Beer # 105 Muskoka Brewery Detour

Detour

Muskoka Brewery

Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada
Independent
Dry Hopped IPA 4.3% ABV Brown Glass Bottle 355 ml.
$2.28 (Canadian) At LCBO ($13.65 for a six pack)
Twitter: @Muskokabrewery

Back up to Bracebridge today for Muskoka Brewery's newest addition to their stable of year round beers: Detour.  Detour is an excellent name for this beer, a "sessionable" dry hopped IPA bursting with flavour. It truly is a departure from some of the other hop bombs on the market... Let's call this one the "fruit-bomb." I am very excited about this beer because after being in the industry for so many years and initially having trouble selling Muskoka beers; it is these deep, flavourful, brews

coming out of Bracbridge lately that have garnered Muskoka the attention it deserves. Their specialty brews, many of which I have discussed here on this blog, are what is attracting the newly savy craft drinkers; and this very approachable beer will start to attract the average commercial beer drinker as well.

Enough with the rambling, let's take a Detour:

Very clear gold in colour, with a short off white head made up of small bubbles. Pineapple and pine on the nose with a little bit of hard candy thrown in (In fact it reminds me exactly of those imported English mixed fruit candies from Simpkins of Sheffield that come in the small brass coloured tins that I always got in my stocking for Christmas as a kid.) I also get the slightest hint of rosewater or turkish delight. First sip is a delight of tropical fruit. Guava, mango, pineapple, passionfruit, sweet but not sickly. This beer is a celebration of the fruity hops. The lighter graininess of the IPA serves counterpoint to the fruit and only to remind you this is a beer not a coconut drink on the beach. A little herbal hops comes out in the end to tone down the fruit. Aeration puts a slight caramel taste into the fruit, which goes very nicely with the pineapple. Very well balanced, smooth and refreshing. Leaves me very sad the bottle is empty.

Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional

Cost: 6/6 EXCEPTIONAL
Colour: 6/6 EXCEPTIONAL
Beer Style: 6/6 EXCEPTIONAL
Re-Order:  6/6 EXCEPTIONAL
Experience:  6/6 EXCEPTIONAL

Final Thoughts:

Yes you read that correctly, I think this is the first beer I have given a perfect score. I honestly have nothing bad to say about this beer. For my tastes it is as near perfect as I can imagine. It is light, refreshing, full of good flavours, still tastes like a beer, and it has left me wanting more. I have prided myself on not making heavy-handed recommendations, but in this case I must say: If you are living in Ontario and this beer is not your go-to patio beer this summer... you are wasting your money. Rant finished, beer finished....

Cheers
CJT


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Beer # 104 Trafalgar Ale and Meads Smoked Oatmeal Stout

Smoked Oatmeal Stout

Trafalgar Ale and Meads

Oakville, Ontario, Canada
Independent
Smoked Oatmeal Stout 5.0 % ABV Brown Glass Bottle 500 ml.
$4.55 (Canadian) At LCBO 
Twitter: @trafalgarales

Today's beer has the more tenuous connection to the St. Patrick's Day beers I have in my fridge of fame this week. Its only connection is that it's a stout, and Ireland is famous for stouts... and it's made with oatmeal. But it was available at my local and I decided to throw one into the mix anyway. I haven't been down to Trafalgar in a while, they are an excellent brewery West of Toronto and they produce some very interesting brews. Including a couple of very high alcohol brews "Black Bullet" and "Korruptor." (neither of which I can seem to find anymore... someone message me if they are still being made?)

Enough reminiscing... onto the beer.

Inky dark brown in colour with a light tan head made up of small bubbles that disperse quickly. Opaque but with a slight reddish hue when held up to the light. Aroma is sweet, dark, syrupy, molasses, and roasted malt, with just a hint of whiskey barrel. First sip reveals a beautifully light and refreshing ale with fruity hints. There is sweetness at all levels through the taste and the smoke holds out for the very end, like a distant fire smelled across a snowy field at night. Excellently balanced between sweet, smoke, malt, and molasses. Aeration gives us a hint of the oatmeal and more smoke.

Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional

Cost: 5/6 PASS
Colour: 5/6 PASS
Beer Style: 6/6 EXCEPTIONAL
Re-Order:  6/6 EXCEPTIONAL
Experience:  6/6 EXCEPTIONAL

Final Thoughts:

This beer is the antithesis of what the layman considers a "Dark" or "Stout" beer... but in a good way. This is what a stout SHOULD taste like. Restorative, refreshing, not a lot of alcohol, light bodied, and fruity. The smoke in this is perfect it is not distracting from the beer as many other smoked beers I have tried. It sets up a foundation, a backbone that the rest of the flavours can build on. In a world where everything is taken to excess, where, more hops, more smoke, more everything is quickly becoming the norm... It is nice to find a beer that is what it is advertised as, a good easy drinking brew. Highly drinkable, definite reorder, but always better to share with a friend.

Cheers
CJT


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Beer # 103 Railway City Sham Bock

Sham Bock

Railway City Brewery

St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada
Independent
Maple Bock 6.8 % ABV Brown Glass Bottle 650 ml.
$6.95 (Canadian) At LCBO 
Twitter: @railwaycity

Well I haven't had good luck with Railway city in the past. I had not been able to find one that I liked... until recently. I tried their Woodworth And Edwards Honey Bee'Lixir and I was pleasantly surprised, and then for my St. Patrick's themed beers I pick up today's offering and I must say, I am pleasantly surprised again. Hopefully this trend continues, because I love being surprised, and I love having another good source of craft beers in my home province.

Onto tonight's surprise:

Dark brown or chestnut in colour with a light coloured tan head comprised of small bubbles. Sweet grainy, wheaty aroma, some molasses, and a hint of wood and maple. First sip is smooth malty and sweet, which builds into a deep dark roasty malt flavour. There it transitions into a burnt sugar taste while being backed up with deep roasted malt and some fresh cut maple wood. Very light bodied and quite refreshing. Alcohol is slightly evident but not overwhelming, most notably in a light rum aftertaste. Aeration accentuates the alcohol giving it almost a brandy note, and a bit of a wet grain flavour.

Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 

Cost: 5/6 PASS
Colour: 5/6 PASS
Beer Style: 4/6 PASS
Re-Order:  3/6 SO-SO
Experience:  4/6 PASS

Final Thoughts:

This is one of Railway City's most balanced and flavourful beers so far. there are still a few flaws, some bitterness, a little sharpness on the finish, but overall a good beer. The heaviness of the burnt sugar and dark malt would lead me to only drink one of these, and at 6.85% abv you would probably want to share with a friend anyway. I like this beer for what it symbolises more than anything. I see a young brewery making it's first steps out into the world. I see them growing and maturing and improving with every bottle they put out. In this bottle I see Railway City hitting it's groove and finding it's "Flavour." I would continue to expect great things from them. Keep up the good work guys!


Cheers

CJT


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Beer # 102 Black Creek Historic Brewery Irish Potato Stout

Irish Potato Stout

Black Creek Historic Brewery

Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Independent
Flavoured Stout 5.0 % ABV Brown Glass Bottle 500 ml.
$3.95 (Canadian) At LCBO 
Twitter: @blackcreekbeer

Back again to one of my newest favourite breweries. I love the thought process behind this brewery, to preserve the ways of the past and to tell the history of our province through beer. I know if there is beer involved in history... I'm listening.

So it's St. Patrick's Day, well yesterday was. In celebration I lined up a couple of Irish themed beers to taste this week and this is number one. This is a dry stout that has had potatoes added to the mix. Proving that if it has sugar or carbs... you can make beer out of just about anything. Black creek produced this brew in memory of the Irish potato famine that brought many Irish immigrants to our country in the mid 1800's. Toronto's population more than doubled in 1847, and the Irish have made Canada their home ever since; helping to shape our great nation into the cosmopolitan land it is today.

Enough flag waving... here is today's beer.

Dark brown to coffee in colour, opaque with a hint of muddiness. Head is small very dark tan comprised of small bubbles and dissipates quickly. Aroma is rich malt, smoke, and chocolate. Woody, with tinges of caramel, licorice, and vanilla.

First sip gives us a surprisingly light tasting stout with a difference. Extra starch is evident, no doubt from the potatoes. Then smoky chocolate malt takes over slowly transforming into burnt sugar taste. Through the middle is a hint of light fruit which is almost lost in the big bold flavours. Aeration gives us wood note, slight alcohol, more dark malt, and a bit more sugar. Potato flavour becomes more evident as the beer warms. Drink this beer at cellar temperature for best results.

Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 

Cost: 5/6 PASS
Colour: 5/6 PASS
Beer Style: 5/6 PASS
Re-Order:  4/6 PASS
Experience:  4/6 PASS

Final Thoughts:

A very nice dry stout. Easy drinking, well worth the price of admission. Try some with a good Irish Stew, or use instead of Guinness in a Steak and Guinness pie. As the potato flavour develpoed I thought this beer would be best served with food (meat and potatoes) or cooked with.


Cheers

CJT


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Thoughts on St. Patrick

Well here it is the day after the most famous Alcholiday of the year. I'm certain there are a few fuzzy heads and upset tummies out there as we resume our work week. I am also sure that may of us are asking ourselves "Why, oh why did I do this to myself again?" Especially this year since it was on a Monday and many of the revelers seemed to take advantage of the "Four Day Drinking Weekend."

But in reality, why do we do this? Who is this old green guy that hates snakes and encourages inebriation? Who is this patron saint of poor decisions, binge drinking and green tinged vomit? Who was St. Patrick and why do we celebrate him March 17th?

What we do know

Surprisingly, not a lot. St. Patrick is quite possibly more mired in myth legend and marketing than his winter compatriot St. Nicholas... (but he is another story.) The most important thing we need to know is that St. Patrick... was not Irish. What he was.... ennnnh we may never know. We have narrowed down a few possibilities. It is generally accepted that he was born sometime in the first half of the 400's CE in Roman occupied England, and that he died on March 17th. He was (by one account) born to an English deacon somewhere in Wales (possibly Scotland) He father was Calpornius (which has led people to believe he was born to a Roman living in England but at the time it was often customary to give Latin names to Britons especially if they had some standing or interaction with occupying forces, so that can't be proven either.) What we do know of this time was written about in Patrick's journals where he speaks of the time, at 16, where he was captured by Irish pirates and taken to Ireland to tend sheep. The time he spent there varies, either 6 or 10 years, in which time he discovered spirituality and when he finally escaped he studied Christianity. Later, after a vision in which St Victoricus came to him and encouraged him to return to Ireland to bring Christianity to the people who had captured him earlier.

St. Patrick was obviously not wanted in Ireland and was robbed and beaten, arrested without charge and generally looked down on. He however baptised "thousands" and  ordained ministers without charging any fees or receiving any gifts.

As for the snakes... Well Ireland has never actually had any snakes... ever. So that is a bit of marketing. But some have pointed out that early Druids used the serpent symbol and that "driving the snakes out of Ireland" may be a symbolic reference to his war on pagans. What about the green? Well that is another bit of ret-conning. St. Patrick's colour is blue. The green was added later in random fits of nationalism.

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Feast day was consecrated by the church in the early 17th century and by the 1700's St. Patrick was widely considered the Patron Saint of Ireland. His Date of death was observed in the church as a holy day and a day of obligation for many years. The first instance of St. Patrick's day being a cultural celebration didn't take place until the mid 19th century... In the United States. Irish Immigrants trying to keep their cultural identities in the new world began to have gatherings on the feast day (which was not observed in the US at the time.) Since St. Patrick's day usually fell in the middle of Lent, the church granted an exception for rich foods to be eaten, and beer to be drunk during this time. starting us on the road to the current forms of celebration. In Ireland, St. Patrick's day was first made a public holiday in 1903. However, the first celebrations got out of hand and drinking was banned on the day all pubs were closed by legislative decree. This remained in effect until 1970. when the law was finally repealed. Guinness has not looked back since.

There are now more Irish, or people who identify themselves as Irish around the world than are actually living in Ireland. And St Patrick's Day celebrations around the globe reflect this. The first Parade were held in New York City USA in 1762 composed of Irish soldiers serving in the Revolutionary War. The largest parade is held in Montreal, Canada. Corned beef and cabbage was invented in New York City. Only the beer and the green are really from Ireland.

Final Thoughts

There is so much more myth and legend. There are accounts of up to four people who may have been St. Patrick. In the end no-one is 100% certain on who he really was. Whatever you believe, is as good as anyone else`s guess. But What I believe is... don`t worry about the myth, grab some friends, grab some beers, eat some good food, and enjoy yourselves, SAFELY.

Cheers
CJT