Category: Reviews

Hofbräuhaus München Hofbräu Oktoberfestbier Oktoberfest / Märzen at 6.3% ABV (C$3.62 at South Trail Calgary Co-Op, 500 ml, no bottle date or best before – price approximate, bought as part of a Discovery Beer Pack)

Appearance: clear straw with one finger of rocky white head, excellent retention and good lacing. (4/5) Aroma: light biscuity pale malt, honey, grassy. (5/10) Taste: mild sweet, very mild bitter. (5/10) Medium-light body, moderate carbonation, crisp finish. (3/5)

Yeah, this tastes like the kind of thing you’d drink litres of at the Hofbräuhaus München. While listening to the oompah band. And eating pretzels as big as your head. Not exciting, but authentic. Now I want to go back to the Hofbräuhaus… (12/20)

6/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Wild Rose Brewery Big DIPA American Double / Imperial IPA at 8.5% ABV (C$7.99 at Willow Park Wine & Spirits, 750 ml, no bottle date or best before)

Appearance: clear pale amber with one fat finger of rocky light tan head, good retention and lacing. (4/5) Aroma: pine, citrus, caramel malt, tropical fruit. (8/10) Taste: moderate sweet, moderately strong bitter. (8/10) Medium-full body, moderate carbonation, lingering warming bitter finish. (4/5)

Just a little harsh edge on the finish, but other than that a solid DIPA. Hop forward with a well-balanced malt backing. Really good integration on the ABV, which is almost completely absent other than a warming finish. I’m actually finding myself pretty impressed with Wild Rose lately! (16/20)

8/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Alley Kat Brewing Co. Ein Prosit! Oktoberfest Oktoberfest / Märzen at 6% ABV (C$6.79 at Willow Park Wine & Spirits, 650 ml, no bottle date or best before)

Appearance: clear deep gold with one fat finger of fluffy light tan head, good retention and spotty lacing. (3/5) Aroma: toasty caramel malt, light grass and malt. (7/10) Taste: moderate sweet, mild bitter. (7/10) Medium-light body, short duration finish. (4/5)

Prost du Sack! Not much else to say than that. Pretty straight up Märzen. Nothing challenging, but could be pretty sessionable. (14/20)

7/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Wild Rose Brewery Gose Rider Barrel Aged (2015) Gose at 4.5% ABV (C$13.49 at Willow Park Wine & Spirits, 650 ml, no bottle date or best before)

Appearance: slightly hazy deep gold with one fat finger of dense eggshell head, good retention and lacing. (4/5) Aroma: tart citrus, wheat, vinous red wine, oak, coriander. (8/10) Taste: moderate sweet, mild bitter, mild tart, light salt. (7/10) Medium-light body, light tart and salt finish. (3/5)

A decent enough example of the style, but there’s a little bit of a disconnect between the aroma and the taste: it smells like a sour, but tastes more like a gose. Which is actually a little bit of a disappointment, since I prefer sours to goses. Still, definitely better than the non-barrel-aged version – which might well have been quite an old bottle. (If memory served, it was also the first gose I ever tried.) (15/20)

7.5/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Green Flash Brewing Co. West Coast IPA (2015) American Double / Imperial IPA at 8.1% ABV (C$9.29 at Willow Park Wine & Spirits, 650 ml, no bottle date or best before)

Appearance: slightly hazy pale amber with one fat finger of tan head, good retention and excellent lacing. (4/5) Aroma: pine, citrus, caramel malt, tropical fruit. (8/10) Taste: moderate strong sweet, strong bitter. (8/10) Medium-full body, off-dry lingering bitter finish. (4/5)

Not a whole lot different than the 2014. Big piney hops with an emphatic malt background attenuating the hop bittering. Seems a bit more intense than the last time I had it – maybe I just got a newer bottle this time. (16/20)

8/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Phillips Brewing Company Super Cooper Fourteenth Anniversary Ale American Double / Imperial IPA at 11.6% ABV (C$7.49 at South Trail Calgary Co-Op, 650 ml, no bottle date or best before)

Appearance: hazy pale amber with one finger of rocky ivory head, excellent retention and lacing. (4/5) Aroma: oaky bourbon, vanilla, citrus, stone fruit, caramel. (6/10) Taste: moderate-strong sweet, strong bitter, moderate alcohol. (6/10) Palate: medium body, moderate carbonation, warm tending to hot whiskey finish. (3/5)

A bit of a weird beast. Lots going on, including a pretty hot woody bourbon presence, but it’s not actually offensive. …well, OK, maybe it’s a little offensive – in the “best defence” sense of the word. By which I mean, it proactively beats the snot out of your tastebuds so there won’t be any backtalk from those traitorous little rabble-rousers, then proceeds to lay waste to your central nervous system. I respect that. (13/20)

6.5/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Cannery Brewing Company L’Orage Noir Belgian Strong Dark Ale at 9% ABV (C$9.75 at Sundance Wine Market, 650 ml, no bottle date or best before)

Appearance: clear brown with a brief fizzy head and no lacing. (3/5) Aroma: dark dried fruit, roasty grains, stone fruit, brown sugar, faint solvent. (6/10) Taste: moderate-strong sweet, light bitter. (6/10) Palate: medium body tending a little to the thin, low carbonation, mildly warming finish. (3/5)

A fairly pedestrian North American implementation of a BSDA. Not bad, but a bit thin and unremarkable. Sorry, maybe I’m just spoiled by having had the opportunity to try the real deal on multiple occasions, but this just isn’t getting me all that excited. (12/20)

6/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Central City Brewers + Distillers Red Racer Maple Bacon Ale Amber Ale at 5% ABV (C$6.75 at Sundance Wine Market, 650 ml, no bottle date or best before)

Appearance: clear pale amber with one finger of light tan head, good retention and spotty lacing. (3/5) Aroma: savoury and smoky, biscuity, caramel. (5/10) Taste: moderate sweet, moderate-light bitter, light salt. (5/10) Palate: medium to thin body, moderate carbonation, lingering bitter finish. (3/5)

Meh. I’m not getting a whole lot of bacon or maple. There is a slightly savoury or smoky flavour, but it’s not clearly bacon. A thin and not all that interesting amber. (11/20)

5.5/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Big Rock Brewery Alastair’s Bonnie Fantastic Ale Scotch Ale / Wee Heavy at 5.8% ABV (C$2.53 at Willow Park Wine & Spirits, 650 ml, no bottle date or best before)

Appearance: cloudy medium amber with one finger of light tan head, good retention and lacing. (3/5) Aroma: peaty malt, grassy hops. (6/10) Taste: moderate sweet, moderate bitter. (6/10) Palate: medium body, moderate carbonation, lingering bitter finish. (3/5)

(That price is misleading – Dave the Beer Guy gives me his discount, and apparently they marked this one up by a factor of five or so, with the proceeds going to charity.) I’m not generally a big fan of this style, but at least this one has a hoppy bitter finish. OK, but not great. (12/20)

6/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Mill Street Brewery Lemon Tea Beer American Pale Lager at 5% ABV (On tap at Mill Street Brewpub YYZ)

Appearance: cloudy pale amber with one fat finger of creamy eggshell head, good retention and heavy lacing. (4/5) Aroma: sweet lemon iced tea, light wheat. (7/10) Taste: moderate-high sweet, moderate bitter. (7/10) Palate: medium body, moderate carbonation, slightly sticky finish. (4/5)

Surprisingly drinkable for a fairly sweet beer. The hop presence is is fairly low, but it interacts well with the black tea flavour to give an overall bitterness that’s more emphatic than it would otherwise have been. It reminds me of sweet iced tea (but the real brewed stuff, not the cheap fake stuff). (15/20)

7.5/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com