ...

Despite all odds, I was able to score my husband a brick of Westvleteren 12 for Christmas (I did not get it from waiting in line at the LCBO, but I cannot reveal my sources).

Watching him open his gift is exactly how I imagine it will be in a few years when our newborn daughter starts understanding what Christmas is - he was pretty darn excited.

The only sad part was that on its way to our house, one of the glasses smashed. But he still has one and let's face it - it's the beer that's important.

Now, to save it! Jeff plans to age it, but he did promise that the person who was able to secure this beer for him will get a chance to share the first bottle he opens.

Beau's Screaming Beaver

Jeff picked up a holiday four-pack from Beau's and one of the brews is the Screaming Beaver Double IPA.

Even before he opened it, Jeff was excited, saying, "This is gonna be good."

The beer had a good head on it and poured a nice copper red.

Knowing I'm not an IPA fan, he had me try it anyway.

I shouldn't like it. But I didn't hate it. I didn't find it insanely bitter. In fact ... it was good. I might not order it in the bar, but if Jeff had it, I'd have more than a sip.

Jeff's first impression upon tasting the beer wasn't completely glowing.

"The barrel is the dominate flavour," he said.

"I'm not really getting any of the hops," instead tasting oak, bourbon and vanilla.

"Part of the problem is that is says double IPA, but it doesn't drink like a double IPA," he said. "A label can set you up for expectations."

But as he drank, it grew on him.

"I'm liking it more now that it's warming up a bit," he said. "It's delicious."

Beau's says this beer is an "amped up version" of their Beaver River. From the website:

This monster weighs in at 9.9% alc./vol. and 99 IBUs. Screamin’ Beaver has been dry hopped and aged on oak staves. Even scarier than the stats, this beer is incredibly drinkable and nicely balanced. Be very afraid.

Les Trois Mousquetaires Oktoberfest

We went to the LCBO on the Queens Quay in Toronto, which always has beers we can't seem to find locally.

Among the several beers he picked up (including the BNL brew with Flying Monkeys, which will be a future post) he got the Oktoberfest beer from the Quebec brewery, Les Trois Mousquetaires.

"I liked it a lot, it was good," Jeff said, calling it "round and smooth."

He said there was no real hops, but it had a nice caramel taste.

"It reminded me of beers I had in Nuremburg," he added.

The beer has an overall score of 88 on Rate Beer.

Mill Street Mulled Wit

Mulled Wit from Mill St.

We went to the Christmas Market at the Distillery District in Toronto and Mill St. had Mulled Wit.

It was a nice alternative to warm cider or hot chocolate on what was a damp day.

Jeff also had an ice cream sandwich - the ice cream part was made using vanilla porter (a beer I love).

(I had a smoked turkey drumstick.)

The market itself was a tad disappointing - I was hoping to find more artisans in the booths, but it was mostly food and a few retail-type shops. Still, it was worth the drive for SOMA chocolates and some Ontario-made sake.

Augusta's Winking Judge

Just some of the taps and David, a very knowledgeable bartender.

Jeff spent a good part of his afternoon at the Hamilton, Ont., bar, Augusta's Winking Judge and all the way home he couldn't stop raving about it.

While I was doing some holiday shopping with a friend, Jeff and a friend were at this pub. They had several beers, all of which Jeff was impressed with.

He started off with Church-Key's West Coast Pale Ale. "It tasted like it was using citra hops," Jeff said.

Then he had Grand River's Judge's Darkside - a mix of the Mill Race Mild and the Galt Knife lager. "I found it had a little bit of a sour taste to it, but it was good. Like, sour in a good way," he said. This bar is the only place you can get this beer.

Sawdust City's Lonepine IPA was next. This is a new brewery in Gravenhurst, Ont. - so new, their website is still a work in progress, so you'll want to check out their blog.

"It was piney, but I really liked it," he said.

He had Niagara College's Russian Imperial stout and said it was delicious.

He finished off with Amsterdam's Boneshaker. This was his summer go-to beer (when he could get it) but had never had it on tap. He only had half a pint because we had to get going, but it was worth it. He did say it tasted almost exactly like it does in the bottle.

His friend got the Rogue Dead Guy Ale and Jeff tried some, saying it was much better than he remembered. Our friend went out to buy some at the LCBO after trying it at the bar.

"It was awesome," Kevin said of the beer on tap. "Top five."

Jeff could not stop talking about the beers and the bar on the way home and is already planning his next trip down to the Hammer.

Tuesday night at the Wooly - Karma Citra

Yesterday, as I was sitting with our baby daughter sleeping in my arms, I was keeping an eye on Twitter when I saw a tweet from the Woolwich Arms saying they had Great Lakes Karma Citra on their feature tap. It was also wing night.

Karma Citra

They didn't have to say anything more.

When Jeff called on his way home, I suggested we put the boring old pot roast I had in the slow cooker on hold and go our for wings and beer. Since Monday night's dinner was a disaster, he was only too happy to avoid yet another one of my meals.

Jeff got the Karma Citra and watching him take that first sip was a bit like watching him get punched in the face. But in a good way (if you can get punched in the face in a good way).

He immediately said there was a pop to the beer. He knew it used citra hops, but there was also a grapefruit flavour he was thrilled about.

He kept going back for more from his glass, loving the flavours. He offered it to me, but all I had to do was take a sniff to know that beer was most certainly not for me.

Oatmeal Coffee Stout

Instead, I had F&M's Oatmeal Coffee Stout as a real ale. That beer is incredible and one of my all-time favourite stouts. It did not disappoint last night, either. It's so smooth, but so flavourful.

But I couldn't drink the whole thing (the whole not drinking for a whole year means I get drunk on about half a pint) so Jeff decided to try mixing the two beers. He said it was good, but maybe next time instead of a 50/50 split, he'd do a 70/30, using more of the Karma Citra than the stout.

Battleaxe Brewery

Jeff stumbled across the Battleaxe Brewery's website recently and saw that it is open to the public.

Jeff has had the MacLean's Pale Ale before, when it was brewed through F&M in Guelph, and quite enjoyed it. Looking at the website, we were excited to see the different kinds of beers available.

This past Saturday, heading up that way anyway, we decided to drive to Battleaxe Brewery to maybe pick up some of the offerings. I was pretty stoked about the oatmeal stout, while Jeff wanted everything else.

The website gives hours of operation, but be warned: Call or email these guys before you go! Even if you're going when the website says they'll be open.

Jeff and I drove up Highway 6 and turned down a dirt road to get to the brewery, which is on a rural property. We went quiet as we drove up to the blue house and what looked like a shed (we could see some beer when we peeked through the window of the shed) because the place looked deserted.

Unfortunately for us, at 3:30 p.m. on a Saturday in November with the snow flying, there was no one else around. The beers we could see through the window were so close, yet so far away.

Maybe their hours of operation are for the summer months. Next time we head up that way we'll try again - contacting them ahead of time, of course.

I won't lie - we were very disappointed not to be able to get some beers, but at least Jeff had a MacLean's Pale Ale at the Queen's Bush pub in Hanover when we went out for dinner.

New Ontario craft brewer?

A story in the Collingwood Enterprise Bulletin recently mentioned there is a group of people that is in the process of starting a new brewery in the Ontario tourist town.

It's called Side Launch Brewing Company and the ambitious group says it would be nice to open by 2014.

They said they were inspired to do more craft beer after seeing the industry grow by leaps and bounds, and also because the now Molson-owned Creemore Springs does so well.

"We basically started out as a group talking about this four or five years ago, after Creemore Springs was purchased by Molson's," company president Garnet Pratt Siddall told the newspaper.

"Creemore was the pioneer of craft brewers, and under Molson's they have been able to retain a degree of autonomy," he said. "The area could easily support (another) craft beer."

Agreed.

There is also a microbrewery opening in Delhi, Ont. Ramblin' Road Brewery is owned by the same family that runs Picard's Peanuts (those blue "barns" filled with peanutty goodness and special treats). The website calls it Ontario's first brewery farm (not 100% sure what that means) and says they should be serving soon (they will be launching around the time of the Norfolk County Fair - which runs over the Thanksgiving weekend).

Liqourice Stout

Brewed by Svaneke for the licorice company Lakrids, Jeff picked up this "liqourice stout" on another recent trip to Denmark.

"It's interesting," he wrote in an email. "It's almost at room temperature since I have no fridge or ice. It has a pretty rounded taste. The licorice flavour is pretty subdued with roasted malt and coffee being the major flavours."

White House releases beer recipes

The White House has released two recipes for beers produced on site: the honey brown ale and the honey porter.

"Inspired by home brewers from across the country, last year President (Barack) Obama bought a home brewing kit for the kitchen. After the few first drafts we landed on some great recipes that came from a local brew shop. We received some tips from a couple of home brewers who work in the White House who helped us amend it and make it our own. To be honest, we were surprised that the beer turned out so well since none of us had brewed beer before," chef Sam Kass wrote on the White House blog Saturday.

The beers use honey collected from a beehive on the south lawn of the White House.

The recipe for this summer's honey blonde was not released.

Watch the video about how the beer is made:

Lindemans Gueuze Cuvée René

One night after work recently, Jeff decided to give Lindemans Gueuze Cuvee Renee a try. It is a beer that has a lot to live up to - the Bros on Beer Advocate gave it a score of 100. The general Beer Advocate score is 91.

Here's what Jeff had to say about this beer:

"One of the few sour beers I've had. For the uninitiatied, be ready for something very different. It's champagne-like with a great red wine vinegar sourness. It's hard to believe this is a beer. It's proof positive that if you haven't found a beer you like, you just haven't tried enough beers because there are just so many different styles out there."

According to the brewery's wesbite, Gueuze is often served during happy hour in Brussels and goes well with seafood, salty meals and cream sauces. Gueuze Cuvee Rene should be served at 5 degrees Celsius.

Widmer Brothers - Brothers' Best Variety Pack

Still in North Carolina - Jeff also picked up this variety pack from Widmer Brothers brewery.

Four different beers were inside the pack - the Hefeweizen, Citra Blonde Summer Brew, Drifter Pale Ale and Shaddock IPA.

Without a glass in his hotel room, Jeff had to resort to drinking these beers out of the bottle (not at all the prefered way to try new beers - but a beer drinker has gotta do what a beer drinker has gotta do).

He called the Hefewizen "pretty pedestrian" because while yeasty and wheaty, there wasn't much in the way of spice or citrus.

The Citra Blonde Summer brew had a nice smell and taste.

"Citrusy, but there's pineapple and mango as well. Really refreshing," he said. "The tagline, 'Satisfyingly Sessionable' definitely applies."

When it came to the Drifter Pale Ale, he admitted he wasn't expected much, but said it was "very surprising."

"I was expecting a pretty boring beer. But this beer actually has a decent amount of flavour - there's nice caramel from the malts and citrus and tropical fruit from the hops," he said. "It's pretty low on bitterness for those afraid/looking for bitter."

Then came his favourite of the pack, the Shaddock IPA. The hop-head in him just couldn't help but love it.

"This one is brewed with grapefruit peels so there's obviously a lot of grapefruit flavour. I'd say this is my overall favourite - which is likely no surprise."

New Belgium Red Hoptober

Jeff was down in North Carolina recently and got to try a few new-to-him beers.

One was New Belgium's seasonal Red Hoptober.

The brewery's website says the beer uses Eldorado hops and has a distinct, piney flavour with a caramel malt.

"Kind of strange," Jeff said of the beer. "Roasty and citrus hoppiness ... but something else in there, too. Not sure what - not something I can place in other beers."

He admitted, "I don't love it, but it's interesting."

Maybe the odd flavour was fig? The website notes the flavour includes sweet fig, tropical fruit, toffee, roasted nuts and hoppy bitterness.

Ontario Brewmaster's Cup

Four Toronto beer writers have decided to host the Ontario Brewmaster's Cup - pitting 16 Ontario beers against each other.

Check out their website

The idea, the website says, came from the LCBO Brewmaster's Cup, which only included one Canadian beer (Moosehead - of all beers ... those doing the Ontario cup say there's nothing "inherently wrong" with Moosehead, but I don't think it should have been the beer to represent all of Canada).

So now, Greg Clow, Ben Johnson, Crystal Luxmore and Jordan St. John have launched this new cup.

There have been two rounds of the draft - so you're not too far behind if you haven't heard of this yet (I just heard about it today). Sounds like a fun way to learn about different beers!

Hops and Robbers

At the LCBO the other day, we saw cans of Hops and Robbers. Jeff hasn't had it in a while, so he picked up a can to enjoy.

Previously, Jeff has had this on tap and really quite liked it.

From the can, however, he's not a fan.

"I don't know if it's just old, and it deteriorated in the can, but I don't get the hops freshness," he said. "Maybe it needs to warm up."

But even after it warmed up, Jeff said while it improved a little, it wasn't by much and he said it was bitter and there wasn't the hop flavour.

Hops and Robbers is from Double Trouble Brewing, which (I believe) contract brews out of Wellington Brewery here in Guelph.

He says he'll try it again, but with this can, "I was just a little disappointed."

Beers from Denmark

I've already posted one beer Jeff enjoyed in Denmark, but here are a few more.

He was disappointed not to find Mikkeller initally when we went to the nearby grocery store, but he certainly found some other beers to try.

(He did end up finding Mikkeller beer later and brought some home).

Hefe-weizen Svane Hvede

Brewery: Indslev Bryggeri

He enjoyed this beer with rye bread and sausages. He didn't realize the beer wasn't filtered, so that last bit was a bit yeasty. 

The brewery's website says Indslev Bryggeri is the only brewery in Denmark that specialies exclusively in brewing wheat beer.

"We do not use as much hops as many other breweries, but focus more on the malt." 

Jeff said he was a fan of the beer and knew it wasn't a hoppy one going in.

Willemoes Porter

Brewery: Vestfyen

"I seem to remember it being really sweet," Jeff said of this beer. "A lot of molasses or something."

But still, he said he liked it.

This brewery, Vestfyen, has a number of different beers. Willemoes Porter has an alcohol content of 9.8% vol. 

The beer is described on the website as, "Munich malt, caramel malt, chocolate malt, colour malt, slightly smoked malt. Warrior hops, surgar and mised with liqourice."

Sounds tasty!

Kalapojser 

Brewery: Pladderballa Bryghus

His last beer, but because it wasn't his favourite, I'm posting it in the middle of this post. 

"It tastes almost gritty," he wrote on Facebook after drinking this beer.

This one is a traditional brown ale, the website says, which is unfiltered and unpasteurized and fermented in the bottle.

Jackie Brown

Brewery: Mikkeller

"Good, not great," Jeff wrote. "They can't all be Draft Beer."

(We'll get to Draft Beer in a moment).

The Jackie Brown is, no surprise, a brown ale and has hints of chocolate, coffee and licorice. RateBeer.com gives it a score of 97 overall.

Draft Beer

Brewery: Mikkeller

"They had to give it such a boring name because they used up all the awesome on the flavour," Jeff wrote, before adding the hashtag, "#ZOMG."

I guess he liked it.

BeerAdvocate.com says this is an American double imperial pilsner. It had a good score from BA reviewers with 89, but The Bros gave it 100 (aka World Class). In fact, the BeerAdvocate review says this beer is "giving the bird to the ho-hum lagers."

Toronto Festival of Beer - preview

Some of our samples from the TFOB 2011.

Jeff and two friends are off to the Toronto Festival of Beer on Friday night.

While I am jealous of all the great beer they'll have, I'm also sad I'll be missing out on the entertainment: Salt-N-Pepa.

(Did anyone else see this and think, "Really? Salt-N-Pepa are headlining the Friday night at a beer festival?" Because I did.)

New this year at the beer festival, there's a Brewmaster's Series in co-operation with Niagara College, and there will be a World of Beer Pavilion, featuring a host town, region or country. This year, it will feature Quebec beers - which should be awesome. Some insiders have said you can expect to see Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel!, MicroBrasserie Charlevoix, Hopfenstark, Le Trou Du Diable, Brasserie Dunham and Les Trois Mousquetaires.

Also - a huge bonus in my opinion - the plastic cups are gone and they're going with glass for samples.

Aero beer - Denmark

Jeff was also recently in Denmark, and this was one of the beers he had.

"Nougatty," he wrote on Facebook as he posted the photo. Later he told me it was sweet and had the flavour of hazelnuts. He certainly enjoyed it.

I believe it's brewed by Rise Brewery (Rise Bryggerri). The brewery says this bock has a walnut flavour (or so Google translate would have me believe) and I think they use local malt and hops in the brewing process.

Russian beers

Jeff was recently in Moscow for work. He had a few beers, but one thing he spoke of that he enjoyed was a drink called kvass.

According to Wikipedia:

Kvass is a fermented beverage made from black or regular rye bread. The colour of the bread used contributes to the colour of the resulting drink. It is classified as a non-alcoholic drink by Russian standards, as the alcohol content from fermentation is typically less than 1.2%. Overall, the alcohol content is low (0.05% - 1.0%).  It is often flavoured with fruits or herbs such as strawberries, raisins or mint.

Jeff said he liked the kvass - something he had with lunches. Certainly something to try if you go to Russia.

He also had these beers:

"I knew I'd find you again, Franziskaner!" he wrote on Facebook when he enjoyed this German beer.

For this one he said, "Not your stinky old NA Budweiser."

And then there was this. He wasn't even sure it was beer. (If anyone has any idea about what it is, let us know!)

(512) Pecan Porter

Jeff didn't take a photo - but the brewery
had a fun graphic. Even as a graphic
this beer looks amazing.

Jeff was in Texas recently for work and he went to a pub called The Ginger Man (because his favourite bar in Fort Worth, The Flying Saucer, was closed).

At The Ginger Man, he had a few beers, but the one he spoke about the most and that stood out in his mind was the (512) Pecan Porter.

"You could taste the pecan. I was surprised by how much you could taste the pecan," Jeff said.

Mmmm, a pecan porter. I don't even like pecans, and yet this sounds wonderful. And Jeff says it was (so does Beer Advocate).

The beer uses locally grown pecans (the brewery is based in Austin).

He also had an IPA by (512) and enjoyed that beer.

So for those ever in Texas, this is a brewery to try.

A new craft beer festival in Guelph?

I've heard there is possibly going to be a new craft beer festival in Guelph, Ont., this fall.

This would be super, duper exciting.

Fingers crossed!

A grape beer?

Jeff was at Baker St. Station in Guelph on Saturday (a great new pub with pretty good food and an excellent beer list) when he saw something he's never seen before: A grape ale.

It was from Flying Monkeys and, of course, he had to try it. It was just called Flying Monkeys Grape on the board, but I think I see in their Twitter account the name of the beer is Grape Raped (perhaps the name is a bit too controversial, and is why the bar didn't actually name it?)

As for the beer itself:

"I thought it was weird. I don't know if I'd have it again," he told me afterwards. "It was interesting. I probably won't be ordering it again, but I was glad I tried it."

He said you could taste the grape and it was like grape drink or white grape juice.

But, he also noted, sometimes you have to try truly bizarre beers just to do it and who knows - this could have been a hit for him.

In fact, it worked for this blogger, who said the Grape Raped "worked and reminded me of KoolAid in a good way."

I also found a listing for it on Untapped, where it lists the full name as Grape Raped Antigravity, (the Antigravity is the brewery's lighter beer), but there's not a tonne of info on the web about this beer yet (at least not that I see).

Founder's Centennial IPA

When I went on a recent trip with some girlfriends to the States, my husband's last words to me were, "Buy me some beer."

So I did.

I ended up finding this beer - Founders Centennial IPA - in a Kmart. There were a few other craft beers, but as I was in Michigan, I wanted to get him a local beer. 

I had picked up one that looked OK, but only said "lager" on it. I knew he wouldn't be thrilled by that.

Then I found the Founders beer. Knowing it was an IPA, I figured it was more likely Jeff would appreciate this than the lager, so I made the switch.

I'm glad I did.

I brought it home and Jeff inspected it. Then he went to Beer Advocate, where we discovered it had a pretty darn good rating.

Jeff said the beer was good, hoppy - a really drinkable beer. 

"I wouldn't session it, though. It's too much alcohol," he said, noting it's 7.2%. "You can't drink lots of them. Or, at least, you'd get drunk (if you did)."

My one mistake was I gave two out of the six-pack away to my friend who drove (because her husband also enjoys craft beers and she refused to take gas money). Jeff has told me to never do this again.

Mid-week beers

Jeff had a good day at work and, well, who needs a reason to enjoy good beer.

We're at the Wooly tonight where Jeff is trying Mean Hoperator - a collaboration between the Wooly and Great Lakes.

Jeff's first reaction: "This is really good."

Friday update: I just realized the photo for this one is really crappy (I'm blogging as we drink, so using my phone's camera, which isn't the best) - so here's what that actually says, in case you can't read it:

Mean Hoperator 2X IPA 7.6%
This collaboration beer was brewed by Ben (Wooly) and Mike Lackey of Great Lakes Brewing Co. We made 11 hop additions during the brewing process while aiming for a beer that will be delightful to many and offensive to others ... 7.6% and 84 UBUs, the Mean Hoperator is intended for people who love to explore the complexity of big beers.

Jeff - a hop head - loved this beer. I took one sip of it and knew it would never be for me - it was just too much.

That same night, Jeff did a "flight" of the other beers offered up by Great Lakes as part of OCBWeek - leaving out the Devil's Pale Ale (which he's had a number of times). The Canucklehead, Lake Effect IPA and Crazy Canuck all seemed to hit the spot.

Flying Monkeys Stereovision

We had this one tonight at the Wooly. Well, Jeff had it - I had a sip.

It was not at all what I was expecting from Flying Monkeys. I tend to find their beers too hoppy for my liking. Jeff, however, is a hop head and loves them.

This one, though, I liked.

This beer had an interesting start to it - I can't quit pinpoint it, but if it was maybe a tad bitter on first taste, that almost immediately went away and it was a nice, smooth beer.

Jeff called it a very "drinkable" beer - and had a second one while we were at the restaurant.

Church Key Holy Smoke

Jeff says this Church Key Holy Smoke has similar smokiness to Nurnburg sausages, but not the sausage taste. Is it a flavour of beechwood?

Not as smokey in flavour as I remember from the beer festival. It has a sweetness to it, and the malty flavour is great.

Had it at the Woolwich Arrow (the Wooly) in Guelph.


So - we're going to try to start blogging again. Yay! But instead of giant reviews of beers, which I think was starting to take the fun out of it for Jeff, we'll just post photos and pictures as we are out and about. So please, enjoy!