The home-brew review...

As promised, I reviewed my first tasting experience of the RijzeBrew "Ragin' Cascadian" for your curiosity. I was somewhat reluctant, as - truth be told - of the 6 beers I brewed prior to this one, I haven't been happy with any of them. Each one has had it's major flaws, wether that be: too flat, too "yeasty tasting", not flavourful enough, mouthfeel off, various other off-flavours (unless you're a fan of drinking plastic... that was a bad brew day)... I tend to be the hardest critic of my own work, and if there's something that isn't quite right about it, I'll be the first to point it out. Even some of my brews that others were pleased with, I always felt they were just saying it to be nice (whether that's true or not I'll never know)...

But I'm not one to give up due to a couple of "bad brews". I decided to take a month or two off of home brewing, and instead devoted most of my free time to to listening to brewing podcasts, reading brewing books, and perusing brewing forums online; all of which helped immensely by offering me some insight into small mistakes in my brewing process that could have been leading to the results I was having. With this new info in my pocket, and a couple of handy tips up my sleeve, I decided to get back into the game. Mission number 1: A cascadian dark ale!

RijzeBrew - "Ragin' Cascadian" Cascadian Dark Ale (500ml, 7.6%)

RijzeBrew "Ragin' Cascadian" in all its glory!
(Photographed beside a full bottle)

I brought the opener to the cap of the bottle, praying to hear that sharp "ppsshhhhttt!!" that wouldPssssshhhhtttt!!! Ahhhh that beautiful sound, well-known to beer drinkers the world-round. The fear of inadequate carbonation almost behind me, I poured the beer into my glass, resulting in a beautiful two-finger, light brown head perched atop the jet-black liquid. My first thought: "Well, this is EXACTLY how I would have liked the beer to LOOK... but does the rest of the beer hold up?"
signify good carbonation, and - hopefully - an excellent beer to follow. Hands trembling, heart racing, and beads of sweat forming on my forehead, I slowly put some upward pressure on the ridge of the cap... ...

I picked up the glass, and - before it even reached my nose - I could smell the sublime aromas of a lightly roasty dark chocolate from the malts mixed with a perfect dose of citrusy sweet orange from the hops (that dry-hopping sure was a hassle in my tiny fermenter, but it CLEARLY payed off here). But I know first sniffs of a fairly cold, freshly poured beer are not always a sure indicator of a good beer. Taking a few more wary, concentrated sniffs, I searched for any off-aromas: any sour or yeasty or oxidized smells hiding behind the wondrous up-front smells. Nothing. It was completely clean smelling, with nothing lurking behind that great "Terry's dark chocolate orange" aroma that I had been envisioning when putting together the recipe some 5 weeks ago. Even as the beer warmed up over the next 20 minutes or so that I took to drink the whole thing, all that happened to the aroma was that it became even more intensely chocolatey and delicious smelling. So far, so good!

The final test of the beer, the most IMPORTANT test one might say: the taste! As the beer slowly flowed out of the glass and coated my tongue and mouth with it's smoothly carbonated liquid, I was immediately met by a deep, dark chocolatey bitter-sweetness on the front of my tongue. As the beer flowed back along my tongue, nice bright citrusy orange flavours started jumping out of it and mingling with the dark chocolate in perfect unison as it made its way to my throat. Upon swallowing, I am left with a subtle, almost coffee-like roastiness on the back of my tongue, along with a very light feeling of orange peel rind bitterness dancing off of the back and edges of my tongue. Within moments, I am left with a clean, pleasantly bitter-sweet chocolate aftertaste in my mouth. 

After a few seconds of stunned bliss at what was seemingly a PERFECT Cascadian Dark Ale, brewed BY ME (I double checked to make sure I hadn't just accidentally poured an extremely fresh bottle of one of my favourite commercially brewed examples of the style), I immediately went in for another mouthful of the delicious beverage. This time I was looking for any HINT of off-flavours, or some kind of unwanted characteristic in the mouthfeel of the beer. Once again I experienced the same perfect balance of roasty dark chocolate and sweet orange, and noted the medium body (not light and watery like a lager, but not heavy or slick like a stout) with the perfect amount (in my opinion anyways) of smooth and bubbly carbonation. Not an off-flavour in sight (taste?)! And again, as the beer warmed, the chocolatey and roasty aspects of the beer became ever more to the forefront.

Conclusions:

Now I'm sure a lot of you are thinking, "look at this guy, REALLY trying to sell this beer as being the 'end-all-be-all' of beer ever produced!". But I assure you, that is not the case. My vivid and excited descriptions of my tasting experience are all prompted by my pure AMAZEMENT at how well this beer turned out, meeting and even EXCEEDING my highest expectations of it! I was starting to believe there was no way to get a perfectly clean tasting beer in a home-brew setting with the smallest, most basic equipment (a pot on the stove, and a small 1 gallon jug to ferment it in in my furnace room); let-alone a beer that rivals or even exceeds by favourite commercial example of the style! This beer came out tasting EXACTLY how I had envisioned it tasting, with the added bonus of it being completely clean and perfectly carbonated. It's also really easy to drink (dangerously so at 7.6% abv.), with none of the "heaviness" you'd expect from both a dark and hoppy beer.

I was really banking on this beer coming out awesome, in order to re-invigorate that spark of passion for home brewing that had gotten tainted slightly by the results of my first 6 brews. I'm now more excited than ever to get my next several beers brewed, and will certainly be re-brewing this beer as my first "signature" RijzeBrew!

With that said, I will leave you all with a quick sneak peek at the "mystery ingredient" going into my next brew...

What could they BE!?

Stay tuned for more beer tasting and home brewing updates in the near future! Until then...

Enjoy a craft brew!!!

- Sid Ryzebol -        

              

Back in Black!!! (It's been a while...)

First off, I'd like to apologize to all my readers (what few of you there may be), as I just haven't had the time to post in over a month. I've been really busy with school, and though I've still been doing weekly tastings, I haven't really had the time to write about them. I also DID get around to brewing a batch of beer over the last month, but unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the brewing process... I did get a picture of the beer fermenting in the fermenter though!

My "RijzeBrew Ragin' Cascadian" Cascadian Dark Ale
after just being brewed and put in the fermenter

Fast forward 3 weeks and a dry hop addition (adding a whole bunch of hops in a bag into the fermenting vessel for the last week of fermentation, allowing them to steep and let all their hoppy flavour and aroma GOODNESS into the beer), throw it in a bottle, and design some labels, and you end up with...

Ta-daaahhhhh!!! Some OFFICIAL looking bottles of The Ragin' Cascadian!!! Labels designed by yours truly...

Some more pictures to admire...

Clever tagline??? OH! And my brand new insignia above it!

I haven't tasted the final beer yet (when I do, I'll be SURE to blog about it), though I did taste it when it was flat at bottling time, and it was already excellent! Why did I put so much time and effort into designing a label and such you ask? Well I'm hoping this will be my first RijzeBrew signature beer. I plan to re-brew it many times until I feel I have perfected the recipe, and then when I have a keg / tap set up in my future home, it will be one of the mainstays always on tap at the "RijzeBrew Pub".

For those of you unaware of what a "Cascadian Dark Ale" (a.k.a. Black IPA) is, it's basically a fusion of  a porter / stout and an IPA (India Pale Ale). It has all the deep roasty and chocolately flavours of a stout, but also all the bright citrusy hop flavours of a very hop forward IPA... Ideally, I would like mine to taste like you're drinking a Terry's dark chocolate orange! If that sounds at all appealing to you, there's a good chance you'll love this style of beer, and should immediately seek out what I think is probably the best example readily available at the LCBO, Flying Monkey's Netherworld. 

That's mostly all I have to update you guys on for the time being... I have most of the month of December off, so I have a number of brews lined up, and HOPEFULLY (keep your fingers crossed) I will be able to do a little documentation of the brewing process for you guys to see in a future post. Also, I will be making an effort to post a little more regularly. Until then...

Enjoy a craft brew!!!

- Sid Ryzebol -

It's that time again...

And what time is that??? Well, I'll give you a hint...

It's a BARLEY CRUSHER!!! And what do you use a Barley Crusher for??? ... come on now, anyone??? Anyone at all??? ... That's right, it's crushes BARLEY!!! Malted barley, to be exact... And why do you need to crush malted barely??? To get to the sugary starchy GOODNESS inside of it that will turn WATER into BEER!!!

So why is this exciting, you ask? Well, I've been wanting to get my own malt crusher for a LONG time, so that I could mill my own grain and brew FAR more frequently and easily (and most importantly, have the beer end up tasting as fresh as possible!). But what good is a malt crusher when you've got no malt? Not much... soooooo...

ISN'T IT BEAUTIFUL!?!? MALTS, HOPS, YEAST, A CRUSHER, AND A FERMENTER READY TO GO!!! If this does not make you giddy like a school girl, you have no soul...

In this pile of ingredients lurks a Cascadian Dark Ale, a Brown Ale, an American Pale Ale, an English Pale Ale, a Red Ale, and an Oatmeal stout, all of which are just WAITING to be brewed!!!

Stay tuned to my blog in the coming week(s), and we will be sure to take a quick jaunt down the road of home brewing, and see what wondrous things we can find down that road! until then...

Enjoy a craft brew!!!

- Sid Ryzebol -

Tasting #4: Wheat 'N' Wild!

So I've got good news and I've got bad news... The GOOD news is the roster has gained another new taster, Chris, who replaces Duncan (I SWEAR it had nothing to do with his "bad" judgements from last week) at the table. The bad news is we had a few "hiccups" with tonight's beer line-up. I asked my fellow tasters to go out and buy 1 or 2 wheat beers that they'd like to have for the tasting, which they did. ...Or atleast as far as I knew they did. What I initially thought was going to be 6 wheat beers for us to taste ended up only being 4, as two of the beers that got bought were - in fact - NOT wheat beers at all. I may be partially to blame - as I was in the LCBO with them when they were purchasing them, and I MAY have given the okay on both of them, but that's all just irrelevant details... So to save you readers from ever making this mistake yourselves, maybe we should take a look at what "wheat beers" actually are...

Wheat Beers

Wheat beers (known as "Weissebier / Weizen" to the Germans, and "Witbier / White ale" to the Belgians) are beers that are brewed with 50% - 60% of the grain bill being made up of malted wheat, and the rest malted barely. The wheat brings a nice, creamy smoothness to the beer, along with a bright, lemony citrus taste. They're typically lightly hopped, and thus hops are not a major player in the aromas or flavours here. What IS a large player is the yeast, which is a special kind of ale yeast that gives the beer its characteristic clove, banana, and bubble gum-like aromas and flavours. Unlike other styles of beer, leaving the beer completely unfiltered and making sure to get the yeast out of the bottom of the bottle and into your glass when it's poured is common practice, and will intensify those yeasty characteristics. Overall, wheat beers are perfect summer patio beers. With their effervescent carbonation, creamy mouthfeel, and bright, fresh, and quenching flavours, this is the perfect alternative to that "same old lager" you always turn to on a hot day.

Beer #1: Molson Canadian Wheat

Molson Canadian Wheat

One of the beers we were SUPPOSED to have had for the tasting would have been an original Bavarian Hefeweizen (the type of wheat beer that Molson is trying to imitate with this beer). However, what was unfortunately bought instead was an imported German lager that was in among all the other wheat beers (I really should brush up on my German), so unfortunately we won't have anything to compare the Molson Canadian Wheat to. 

Molson Canadian Wheat is Molson's attempt to cash in on the resurgence in popularity of craft and imported Bavarian Hefeweizens as an alternative to lagers. Just as a side-note, I had my first regular Molson Canadian lager in over a year a couple weeks ago, and while it wasn't NEARLY as bad as the Budweiser lager from the first tasting (in fact, I actually somewhat didn't mind it), it had a very strange sweet, corny (Molson uses corn in the beer, just like Anheuser-Busch uses rice), and somewhat perfumey taste to it that was not at all what I expect from a good lager. 

Getting back to the Canadian Wheat though, upon pouring it, I can't say I am much more impressed with this beer than I was the lager, based off the smell anyways. The aroma has very slight weisse-like characteristics of faint cloves and banana, but is mostly dominated by that sweet, corny, and oddly perfumey smell of a regular Canadian lager. In fact, it's weisse characteristics are SO faint that my co-tasters (who aren't familiar with wheat beers) are having a hard time even picking up on any difference between this and a regular Canadian lager. I'm not really shocked, but I'm going to hold out judgement until I have a taste. Drinking the beer, it at least mostly has the "feel" of a weissebier, very effervescent and creamy feeling in your mouth, and goes down pretty smoothly. Unfortunately, that's as far as the comparisons go, as - like the aroma - this tastes exactly like a corny Molson Canadian lager. My co-tasters agree with me, though they all did like the creamy smoothness of it.

Beer #2: Erdinger Weissbier Dunkel

Erdinger Weissbier Dunkel

This next beer is brewed by Erdinger Weissbräu out of Erding, Bavaria. Erdinger started in 1886, and has grown to become the world's largest and most popular traditional wheat beer brewery, as well as one of Germany's largest private breweries in general. They brew a number of different beers, all of which are different kinds of wheat beer. The one we're tasting tonight is their Weissbier Dunkel (dark), which is basically a darker, brown wheat beer with slightly darker malt character than your typical weisse (pronounced "vise", just in case you were wondering).  The aromas of the beer definitely reflect the colour, with notes of molassesy banana bread, dates, stone fruits, and a light toasty caramel too. The flavour of the beer follows suit, with sweet, caramelly, date-like maltiness, and maybe a hint of banana in the background from the yeast. It's also silky smooth on the mouth and extremely easy to drink, with a nice effervescent carbonation, and finishes relatively clean. As it warms, it starts to take on a slightly toasty, nutty flavour as well. Overall, my co-tasters and I agree that this is an excellent beer with great flavour, and yet remains silky smooth, clean tasting, and easy to drink right to the last drop.

Beer #3: Hoegaarden Witbier

Hoegaarden Witbier

Hoegaarden Witbeir is a Belgian style wheat beer brewed by Hoegaarden Brewery in Hoegaarden, Belgium. What sets Belgian wheat beers apart from German wheat beers is the fact that the Belgians typically "spice" their beer with both coriander and citrus peel to give a distinctive "Belgian" taste to their witbier. Hoegaarden Witbier is no exception, and if you are ever looking for a classic Belgian witbier, look no further than this beer. Upon pouring, it is all spicy coriander and and tart lemon on the nose. Tasting it, the nose definitely translates to flavour. There is a strong presence of coriander, but also a very strong lemon flavour that is quite tart, so tart that it almost makes your tongue salivate. Just like the other wheat beers we've had so far, this beer is very smooth and creamy. Overall I think this is a very solid beer, and a perfect example of the style. It might be a slight shock initially to beer drinkers who have only ever drank mass produced lagers, but once you've learned to accept that there is no one definable "beer flavour", it's an easy beer to love.




 Beer #4: Flying Monkey's Imperial Maple Wheat

This final beer is brewed by Flying Monkeys Brewery, a brewery formed in 2005 in Barrie, Ontario under the name of Robert Simpson (the first mayor of Barrie) Brewery. In 2009, the brewery re-branded itself the Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery, and changed all of their beers and marketing to match their fresh, new, innovative approach to brewing. All of their beers are a little "different" and tend to push boundaries, a philosophy that is reflected by their personal motto: "Normal is Weird". The beer we are tasting tonight is a one-off, limited time only beer that was a collaboration between the Flying Monkeys Brewery and Dallas Green of City and Colour. This beer is labelled an "Imperial Maple Wheat", with "Imperial" meaning that it has basically "double" of everything (Malt, hops, alcohol content, and - of course - flavour!). This particular beer comes in at 11.5% abv., making it more of a "wheat wine" than a wheat beer. I have personally bought several bottles of this beer since it was first released about a month and a half ago, but have yet to drink any. Instead, I have decided to cellar the other bottles for over a year, to see how the beer develops (yes, you can cellar beer, which is a topic I will go over in a future post). Needless to say, I am really looking forward to finally trying this beer.

Flying Monkey's Imperial Maple Wheat

Pouring it into the glass, the entire vicinity around me was just completely FILLED with the aroma of pure maple syrup. Getting the beer actually poured into all of our glasses and actually taking a sniff from the glass, there is just SO much going on in this beer that it's almost overwhelming. The first thing that hits you right in the nose outright is the sweet maple, with a nice creamy vanilla note behind that. With every degree of temperature that this beer warms, it evolves and releases new aromas to smell and enjoy. Over the next few minutes of smelling, my co-tasters and I picked up on aromas of black liquorice, apple-cinnamon, molasses, and even a light nuttiness.

Now that we've finally decided it was time to stop smelling the beer and actually taste it, I am completely blown away by every aspect of this beer. The beer itself is very "syrupy" in mouthfeel initially, coating, with a low carbonation. It starts off with a very big, very rich maple syrup-like flavour, with hints of vanilla and cinnamon spice when it first hits your tongue. As the beer travels over your tongue and to your throat, you start to get dark cherry-like flavours, and a hint of black liquorice. After swallowing the beer, you are left with a nice light bready maltiness on your tongue, with a good background flavour of vanilla, and the slightest, short-lived tinge of hop bitterness on the sides of the tongue. The beer - as one of my co-tasters put it - is almost like an "experience" more than it is a beer. There are so many aromas and flavours going on, all of which are changing and evolving with every passing moment as the beer warms. If I had to explain the taste of this beer in once sentence, I would say it's like drinking apple-cinnnamon pancakes just drenched in pure maple syrup. What amazes me most about this beer though is that it starts off so incredibly strong and rich in flavour, and yet it ends so incredibly smooth and clean. Though I wouldn't recommend drinking this entire 750ml bottle to yourself (just because of how rich it is), it would definitely be the perfect beer to bring to a family Thanksgiving dinner (or any other such event) to share with multiple people, and to pair with food. My co-tasters and I agreed, this beer has so much going in it that drinking it could very easily be called an "experience", and an experience that should definitely be shared and savoured with family or friends. Amazing beer, top-notch brewery.

Conclusions and Rankings:

Sid's Rankings:                                              Jeff's Rankings:
1. Flying Monkey's Imp. Maple Wheat      1. Erdinger Weissbier Dunkel
2. Erdinger Weissbier Dunkel                    2. Hoegaarden Witbier
3. Hoegaarden Witbier                                 3. Flying Monkey's Imp. Maple Wheat
4. Molson Canadian Wheat                         4. Molson Canadian Wheat

Steve's Rankings:                                          Chris' Rankings:
1. Erdinger Weissbier Dunkel                     1. Flying Monkey's Imp. Maple Wheat
2. Molson Canadian Wheat                          2. Erdinger Weissbier Dunkel
3. Flying Monkey's Imp. Maple Wheat      3. Hoegaarden Witbier
4. Hoegaarden Witbier                                 4. Molson Canadian Wheat

Though we had a few troubles leading to less beers in this tasting than I would have liked, I think we still tasted a very good variety of wheat beers. Once again I think I was able to surprise my co-tasters with tastes they've never tasted in a beer before, and turned them onto things they probably never even knew they liked before. The highlight of the evening for me was the Flying Monkeys Imperial Maple Wheat, and I'm so glad I waited this long to try it, so I could share it with other people and go on that "journey" that it takes you on together with them. Where will we go next on this "craft beer journey"? I don't know exactly, but you can be very sure it will be somewhere filled to the brim with exciting, tasty, new craft beers to discover! Until next time...

Enjoy a craft brew!!!

- Sid Ryzebol -             

Tasting #3: The bitter-sweet symphony of... Pale Ales!

For this tasting, I enlisted the help of some of my fellow Turf students: Steve, Duncan, and Jeff. Their experience with craft beer ranges from none to very little, although one of them does like to do wine tastings (I'm sure there are transferrable skills, right?). It'll be interesting to see what they think of these beers, and what kind of aromas and flavours they're able to pick out. Most importantly, I hope I sway them over to the world of craft beers! Without further ado, let's move onto ...

Pale Ales

Most ales that were brewed before the mid-1600s ranged from either red to black in colour. The reason for this was that the process they used to kiln the malt before this point resulted in a more roasted, darker malt, and thus the colour and taste of the beer reflected that. Once they started using coke as a heat source to kiln the malt, they were able to produce a much lighter kilned malt, and thus: a "pale ale" (at least in comparison to the ales they had been brewing before). In actuality, most pale ples are light to dark copper in colour, as a result of the slightly toasty, nutty, and caramelly malts used to give them their signature malty flavours. But when it comes to pale ales, toasty sweet malts are only half of the story. Hops are featured fairly prominently in this style. They generally either completely balance or slightly outweigh the sweet malt with their bitterness, and also add a whole range of aromas and flavours including spicy, herbal, floral, citrus rinds (grapefruit / oranges), and even notes of pine resin. Traditional British pale ales (or "Bitters") are generally crisp and nutty, with a good dose of spicy and / or herbal hops. American pale ales - on the other hand - come from a country who loves to put the spotlight on hops in their beers. As a result, our pale ales are normally heavier and bolder in terms of hop flavours and aromas, with big citrusy and pine-like hops, as well as some floral hops as well. The malt profile is also slightly different from their British brethren, usually with more caramel and toffee in the flavour, and hints of raisin as well.

Tasting

Beer #1: Wellington S.P.A. (Special Pale Ale)

Wellington S.P.A.

Being brewed by Wellington Brewery, this Special Pale Ale is likely to be more of a traditional British style pale ale, as most of their main beers are in the style of traditional British beers. Upon pouring the beer, your nose is right away greeted with spicy, floral aromas, with a light note of citrus drifting somewhere in the background. Taking a sip, the flavour is of a nice toasty caramel maltiness, with a hint of spicy hop and a light bitterness on the palate briefly, but ends fairly clean and sweet. Among the four of us tasting the beer, we all agreed that it is a very smooth, enjoyable, tasty beer that's easy to drink (yes, even the guys who drink nothing but macro-brewed lagers quite enjoyed it!). Good, classic representation of the style, and a great beer overall.

Beer #2: Alexander Keith's Cascade Hop Ale

In an attempt to do something a little more "craft-like" than usual, Alexander Keith's (owned by Anheuser-Busch) out of Halifax, Nova Scotia decided in 2013 to brew a "Hop Series" of ales, which are pale ales brewed with a single kind of hop. The idea behind these "single hop" ales is to help consumers to understand the different aromas and flavours that different kinds of hops bring to a beer. For a macro-brewery, this is a commendable move, as most big brand breweries are content just pumping out the same old watered down lagers for all eternity. This Cascade Hop Ale is brewed with - you guessed it - Cascade hops, which generally have floral, spicy, and citrusy characteristics.

Alexander Keith's Cascade Hop Ale

Smelling the just-poured beer, the first thing you smell is grapefruit, with a slight note of pine resin in the background. As it sits in the glass a little bit, it starts to reveal a hint of dankness, as well as a tiny bit of an alcoholic smell. Despite the fairly big aromas, this beer is very lacking in the flavour department. It starts off almost slightly tart (like a tart apple juice), and then transitions to a light bready taste with a TINY bit of citrus and pine flavour in the background, almost non-existent. It ends very slightly bitter, and then quickly fades to a flavourless aftertaste. Overall, we all agreed that this beer smelled good, but didn't deliver in the flavour. It tasted generic and lacked any real hop flavour, or any real malt flavour to be honest.

Beer #3: Nickel Brook Ontario 'Wet Hop' Pale Ale

Freshly picked Guelph Bertwell Hops - Fall 2013

This next beer is brewed by Nickel Brook Brewery, who started up in Burlington, Ontario in 2005, and have since grown to become a very well-respected craft brewery with a lot of great craft beers, including a Gluten Free Pale Ale. But the beer we'll be tasting is not gluten free. It is, however, brewed with 100% Ontario ingredients, including barley malt from Canada Malting and Bertwell hops, which are Ontario's only native growing hops and are grown at Ignatius Farm in Guelph (This is an interesting posting from a fellow blogger that talks about Bertwell hops). What makes this a "Wet Hop" pale ale is that the hops are taken fresh off of the vine and put immediately into the beer during brewing, whereas a lot of brewers use dried, pelletized hops. Although more hops have to be used to achieve the same amount of bitterness, flavour, and aroma, it is generally thought that you get a much fresher, brighter hop character to the beer by using this method. However "wet hopped" beers like this one are limited time only, and are only out at the harvest time for hops (end of the summer / early fall), so if you're intrigued by what you read about this beer ahead, run out to your local LCBO as quickly as possible and buy a bottle while it's still on the shelf.

Nickel Brook Ontario 'Wet Hop' Pale Ale

The aroma of this beer is totally unique (in my experience anyways). Given that this is the first time I've had a "wet hopped" beer, as well as the first time I've tried a beer using Bertwell hops, it's unsurprising that I'm smelling aromas I've never smelled from a beer before. It smells VERY herbal, almost orange pekoe tea-like, with background notes of both flowers and spruce, and a light hint of citrus. The aromas are very fresh, leading me to believe that there is some credence to the belief that "fresh hops = fresh aromas". Drinking the beer, it is very smooth, with mellow herbal and floral tastes. The first swallow brings with it a good kick of spruce-like bitterness to the back of the tongue and throat, but this quality seems to mellow out with subsequent mouthfuls. Other than the smooth, mellow hop flavours, there is a nice light sweetness from the malts, though not really identifiable as being any certain flavour. Overall I thought the beer was great tasting and unique, and despite my worries that my fellow tasters would find it too "different" from what they're used to, they also agreed that is was a great beer (albeit, "not a beer you could drink all night").

Beer #4: Hop City Big Mouth Pale Ale

Hop City Big Mouth Pale Ale

This next one, Big Mouth Pale Ale, is brewed by Hop City Brewing Co. in Brampton, Ontario. Hop City is an independently run off-shoot of Moosehead Breweries, and started up with only two guys in mid-to-late 2009. I've personally never had a Hop City beer before, so this will be a first for me. Smelling the beer, I get a little bit of a raisin-like caramel malt sweetness, and then a fruitiness that is almost like pomegranate (probably an estery by-pruduct of the yeast). Other than that, there's not much going on in terms of aroma, with no identifiable hop aromas really. Unfortunately, the flavour mostly follows suit. There is a light, toasty toffee flavour, a somewhat strange, slightly tart / tangy flavour, and then it ends with a hint of slightly spicy, earthy hops. Overall it's just a fairly boring beer, which is unfortunate, as this was my first beer from Hop City, and now I'm less inclined to come back. Two of my co-tasters agreed with me, while the third thought it was moderately enjoyable (majority rules though, this beer is largely a dud)... Onto the final beer!

Beer #5: Alexander Keith's Hallertauer Hop Ale

Keith's Hallertauer Hop Ale

This beer is the second (and final) beer in Keith's "Hop Series" of ales, the Hallertauer Hop Ale. Hallertauer hops are German noble hops, which have high aromatic qualities, and contribute spicy and herbal qualities to a beer. After pouring the beer for my co-tasters and I, I dive in to my trusty snifter for a smell of this final beer of the evening. The aroma is of a light bit of spice (almost clove-like) and herbs, and then a light nutty, toasty maltiness. Overall the aroma is very light and delicate, and nothing really "jumps out" at you. The taste starts off with a little bit of toasty grain flavour, then to a slightly spicy hop bitterness, and then drops off into a watery aftertaste. Having had both this and the Cascade Ale before, I remembered liking this one a lot more than the other. Tonight, though, I feel like the Cascade at least delivered what it promised, if not a true-to-style pale ale, whereas this just felt lacking in all fronts. Overall, myself and two of my co-tasters were underwhelmed with this beer, while the third co-taster (that same "black sheep" from the last beer) actually really enjoyed it (again, majority rules... sorry Duncan).

Conclusions and Rankings:

Sid's Rankings:                                              Jeff's Rankings:
1. Nickel Brook Ontario Pale Ale              1. Wellington S.P.A.
2. Wellington S.P.A.                                     2. Nickel Brook Ontario Pale Ale
3. Keith's Cascade Hop Ale                        3. Keith's Cascade Hop Ale
4. Keith's Hallertauer Hop Ale                4. Hop City Big Mouth Pale Ale
5. Hop City Big Mouth Pale Ale                5. Keith's Hallertauer Hop Ale

Steve's Rankings:                                          Duncan's Rankings:
1. Wellington S.P.A                                        1. Nickel Brook Ontario Pale Ale
2. Nickel Brook Ontario Pale Ale              2. Keith's Hallertauer Hop Ale
3. Keith's Cascade Hop Ale                         3. Hop City Big Mouth Pale Ale
4. Keith's Hallertauer Hop Ale                  4. Wellington S.P.A.
5. Hop City Big Mouth Pale Ale                 5. Keith's Cascade Hop Ale

So there you have it, a number of different pale ales with a number of different flavours and aromas. Some were nice surprises, while others I could have easily done without. All that aside though, it was definitely a lot of fun and really interesting doing a tasting with several people, and I think I'll try to do this more in the future. It really helps when tasting beer to have other people to bounce aroma and flavour descriptions off of, and a lot of the time they will help you to taste / smell things in a beer that you couldn't on your own. In my case, I'm glad most of these beers were so well received by all of these "non-craft beer drinkers", and all of them have volunteered to come out to my next tasting. Maybe I'm already well on my way to converting them to craft beer!!! Until next time...

Enjoy a craft brew!!!

- Sid Ryzebol -

Pale Ales preview...

This is a quick teaser for the beers my co-tasters (two new ones this time!) and I will be tasting for the Pale Ales episode (coming soon!):

Stupid Keith's and not having a proper Pale Ale to buy from the LCBO...

1. Alexander Keith's (owned by Anheuser-Busch) "Hallertauer Hop Ale" - 5.4% [Halifax, Nova Scotia]

2. Alexander Keith's "Cascade Hop Ale" - 5.5% [Halifax, Nova Scotia]

3. Nickel Brook "Ontario Wet Hop Pale Ale" - 5.3% [Burlington, ON]

4. Hop City "Big Mouth Pale Ale" - 5.0% [Brampton, ON]

5.  Wellington "Special Pale Ale" - 4.5% [Guelph, ON]


- Sid Ryzebol - 

Tasting #2: Come to the Dark Side! ... of Lagers!

So I figured I picked up a little bit of momentum with getting that first tasting under my belt, and decided I might as well try to keep the ball rolling. I happened to have a couple of unique dark lagers kicking around, so I figured - what the heck - I might as well do a quick tasting of these as well and keep the new posts coming!

Dark Lagers

Shoot me! I've gone straight from pale lagers to dark lagers, bypassing the middle-ground "amber / red / brown" lagers like Dunkels, Oktoberfests / Märzens, and Bocks! But stay with me here, I have good reason! Given that it is so close to Oktoberfest time (three more days until October) when those beers will be readily available, and also considering that I live but 15 minutes away from Kitchener-Waterloo (the home of the second largest Oktoberfest celebration in the world, second ONLY to the original Oktoberfest festival in Munich, Bavaria), I see many a "mid-spectrum" lager in my very near future. So now that I've explained myself, lets move onto dark lagers!

The best way to explain a dark lager would be to ask you to imagine a porter or a stout (ie. Guinness Stout, for those of you who don't know any craft examples), with their bold, roasty, complex, sometimes coffee-like flavours, and their big thick mouthfeel. Now apply what we've learned about lagers to those beers, with their crisp flavours, thirst quenching qualities, and general lightness on your palate. ... Can you imagine that? Well if you can, you've got a pretty good grasp of what a typical dark lager tastes like. If you can't imagine that, well, I guess it's good that it's about that time again. ... "What time?" you ask? Tasting time!!!

Tasting

Beer #1: Wellington One-Off Shadowplay Schwarzbier

A picture I took during a tour of the Wllington Brewery
recently, during their annual "Realists Customer
Appreciation Party"

The first of two beers for this evening is actually a "one-off" beer (a beer brewed only once in a small batch, and sold only directly from the brewery) brewed by one of my local craft breweries in Guelph. Wellington Brewery, having been founded in 1985, is Canada's oldest independently owned microbrewery. Their main focus has always been to brew great, traditional English style beers for the people of their community. Speaking of community, they actively encourage the community to come on in and get involved with the brewery, as they hold free tastings and tours every weekend, as well as hold special customer appreciation days at their brewery every couple of months, and their fan-base is wide and dedicated as a result. On top of their regular line up of beers, they have recently started a program called the "Welly One-Off Series", where on a monthly basis they release a unique "one-off" beer (sometimes two!) that people can taste and buy straight from their brewery retail store. These are usually more adventurous experimentations than you would normally find at the liquor store, and their community is always delighted to be their "guinea pigs" when it comes to buying up and drinking all of these exciting new beers.

The name "Schwarzbier" is German for "Black Beer", and the Schwarzbier style seems to have been an attempt by German lager brewers to cash-in on the popularity of the English Porter style of ale back in the day. Schwarzbiers tend to be more malt-forward, focusing on a roastier malt flavour, and little to no hop presence in the flavour, and yet still crisp and refreshing. So with that said, I think it's time to try the One-Off Shadowplay Schwarzbier.

Shadowplay Schwarzbier... certainly not your typical
straw-coloured pale lager!

After pouring, the aroma this beer gives off is amazing and complex. Roasty and toasty, it smells like the bottom of a very VERY slightly burnt, rich chocolate cake, with a hint of roasted coffee beans. In the background are faint notes of a light smoke, as well as a little bit of toffee sweetness and maple syrup. If this beer tastes anything like it smells, I should definitely be in for a treat! After taking a sip, I'm VERY much into the flavour. It's both bitter and roasty tasting, yet is perfectly balanced out by an underlying chocolatey and toffee-like malt sweetness. As I said about the aroma, it's like a rich, lightly burnt piece of chocolate cake, and after swallowing, the aftertaste mellows out fairly quickly to a familiar clean bready sweetness. The beer itself is very smooth and creamy, light-bodied, and doesn't "coat" your tongue like a porter / stout would, but instead remains crisp and quenching, and highly drinkable. Overall this is a great and interesting dark lager, with complex and delicious bold flavours, yet remains really easy to drink. It's too bad it's only a one-off beer.

Beer #2: Original Aecht Schlenkerla Smokebeer (Rauchbier)

The second and final beer in this dark lager tasting is brewed by the Historical Brewery Tavern Schlenkerla in Bamburg, Germany. This brewery was founded in 1678, and they specialize in brewing their famous "Smokebeer", which is typically referred to as "Rauchbier". Rauchbier is generally a sweet, malt forward lager such as a Märzen, only with some proportion of smoked malt added into it. This gives the beer a sweet caramelly base, with a huge aroma and taste of campfire or "hammy" smoke. Rauchbiers can be a little intense and off-putting at first, but drink a couple and you'll quickly grow to appreciate it's unique sweet and smokey flavour (or so I hear). Bacon lovers everywhere, take note!

Schlenkerla Smokebeer / Rauchbier

This is actually my very first Rauchbier (aside from a "Ham Beer" that my sister and brother-in-law insisted I taste many years ago before I was even really into beer at all... as could be expected from the name, it tasted like a piece of smoked ham), so I'm not really sure what to expect, aside from what I've read about them. Just pouring the beer into the glass, I can already smell a huge smokey, campfire-like aroma wafting up to my nostrils. Upon a closer smell of the beer, it's almost like I'm transported back in time to an early childhood memory of climbing out of my tent in the early morning to the smell of a burnt-out campfire that has been reduced to just coals and ashes, but also the sweet smells of the fresh air and flowers and dew-covered grasses in the early morning sun. There is a sweet maltiness underlying the smoke, and also a faint hint of smoked ham somewhere in the background. Taking a sip, I'm immediately taken aback by how nice and clean the flavour is, with much less smokey flavour than the nose would imply, and a good solid malty sweetness that perfectly balances it out. It's also incredibly light bodied, crisp, and easy to drink, and has a very clean (if slightly smokey) finish. Overall I'm extremely pleased with this beer. I was a bit apprehensive as to how bitter or smokey it would taste when I smelled it, but it ended up being the perfect balance between a nice smokiness and a solid, sweet, malty backbone to completely round it out. An awesome, complex, and tasty beer! 

Conclusions and Rankings:

These were both unique and awesome tasting beers, and I'm going to have a hard time ranking one above the other. But I guess it must be done... 

1. One-Off Shadowplay Schwarzbier: As much as I LOVED the Rauchbier, I am a huge fan of porters and stouts, with their roasty, chocolatey, and coffee-like flavours; so to have all those flavours in the form of a crisp and quenching lager is a nice change of pace. I loved the roasty, burnt chocolate cake-like taste of this beer, as well as how smooth and light it was to drink. Like I said earlier, I wish this wasn't only a one-off beer, because I would buy this all year 'round in a heartbeat.

2. Original Aecht Schlenkerla Smokebeer: With a perfect balance between sweet and smokey, it being so clean and downright enjoyable to drink, and the fact that the smell alone was enough to transport me to a "happy place" in my childhood, this beer comes in an EXTREMELY close second. I've only ever seen this beer once (in Ottawa), and that was when I bought this bottle of it. If I were to find it again, I wouldn't hesitate to throw a couple in my basket, and re-live this unique and tasty beer experience over and over again.

Well, this brings me to the end of this short, but very flavourful beer tasting. I hope you guys learned a thing or two about dark lagers, and that you no longer only picture a fizzy, pale beer in your mind's eye the moment you hear the word "lager". Lagers come in all colours and flavours, and while I havn't covered the mid-range "amber / red / brown" lagers yet, I most certainly will in a post in the near future. But until then, I think it's time we take a quick detour into the wild and varied world of... ALES!!! Until next time... 

Enjoy a craft brew!

- Sid Ryzebol -