The 2-4 Beers of Christmas 2018 Edition Day 9: Campfire Rye by Boshkung Brewing Company

Beer # 468 Campfire Rye

Brewery: Boshkung Brewing Company


Type: Independent Microbrewery    
Est.:  2015

Location: Algonquin Highlands, Ontario, Canada

Beer Style: Rye Ale

ABV: 5.5%      IBU: 20

Format: Aluminium Can  Size: 473 ml

Cost: $3.10 CAD     Purchased At: LCBO

 boshkungbrewing

    @BoshkungBrewing

 I've been wanting to get a hold of this beer for quite some time. Rye beers rank up there in the pantheon of my favourite brews and I have really enjoyed the other offerings from Boshkung that I have tried. Tonight's brew gets its main kick from a healthy portion of smoked wheat malt; but owes the sweet, smooth, spicy, and bread-like character to the main star of the beer the malted rye.

Onto our beer...

Pours a hazy light chestnut brown with a fluffy light tan head made up of tiny bubbles. Aroma is warm rye bread with strong wood notes, (oak and maple?) First sip is very similar to a Rauschbier smoky, malty, and mineral. Crusty rye bread dominates the middle. Beer is quite light in body and fruity and spicy on the finish. A bit of earthiness comes out near the end. Aeration gives more earthy, smoky deliciousness.

Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 


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


Final Thoughts:

Another great beer from Boshkung. Not as heavy on the smoke as a Rauschbier, but enough to allow it to live up to it's name. Certainly makes me think of long nights in front of the campfire enjoying a tasty beverage or two. Or if you prefer, in front of a roaring fire in the fireplace pondering the Christmas tree. Either way, pick this one up and try it.

CJT

 Let's Stay "Social" Follow my adventures here

   @pintjockey




The Pintjockey Online


pintjockey

And don't forget to "Friend" me on Untappd.

The 2-4 Beers of Christmas Day 5:Maple and Thistle Rye Red Ale

Beer # 395 Maple and Thistle Rye Ale

Brewery: Innis and Gunn Brewing Company


Type: Independent Brewery    Est.:  2003

Location: Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

Beer Style: Flavoured Rye Red Ale

ABV: 5.9%      IBU: ?

Format: Brown Glass Bottle  Size: 500 ml

Cost: $9.95 CAD     Purchased At: LCBO

innisandgunnuk

    InnisandGunnUk

 For interesting beers, one can always look to Innis and Gunn. The Scottish brewers tend to play with their beers, specialising in ageing beers in barrels and attempting unusual combinations. Each year there brew a beer for Canada Day which usually includes Canadian ingredients or Canadian Whiskey Barrels. This year, as it was Canada's 150th anniversary of Confederation they brewed the Maple and Thistle Rye ale to celebrate Scotland and Canada's long friendship. The beer was brewed with malted Canadian rye and then aged for 150 days in 150 Canadian Oak casks. When maturation was complete they added maple syrup and Scottish thistle before bottling.



The result is a very rich rye beer with deep herbal notes and a touch of sweetness. I was trying to get this one done for #Canadabeermonth but it got overlooked, so I wanted to make sure it got the attention it needed in this special year for Canada.

Onto our beer.


Pours a dark chestnut with a generous tan head made up of small bubbles. Aroma is rye bread, sweet malt, some chestnut and hints of bitter greens. First sip gives us sweet honey/ maple syrup with notes of smoke. Rich rye bread and distinct herbaceousness. whisky is evident on the finish as is a light woodiness.Aeration brings out the taste of new oak, woody, whisky, malty, light caramel and vanilla.

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:

Innis and Gunn always makes a solid beer, and this one is no exception. Well rounded very drinkable. (Possibly better in the summer when it was released...) These may be finally sold out or my still be in select LCBOs... You may have to hunt a bit, but it is worth the search.

CJT

 Let's Stay "Social" Follow my adventures here

   @pintjockey




The Pintjockey Online


pintjockey

And don't forget to "Friend" me on Untappd.

The 2-4 Beers of Christmas Day 11: Waterloo Roggenbier Applewood Smoked.

Beer # 259 Roggenbier

Waterloo Brewing Company 

Waterloo and Formosa, Ontario, Canada
Independent Brewery

Roggenbier, Applewood Smoke 5.3% ABV 
Aluminium Can 473 ml.

$2.75 (Canadian) At LCBO.

Twitter: @brickbrewery


Roggenbier means rye beer in German. I love rye beers and I was very intrigued by this one. Smoked beers, or Rauchbiers in German are also quite common so I was keen to try this beer that attempted to blend both styles.

Onto the smoke...

Pours a very dark chestnut with a tan head made up of small bubbles. Aroma is German rye bread with frying bacon. First sip fully delivers on the meaty promise of bacon in the nose. This beer tastes like breakfast to me! Hints of applewood smoke make me think of smoked English cheddar as well. Light in body but big on taste. Taste is slightly monochromatic though. The smoked rye certainly dominates the foreground of the taste. Unfortunately on the background of the taste I am picking up some chemicals, and creosote, some flavours that taste more like the chimney than the smoker. So I sadly believe that the rye, in this instance, has been over-smoked. Aeration gives us distant coal-fires, and wood-fire bread ovens. Finish is harsh bitter chemicals and carbonised wood.

Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 





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

Final Thoughts:

This beer started out with so much promise and then dropped the ball in a big way. The aroma and nuances of the first sip of the beer made me long for breakfast; then the middle and the finish reminded me of cleaning the wood stove pipes at the old Farmhouse I grew up in. Toss this one into the avoid list for now. I hope they re-release this with better smoked rye in it, because if they do it right, I would love this beer.


Cheers

CJT


Follow me on Twitter: @pintjockey
Like me on Facebook: Pint Jockey Online

And don't forget to "Friend" me on Untappd.

#CanadaMonthBeer Old Baldy Farmhouse Ale

# 237 Old Baldy Farmhouse Ale

Northwinds Brewhouse

Collingwood, Ontario, Canada

Independent Brewpub and Bottle Shop
Farmhouse Ale
IBU 24
3.5 % ABV Brown Glass Bottle 650 ml
$6.19 (Canadian) At the brewery

Twitter: @Northwindsbeer

Another trip up to Collingwood tonight with some "Old Baldy" Farmhouse Ale, as we continue our spotlight on Canadian craft beers for the month of July.

Straight into the tasting tonight.

Pours a darker gold with a nice thick off-white head made of small bubbles. Nose is a robust malty and spicy mix with wheat and rye tones. Lot's of cloves, some cinnamon. First sip is rich malt with some woody notes Some deep roasted malt and some licorice. Aeration brings out some creaminess a light green hoppiness and a slightly bitter aftertaste.

Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 


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

Final Thoughts:

A nice well flavoured beer. So far this is my favourite from Northwinds but I have three more to go... which I am looking forward to more and more.


Cheers


CJT



Follow me on Twitter: @pintjockey
Like me on Facebook: Pint Jockey Online

And don't forget to "Friend" me on Untappd.

Sun Comes up it's Tuesday Morning

A Range of Samples from Sawdust City and Lake of Bays

Twitter @SawdustCityBeer @LB_brewing

I've been on the mend lately. An early spring cold has put me out of commision for quite some time. That and I have been working some ridiculous hours. So I decided to hop into the local and do a bit of an omnibus tasting, as they had a few new ones I had not tried. Enjoy these and expect some new tastings shortly

CJT

Beer # 229 Cheli's Pale Ale

Lake of Bays Brewing Company
Baysville, Ontario, Canada

Independent Microbrewery
Dry Hopped Barrel Aged Pale Ale
7.0 % ABV 20 oz Draft (592 ml.)
$6.00 (Canadian) At the brewery

This is the newest beer in the NHL Alumni Series and it is named for Chris Chelios the 20 plus year, right handed defenceman who played for six years with The Montreal Canadiens and almost a decade each with the Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Red Wings. This is the first Time I have seen the Alumni Series in draft form and was curious... If I get a bottle of this I will repost it in a more detailed form.

Pours a lovely clear gold with an off-white head made up of small bubbles. Nose is sweet and slightly woody, notes of malt and vanilla caramel. First sip is very refreshing clear and crisp. Very fresh tasting oak sets in later almost saplike but no too sweet. Good profile of an English pale ale with tons of fresh fruit some apples and a nice drying and slightly bitter finish. All through the beer you get a hazy woodiness, that is like a forest on a fall day or the distant smoke of a maple sugar shack.

Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 

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

Final Thoughts: Very good beer, sadly only a perfunctory look, would love to get this in a bottle and slowly savour it.

Beer # 230 So it Gose

Sawdust City Brewing Company
Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada

Independent Microbrewery
Flavoured Gose
4.1 % ABV 20 oz Draft (592 ml.)
$6.50 (Canadian) At the brewery


This new offering by Sawdust is a lacto-bacillus soured wheat beer, with sea salt and coriander

Pours a hazy tinny gold, with a thin off-white head made up of tiny bubbles. Mildly sour on the nose with hints of wheat, and an almost sea like brininess. First sip gives us a tart brew with salt tones. The salt is evident, you taste it but it does not leave you thirsty. There are hints of citrus, coriander. The salt amps up your taste-buds and leaves you wanting more. There is a subtle fruitiness mixed in with the overall minerality of the salt. The strangest thing about the beer is the three main components the salt, the fruit-herb and the wheat all play exceedingly well with each other. one will surge ahead while the others wait their turn creating a flavour palate that is intriguing and ever-changing

Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 

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

Final Thoughts: I was told this is the love it or hate it beer... I am obviously one of the former. This beer is an excellent example of Gose and how minerals can change the flavour of beer.The only other Gose I have blogged about was Beau's here and I can safely say this one is better. This is definitely not  some kid adding salt to his Canadian to make it taste less like skunk. This is a carefully crafted and balanced beer. Try it, you will be surprised.


Beer # 231 Original Jorden

Sawdust City Brewing Company
Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada

Independent Microbrewery
APA
5.0 % ABV 20 oz Draft (592 ml.)
$6.50 (Canadian) At the brewery

This one was brewed for the Griffin Gastropub in Bracebridge, Ontario.

Pours a cloudy green-yellow with an off-white head made of small bubbles. Very light grapefruit and passion fruit on the nose with hints of pine and some vegetation. First sip is very light and fruity with some underlying greenness. Some medicinal hops and pine. nice bitterness on the finish with plenty of grainy malt.

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: Not the best APA I have ever had but a nice fruity patio sipper. 


Beer # 232 Balmoral's Outrage Rye Saison

Sawdust City Brewing Company
Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada

Independent Microbrewery
Barrel Aged Flavoured Rye APA Saison
5.0 % ABV 20 oz Draft (592 ml.)
$6.50 (Canadian) At the brewery

The most interesting brew of the day was definitely this one. Balmoral's Outrage. I can't offer any opinion on the name... but the beer? Whoa!

Pours a coppery gold with an off-white head made up of small bubbles. Nose is woody with lots of medicinal herbaceousness. The beer is slightly tart with some oak and smoke. There is leather and cedar followed by a dried fruit sweetness, some spices, like ginger clove and curry. There is a definite turmeric and coriander, cumin, Indian sweet masala going on. This beer was described as "Christmas Cake" to me, and the dried fruit and spicy sweetness does back that up, but I get a nice fruity curry from this, a gentle Northern Indian curry with raisins and potatoes. The beer is infused with Juniper and Angelica root, which should give it a more gin-like or even a Drambuie feel, but I lean more towards the food. I would be thrilled to drink this with a nice spicy curry, (or for that matter bake it into a Christmas Cake.)

Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 

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

Final Thoughts: This beer is why the craft market is doing so well. It is not about Why?... it is about Why Not? This is a fantastically delicious beer that I am afraid not enough people will get to taste (or understand). Sometimes the ripest fruit is found far out on the limb...

Beer # 233 The Princess Wears Hotpants
  Sawdust City Brewing Company
Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada

Independent Microbrewery
Cask Conditioned 
5.0 % ABV 20 oz Draft (592 ml.)
$6.50 (Canadian) At the brewery

Flavoured with some citric acid and jalapenos this beer is designed to spice up your life.

pours a cloudy off-gold with very thin off-white head. First sip is light an fruity with a follow-up attack of hot jalapenos. tangy and zingy, with a nice fruity hit of capsicum.

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: not my favourite incarnation of the princess, but I like the heat. A nice tasty brew good for summer sipping, or spicy food. try some if you can find it... it pops up erratically. 

Cheers 

CJT

Follow me on Twitter: @pintjockey
Like me on Facebook: Pint Jockey Online

And don't forget to "Friend" me on Untappd.

The Matador Version 2.0 Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery

# 203 The Matador Version 2.0: El Toro Bravo

Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery

Barrie, Ontario, Canada
Independent
Imperial Rye Ale Cedar Aged 10.0% ABV Brown Glass Bottle 750 ml.
$10.40 (Canadian) At the Brewery

Twitter: @FlyingMonkeys

Down to the Monkeys again tonight. Just today I heard of a little controversy about The Monkeys and the Ontario Legislature. It seems as though while Anne Hogarth, the MPP for Barrie was trying to question a lobbyist for the Brewers Retail  (The Beer Store) she insulted the brewers, who are employers and revenue generators in her riding. See the text here. If you are from out of province or unaware of the debate The Craft Brewers of Ontario are trying to end the stifling monopoly in Ontario that is The Beer Store. I will be posting an expose on the whole affair shortly... and putting in my two cents as a beer blogger.

But enough about politics.

Tonight's beer is the second version of the beer a 2.0 if you will. The Monkeys wanted to age some beer on spanish cedar. This one is a rye imperial ale. (I love rye beers!!!).

Release the monkeys!

 Pours a very dark amber with a generous off-tan head made up of tiny bubbles. The aroma is spicy, with hints of cedar cigar box, tobacco, and fresh sawn basswood. First sip is deep and malty with burnt toast notes, more blanket box cedar, sweetgrass, and sage. Strong notes of thick dark German rye bread, some caraway. As the beer warms the flavours smooth out and deepen. the cedar/spice is pervasive like expensive incense. It drinks like a grilled reuben sandwich. toasty, malty, bready, charred, spicy, smooth, and creamy. Aeration gives us more cedar, pencil shavings, and earthy wood tones.

Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 

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


Final Thoughts:

My father was a master carpenter. He began building houses in South Wales, UK. when he was 14 years old. Ever since I could stand I remember being with him in his workshop. The smells of freshly cut or planed wood, the spicy, musky sweat of a hard day's work, the inevitable thermos of tea. This beer takes me there. Five years old, steadying a board that my Dad is planing, curls of wood piling at my feet. It's hard to describe this as it actually hit me on an emotional level.  To say the beer is transcendent is an understatement. Obviously, the brewers at Flying Monkeys were not trying to send an old farm boy turned blogger back in time. What they did do was, create a very deep, flavourful beer, with incredible aromatic wood notes. I can not guarantee you will be transported to another time and place if you drink this beer... you will however be amazed at its complexity and character, just as I was. The bottles left are in short supply, get them while you can.


CJT


Follow me on Twitter: @pintjockey
Like me on Facebook: Pint Jockey Online

And don't forget to "Friend" me on Untappd.