Zero Issue Brewing Jotunheim Spruce Tip Pale Ale (Issue #60) – American Pale Ale at 5.2% ABV (C$4.14 at Collective, 473 ml, no packaging date or best before, acquired 23-Dec-2021, reviewed 31-Dec-2021)
Appearance: slightly hazy deep gold with two fingers of fine pale ivory head, good retention and well-defined soapy lacing. (4/5) Aroma: resiny spruce, herbal, sweet malt, citrus. (7/10) Taste: moderate sweet, moderate bitter. (7/10) Palate: medium body, moderate carbonation, off-dry lingering bitter finish. (3/5)
Emphatically evergreen – like chewing on a Christmas tree, but not in an unpleasant way. The spruce (pine?) becomes even stronger as the pint warms, but it’s never offensive, and is certainly seasonally appropriate. You could potentially accuse this of being a bit of a one-trick pony, but it’s a fairly neat trick. (14/20)
Troubled Monk Brewery Buzzword IPA – American IPA at 6.7% ABV | 61 IBU (C$4.27 at Collective, 473 ml, packaged on 12-Dec-2021, acquired 23-Dec-2021, reviewed 27-Dec-2021)
Appearance: clear medium gold with one fat finger of rocky near-white head, good retention and moderate spotty lacing. (4/5) Aroma: sweet tropical fruit, citrus, resiny pine, floral/herbal, cereal grains, honey. (7/10) Taste: moderate-high sweet, moderate-high bitter. (7/10) Palate: medium body, moderate-lively carbonation, sweetish medium duration bitter finish. (3/5)
The aroma is a bit muddled, with tropical and berry sweetness over herbal and pine, malt coming through as cereal grains and honey. And yes, I am getting about three different types of sweetness, so needless to say this is far too sweet in my opinion. It might be a bit harsh to call this mediocre, but it sure isn’t great. (14/20)
Bruery Terreux Gypsy Tart – Flanders Brown Ale / Oud Bruin at 8.7% ABV | 15 IBU (C$16.99 at Willow Park Wine & Spirits, 750 ml, packaged on 18-Sep-2015, acquired 11-Dec-2015, reviewed 26-Dec-2021)
Appearance: clear deep ruby with a short, short-lived fine ivory head, no lacing. (3/5) Aroma: wet cardboard, malt vinegar, red berries, metallic. (4/10) Taste: moderate sweet and tart, low bitter. (6/10) Palate: medium-light body, lively carbonation, off-dry funky medium tart finish. (3/5)
Look, I get that this is a problematic demonym, OK? We could get into it, but it’s probably best we don’t (trust me on this one, wearing one of my hats as a fraud investigator). In fact, it seems like the brewery has sort of disavowed this one, since I can’t find any details on their website. I can’t say I’m overly surprised by that: naming conventions aside, this did not age well. The dominant aroma for me is a funky wet cardboard, with malt vinegar and some tart berries very much in the rear.
I’m sorry… actually, scratch that, I’m not sorry: no. If you’re going to churn out so many beers that even I can’t keep up, then I’m going to hold you to something resembling standards. Bad brewer, no cookie for you. Real Flanders Browns (i.e. real sours, i.e. Duchesse, Goudenband, Vichtenaar, etc. {if you don’t know what I’m talking about, just go ahead and stop reading now – no judgement, but you won’t get it}) age well and gracefully: I did an eight year old Goudenband that beats the pants off this, six ways from Sunday. I don’t know that this is a kettle sour, but given the way it fell apart in the bottle, it wouldn’t surprise me. I’d score this lower if I thought I could justify it, but the score is actually what this thing is: a substandard, but ultimately drinkable ripoff of a style that deserves better. And yes, earlier this evening I did give the same brewer a world-class score on a different offering, so that should tell you something: shame on you, Famille Rue, for doing this disservice to the style. (10/20)
The Bruery Poterie Anniversary Bourbon Barrel-Aged (2016) – Old Ale at 16.8% ABV (C$44.99 at Willow Park Wine & Spirits, 750 ml, packaged on 13-Apr-2016, acquired 19-Jul-2016, reviewed 26-Dec-2021)
Appearance: slightly hazy ruby brown with a short, short-lived loose beige head, no lacing. (3/5) Aroma: bourbon, dark fruits, toffee, oak, vanilla, nuts, coconut. (9/10) Taste: high sweet, moderate bitter. (9/10) Palate: medium-full slick body, moderate carbonation, sticky warming finish. (4/5)
Five years in the bottle, and this still reeks of bourbon upon decapping. Not that I’m complaining, you understand, just a simple statement of fact. That boozy bourbon never goes away, but additional complexity reveals upon warming. A pleasant, warming, slow sipper. (17/20)
Bières de Chimay S.A. Chimay Grande Réserve (Blue) (2016) – Belgian Strong Dark Ale at 9% ABV (C$7.99 at Quarry Park Calgary Co-Op, 330 ml, best before 31-Dec-2021, acquired 12-Oct-2017, reviewed 26-Dec-2021)
Appearance: clear ruby brown with one fat finger of fluffy ivory head, good retention and spotty lacing. (4/5) Aroma: bready yeast, cherries, raisins, cloves. (8/10) Taste: moderate-high sweet, moderate bitter. (8/10) Palate: medium body, moderate-lively carbonation, sweetish medium duration warming slightly astringent finish. (4/5)
I thought I was done with my extended cellaring experiment for Chimay, but found this one in my long-term storage fridge. About a year and a half ago, I tried a 2015 vintage that was nearing its five year BB date, and concluded that, compared to the three and four year cellaring examples, there was no clear improvement. That is, these are already aged sufficiently when bottled, so there’s little or no benefit to be gained by further ageing. With this different five year-old vintage, I’m again getting a hint of astringency in the finish, suggesting at least no further increase in quality, if not an actual decline as compared to the three year tasting. I’m sticking with my previous conclusion: might as well drink these by the time they get to be three or four years old, and certainly by five years old. (16/20)
Born Brewing Co. (Born Colorado Brewing) Next Chapter – American IPA at 7.5% ABV | 24 IBU (C$4.81 at Collective, 473 ml, packaged on 15-Nov-2021, acquired 23-Dec-2021, reviewed 26-Dec-2021)
Appearance: hazy pale gold with two fat fingers of rocky white head, excellent retention and heavy soapy lacing. (4/5) Aroma: tropical fruit, cereal grains, citrus, light pine. (8/10) Taste: moderate-high sweet, moderate-low bitter. (7/10) Palate: medium body, moderate-low carbonation, slightly sticky mildly warming finish. (4/5)
Brewer notes say this is “made with Galaxy, Mosaic, and Spectrum hops” – but “Spectrum” isn’t actually a hop varietal. (It’s a liquid hop product designed for “dry”hopping in the whirlpool, and as far as I can see it’s currently available only in Citra and Mosaic. I assume they used the latter here.) The aroma starts off OK, but is never particularly bright and juicy, and seems to get a little grassy upon warming. The bigger ABV is well-integrated and shows up only as a mild warming, but ultimately it’s a bit too sweet for my preference. I’ll stick with the rating I’ve got here, but could easily have gone a point lower in aroma, taste, and palate, maybe half a point or so lower overall. (16/20)
Eighty-Eight Brewing Power Wheels – American IPA at 6.3% ABV | 30 IBU (C$4.50 at Collective, 473 ml, no packaging date or best before, acquired 23-Dec-2021, reviewed 25-Dec-2021)
Appearance: hazy pale gold with two fat fingers of rocky white head, excellent retention and heavy soapy lacing. (4/5) Aroma: juicy tropical fruit & citrus, dank resiny pine, light cereal grains. (9/10) Taste: moderate sweet, moderate-low bitter. (9/10) Palate: medium body, moderate-low carbonation, medium duration finish. (4/5)
The label calls this a hazy IPA with Mosaic, brewer notes specify that it’s got Mosaic Incognito and Cyro Mosaic – so, sort of SMaSH-ish? In my humble opinion, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better single hop, and this is an excellent example of that: lots of bright fruit backed up with dank pine make this very enjoyable indeed. I really like this one: this brewery is generally pretty solid (in my experience, for n=18, μ=7.6 & σ=0.7) but this is definitely right up there with their best. (17/20)
Medicine Hat Brewing Co. Year 5 Imperial West Coast IPA – American Double / Imperial IPA at 8.9% ABV | 116 IBU (C$4.50 at Collective, 473 ml, no packaging date or best before, acquired 23-Dec-2021, reviewed 24-Dec-2021)
Appearance: clear pale amber with two fat fingers of fine pale ivory head, excellent retention and heavy soapy lacing. (5/5) Aroma: resiny pine, oily grapefruit, caramel, earth. (7/10) Taste: moderate-high sweet, high bitter. (7/10) Palate: medium slightly slick body, moderate carbonation, lingering building bitter boozy finish. (4/5)
A solid effort and clearly above average for my experience with this brewer (for n=11, μ=7.2 & σ=0.78). I find it seems like they do best with big, bombastic beers, and this one definitely conforms to that rule. I waffled a little on scoring aroma and taste, and could maybe have gone a point higher on either (or both), but ultimately I don’t think it’s better than the overall score I settled on. In particular, given the big bitter hops, I was hoping for a bit more dank, and the aroma turns a little earthy upon warming. Given the weight (both ABV and IBU) of this one, it’s not like you can (well, let’s say should – of course you can) drink it fast, so that’s a definite consideration. On the other hand, it’s a straight-up, old-skool WCIPA that just pretends the haze craze never happened, so mad props for that. (16/20)
Belly Hop Brewing Catamaran Dry-Hopped Saison 4 – Saison at 5.1% ABV (C$3.91 at Collective, 473 ml, no packaging date or best before, acquired 2-Dec-2021, reviewed 21-Dec-2021)
Appearance: slightly hazy pale straw with one fat finger of loose white head diminishing rapidly to a thin skim, minimal spotty lacing. (3/5) Aroma: citrus, herbal, earthy funk, tropical fruit, grass. (8/10) Taste: moderate-low sweet, moderate-low bitter. (7/10) Palate: medium-light body, moderate-lively carbonation, off-dry lightly funky spicy finish. (4/5)
Dry-hopped with Mosaic and Ekuanot. I quite like this one: the dry-hopping introduces an interesting counterpoint to the earthy, funky farmhouse notes. My only real complaint there is that the hopping seems to fade rapidly, although to be fair it does leave behind a pleasantly spicy base Saison character. I was pretty unimpressed by my previous experience with this brewery (for n=4, μ=6 & σ=1.08) but this one is actually fairly solid. (15/20)
AleSmith Brewing Company / Beachwood Brewing Tower of Flower – American IPA at 6.8% ABV | 40 IBU (C$5.17 at Collective, 473 ml, no packaging date or best before, acquired 2-Dec-2021, reviewed 19-Dec-2021)
Appearance: slightly hazy pale gold with two fingers of rocky white head, excellent retention and moderate soapy lacing. (4/5) Aroma: tropical fruit, pine, caramel, grass. (7/10) Taste: moderate-high sweet, moderate bitter. (7/10) Palate: medium body, moderate carbonation, slightly sticky medium duration lightly warming finish. (3/5)
Double dry-hopped with Galaxy, Cashmere, and Nelson. I guess this qualifies as the West Coast style that the label claims, but it tends a bit too sweet and not as dankly resinous as I like to see for that style. It also tends a little sweet for my preference, with a maltiness that might be acceptable in a DIPA, but isn’t really necessary for the relatively restrained ABV here. Calling it mediocre might be a little unfair, but only a little. (14/20)
