Beer # 398 Canada 150 Best Bitter Ale

Beer # 398 Canada 150 Best Bitter Ale

Brewery: Black Creek Historic Brewery


Type: Contract Brewery    Est.:  2015

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Beer Style: English Bitter Ale Ale

ABV: 5.0%      IBU: ?

Format: Aluminium Can  Size: 473 ml

Cost: $2.95 CAD     Purchased At: LCBO

BlackCreekPioneerVillage

    @blackcreeknews

I'm a little late posting this one. It was supposed to go up in my Canada Day Beer month, but the notes were complete and I didn't want to waste the tasting. Brewed to celebrate the country's 150th anniversary of Confederation.

Let's taste it.

Pours a slightly cloudy and opaque chestnut brown with a light tan head made up of small bubbles. Aroma is roasted malt liquorice and molasses, with hints of baking biscuits. The first sip is a light caramel and liquorice toffee hard candy taste. Light in body with a malt forward approach. A little residual sugar leaves the lips sticky. Hints of wood smoke oak barrels, maple syrup and vanilla sparkle around the outsides of the tongue. The attack opens up into touches of prunes and an earthy finish. Aeration gives us a spike of malt and dried fruits, dates and raisins, and ends on notes of vanilla and turbinado sugar.

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 nice best bitter, a touch more malty than I am used to but certainly not bad at all. Nice complexities in the smoky, dusty, fruity body. Light and easy drinking and the dates and raisins build out a nice warm and cosy character.

CJT

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Beer # 143 Lemon Balm Ale Black Creek Historic Brewery

Lemon Balm Ale

Black Creek Historic Brewery

Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Independent
Flavoured Ale 9.0 % ABV Brown Glass Bottle 500 ml.
$3.95 (Canadian) At LCBO 
Twitter: @BlackCreekBeer

Another trip down to Toronto to the great Black Creek Historic Brewery. Designed to replicate the brewing process in Ontario in the 1860's, all the beer here are made by hand. There is no electricity or computers involved. the wort is cooked in copper kettles and the beer is filtered through linen cloths, and stored in wooden barrels. It is as much a museum exhibit as it is a working brewery. The workers are dressed in period costume and give guided tours of the brewery showing how different it is from modern day brewing. I've taken a tour of an ultra modern brewery (Anheuser-Busch in New Hampshire). The brewery is nearly empty. The brewing process is fully computer automated and all one has to do is select a programme and push a button, and the brewing process will run start to finish almost unattended. Black Creek is a very personal brewery, very hands on. If you love beer you should go down and check it out.

Onto the... historic... tasting.

Very Light chestnut in colour with a hint of orange.  The off-white head is fairly thin and short lived. The aroma is caramel and malt some green herbs and a hint of citrus, not very strong. First sip is tangy and sweet lots of caramel. Very light and clean. Finish is bitter green herbs and some lemon. Effervescent on the tongue, the beer is very lively. The lemon balm is a good bittering herb that does not detract much from the beer. Aeration gives us bitter herbs.

Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 

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


Final Thoughts:

A very good beer. However, a little thin and on the watery side. I am unable to decide whether or not it was deliberate to bring out the flavours of the lemon balm. However, I would have liked to have seen some more oomph in the beer. Very impressed with the interaction of the lemon balm, it is a nice touch.

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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Beer # 78 and the Ontario Craft Beer Week

This Past Weekend marked the start of one of the busiest weeks of the season for Ontario Craft brewers. OCB Week is a stellar showcase of events and fantastic beer brewed by the best of the best in Ontario. Many brewers try to out do each other in a friendly "one-up-man-ship" by creating fantastical saisons just for this week. I can assure you... they get creative... So if you are in Ontario check the events calendar for a tasting near you and see exactly, what Craft Brewers of Ontario have to offer


I am going to start this week off with a Beer that was launched to coincide with OCB Week, and the 200th anniversary of the war of 1812.


Rifleman's Ration Brown Ale


Black Creek Historic Brewery
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Independent
Traditional Brown Ale 5.0% ABV Brown Glass Bottle 500 ml.
$3.95 (Canadian) At LCBO.


Twitter: @Blackcreekbeer



Black Creek brewery opened in 2009 as part of an ongoing project to study life in 19th century York (Toronto). The brewery is located at Toronto's famous Black Creek Pioneer Village. The village was founded in 1960 and partially owes it's origin to Hurricane Hazel. After the Hurricane passed through Toronto in 1950 The government outlawed building on river flats, turning over this future greenspace to conservation authorities. One section of this space contained The Strong Family farm. Built around the start of the War of 1812, the Strong farm was chosen to be preserved as an example of 19th century life. In 1960 the foundations for the Black Creek Pioneer Village were laid. Encompassing 30 acres, with the Strong Family Farm at the centre, the village has grown over the last 52 years into a very accurate depictionof 19th century Canadian life. So what is a 19th century village without a brewery? Not a very good one. So they took steps to correct this and the Historical Brewery was opened in 2009. Their mission is to show how brewing was completed on a small scale at the local level in the 1800's. They have also planted hops barley and are working on their own malting floor. Later this year they are releasing an "Estate Ale" which they are claiming to be a "1 mile ale." All ingredients will come from the village and no-where else.  Something I am looking forward too I hope they will save me a bottle. There is a media release on their upcoming session beers here. The beers will only be available at the brewery, and will be well worth a taste.


For those of you in the Toronto area who haven't been, the Black Creek Pioneer Village website is here. If you Haven't been, go, and if you haven't been since that grade 5 field trip... definitely go. Why? They have beer now! The brewery runs tours twice a day and three samples are included!

Tonight's beer get's it's name from the practice of giving British soldiers an extra amount of money to purchase beer. British military encouraged the purchasing and consumption of beer to help stimulate local economy (Buying local still works. Get out and give your neighbours the money not some faceless corporation!) 


Enough history already.... Let's try some historic ale:

Dark Chestnut in colour with a creamy light tan head made of small bubbles that hold up fairly well. Nose is chocolate, molasses and malt with a light hint of spice and citrus. First sip lets us know this a deep rich fortifying brew. Warming well balanced notes of grain and malt with a hint of citrus. finish is a slight medicinal herbal hop, that gently lingers for an extended period of time. Aeration lets off a burst of malty green hops and a brandy note.



Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional   


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


Final Thoughts:


I do so love getting lost in a beer! I had a difficult time tasting this beer because I drained my glass before I could write all my notes! (Thankfully it came in a 500ml!!)  The good news is this is a wonderful beer, very reminiscent of a true "British Brown" You can feel the brewer's hands in the beer; carefully thought out and crafted. The bad news is... it's only available until August which I think is a shame. In case someone down at the brewery is reading, please consider adding this to your regular stable of beers! 
Cheers
CJT


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