Beer #359 Blueberry Ale, Wheat Beer
Prince Edward Island Brewing Company
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada
Independent Microbrewery
Established: 1997 (Originally as Murphy's Brewing Company, Renamed Gahan in 2000, Expanded to Prince Edward Island Brewing Company in 2013)
Flavoured Wheat Beer
4.5 % ABV IBU: 12
473 ml Aluminium Can
$3.25 (Canadian) At the LCBO
Well, I'm excited! This is my first PEI beer. I've heard good things about Gahan/ Prince Edward Brewing Company so I was happy to snag this beer at my local LCBO. Gahan, originally opened as Murphy's Brewing Company in 1997 has expanded to 3 Brewpub locations, in PEI, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and a large state of the art production facility in Charlottetown filled to the brim with state of the art brewing equipment.
Our beer tonight is a seasonal wheat beer flavoured with fresh raspberries. Let's taste it.
Pours a cloudy darker off gold colour, with a massive head made up of small and medium bubbles. Head is mostly off-white but tinged with a grey/purple on some of the bubbles. The scent of blueberry pervaded the room and I opened the can. The aroma is sweet and wheaty with a hint of blueberry "Hubba Bubba" gum. Light sparks of citrus and hops round out the nose. The first sip is a light smooth wheat beer, with some light residual berry sweetness. Freshly picked berries balance out the light citrus, and wheat that holds the beer together. Aeration brings out a deep blueberry pie.
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:
Wow. Just... wow. Normally with these fruit beers, you get a sugar attack, or there is too much fruit and it is over flavoured or sickly sweet. Not so with this beer. I expected to pour out something akin to Welch's Grape juice; instead, I got a well balanced lightly scented wheat beer. I could spend the entire day on the patio sipping this beer slowly. Snap one of these up, while you can, or 6 or 12, find a patio, enjoy the sun and #CanadianBeerMonth.
Cheers
CJT
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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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Pugsley's Signature Series Smashed Blueberry
Shipyard Brewing CompanyPortland, Maine, USAIndependentFlavoured Strong Ale 9.0 % ABV Brown Glass Bottle 625 ml.$7.60 (Canadian) At The LCBO
Twitter: @shipyardbrewing
I was going to say this was my first beer from Shipyard, but I remembered I had a bottle of the Smashed Pumpkin last year. It just so happened it was around the time of my epic cold/flu battle where I got very little work done on the blog. I remember trying to start it and tasting it, but I was too ill and I could not describe anything in it so I abandoned a fair number of postings last year. So I will say this is officially my first "taste" of a Shipyard Brew.
Shipyard stated in 1992, as Federal Jack's Restaurant and Brewpub in Kennebunk, Maine. However in two short years demand for their locally crafted brew outstripped their ability to produce, so in 1994 Investor Fred Forsley and Brewer Alan Pugsley set up Shipyard brewing company in Portland. Shipyard has grown enormously over the last 18 years. The are currently the 3rd largest Microbrewery in New England (After Boston Beer Company, and Harpoon Brewing Company both of which I have visited.) Shipyard is also designated as the 15th Largest Microbrewery in all of the United States.
Onto the Tasting:
The label states that tonight's beer is a hybrid of the styles of porter and Scotch ale, I however could not determine if they use fresh blueberries as the label only states "flavour." The beer uses 5 grades of malted barley and torrified wheat, as well as three hop varieties: Summit, Tettnang, and Cascade.
Pervasive aroma of fresh blueberries filled the kitchen when I opened the bottle. It poured a very dark purplish brown. Not unlike the colour of prune juice. The head was short with the same colour of the head on a pint of Guinness, light tan to brown with small bubbles. The aroma is sweet and fruity, especially blueberries, with a dark roasted malt under tone. Slightly smoky, and chocolate with a touch of burnt sugar and licorice. The attack is sweet hard candy with dried blueberries. Then comes a different layer. After the fruit a dark ale smashes through with notes of chocolate, coffee, malt sugars, then the beer fades down to a more subtle sun-dried blueberry, currant, and a "Cherry brandy" type of alcohol. The alcohol content is quite noticeable. Aeration gives a burst of hot alcohol more berries, and a hint of hops. My lips are sticky after tasting, just like eating fresh berries.
When I first poured the beer it was a little too cold, and as I tasted it it seemed to be two distinct beers fighting for dominance. It felt like a lambic was competing with a stout. However as I sipped and typed the beer melded together at the proper serving temperature of 55 degrees, and became something wonderful. As I have said before, if the brewer has gone through the trouble of putting a temperature at which the beer should be consume on the label, chances are he knows what he is talking about.
Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional
Cost: 5/6 PASSColour: 5/6 PASSBeer Style: 6/6 ExceptionalRe-Order: 5/6 PASSExperience: 6/6 Exceptional
Final Thoughts:
This beer took a short time to open up but once it did it made quite the impression. Surprisingly well balanced and well suited to food. The bottle recommends BBQ, and glazed duck. I recommend you try the beer. I hope I can get Smashed Pumpkin again this year and post it because I would like to see more from this brewery.
CheersHappy Independence DayCJT
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Beer #359 Blueberry Ale, Wheat Beer
