New Ontario Brewing Company Extra Special Bitter

Beer # 246 ESB

New Ontario Brewing Company

North Bay, Ontario, Canada
Independent Microbrewery
Extra Special Bitter Ale 5.2 % ABV 
IBU: 30
Brown Glass Half Growler (Squeaker) 946 ml.
$6.00 (Canadian) At the Brewery

Twitter: @NewOntarioBrew

When I heard New Ontario Brewing was opening in North Bay, I got really excited because North Bay is sort of my adopted hometown. Canadore College is my Alma Matter, and I spent some great years living there. I still return regularly to fish with my friend, enjoy a hike or hang out in my old favourite coffee shop. Now I have a new reason to return!


New Ontario Brewing opened this past summer and is already gaining some good traction in the beer market, despite it's diminutive size. They tap four beers year round An IPA, a Blonde, a seasonal, and tonight's offering The ESB or Extra Special Bitter. Now I may not have talked about ESBs before even though it is one of my most favourite beer styles. There is a streak of old school Brit running through me... I am fond of hand pumped cellar temperature real ales, and anything I can find to remind me of that is good in my books. But, ESBs are hard to come by here in Ontario, and I truly think we could stand to have a few more floating around the market. Technically speaking there are no hard and fast rules as to what makes an ESB. It is essentially a bitter or pale ale that has an alcohol volume above 4.8% after that it is merely marketing. It did also mean at one time, like  Best Bitters, brewers tended to put the best ingredients available into the brew.

What are we waiting for... on to the tasting.

This is the WHOLE Brewery

Pours a dark amber with an off-tan head made up of small to tiny bubbles. Nose is a robust herbal citrus and apple with light malt tones and some caramel. First sip is sweet malty and smooth finishing up with some bitter greens. Roasty, nutty malt with an elegant fruitiness. Effervescent on the tongue with a nice bright, and light mouthfeel. Aeration gives us a nutty bread feel. finish is green bitter hops and dandelion.



Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 


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

Final Thoughts:

This is a very good bitter ale. I enjoyed it, however, I was hoping for a little more fruit in it, but a great job nonetheless. 
CJT


Follow me on Twitter: @pintjockey
Like me on Facebook: Pint Jockey Online

And don't forget to "Friend" me on Untappd.

Five Long Years

Happy Anniversary to Me!

It's been five long years, nearly 250 beers posted, and  tens of thousands of readers from over 100 countries around the world. Today marks the fifth anniversary of my first blog post way back on November 8th 2010. Dead Elephant Ale by Railway City Brewing Company was the post that started it all. Looking back so much has changed and improved since then. It has been a wild ride, lots of ups and downs. Many late nights staring at a screen when the words didn't want to come. However, it was all worth it. I've tasted some good beers, some stinkers, and some truly phenomenal brews. It's been stressful, and fun, sometimes a little painful in the morning... but I would do it all over again.

Here's to another five years and many more beers. Thanks for travelling this road with me.

Cheers

CJT

Rogue Sriracha Hot Stout Beer

Beer # 245 Rogue Sriracha Hot Stout Beer

Rogue Ales

Newport, Oregon, USA
Independent
Flavoured Stout 5.7 % ABV Brown Glass Bottle with Vinyl Shrink-wrap label 750 ml.
$6.60 (Canadian) At the LCBO

Twitter: @RogueAles

This is a beer I have been wanting to try since I heard it was going to be made. I love hot sauces and chiles and Sriracha is one that always has a place in my fridge (try it on Macaroni!)

For those who don't know, Sriracha is a hot chile sauce made with select hot peppers ground into a paste and mixed with vinegar, garlic, salt and sugar (representing the four cornerstones of Asian cuisine: spicy, sour, salty, and sweet). The sauce is thought to be first produced in a small village in Thailand called Si Racha, where it was used as a dipping sauce for seafood. However, the version we are familiar with is actually produced in California, USA.  "Rooster sauce," or as it is more saucily known as "Cock Sauce" is a stateside iteration of the Thai sauce produced by Huy Fong foods. In 1978 David Tran fled his country of Viet Nam during the war and escaped to the United States on a Taiwanese freighter called Huey Fong which Mr. Tran would eventually name his company. (So Sriracha is a Thai style sauce made in the USA by a Vietnamese man who runs a company named after a Taiwanese ship... Confused? Me too). Oh and the rooster on the label? Mr. Tran was born in the year of the rooster in the Chinese Zodiac.

Meanwhile... Back in Canada...

The beer is produced by Rogue Ales and Spirits... The lovely people who brought us Voodoo Donut beers. Tonight's offering is a very lovely stout that has had sriracha infused into it. 

Look out taste buds... here it comes...

Pours a slightly muddy black-brown that is so opaque light will not shine through. The head is deep tan in colour with red highlights, made up of small to tiny bubbles. Aroma is intensely dark chocolate and cocoa powder with hints of fresh chiles. Some wood and caramel. First sip gives us Sweet chocolate stout malty caramel, some woodiness, then the heat kicks in. Capsaicin heat trips across the tongue, and warms the throat. Heat builds. Aeration gives us a creaminess and an explosion of heat that almost singes the tongue. Flavours meld well together like Mexican Chocolate.


Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 


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

Final Thoughts:

Wow, this beer rocks. You can't drink it fast though you have to sip at it or else the heat becomes too intense. It is a beer I would enjoy cooking with... BBQ sauce springs to mind.
CJT


Follow me on Twitter: @pintjockey
Like me on Facebook: Pint Jockey Online

And don't forget to "Friend" me on Untappd.

Stack Brewing Trademark Infringement Gose Second Anniversary Ale

Beer # 244 Trademark Infringement Anniversary Ale

Stack Brewing Company

Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
Independent Microbrewery
Gose 4.5% ABV Brown Glass Bottle 500ml
$6.00 (Canadian) At The Brewery
Twitter: @Stackbrewing


Another beer from the good people up at Stack Brewing in the Nickle City. This is a Gose they brewed for their second anniversary back in June. I may have sat on this beer for a bit... Glad I'm finally getting to it.

It's about time...drink me.



Pours a light cloudy gold with a thin head of made up of tiny bubbles. Aroma is sweet, wheaty, slightly caramel with hints of singed citrus. There is also a hint of mineral. First sip is slightly nutty with light grapefruit and lemon. Tart and mildly sour with a good backbone of minerals and salt. Aeration gives us some more malty, nutty, herbal notes.

Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 


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

Final Thoughts:

Full disclosure, I have had this beer in my fridge for a couple of months, so it definitely has picked up some age. But the flavours are all still there. Lovely use of the salt in the beer. 
 
Cheers

CJT


Follow me on Twitter: @pintjockey
Like me on Facebook: Pint Jockey Online

And don't forget to "Friend" me on Untappd.

11.05 (2015) Imperial Saison Collaboration

Beer # 243 11.05 Imperial Saison
Collaboration with Sawdust City Brewing Company

Nickel Brook Brewing Company

Burlington, Ontario, Canada
Independent Microbrewery
Flavoured Imperial Saison  11.05 % ABV
Twitter: @NickelBrookBeer

Sawdust City Brewing Company
Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada
Independent Microbrewery 
Brown Glass Half Growler 946 ml.
$10.00 (Canadian) At the The Brewery
Twitter @SawdustCityBeer

Remember, remember the fifth of November... Especially when it comes to this collaboration. Every year Sawdust City and Nickle Brook get together to brew a beer to celebrate one of their favourite subjects: themselves. The 11.05 (SUPER) high alcohol beer celebrates Sam Corbiel (the brewer at Sawdust) and Ryan Morrow's (the brewer at Nickle Brook) birthdays which both just happen to fall on November 5th. (Get it? 11/05?) Each brewery brews the beer in turn and this year the job fell to Nickel Brook who gave us an Imperial Saison lightly flavoured with citrus. (Last year's beer was a Triple IPA or IIIPA which was a mind numbingly, face meltingly delicious hop bomb and my post about it is here ).

The beer is available in bottles at Nickle Brook and on tap at Sawdust city and a few select bars in and around Ontario. I managed to grab a growler at Sawdust just to share with you guys!

Enough talk already... I have goosebumps let's try it out.


Pours a light and cloudy, amber gold. Head is quite thin and disperses quickly. The nose is quite hot with lots of grain sugars on the nose, some wood and caramel, a hint of citrus and some bright green hops. First sip is a zippy wheaty Belgian Golden pale ale with a lasting kick of alcohol. Citrus and hints of licorice spike through the middle. Slightly syrupy, leaves sticky lips. Alcohol is hot and heads straight for the brain. Slight malic acid, citric acid, and apple flavour. Aeration gives us some sour candy,  tangy, zippy pulse of alcohol with some light grains and herbal hops. Finish is not unlike sweet tarts candy.


Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 


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

Final Thoughts:

Not quite as good as it's predecessor. This beer relies too heavily on added sugar to amp up the alcohol leaving a syrupy, sweet, candy dryness in the mouth. The lovely flavour of this beer gets washed out by the residual sweetness. A good beer though, glad it only comes out once a year... I need some water. Please celebrate 11/05 responsibly.

Cheers

CJT


Follow me on Twitter: @pintjockey
Like me on Facebook: Pint Jockey Online

And don't forget to "Friend" me on Untappd.

Cleaning out the Cupboards

Back Again.... did you miss me?

After a long drawn out and somewhat tiresome summer (that dragged over into fall...) I return to my blog to hang my head in shame as I have not paid it much mind recently. This is actually a big month here at Pint Jockey Headquarters. Five years ago this Sunday (November 8th) is the fifth anniversary of my first post. Sadly I often miss my own anniversaries because of being busy at work... being a chef we start into Christmas parties right about now. However this year I plan on celebrating... with a beer or two and a few posts to boot. However, That being said I have to clear off my desktop and post a few beers I tasted but never managed to finish posting. So here is a a quick three teaser of some of the summer beers I tried to write about for you...

Beer # 240 Panache

Stack Brewing Company

Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

Independent Microbrewery

Twitter: @Stackbrewing

Cedar aged American Pale Ale 
4.5% ABV Aluminum Can 473 ml (16 oz).
$3.00 (Canadian) At The Brewery

Back again with another craft beer from Stack Brewing in Sudbury Ontario. Sadly when I picked these up I didn't get much information on them


Pours a slightly hazy dark gold with an off-tan head made up of tiny to small bubbles. Aroma is woody, mossy, grassy, and slightly fruity. Some pineapple is evident. First sip is very light, drinks like a session APA. some fruit, mostly tropical, pineapple and bitter orange. Cedar is an underscoring note light and refreshing on the back of the palate. Aeration warms up the cedar giving it a bit more of a sawdust smell, some resinous hops and a long finish of bitter orange peel.


Impression: A Solid 5/6 

Lovely little beer. Cedar works very well with beer, especially the APAs.









Beer # 241 1606 Winewood Series Barrel Aged Stout

Sawdust City Brewing Company
Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada

Independent Microbrewery

Barrel Aged Raspberry Stout
5.7 % ABV Brown Glass Bottle 750 ml
$12.95 (Canadian) At the brewery

Twitter @SawdustCityBeer

pours a very dark brown with slight hints of red and chestnut. The head is dark tan and made of very fine bubbles. The Aroma is leather and wood, some cedar, red fruit, and slightly molasses sweet. First sip is smoky sweet with lots of oak, sweet berries, slightly tart, some cranberry. Some tobacco, raisins, and coacoa powder. Aerations gives us a slight whisky nose, with some grapey astringency. Mouthfeel is cream












Impression:   6/6 

Hands down this was the beer of the summer. After ageing for 10 months in wine barrels with the periodic addition of fresh raspberries, this beer was a flavour bomb, but very easy drinking. I could sit all night and slowly sip a pint of this.



Beer # 242 Revenge of the Ginger IPA

Double Trouble Brewing
Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Independent Microbrewery

Flavoured IPA (Australian Pale Ale)
6.2 % ABV Aluminum Can 473 ml
$3.00 (Canadian) At the LCBO

Twitter: @HopsandRobbers


Pours a red tinted clear amber with an off white head made up of small bubbles. Aroma is fresh ginger, or Jamaican Ginger beer, sharp and citrusy. Rich malt in the background. First sip starts out like a ginger beer, some zing which calms down into a malty robust IPA. Some elements of a red ale especially in the malt profile. Some caramelisation, some residual sugars. The gingerol gives a pleasant tingly mouth numbing feel, and the herbaceous hops lend a nice bitter green taste to counteract the heat of the ginger and the sweet of the malt. Aeration gives off a warmth that fills the body, there is some grassiness, and some hay. The finish is earthy, mineral, and slightly sticky on the lips.

Impression: 5/6

Not a beer I would drink often but a good flavour profile nonetheless. I would actually like to cook this this. It screams beer butt chicken to me...



























There you go... I am caught up again it is time to move forward. A new year dawns here at Headquarters let's see what new beers await.

Cheers
CJT

Follow me on Twitter: @pintjockey
Like me on Facebook: Pint Jockey Online

And don't forget to "Friend" me on Untappd.