The 2-4 Beers of Christmas 2019 Day: 18 Peanut Butter Shake Stout

Beer # 518 Peanut Butter Shake Stout


Brewery: Whitewater Brewing Company


Type: Independent Microbrewery    Est.:  2015

Location: Forrester's Falls, Ontario, Canada

Beer Style: Flavoured Milk Stout

ABV: 4.5%      IBU: 30

Format: Aluminium Can  Size: 473 ml

Cost: $3.75 CAD     Purchased At: LCBO

whitewaterbrewingco

    @Whitewaterbrew

Another beer by Whitewater makes the list this year. This sweet milk stout is loaded with peanut butter extract and a hit of lactose to emulate a chocolaty peanut butter milkshake. Let's see how they did.

Onto our beer...

Pours a dark brown almost black with a tan head made up of small bubbles. The aroma is Frangelico or toasted hazelnuts, with some roasted peanuts in the background. The first sip is all peanut butter cookie. Peanut extract is used in this beer and it is quite evident, as the peanut taste is syrupy, sweet and almost chemical. Wheat and oat malts give the beer it's cookie flavour while some lactose adds in a creamy "milkshake" feel. Aeration ramps up the peanut extract and reminds me of Halloween candy kisses (Molasses caramels) that everyone leaves right till the end because you are afraid they are going to rip your teeth out.

Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 


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


Final Thoughts:

It needed a bit more creaminess, and I wish there was a way they could have accomplished the flavour without extracts, but this beer is good. Takes a bit of a hit on the re-order scale because of the extract, but I certainly wouldn't turn this beer down if it was free. How do you feel about extracts? Are they cheating? or are you fine with them? I just don't appreciate the chemical taste. Try one and see for yourself.


Cheers

CJT

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The 2-4 Beers of Christmas 2019 Day: 17 Heir Apparent Mexican Spiced Imperial Stout

Beer # 517 Heir Apparent Mexican Spiced Imperial Stout


Brewery: Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery


Type: Independent Farm Brewery    Est.:  2013

Location: Goochland, Virginia, USA

Beer Style: Flavoured Imperial Stout

ABV: 11.7%      IBU: 60

Format: Aluminum Can  Size: 473 ml

Cost: $4.40 CAD     Purchased At: LCBO

lccb_farmbrews

    @lccb_farmbrews

Another trip down to Goochland for Lickinghole's other Imperial stout Heir Apparent. This beer is spiced with cayenne and vanilla and shows strong chocolate and coffee notes from the beer, making this a fine interpretation of Mexican hot chocolate.

Onto our beer...

Pours translucent dark brown with a short tan head made of small bubbles. Sparks of red tinges and some sediment float in the glass. The aroma is dark, woody, smoky, and with major tones of molasses. Hints of brown sugar vanilla and dark caramel. The first sip gives us molasses brown sugar smoked chocolate vanilla and a spike of chilli and cinnamon at the end. Very woody and earthy. Reminiscent of Mexican chocolate. Aeration gives us notes of gingerbread.

Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 


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


Final Thoughts:

Tasty, warming, and spicy this beer is a great holiday sipper. When the temperature drops, hop into a glass of this stout and warm right up. Give this one a try if you like Mexican chocolate, it comes out around Christmas time every year.

Cheers

CJT

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The 2-4 Beers of Christmas 2019 Day: 14 Full Bean Half Foam Mocha Latte

Beer # 514 Full Bean Half Foam Mocha Porter 

Brewery: Muskoka Brewing Company


Type: Independent Microbrewery    Est.:  1996

Location: Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada

Beer Style: Flavoured Porter

ABV: 5.3%      IBU: 39

Format: Aluminium Can  Size: 473 ml

Cost: $3.95 CAD     Purchased At: The Brewery


muskokabrewery

    @Muskokabrewery

Another entry from Muskoka Brewery's Moonlight Kettle series, tonight's beer is a chocolate, coffee and lactose porter.  The effect is quite good, I had to remind myself I was drinking a beer and not a latte.

Onto our tasting...




Pours a dark chocolate brown with a milky tan head made up of small bubbles. Head is super creamy and is reminiscent of a latte. The aroma is bitter coffee and chocolate, with hints of grain and vanilla. The first sip is straight-up coffee and malt with a touch of lactose sweetness. The middle has a nice coffee hum and chocolate there is body from the cocoa butter and lactose. Aeration gives us some espresso bitterness and cocoa powder.

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
Christmas Cheer 5/6 PASS


Final Thoughts:

A great tasting beer and a nice approximation of a latte in stout form. Get one of these while you still can.

Cheers

CJT

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The 2-4 Beers of Christmas 2019 Day: 11 Chocolate Blossom Chocolate Cherry Stout Mill Street

Beer # 511 Chocolate Blossom Chocolate Cherry Stout

Brewery: Mil Street Brewery


Type: Wholly-owned Subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch Inbev  Est.:  2002

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Beer Style: Flavoured Stout

ABV: 6.8%      IBU: 15

Format: Aluminium Can  Size: 473 ml

Cost: $3.95 CAD     Purchased At: LCBO

millstreetbrew

    @millstreetbrew

I remember when Mill street first opened and they were not much more than a set of fridges pouring samples in a near-empty building in the Distillery District in Toronto. It was at the beginning of the revitalisation of the old Gooderham and Worts Distillery and the project had two tenants at the time: Mill Street, and a coffee shop called Balzac's. Now the distillery area is a tourism destination with the Mill Street Beerhall as a centre point. I love going there still because they have my favourite chocolate shop SOMA the olive oil truffle is outrageous!

Mill Street was an early champion of the craft and organic scene in Ontario, so it was a particular gut-punch when it was purchased by Labatt Canada, which is in turn owned by multi-national conglomerate  AB InBev, in 2015. I think I have subconsciously avoided tasting Mill Street since then. I'm pretty sure I did their Tank house Ale and Organic Lager, years ago, before the purchase. But haven't done much since. However, I shall lift this unconscious ban for the holiday season and try one of their newer releases.

Onto our beer...

Pours a dark brown with hints of red. The head is a dark tan with hints of red made up of small bubbles. The aroma is strangely potato chips, chocolate, and cherries. The first sip is dark malty and full of cocoa powder. The beer is very sticky on the lips. The middle is a little sugary. As the beer warms, the cherry becomes more evident feeling like cherry brandy. I was expecting more of a chocolate-covered cherry feel, but it is more chocolate and then cherry. Aeration is a bit of dark chocolate

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
Christmas Cheer 5/6 PASS


Final Thoughts:

A good but average offering. I couldn't ever have counted myself as a Mill Street Fan but I did appreciate what they were doing before the buyout. I hope I haven't let my disappointment tinge this tasting, but it is hard not to be sad when I think how far this brewery came just to sell out. I guess we only go into business to make money, so I can't blame them. It is a decent beer and worthy of a spot on the list. Grab one and try it.

Cheers

CJT

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The 2-4 Beers of Christmas 2019 Day: 8 Kveik Chocolate and Orange Muskoka Brewery

Beer # 508 Kveik Chocolate and Orange

Collaboration with Quidi Vidi Brewing Company


Brewery: Muskoka Brewing Company


Type: Independent Brewery    Est.:  1998

Location: Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada

Brewery: Quidi Vidi Brewing Company

Type: Independent Brewery    Est.:  1996

Location: Quidi Vidi St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada

Beer Style: Flavoured Farmhouse Ale

ABV: 8.0%      IBU: 30

Format: Brown Glass Bottle  Size: 750  ml

Cost: $10.95 CAD     Purchased At: The Brewery

muskokabrewery                quidividibeer

    @muskokabrewery             @QuidiVidiBeer

Tonight's offering is the Community Ventures Collaboration between Muskoka Brewery of Bracebridge Ontario and Quidi Vidi Brewing Company from just outside St. John's Newfoundland.  The beer is a flavoured Farmhouse ale with chocolate and orange. I was looking forward to this I thought chocolate and orange are great for the holidays... but sadly, something went wrong with this beer...

Onto our tasting...

Pours a medium-dark chestnut with an off-tan head Aroma is very medicinal with hints of molasses and old citrus. The overwhelming smell of polyphenols, especially when the beer is just poured. There is something just "off" about the taste of the beer. Chocolate is minimal and extremely bitter. Orange is very faint, tastes old, and is backed up by bitter green leaves. Aeration is stale orange juice.

Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 


Cost: 2/6 SO-So
Colour: 5/6 PASS
Beer Style: 0/6 FAIL
Re-Order:  0/6 FAIL
Experience: 1/6 FAIL
Christmas Cheer 1/6 FAIL


Final Thoughts:

This beer skirted the edge of being a #DrainAward. There was something wrong with this beer, something did not go right at all. Very disappointing as I usually am a big fan of everything Muskoka brewery does. Well, they can't all be rockstars. Avoid.

Cheers

CJT

 

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The 2-4 Beers of Christmas 2019 Day: 4 Bring Out The Imp, Alchemy Brewing Company

Beer # 504 Bring Out The Imp

Brewery: AlchemyBrewing Company


Type: Independent Brewery    Est.:  2012

Location: Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

Beer Style: Barrel Aged, Flavoured, Double Oatmeal Stout

ABV: 10.5%      IBU: ?

Format: Brown Glass Bottle  Size: 330 ml

Cost: $2.95 CAD     Purchased At: LCBO

 N/A

    @alchemybrewco

Day four of the #2-4BeersofChristmas brings me to a city that I loved when I visited it: Edinburgh. Despite one of the more epic hangovers of my early beer drinking career (Guinness hangovers suck... Yes I was drinking an Irish beer in a Scottish city, there were other beers too, hence the hangover) Edinburgh sticks out in my mind as a gorgeous historic city with a fun nightlife (see hangover earlier...) The craft beer movement really didn't start up until after I visited (I went for the whisky...) I would have loved to hit a few of the now famous Scottish craft brewers. Alchemy is one of the newer craft brewers in Edinburgh to gain attention. Started in 2012 they produce an interesting array of beers for all tastes. I had a tough time finding the website info for Alchemy as there are actually three (that I could find) Alchemy Brewing Companies. One is in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, one in Seattle, Washington, USA, and the last in Edinburgh. Alchemy in Scotland doesn't have an Instagram account and the twitter accounts for all three are almost identical. This is a double oatmeal imperial stout that was flavoured with Licorice and then aged in Côtes du Rhône wine barrels.

Onto our tasting:

Pours a slightly murky dark chestnut brown with a hint of a red tint. Pours a short off-tan head made up of tiny bubbles. The aroma is a malty liquorice all-sorts. Boozy and oaky with hints of red wine. The first sip is slightly syrupy with hot flashes of alcohol, molasses, and liquorice root. Lips are left quite sticky even after a few sips. Hints of roasted caramel. Aeration gives us a boozy, anisette and whiskey mix. Warming up the beer takes on an oatmeal sweetness mixed with molasses reminding me of horse feed.

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
Christmas Cheer 5/6 PASS


Final Thoughts:

This bottle actually took some age, I had bought it for a previous #2-4BeersofChristmas but didn't get around to it. I was not worried about the age as I was sure the high alcohol would protect it. I'm thinking that it even mellowed out a bit because I found the liquorice mild in comparison to the hefty malt flavours. Not really a fantastic beer but quite a decent one. I have checked and the beer is no longer being produced... so you will have to take my word for it.

Cheers

CJT

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