Traquair Jacobite Ale

Traquair Jacobite Ale:  Brewed in Scotland, this brewery has an interesting history and was dormant for some 200 years until it was resurrected and started produce again. I had no idea what to  expect, but I poured this 8% alcohol spiced ale into a beer glass and sipped it last night. With a best before date of…

Kona Brewing Koko Brown Ale

Kona Brewing Koko Brown – brewed with toasted coconut this brown ale comes in at a 5.5% alcohol level and was enjoyed at home on the patio (yay it’s patio weather!) from a 12 oz bottle poured into a glass. Aroma and Appearance: This pours a mahogany brown, with very little foam and some rather large carbonation bubbles randomly…

Craft Beer Review – Deschutes Red Chair Pale Ale

Deschutes Red Chair Pale Ale (NWPA):  Dubbed a North West Pale Ale, this beer is brewed in Oregon at a strength of 6.2% abv and 60 IBUs featuring Cascade and Centennial hops. I found such a good deal 12 pack of this beer that I couldn’t resist buying it as my go-to fridge beer. Interesting enough this…

Craft Beer Review – Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout

Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout : A limited release from this California brewer their coffee Stout comes in at a 9.2% alcohol level (lets face it, its Imperial Stout strength) with 29.5 IBU’s and was poured from a 22 oz bottle into a snifter like glass at home. Aroma and Appearance: It is coffee brown with a half inch of…

Great Divide – Yeti Imperial Stout

Great Divide – Yeti Imperial Stout:  Brewed in Denver, CO with a cool label and name this Imperial Stout comes in at an intimidating 9.5% alcohol level, 75 IBU’s and was poured from a 12 oz bottle into a snifter like glass at home. Aroma and Appearance: It has a very dark brown, almost black appearance…

Import Craft Beers – Kona Brewing Big Wave Golden Ale

  Kona Brewing Big Wave Golden Ale: brewed by Kona Brewing Company in Hawaii (or potentially somewhere else in the USA),  it comes in at a 4.4% alcohol level and was enjoyed at home from a 12 oz bottle poured into a glass at night. Aroma and Appearance: This pours a golden honey colour, with lots of rising…

Import Craft Beers – Evil Twin Ryan and the Beaster Bunny

Evil Twin – Ryan and the Beaster Bunny:  Brewed in Connecticut by Two Roads ala Evil Twin Brewing, this Easter farmhouse ale measures up at 7.0% alcohol and was poured from a 12 oz bottle at home to help celebrate Easter. I love a good theme, so it was great to find a fitting beer, even if it…

Import Craft Beers – 8 Wired Saison Sauvin

  8 Wired – Saison Sauvin:  From New Zealand, this saison measures up at 7.0% alcohol and was poured from a 16.9 oz bottle at home. We are getting access to a lot of their beer in Vancouver, BC which is pretty exciting because they offer pretty good stuff. Aroma and Appearance: Pours a clear gold colour with…

Import Craft Beers – 8 Wired Fresh Hopwired IPA

From my second favourite New Zealand brewery comes 8 Wired – Fresh Hopwired Wet Hopped IPA (7.3%, poured from a 16.9 oz bottle at home). Aroma and Appearance: Pours a hazy light amber with a butt load of foam and has a mild floral and tangerine hop aroma which is a bit hard to detect over the foam.…

Import Craft Beers – Anderson Valley Hop Ottin IPA

From a solar powered brewery in Boonville, CA comes Anderson Valleys Brewing’s Hop Ottin IPA (7.0%, poured from a 22oz bottle at home) Aroma and Appearance: Pours a darker cloudy amber with an inch of foam, nice and bubbly and contains a very, very mild floral and citrus hop aroma with malty toffee. Flavour: Very, very malt forward with heavy toffee,…

Import Craft Beers – Anderson Valley Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout

  From a solar powered brewery in Boonville, CA comes Anderson Valleys Brewing’s Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout (5.8%, poured from a bottle at home) Aroma and Appearance: Pours a dark brown with a bit of foam and the aroma is dominated by smokey oats. Flavour: Starts with a smokey and creamy coffee flavour with the distinctive oatmeal stout texture and…

Import Craft Beers – Breakside Salted Caramel Stout

  To celebrate National Beer Day yesterday, I had a collaboration brew from Portland, OR called Salted Caramel Stout by Breakside Brewery (6.7% alc, collaboration brew with Salt & Straw, poured at home from a 22oz bottle). If you have ever been to Portland and walked by the Salt and Straw Ice Cream locations, they always have line…

Import Craft Beers – Bridgeport Hop Czar

From Portland, OR comes Bridgeport’s Hop Czar Imperial IPA (7.5% alc imperial IPA, poured at home from a 12 oz bottle).  Aroma and Appearance: Pours a cloudy amber, with nice lacy foam and the aroma consists of tropical floral notes, a bit of citrus and mango. Flavour: First of all there is a real bitterness to this one that hits you…

Import Craft Beers – Caldera IPA

From Ashland, OR comes Caldera Brewing’s IPA (6.1% alc poured at home from a can).  Aroma and Appearance: This beer has a really pleasant tangerine, caramel and tropical aroma that makes you want to smell it all the time. It pours a medium honey colour with a bit of haze, lots of foam and quick rising bubbles. Flavour: Lots of…

Import Craft Beers – Oskar Blues Imperial IPA

From Denver, CO comes Oskar Blues Imperial IPA (a serious 10% alc double IPA, poured in Seattle from a can).  Aroma and Appearance: Pours a clear copper honey like colour, with medium foam and some tiny bubbles that make their way up the glass. The aroma is dominated by grapefruit, floral, tangerine like hops. Flavour: Lots of sweet bready…

Import Craft Beers – Anchor Old Foghorn Barleywine

From San Franciso, CA comes Anchor Brewing’s Old Foghorn Barleywine (8.8% alc poured from a bottle while visiting Seattle).  Aroma and Appearance: Pours a dark amber with some foam, lots of toffee and raisin aroma and some good bubbles rising from the bottom. Flavour: this one hits you nicely with loads of sweet toffee, malt with some nice fruitiness and floral hop notes…

Import Craft Beers – Uinta Anniversary Barleywine

From Salt Lake City, UT comes Uinta – Anniversary Barleywine (a hefty 10.4% alc Barleywine poured from a bottle while visiting Seattle).  Aroma and Appearance: Pours a very dark brown with minimal foam and is full of dark fruit, raisin and caramel aroma. Flavour: this barleywine hits you with sweet molasses malt and plum and finishes with bitter, piney hops and finally…

Import Craft Beers – AleSmith IPA

From San Diego, CA comes AleSmith IPA (a 7.25% IPA, poured from a bottle while visiting Seattle).  Aroma and Appearance: Pours a nice copper colour, very clear with some good foam and a mix of tangerine, grapefruit and piney aroma. Flavour: Smooth, piney and malty sweet citrus upfront with a bitter IPA finish and a grapefruit aftertaste. Well balanced,…

Import Craft Beers – Double Mountain Fa La La La La Winter Ale

From Hood River, OR comes Double Mountain Fa La La La La Winter Ale (7.5% alc, from a 500 mL bottle and poured at home). Aroma & Appearance – aroma of sweet malt, huge floral and citrus hops, pours a amber colour with a think head of foam that leaves a nice lacing as it disappears. Flavour – Starts…

Import Craft Beers – Brasserie d’Achouffe “Houblon Chouffe” Dobbelen IPA Tripel

From Belgium comes “Houblon Chouffe” Dobbelen IPA Tripel (9% alc, from a re-fermented bottle and poured at home) Aroma and Appearance: Pours a hazy pale copper, exploding with foam as soon as I popped the cap off and pours with a thick lacy head (that I slowed down so not to spill over). Loaded with clove and spicy…

Import Craft Beers – Goose Island Beer Pere Jacques (aged 3 years)

I had high anticipation for this three year old Pere Jacques Belgian Dubbel by Goose Island Beer (8% alc, from a 75 cL re-fermented bottle and poured at home) and it delivered. Aroma & Appearance – Lots of dark fruit, caramels and a bit of spice, pours fairly flat with minimal carbonation. Flavour – I didn’t takes notes on this…

Craft Beer Review – Half Pints Brewing Stir Stick Stout

Half Pints Brewing – Stir Stick Stout – Described as a Coffee Infused stout from Winnipeg, MB, this updated review of the 5% abv and 35 IBU bottle of beer was poured into the same snifter glass and enjoyed at home. Aroma and Appearance: This beer pours a coffee like dark brown colour with hardly any foam, and…

Import Beers – Asahi Super Dry

All the way from Japan comes the commercial offering Asahi Super Dry (5% alc, from a tiny 4oz can in a teeny 4oz taster glass). Some days you don’t have room in your diet for a big beer, today was one of them so I drank a tiny beer. Aroma and Appearance: Light transparent honey colour, pours with…

Import Craft Beers – Brasserie Dieu du Ciel’s Derniere Volonte

From Quebec, comes Brasserie Dieu du Ciel’s Derniere Volonte (7% alc, from a re-fermented bottle and poured at home) Aroma and Appearance: pours a hazy honey colour, with very little foam and aggressive small bubbles rising from the bottom of the glass. Aroma is dominated by clovey spice and banana with a side of tropical hops. Flavour: heavy…

Craft Beer Review – Muskoka Brewery Twice as Mad Tom Double IPA

Muskoka Brewery – Twice as Mad Tom Double IPA: Brewed in Bracebridge, Ontario at a strength 8.4% abv and 71 IBUs, this craft beer was enjoyed at home from a 12 oz bottle. Aroma and Appearance: Pours a copper orange gold colour with 1 finger of foam, some bubbles and a bit of sediment not uncommon to Double IPA’s.…

Import Craft Beers – Noel de Calabaza by Jolly Pumpkin

 My first Sour Beer review is “Noel de Calabaza” by Jolly Pumpkin (a whopping 9.0% alc, from a 75 cL re-fermented bottle and poured at home) Aroma and Appearance: This pours a very dark brown with a touch of foam and the aroma is dominated by tartness, grapefruit and a touch of funk. Flavour: Well, it’s a sour…

Import Craft Beers – “La Goudale de Noel” by Les Brasseurs De Gayant

All the way from France comes “La Goudale de Noel” by Les Brasseurs De Gayant (7.7% alc, from a 75 cL re-fermented bottle and poured at home) Aroma and Appearance: Pours a dark copper with a small 1/2 inch head of foam, almost no bubble action in the glass. I get notes of plum, dark fruit, raisin…

Mill Street Brewery – Seasonal 6 pack Sampler Review

  I wanted to do a quick write up on this 6 pack and show my admiration for Mill St. Brewery’s offering a sampler 6 pack with six unique beers. Now, nothing in here was overly unique in terms of what they offer, however allowing me to try 6 beers for the price of a…

Import Craft Beers – Mill Street Brewery Vanilla Porter

Beer 6 from Mill Street’s Seasonal 6 pack sampler is Mill Street Brewery’s Vanilla Porter (5.0% alc, poured at home from a widgetized can).  Aroma and Appearance: This beer pours a very dark reddish brown with a massive cascade and a gargantuan 2.5 inch head. Aroma is roasted coffee beans and vanilla, honestly it smells like a…

Import Craft Beers – Mill Street Brewery Organic Lager

Beer 5 from Mill Street’s Seasonal 6 pack sampler is Mill Street Brewery’s Organic Lager (a mere 4.2% alc, poured at home from a bottle).  Aroma and Appearance: Very soft grassy aromas, with an apple/pear like note. Pours a pale golden yellow, with a quickly dissipating 1 inch head of foam and a whole lot of bubble…

Import Craft Beers – Mill Street Brewery Cobblestone Stout

Beer 4 from Mill Street’s Seasonal 6 pack sampler is Mill Street Brewery’s Cobblestone Stout (4.2% alc, poured at home from a can with a nitrogen widget).  Aroma and Appearance: This beer pours a very dark reddish brown and appears black in the glass. It is nitrogenated, so pours with a decent cascading effect and an 3/4…

Import Craft Beers – Mill Street Brewery Weizenbock

Beer 3 from Mill Street’s Seasonal 6 pack sampler is Mill Street Brewery’s Weizenbock (a hefty 7.5% alc, poured at home from a bottle).  Aroma and Appearance: This beer pours a very dark almost red copper with just a touch of foam at the top (which stays the whole time) and carries aroma’s of toffee, raisin and…

Import Craft Beers – Mill Street Brewery Distillery Ale

Beer 2 from Mill St’s Seasonal 6 pack sampler is Mill Street Brewery’s Distillery Ale (5.8% alc, poured at home from a bottle). Aroma and Appearance: Aroma of caramel and some bits of dark fruit. Pours a copper colour with a small head of foam and very little visible carbonation. Flavour: Very bready malt flavour with a bit…

Import Craft Beers – Mill Street Brewery Tankhouse Ale

From Mill St’s Seasonal 6 pack sampler comes Mill Street Brewery’s Tankhouse Ale (5.2% alc, poured at home from a bottle). I love the idea of a 6 pack sampler, well done Mill Street. Aroma and Appearance: Floral, citrus and a bit of pine aroma. Pours a golden copper with a 1 inch head of foam with…

Import Craft Beers – St-Feuillien / Green Flash Belgium Coastal IPA

From St-Feuillien / Green Flash collaboration comes their Belgium Coastal IPA (7.5% alc, poured at home from a bottle). These collaboration beers are always fun to try, I often buy them on site. Aroma and Appearance: Banana and clove dominate the nose and it pours a hazy gold colour with a massive head of foam and fast rising…