Howe Sound Pothole Filler Imperial Stout

Howe Sound Pothole Filler Imperial Stout
9% abv., 65 IBUs

If you want a good stout on a cold night by the fire, this could be the beer for you.

B.C. brewery Howe Sound's Pothole Filler Imperial Stout, which I picked up for Jeff during a random trip to the LCBO, has "tonnes of roastiness, chocolate and molasses," Jeff said. "The taste continues the roasted flavours, chocolate, black cherry and tobacco, then finishes hop bitterness."

He said it pours an opaque black-brown with a bubbly tan head that sticks around.

"It's a full-bodied beer that coats your mouth," he said.

Be warned, though, this is a big bottle. You might not want to tackle it on a Thursday night.

Check out the brewery's website - if you're thinking of taking a trip to B.C., it might be worth staying at the inn at the brewery (or visiting the brewery at the inn ...).

Great Lakes Brewery Lube Job Baltic Porter

Great Lakes Brewery Lube Job Baltic Porter
9% abv. 65 IBUs

A Project X beer from Great Lakes Brewery, the Lube Job Baltic Porter pours pitch black - no light at all penetrated the glass.

"You get some pint in the smell, but it's dominated with roasted malt - and maybe a hint of chocolate. Lots of roasted malt, molasses and chocolate milk in the taste, and finishes with some pine to balance out the sweetness," Jeff said of this beer (which I picked him up - he's welcome).

"The body isn't too thin - it's kind of creamy. Overall, I like it," Jeff said.

8 Wired Brewing Co. HopWired IPA

8 Wired Brewing Co. HopWired IPA
7.3% abv., 70 IBUs

This New Zealand beer uses only local hops, giving it a unique smell and taste.

"The predominant smell and taste I get is passion fruit," Jeff said of HopWired IPA from 8 Wired Brewing Company. "It's rounded out with some other tropical fruit along with a balance of caramel sweetness. It's a great switch up from an American IPA."

But like the last beer, the Birrificio B.O.A. Bia IPA, Jeff was worried about the freshness of this one.

"Unfortunately the shipment the LCBO put on shelves only a few weeks ago has a bottling date of Dec. 11, 2012 - makes you wonder if it lost something over those 3.5 months since IPAs are always best when the hops are freshest."

Birrificio B.O.A. Bia IPA

This Italian beer recently made its way onto the LCBO store shelves, but given it was bottled back in November and Jeff just picked it up, he was a tad concerned about freshness, so he only bought one.

The website for B.O.A. says (according to Google Translate) that the beer is a union of Czech-German and American style IPAs.

Jeff noted the beer poured a nice bright orange colour, "although it looks muted next to the eye-popping label on the bottle."

He smelled citrus zest and honey, and the taste had both citrus hops (Cascade and Amarillo) and herbal notes (Saaz).

"The spicy herbal taste is a nice change. Plus there's the honey and some bread. I was really surprised by this beer," he said. "If it's this nice after five months, I can only guess at how good it would be fresh."

Maybe we need to take a trip to Rome, honey!

Bellwoods Grizzly Beer American Brown Ale

Bellwoods Grizzly Beer
6.3% abv.

Licorice was the downfall of this beer from Bellwoods - at least for Jeff.

Jeff notes this beer has a pine and grapefruit smell from the hops, but there's also dark fruit like plums and raisins.

The grapefruit returns in the taste, along with some caramel, and then there's the licorice.

"It's not my personal favourite - I think it's the licorice," Jeff says of Bellwoods' Grizzly Beer American Brown Ale.

When it comes to American brown ales, he'd suggest the Dogfish Head's Indian Brown Ale over this one.

We're heading west!

Later this year, Jeff and I are heading out to Alberta (Calgary and Banff, to be exact) for a wedding.

If anyone has any tips on brew pubs, breweries or must-pick-up beers from the store while we're out there, let us know! We'd love the input.

Neustadt Springs Brewery's Big Dog Porter

Neustadt Springs Brewery's Big Dog Beaujolais Porter
5.5% abv.

This is my personal favourite from a "hometown" brewery (I grew up in Hanover, just a few minutes from Neustadt).

But I'll let Jeff tell you about his thoughts on Neustadt Springs Brewery's Big Dog Beaujolais Porter.

"This beer pours a deep, deep ruby red - appropriate since it's blended with 3% Pelee Island red wine. There's a lot of berry fruit in the smell - raspberry I think, it has a slight tartness. The taste again has berries but with dark roasted and chocolate malts. There's also a slight tart/sourness in the finish which really helps balance the sweetness of the berry and chocolate flavours.

"This beer can be a little hard to find. My wife (that's me!) and I stop by the brewery frequently on the way to Hanover to visit family. You can usually find the Big Dog, 456 Marzen, Mill Gap Bitter and Texas Tea Honey Stout canned and in the fridge ready to take home. I know the brewery has also been working at opening a tasting room - making it even more of a reason to visit."

Bellwoods Belgian IPA

Bellwoods Belgian IPA
7.3% abv.

Our recent trip to Bellwoods in Toronto has produced another winner, and that ain't no joke. (Get it? Because it's April Fools' Day? Yeah, OK ... lame.)

Anyway ...

Jeff quite enjoyed the Belgian IPA he picked up, saying it had tonnes of tropical fruit smells from the hops, with some typical Belgian yeast smells.

Tastewise, there is a peppery spiciness from the yeast that goes with the grapefruit, mango and banana.

"It has a dry finish and enough bitterness to satisfy the hop seekers," Jeff said, calling it "another solid offering from Bellwoods."