New Glassware and Lagunitas IPA

#275 Lagunitas IPA

The Lagunitas Brewing Company

Petaluma, California, USA
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Partially Owned by Heineken International
India Pale Ale 6.2 % ABV 
Brown Glass Bottle 355 ml.

ISO Standard Tasting Glass

$2.49 (Canadian) At the LCBO ($14.95 for a six pack)

Twitter: @LagunitasBeer

So over the years I have used a number of glasses for tasting my beers. They have varied in shape and size, however, mostly I use wine glasses over beer glasses. Originally I started out with an ISO Standard Tasting Glass. Used mainly in wine tasting it tends to highlight the less than favourable qualities of the beverage. So basically if the wine can overcome the glass... it's good. From there I migrated through a number of glasses (mainly because my cat disagreed with Issac Newton and kept trying to test the theory of gravity...) I recently settled on a stemless wine glass as my go to beer taster and it does a good job of concentrating aromas and enhancing flavours. 

Teku Glass

Lately there has been some buzz in the glassware world (it's not often anyone gets to say those words...) A Italian stylist (and beer lover) partnered with brewers to develop a glass that enhanced the craft beer experience. The Teku was born. While on the surface it looks great I just wanted to put it to the test. So I thought the best way was to do a side by side taste with my stemless glass against the new Teku. I chose Lagunitas IPA because IPA is one of the main beers this glass was designed for.

Onto the side by side.

Teku Aroma: Very fruity. Tons of tropical fruit passion fruit and hints of pineapple.some sweet caramel notes with hints of vanilla and soft malt notes.

My stemless wine glass vs the Teku

Stemless Wine Aroma: Nutty and malty fruit notes are very muted more caramel and wood notes.

TeKu First Taste: Fruit driven sweet IPA with hints of lemon and orange peel

Wine glass first taste: Sweet sugary, some caramel, malt driven, tropical fruit and lemon in the background

Aeration (too similar for each glass so just recorded it once): sweet malty west coast style IPA some turbinado sugar with light hints of molasses and herbal hops notes. Some marijuana, and a little funk.





The Results


Teku Glass Pros: The build is the best positive of this glass. The long stem prevents early warming of the beer. The shape concentrates the aroma and delivers it straight to your nose. Plus I noticed that because of the shape of the glass my nose was positioned far closer to the beer helping to deliver those delicious volatile compounds and esters right into my olfactory. The lip of the glass is very thin. I have heard many people claim their biggest fear is breaking this glass. Yes, it is more delicate but that also helps by giving a nice slick runway for the liquid to be delivered onto your tongue better. Thinner glass, less turbulence, more flavour. The same principle is used in high end wine glasses. Yes it is probably best to break out the mugs for your beer if you are day drinking and out for a rip.... (or may I suggest a solo cup...) But if you are in enjoying one or two craft beer the more fragile TeKu is well suited. Lastly this beer accentuates the more subtle nuances of the beer. The fruitier lighter tones came out... mainly because those flavours are the most volatile and evaporate the quickest while the heavier malt tones and caramels tend to linger longer. The exageratted tulip of the TeKu traps the volatile compounds and gives you an opportunity to savour them before they are lost.

TeKu Cons: I think the biggest con is that this beer glass is "too good." It makes every beer taste good. Worse, it makes a flawed beer taste much better than it should.

Final Thoughts

The Teku is fine, expensive but fine. It your new date is a beer snob and you want to impress his or her pants off... Pour them a hoppy APA or a tart sour beer in this glass, and the night is going to go well (results not guaranteed). But for my purposes, a.k.a pint glass pontification... The Teku is kinda useless. However I am certainly not about breaking it out to sit in my lawn chair to watch someone else mow the lawn...

Oh, and the Lagunitas? A very good IPA Truly a shame they were bought out.

Cheers

CJT

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Cuvée des Jacobins Rouge Flemish Sour Beer

#274 Cuvée des Jacobins Rouge

Brouwerij Omer Vander Ghinste NV

Bellegem, Belguim

Independent
Flanders Red Sour Ale 5.5 % ABV 
Brown Glass Bottle 330 ml.
IBU: 8
$3.95 (Canadian) At LCBO

Twitter: @OmerVDG

My first Flemish Red for the blog, and I am quite excited. Sour beers seem to be hot right now and quite frankly I am a big fan. Lots of local breweries have been playing with brettanomyces, generally cultured instead of wild inoculation. This beer tonight is open top wild fermented (like a lambic) so the the brettanomyces is naturally occurring. The brewery in Bellegem is a fifth generation family run business that started in 1892. Their first beer was Ouden Trippel, which they still produce under the name Vander Ghinste Oud Bruin. They also produce a kriek, a gueze, a framboise, and a Bock in addition to our beer tonight.

Onto our tasting...

Pours a reddish chestnut colour with a short off-tan head made of tiny bubbles. Aroma is a beautiful sour red cherry with bright red fruits in the background. Hints of brettanomyces, touches of cinnamon, and clove. First sip is WOW! sour! Tart cherry, cranberry with some underlying sweetness. A touch of spice cinnamon clove mostly from the cask ageing.Aeration brings out a woody note with some oak and vanillas

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: 5/6 PASS

Final Thoughts:

Super sour but bright and fruity, this is a great beer. If you are a sour fan like me you will enjoy this. If you are on the fence about sour beers... work your way up to this one, because this packs a face puckering punch.

On a sour note.. Sawdust City Brewing Company in Gravenhurst Ontario, is hosting its inaugural Funk Fest on July 2 2016. 17 local breweries will be demonstrating their sour beers, and yours truly will be there to report on it. Stay tuned for my post on that.

Cheers

CJT

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Beer # 273 Class V India Pale Ale Whitewater Brewing Company

#273 Class V IPA

Whitewater Brewing Company

Forester's Falls, Ontario, Canada
Independent Microbrewery
IPA 5.5 % ABV 
Aluminum Can 473 ml.
IBU: 72
$2.85 (Canadian) At The Beer Store


Twitter: @WhitewaterBrew


Second one tonight from Whitewater Brewing company. This is their signature IPA. It is another one I tasted at Session Muskoka, but my notes were terrible. So I was happy to get a chance to try it again.

Onto the tasting...

Pours honey/amber with an off white head made up of small bubbles. Aroma is malty and sweet with light hints of green hops. First sip reveals a lighter bodied West Coast style IPA with malt forward sweetness, some molasses, and caramel and a hint of bitterness. Piney on the finish and slightly resinous. Very smooth, delightfully easy drinking. Aeration gives us a nice green piney bitterness from the hops and some smooth malt sugars.


Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 


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

Final Thoughts:

Very nice beer. Definitely will drink this any time I can. It may not be the best IPA in Ontario but it certainly plays in the same league. 


Cheers

CJT

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Beer # 272 Farmer's Daughter Blonde Ale Whitewater Brewing Company

#272 Farmer's Daughter Blonde Ale

Whitewater Brewing Company

Forester's Falls, Ontario, Canada

Independent Microbrewery

Blonde  Ale 
5.0 % ABV Aluminum Can 473 ml.
IBU: 22
$2.85 (Canadian) At The Beer Store

Twitter: @WhitewaterBrew

Another new brewery for me. Well not completely new, new to the blog. I had a chance to taste this beer at Session Muskoka last year, but note taking conditions were not ideal, nor was my handwriting. Founded by three good friends and whitewater rafting enthusiasts: James Innes, Chris Thompson and Chris Thompson (Yes... That's TWO separate Chris Thompsons.. No relation, I guess they can save on business cards..) They wanted a way to combine their love of whitewater rafting with their love of craft beer In their back yard of the Ottawa Valley. In 2011 Whitewater Brewing Company was born.

Onto the tasting...

Pours a light gold with a short white head made up of small bubbles. Aroma is gentle malt with hints of wood, sweet, and mildly hoppy. First sip is tangy, mildly citrus, clean clear light caramel malt and the slightest hint of bitter greens, There is a distinct minerality and slight flintiness to the beer. There are traces of light toasty wood and a little spice. Aeration accentuates the wood aromas adding a touch of freshly tanned leather and tumeric.


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:

A very light and refreshing golden ale. Good malt profile and mineral quality. An excellent patio sipper.


Cheers

CJT

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BONUS! Nickel Brook Bolshevik Bastard Accidentally Aged!

Bolshevik Bastard 2014 Aged 17 months

Nickel Brook Brewing Company

Burlington, Ontario, Canada
Independent Microbrewery
Bolshevik Bastard: Imperial Stout 9.0 % ABV Brown Glass Bottle 355 ml.
BB: $2.49 ($9.95 for a 4 pack) (Canadian) At the LCBO

Twitter: @NickelBrookBeer

So I came across a little discovery We are tidying up the basement as I am installing a new set of shelves and I came across this beer hidden in my Pint Jockey Beer Stash. I looked at it... I knew I bought it in December of 2014 (Its brother was featured in this 2 for 1 tasting for the 2-4 Days of Christmas HERE ) HMMM... Imperial Stout, 9% ABV, should still be good, as it was stored at "near perfect conditions." Well as near perfect as the basement gets...

From the Archives 2014

Today 2016

So to compare, here is the description from 2014:

"Pours an opaque dark brown with a tan head made up of tiny bubbles. Aroma is woodsy with toasted caramel malt, slightly bready with a hint of bruleed sugar. Wow... warming alcohol right off of the hop. deeply roasted malt and plenty of it. Slightly brandy-like... taste moves to coffee and espresso, with a slightly burnt and marginally bitter aftertaste. the hops are wedged in the middle between the bready malt and the coffee afterglow, still very green and herbal. Aeration gives us a big shot of alcohol with a hint of vanilla."

So. How do we like it now? Onto the tasting. 

Pours an oily dark brown almost black. Fully opaque. Head is very fluffy and dark tan made up of small to medium bubbles. However, head disperses very quickly and was slower to build. Nose is chocolate, whisky, and raisins. Fist sip is still very woody, but more biscuits, and lots of dried fruit. Raisins and prunes dominate. Beer is much smoother and lighter in taste and texture. Coffee still shows up at the end but much more distant. More reminiscent of a malty scotch that has been well aged, slowed down, rough edges smoothed out. The toasty, darker, sugar notes have had time to chill out and develop. The beer starts to come to life after a few minutes in the glass. I picked up a little staleness and some metallic notes on the first sip that seem to disappear as the air mixes with the beer. Aeration gives us such a warm whiskey tone with just a hint of coffee bitterness.


Final Thoughts

I can't complain. This beer held up so well over nearly a year and a half! It goes to show you that beer is a living breathing creature and sometimes it can grow and evolve into something entirely different. It certainly does make me want to select some upcoming brews for some more tightly controlled ageing.

Cheers


CJT


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Beer # 271 Swing Bridge Blonde Ale Manitoulin Brewing Company

#271 Swing Bridge Blonde Ale

Manitoulin Brewing Company

Swift Current, Ontario, Canada


Independent Microbrewery
Blonde  Ale 
5.0 % ABV Aluminum Can 473 ml.
IBU: 22
$2.90 (Canadian) At The Beer Store

Twitter: @ManitoulinBrew

First Taste of a brewery That I have been looking forward to trying. Situated on Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron, the second largest of the Great Lakes, Manitoulin is the largest island in a freshwater lake in the world. Long been considered sacred by the Anishinaabe People, it has been inhabited for around 30,000 years. 
Sheguiandah, on the north east shore is the site of Paleo-Indian settlement that was occupied from just after the glaciers receded to about 10,000 years ago. The Name Manitoulin has a very convoluted origin, as do most Canadian names that have been adopted from Aboriginal Languages. (Including Canada itself which was the Huron word Kanata for settlement, or village. Samuel de Champlain famously mis-heard or mis-translated this word and it was assumed that the land was called Canada... The Kanata they were talking about, was Stadacona, we call it Quebec City now.) Orinally called Ekaentouton, Manitoulin's name is now derived from a blending of French and English translations of the original Odawa name: Manidoowaaling, which means "Cave of the Spirit." The Odawa currently call the Island Mnidoo Mnis or simply "Spirit Island."

On the North shore of the island is the community of Little Current, and it is the only land access to the mainland, via a swing bridge to the town of Espanola. It was in this bridge's honour that tonight's beer was named. Opened in 2015 Manitoulin Brewing company was started by two gentlemen who grew up in Blind River and have been friends since grade 10. Nishin Meawasige and Blair Hagman.

Let's swing on over to our beer for the evening...

Pours a clear gold colour with a short white head made up of small bubbles. The aroma is sweet slightly carmelised with a hint of raisins finishing up with light malt and plenty of grain. First sip gives us a very light blonde ale with very green and refreshing German hops. (Edit: later discovered they use Hallertauer and Brewer's Gold) Slightly bitter and medicinal on the finish. Clear and refreshing, light in body, plenty of malt and rich bread flavour. Hints of bitter greens light aromas of spice and a touch of licorice way, way in the back. Aeration gives us a warm grass-like aroma with just a hint of nut.

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:

A good all around starter beer for someone who is just discovering craft beer. A little light for my tastes but good nonetheless. Try one for yourself.

Cheers

CJT

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Beer # 270 Forgotten Lake Blueberry Ale Lake of the Woods Brewing Company

Beer # 270 Forgotten Lake Blueberry Ale

Lake of the Woods Brewing Company

Kenora, Ontario, Canada
Independent Microbrewery
Flavoured Ale 7.5 % ABV 
IBU: 15
Aluminum Can 473 ml.
$2.85 (Canadian) At The Beer Store

Twitter: @LowBrewCo

Second one tonight from the Lake of the Woods Brewery. A strong ale that has been flavoured with wild blueberries.

Onto the tasting...

Pours a cloudy orange brown with a fluffy head that is tinged purple. Aroma is sweet and fruity with a background of light caramel. First sip is sweet and tart purple fruit with a nice malt backdrop. The fruit becomes more evident as the beer warms. Aeration gives us a kick of alcohol with some brandy and blueberry notes.


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: 5/6 PASS


Final Thoughts:

An Interesting beer. The blueberries gave a nice tart sweetness to the background of the beer without overpowering it. However I can't say it was my favourite beer this year. Still worth a try.

Cheers

CJT

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Beer # 269 Lake of the Woods Sultana Gold

Beer # 269 Sultana Gold Blonde Ale

Lake of the Woods Brewing Company

Kenora, Ontario, Canada
Independent Microbrewery
Blonde Ale 5.0 % ABV 
IBU: 15
Aluminum Can 473 ml.
$2.85 (Canadian) At The Beer Store

Twitter: @LowBrewCo

I got a hold of few new beers from breweries I have heard of but not come across before. First up is a pair of beers from the brewery that is the furthest west in Ontario. Near the Manitoba border lies a very pretty city on the shores of Lake of the Woods. Kenora. Kenora has it's origins in 1688 when a French expedition lead by Jacques de Noyon, located an Ojibway settlement on the shores of Lake of the Woods. Kenora was incorporated in 1905 when the settlements of Keewatin, Norman, and Rat Portage were amalgamated, the first two letters of each town were combined to form Ke-No-Ra. Long established as a lumbering town one of Kenora's brightest shining moments came in 1907 when an amateur hockey team made up of loggers, The Kenora Thistles, challenged and beat the Montreal Wanderers for the Stanley Cup. At the time Kenora had only 4000 residents, and is, to this day the smallest town to host Stanley Cup Winners. The Lake of the Woods Brewery traces it's origins to 1898 it operated until prohibition swept through Ontario, but then re-opened its doors in 1927, for 27 years. Until 2013 no brewery existed in Kenora until Lake of the Woods made its second triumphant return.

Tonight's offering is a blonde ale named after the Sultana gold mine. Onto the tasting...

Pours a light amber blonde colour with a large fluffy off tan head made up of small bubbles. Aroma is fruity light with bright highlights of malty caramel. Hint of fruity hops  and a touch of green plants. Bright and fruity in taste. Light in body and with good strong hints of malt. Sugar remains in the after taste with some green hoppy note. Finish is slightly smoky with a dried fruit hint. Aeration ramps up the hops with a little more intensity of the malt.



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:  5/6 PASS

Final Thoughts:


A god entry level beer for people getting into craft beer for the first time. However blonde ales never have been my favourite. That being said, this is still a definite try.

Cheers

CJT

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