RyansBooze

Parallel 49 / Yellow Dog Brewing Co. Brews Brothers Hound Dog Belgian India Pale Ale Belgian IPA at 6.0% ABV (C$2.63 at Andrew Hilton Wine & Spirits, 341 ml, bottle date 5-Mar-2015)

Pours clear pale amber with one fat finger of soapy off-white head diminishing gradually to a thin cap, moderate lacing. (4/5) Nose is Belgian yeast, lemon peel, honey, coriander and cloves. (6/10) Taste is mild sweet, moderate bitter. (6/10) Medium body tending to thin, moderate carbonation, lingering mildly bitter finish. (3/5)

Not bad, but sort of lacking in emphasis. Both the flavour and the body tend to the thin and watery. OK without being remarkable. (12/20)

6/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Parallel 49 / Bomber Brewing Brews Brothers Little Red Rooster Red India Session Ale Session IPA at 4.5% ABV (C$2.63 at Andrew Hilton Wine & Spirits, 341 ml, no bottle date or best before)

Pours clear red-tinged pale amber with one finger of light tan head, good retention, moderate patchy lacing. (4/5) Nose is citrus, light floral, stone fruit, bready and caramel malt. (6/10) Taste is moderate sweet, mild bitter. (5/10) Light to medium body, moderate carbonation, fairly crisp with a rapid finish. (3/5)

The aromas start off quite promising, but fade fairly quickly and aren’t really followed through on the tongue. Could really stand to be more bitter and less malty, but I guess the malt is an integral part of any “red” ale. Really too sweet for a session ale for me, though. (12/20)

6/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Parallel 49 / Dageraad Brewing Brews Brothers House of the Rising Sun Saison at 4.5% ABV (C$2.63 at Andrew Hilton Wine & Spirits, 341 ml, bottle date 10-Feb-2015)

Pours slightly hazy straw with a thin white head diminishing rapidly to a thin skim, no lacing. (3/5) Nose is citrus, white pepper, yeast, biscuity malt, light fruity esters, faint catty. (6/10) Taste is mild sweet, mild bitter, light tart. (7/10) Light body, lively to moderate carbonation, crisp finish. (4/5)

Not a bad little saison, with just a hint of something – I’ve called it catty above – that isn’t quite perfect. Doesn’t come through on the tongue, though, and drinks crisp and refreshing. (14/20)

7/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Parallel 49 / Rossland Beer Company Brews Brothers Smokestack Lightning American IPA at 7.0% ABV (C$2.63 at Andrew Hilton Wine & Spirits, 341 ml, bottle date 15-Mar-2015)

Pours clear pale amber with one finger of loose soapy off-white head diminishing gradually to a thin cap, moderate patchy lacing. (3/5) Nose is grapefruit, pine, pale malt, slight tropical fruit. (7/10) Taste is moderate sweet, moderate bitter. (6/10) Light to medium body, moderate carbonation, medium finish. (4/5)

Solid IPA, maybe slightly thin on the body and without a lot of sustain in the flavour. Could stand to be a bit more bitter on the finish – that’s really the only place the moderately beefy ABV becomes apparent, with a little alcohol sweetness. (13/20)

6.5/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Brasserie d’Achouffe N’Ice Chouffe Belgian Strong Dark Ale at 10% ABV (C$14.46 at Zyn, 750 ml, best before 24-Aug-2015)

Pours cloudy medium amber with two fingers of rocky tan head, excellent retention and good lacing. (4/5) Nose is caramel, dark stone fruit, candi sugar, Belgian yeast, orange peel, mild spice. (8/10) Taste is moderately strong sweet, mild bitter. (8/10) Full bodied, low carbonation and creamy texture, mildly boozy finish. (4/5)

Really mild booziness, with the alcohol perhaps contributing to the overall sweetness, but otherwise present only as a mild warming. Pleasant enough, and a fairly standard BSDA – to the extent that there’s such a thing as a “standard” BSDA – but hellaciously expensive for what it is. Good? Yep. Great? Mmmm… maybe, maybe not. Worth the price? Probably not. (16/20)

My 160th from the 2010 Edition (151st from the 2013 edition), and 170th combining both editions.

8/10 #1001beers #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Fort Garry Brewing Company Kona Imperial Stout American Stout at 6.5% ABV (C$3.09 at Willow Park Wine & Spirits, 473 ml, no canning date or best before)

Pours clear ruby brown with one fat finger of dense tan head, good retention and lacing. (4/5) Nose is roasted coffee, dark chocolate, sweet vanilla, moderate boozy alcohol. (7/10) Taste is moderate sweet, moderate bitter. (7/10) Medium body, soft carbonation, astringent and slightly boozy finish. (4/5)

Yeah, not really an “imperial” stout. “Coffee stout”, sure – and not a bad one. But it could stand to be heavier, both in body and in ABV. There’s also a bit of unbalanced astringency coming from the heavy coffee flavour that could stand to be smoothed out, maybe with a bit of lactose. (14/20)

7/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Weissbierbrauerei G. Schneider & Sohn Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock Eisbock at 12% ABV (C$12.99 at Willow Park Wine & Spirits, 500 ml, best before 1-Oct-2018)

Pours clear amber brown with a short tan head diminishing rapidly to nothing, no lacing. (3/5) Nose is banana, dark boozy fruit, toffee and raisins, mild yeasty wheat. (8/10) Taste is moderately strong sweet, mild bitter. (8/10) Full bodied, low carbonation, lingering boozy finish. (4/5)

I want to call bull on the origin story (a shipment partially froze in unheated transport during the 1930’s). Yes, partial freezing will concentrate the flavour by removing water – kind of the opposite of the “Angel’s Share” alcohol loss – but that only works if you remove the ice. It doesn’t work with a sealed container that will rupture during freezing. Maybe, just maybe, a wooden barrel would expand enough to allow partial freezing – but you’d still have to remove the water ice before drinking… Though, now it occurs to me that if you just had a chunk of ice still present in the barrel when you tapped it… hmmm… OK, maybe it’s viable. Regardless of the validity of the origin story, this is one heckuva beer. Flavours are very similar to an Abt – deep, dark, and rich – and despite the huge ABV, are extremely palatable. And man, does the ABV sneak up on you! This is a great beer to get very, very drunk with – or better yet, to get someone else very, very drunk with. (16/20)

My 159th from the 2010 Edition (150th from the 2013 edition), and 169th combining both editions.

8/10 #1001beers #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Boulevard Brewing Co. Smokestack Series Harvest Dance Wheat Wine at 8.6% ABV (C$15.49 at Quarry Park Co-Op, 750 ml, best before 1-Jul-2015)

Pours hazy (first glass) to heavily particulate-laden (last glass) pale gold with one finger of soapy white head diminishing gradually to a thick cap, patchy moderate lacing. (3/5) Nose is doughy wheat, mild banana and other fruit, oak, lightly boozy. (8/10) Taste is moderate sweet, mild bitter, very mild tart. (7/10) Medium body, soft carbonation, slightly oily, dry and slightly boozy finish. (4/5)

Not hot, but gently warming, particularly in the belly. Despite the moderately high IBU (42) I’m not getting a lot of identifiable hop character, and the bitterness is quite mild and well-integrated into the overall profile. Quite drinkable despite the beefy ABV. (15/20)

7.5/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Evil Twin Brewing Ashtray Heart Smoked Beer at 8.9% ABV (C$5.75 at Zyn, 330 ml, no bottle date or best before)

Pours clear (flashlight confirmed) deep ruby black with a short tan head diminishing to a thin ring, no lacing. (3/5) Nose is roasty malt, cocoa, dark stone fruit, toffee, light smoke. (7/10) Taste is mild sweet, mild bitter, mild smoke. (7/10) Medium to full body, low carbonation, oily and syrupy, dry and astringent smoky finish. (4/5)

It might pour the solid unrelieved black of a politician’s heart, but it has far less smoke than I’d expect of such an organ. Both Beer Advocate and RateBeer call this a smoked beer – but I’d call it a porter, first and foremost, with only a very mellow smoke presence. Very little hop character, but a fair amount of bitter astringency from the dark roast malts. And that moderately high ABV? Completely absent until most of the beer is, too, at which point a warm cigarette ember glow starts in the gut. A little challenging, sure, but worth the effort. (14/20)

7/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com

Beer Here Hoptilicus American Strong Ale at 9.0% ABV (C$11.00 at Zyn  650 ml, bottle date undecodeable)

Pours hazy (first glass) to cloudy (second glass) deep amber with two fingers of creamy tan head diminishing gradually to a thick cap, moderate spotty lacing. (3/5) Nose is caramel malt, dark boozy fruit, raisins and liquorice, pithy bitter grapefruit. (7/10) Taste is moderate to high sweet, moderately strong bitter. (6/10) Medium to full body, low carbonation, sweet and syrupy, lingering dry and astringent bitter finish. (4/5)

Kind of a hoppy version of a BSDA – combines the dark fruitiness of an Abt with the hop profile of an IPA. Not bad at all, but not an unqualified success – a bit of a kitchen sink of flavours, and not entirely balanced. And definitely not as hoppy/burny/over-the-top as the label promises/threatens: “It will enter your mouth with great fury, burn your tongue with alcohol and hop bitterness and leave you begin for more.” Quite aside from pedantic impulse to correct the absence of at least one comma, and my juvenile impulse towards a lewd joke, that statement is just wrong: the alcohol is warm but not hot, and the hops are big but not over the top. Not bad, and I certainly warmed up to it as it warmed, but ultimately it didn’t get past “good”. (14/20)

7/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com