Townsite Brewing Bière d’Hiver: A winter ale brewed to a strength of 7.5% abv in Powell River on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, this was one of those beers I kept missing because their distribution is limited compared to other local brands (their local market is 80% of their volume, crazy considering its small 17k population). This place makes pretty good beer so I was delighted to finally try this one and I look forward to some of their other Belgian style beers that I currently have in my lineup.
Aroma and Appearance: This beer pours a mahogany brown colour with and inch of foam and small memorizing bubbles that rise up the glass. Its aroma is dark and malty plums, toffee, raisins, nutmeg and earth.
Flavour: Fairly malt forward, lots of toffee and raisin up front. In the middle you notice a surprisingly light almost thin body with brown bready malts, brown sugar, nutmeg notes and a boozy plum finish.
Overall Impression: I took me about halfway through this beer to form an opinion, the thin body threw me off a little however the flavour developed quite nicely as it warmed even further and I thought it was pretty good by the end of the glass.
Rating: Very good at 7.5/10, worth a try if you can still find it or something to seek out next year.
Food Pairing: A nice young Gouda style cheese would work well with this beer, look for one that hasn’t been aged and is fairly fresh.
Considering their head brewer has an engineering degree in the science of brewing from Brussels and his wife is a chemist and they both have a lot of brewery experience, no wonder their beers are good! Here’s another excerpt from Beer! The Show where they talk about their brewery, what’s next and excitingly they hint at a Lambic project which will take a few years to properly make, aged and blend. I know I’m excited!
West Coast Beer Geek 