Farmhouse IPA
Shacklands Brewing Company
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Future Brewery (Brews and Bottles at Junction Craft Brewery)
Farmhouse Style IPA 7.3 % ABV 20oz Pint
$6.50 (Canadian) At the Sawdust City Brewery Saloon (Guest Tap)
Twitter: @Shacklands
Shacklands is a Nano/Future Brewery that currently shares space with Junction Craft Brewery. Named for the turn of the century suburbs of Toronto of hastily built shacks and homemade shelters that sprang up around the burgeoning city, Shacklands is helmed by Jason Tremblay. Jason is an avid homebrewer... and a stay at home Dad for 10 (YES TEN! if anyone needs a drink...) He began his professional brewing career with Bar Volo and the House Ales. He then joined Shacklands in late 2012 and helps to brew their stable of Belgian Inspired beers.
Onto the farm...
Pours a hazy gold colour with a slight orange hue. The white head is subtle and made up of tiny bubbles. The nose is grapefruit, blood orange, honey, green herbs and very mild spice. First sip is bright fresh grapefruit and mandarin. Light spice and a touch of weak black tea. Finish is slightly bitter orange zest and some toasted nuts. Aeration gives us light spice... a hint of grain and caramel
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:
Cheers
A very light and fruity IPA with a touch of the belgian farmhouse beer style. Smooth drinking and delightfully crisp. I was very excited to try this and I was not disappointed. Looking forward to more Shacklands in my future.
CJT
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Beer # 186 White Session
Beer # 187 Red Session
Collaboration with "The Local 7*
Sweetgrass Brewing Company
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Independent
Barrel Aged, Flavoured Belgian Saison 7.5%
ABV Brown Glass Bottle 750 ml.
$19.95 (for both)(Canadian) At the LCBO
Twitter: @SweetgrassBeer
If you are a regular follower of my blog you will remember I spent the day in Toronto for OCB Week this past June.The Ontario Craft Brewers Week is a celebration of some of the most dazzling brewers in our province. It begins each Father's Day weekend (well... Dads like beer...) with The Session Toronto. I was hoping to make it down for this one but work schedules intervened and I went slightly later in the week. Session is sort of like fight club for brewers... There is only one rule... there are no rules. And you SHOULD talk about Session... So it's not like Fight Club... but somehow I wanted to use that analogy. Brewers are encouraged to bring out the inner artist and paint a pallete of beer. (Ok that's a slightly better analogy). Brewers try to "One Up" each other in a friendly (hehe check out what I did) kind of way. Sweetgrass Brewery and the so called "Local 7" a group of craft beer bars that included The Only Cafe, The Griffin Gastropub, Bar Volo, Wvrst, C'est What, The Auld Spot, Barhop, and Bryden's (kind of like the Group of 7 But Craft Beer Bars... instead of painters) all collaborated on a brew... or two. The result was a Lemon Verbena, and Raspberry flavoured Belgian Saison, that was split into two batches, and one was aged in chardonnay barrels (White), and one Cabernet Sauvignon Barrels (Red). Each was aged for ten months and the result was released in December of 2014 to the LCBO. Sadly, I have been sitting on these bottles because of my cold... I was hoping to get this post out sooner. I am quite certain that all of the bottles of these are gone. So if you didn't get to try these beers... sorry... email or twitter @sweetgrassbeer and maybe they will make more (if we are really, really good...)
Well I have a Litre and a half of beer on my desk... Onto the tasting...
White
Colour is a slightly hazy clear gold with a bright white head made of small bubbles. Aroma is woody and grapey. Definitely a white wine nose. Hints of green floral citrus from the lemon verbena. Oaky vanilla and light caramel. First sip gives us a lot of chardonnay qualities, grapey, oaky and citrus. Hints of malo-lactic fermentation, creamy, buttery, vanilla and caramel. The elements of the Belgian style saison are deep within, under the chardonnay window dressing. Aeration brings out the beer, a bready, citrus clean Belgian saison.
Red
Colour is almost Identical to the white in every way, except that I would say this is slightly lighter in colour. (Strangely). Nose is very mossy, woody, like a autumn walk through the woods. Oaky, smoky, and dark red wine. First sip is very oaky, and sweet, lots of caramel and vanilla. Tastes not unlike a heavily oaked chardonnay more than a Cabernet sauvignon. Slightly more effervescent than it's white counterpart. Fresh cut oak overwhelms the beer a bit. Aeration gives us sweet smoky oak, some breadiness, a touch more caramel and a lingering vanilla.
Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional
White Red
Cost: 5/6 PASS Cost: 5/6 PASS
Colour: 5/6 PASS Colour: 5/6 PASS
Beer Style: 6/6 EXCEPTIONAL Beer Style: 6/6 EXCEPTIONAL
Re-Order: 6/6 EXCEPTIONAL Re-Order: 6/6 EXCEPTIONAL
Experience: 6/6 EXCEPTIONAL Experience: 6/6 EXCEPTIONAL
Christmas Spirit 5/6 PASS Christmas Spirit 5/6 PASS
Final Thoughts:
Two most excellent beers and two excellent examples of how a barrel can change the way a beverage tastes. So much happens inside those little wooden envelopes... so much so that scientists haven't even figured out all of the processes, and chemical interactions. It is one area though where we don't need TOO much science... just let your tongue be the experimenter. Enjoy the reaction of all the woody elements that lend so much to these beers.
Cheers And Beery Christmas
CJT
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Bar Volo
Bar Volo is probably the best craft beer bar in Toronto. From it's communal seating to it's order and pay (for everything) at the bar it reeks of non-pretentiousness. Servers are kept busy delivering awesome food, and clearing glasses... oh, so many glasses. Bartenders are extremely knowledgeable and very helpful, especially when you come in to first navigate their 30 plus tap list which is printed on a giant chalkboard in the middle of the bar. A chalkboard which is updated frequently though the night and often tweeted about on twitter. The tap list is listed by letter and numbers... you figure out what you want, you tell the bartender the letter, and they pour it for you from the simple wooden tap marked with that letter.
They also produce a small line of their own beers on site, called House Ales, and we will taste one of those tonight.
Here is also where I ran into some unfortunate technical difficulties. Namely some dead batteries. So I had to switch to hand written notes and this also explains why there are no pictures (and the fact I am late posting this blog).
Beer # 1
Belgian Saison
Left Field Brewery (Toronto)
ABV 5.2%
Light gold in colour, crisp white head made up of tiny bubbles. Banana and cloves on the nose. First sip is light, fruity, banana, mildly hoppy. Cloves and citrus, coriander, meaty and filled with umami. Would be an excellent food beer.
Beer # 2
Chill Winston Belgian Grisette
Great Lakes Brewery (Toronto)
ABV 3.8%
Light gold in colour, thin skiff of white foam for a head. Wheaty nose with some fruit. First sip is sweet and tart berries and cherries, light, dry with a bready finish.
(N.B. I was actually stumped by this, I had not heard the term Grisette used before. It turns out it is a Belgian Saison, or Farmhouse ale particular to a mining region of Belgium, Hainaut province. The name references a young girl who works in factories and wore a Grey (gris) uniform, often these ladies would hand out trays of beers to miners as they returned to the surface).
Beer # 3
Ezra Belgian Farmhouse ale aged in Spirit Tree Cider Barrels
Great Lake Brewery Collaboration with Amsterdam Brewery (Both Toronto)
ABV 6.2%
Deep woody gold with a light white head made of tiny bubbles. Aroma is apples spice cloves and a hint of ammonia. First taste is wheat mixed with apples.Creamy, smooth, slightly tart. Finish is dry, tartaric acid, and crisp green apple.
Beer # 4
Watermelon Wheat
Kensington Brewing Company (Toronto)
ABV 4.5%
Gold in colour with very little head. Very light green melon on the nose, and watermelon rind. First sip is Midori melon liqueur which is quickly replaced with tea. Similar to an iced black tea made with a hint of melon, some sweetness but fairly dry.
Beer # 5
Limp Puppet India Session Ale
Great Lakes Brewery (Toronto)
ABV 3.8%
Cloudy white gold with an off white head. The nose is very piney. Touch of pine in the attack, quickly turning to ruby red grapefruit. Fresh and clean, tingly, citrus, herbal, oregano and basil on the finish.
Beer # 6
Rooster Tail American Wheat
Northwinds Brewery (Collingwood)
ABV 4.9%
Bronzed gold in colour, with a light white head. Nose is crystal malt, bread, and coconut (sunscreen). First sip is warm and nutty, black tea, candy, effervescent, creamy. Some caramel and bread on the finish.
Beer # 7
Marmalade Saison (Cask)
Black Oak Brewery (Etobicoke)
ABV 5.0%
Rich honey gold in colour with a creamy white head. Nose is toast and marmalade. Sherriff's marmalade as a matter of fact.fact. Caramelised oranges, sugar and light fruit. First sip is warm and nutty orange, cooked sugars, toasted brown bread, Hazelnuts, Frangelico, with sweet overripe oranges on the finish.
Beer # 8
Fermium Double Black IPA
Bar Volo House Ales
ABV 8.0%
Very dark brown with a light tan head. Nose is dark chocolate, espresso, toasted bread, and slightly nutty. First sip is darkly roasted malt, nutty, walnuts, bruleed sugar, very bitter dark chocolate and strong herbal hops. Warm toasty pumpernickel bread and black strap molasses.
Cheers
CJT
