FUNKFEST 2018: Pint Jockey (Sorta) Live Blog # 4

FUNKFEST 2018

Sawdust City Brewery

Gravenhurst, Ontario

Beers 431 to 440

Beer: Changeover IPA with Brett

Stack: Changeover

Brewery:  Stack Brewing
Location: Sudbury, Ontario

Style: Sour IPA
ABV: 5.5 %
Colour: Dark Gold
Aroma: Off Flavours
Thoughts: Sample probably has gone bad... No notes.
Funk Factor: 0/6

Beer: Barrel-aged No WITnesses

Stack: Barrel-aged No WITnesses

Brewery:  Stack Brewing
Location: Sudbury, Ontario 

Style: Sour Wit beer
ABV: 5.0 %
Colour: medium gold
Aroma: Woody nose
Thoughts: Tart and lots of wood. Sweet caramel and cheek pucker.
Funk Factor: 4/6

Beer: Dry-Hopped Sour

Side Launch: Dry-Hopped Sour

Brewery:  Side Launch Brewing

Location: Collingwood, Ontario

Style: Dry-hopped sour ale

ABV: 4.2 %

Colour: light gold

Aroma: Light citrus

Thoughts: Sweet citrus and berry with hints of caramel. Too easy drinking, good patio sipper
Funk Factor: 5/6

Beer: Amarillo Sour

Shacklands: Amarillo Sour

Brewery:  Shacklands Brewing Company

Location: Toronto, Ontario

Style: Sour Ale

ABV: 4.5 %

Colour: Cloudy light gold

Aroma: Wheat and bananas

Thoughts: heaps of banana and clove nice sour bite rounded out with toast and biscuit. Finishes up with floral hop notes.
Funk Factor: 5/6

Beer: RaspBretty Bates

Brewery:  Shacklands Brewing Company

Shacklands: RaspBretty Bates

Location: Toronto, Ontario

Style: American Wild Ale

ABV: 6.4 %

Colour: Salmon red/ orange

Aroma: Earthy and sour

Thoughts: Complex fruity sour with bright raspberry and earthy tones highlighted with lots of brett. Finishes up with a nice caramel. 
Funk Factor: 7/6

Beer: No Sleep Till Berlin

Royal City: No Sleep Till Berlin

Brewery:  Royal City Brewing Company

Location: Guelph, Ontario

Style: Sour Berliner Weisse

ABV: 4.5 %

Colour: Slightly cloudy light gold

Aroma: Fruity and Citrus

Thoughts: Smooth sour citrus floral and fruity, clean dry and quite hoppy.
Funk Factor: 5/6

Beer: Brett Quad

Royal City: Brett Quad

Brewery:  Royal City Brewing Company
Location: Guelph, Ontario 

Style: Quadruppel with Brett

ABV: 10.9 %
IBU: 45

Colour: Very dark Chestnut almost black

Aroma: Warm funky wood and barrel

Thoughts: Rich very sticky on the lips molasses, wood, leather, and cocoa. Absolutely delicious. This was Probably the best beer of the day.
Funk Factor: 7/6

Beer: Blueberry Sour

Rouge River: Blueberry Sour

Brewery: Rouge River Brewing Company 

Location: Markham, Ontario

Style: Flavoured Sour Ale

ABV: 5.0 %

Colour: Blueberry red/ purple

Aroma: Nose is very wheaty with good hints of fruit

Thoughts: Very tart with blueberries, warm and sweet smooth and fruity. Quite nice.
Funk Factor: 5/6

Beer: 2018 Barrel-Aged Apricot Sour

Rouge River: 2018 Barrel-aged
Apricot Sour

Brewery: Rouge River Brewing Company 
Location: Markham, Ontario 

Style: Barrel-aged flavoured sour

ABV: 5.8 %

Colour: Slightly cloudy yellow gold

Aroma: Wheaty and citrus

Thoughts: Wheaty and warm with bright citrus and muted apricot.
Funk Factor: 5/6

Beer: Mario Anbretti

Redline: Mario Anbretti

Brewery: Redline Brewhouse

Location: Barrie  Ontario

Style: Sour Pale Ale

ABV: 5.7 %

Colour: Cloudy light gold

Aroma: Off aromas

Thoughts: Sour, wet dog, off flavours. The sample has likely gone bad.
Funk Factor: 0/6

Beer # 362 Smoked Honey: Royal City Brewing Company

Beer #362 Smoked Honey Brown Ale

Royal City Brewing Company

Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Independent Microbrewery
Established: 2014
Smoked Honey Brown Ale
5.5 % ABV IBU: 25
500 ml Brown Glass Bottle
$3.95 (Canadian) At Sobey's Grocery

Twitter: @RoyalCityBrew

Haven't been to Guelph for a while and This brewery has not made it onto the blog yet either. They were at FUNKFEST but I ran out of tickets and liver space before I got to them. Tonight's brew is a smoked honey brown ale. Now I'm not sure how all of that fits together I believe it's a smoked grain brown ale that has had honey added to the wort. At least that's what it tastes like. I'm not sure if you can smoke honey... But, when I build my new smoker I will find out... (I will blog, about it stay tuned!).

Onto tonight's tasting...

Pours a translucent dark chestnut with a short tan head made up of small bubbles. Aroma is sooty char and sweet honey. The first sip is malty and mineral, which gives over to a light ashy smoke with a residual honey clover sweetness. Refreshingly light, yet with a nice thick malty brown bread or pumpernickel feel. Aeration gives us and herbal hoppy hit, with hints of smoked honey ham.

 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:


This was a wonderfully well balanced, full flavour beer that managed to stay nice and light in the body. The smoke elevated the beer, instead of drowning out the ingredients in a harsh, bitter cloud. I was so pleasantly surprised by this beer and enjoyed it thoroughly. I was actually disappointed when I looked down and the bottle was empty. Such a great all purpose beer too. I would cook with this, drink it on a patio, or in front of a campfire. Trust me, put one of these in your glass, you will not regret it.


Cheers

CJT

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