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 # 358 Flotter Dreier Block 3 Sawdust and Stack Brewing Collaboration

Beer #358 Flotter Dreier

Collaboration Beer

Block 3 Brewing Company
St Jacobs Ontario Canada

Stack Brewing
Sudbury, Ontario Canada

Sawdust City Brewing Company

Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada
Independent Microbrewery Established 2012
Aged and Flavoured Berliner Weisse
ABV 4.0 %  
Aluminium Can 500 ml.
$3.75 (Canadian) At the The Brewery

Twitter @SawdustCityBeer @StackBrewing @BlockThree

After a whirlwind tour of about 45 beers this weekend at FUNKFEST 2017 at Sawdust City Brewery... (yeah couldn't do all 80... I would need another liver) I noticed I hadn't got to do one of the beers from our Gracious Hosts at Sawdust. Luckily I had put aside this gem for just such an emergency.

Flotter Dreier, means "Threesome" in German. Yup, get the laughs out now... I'll wait. However, this "Threesome" means the three breweries involved in the collaboration. First The beer was fermented at Block 3 Brewing in St. Jacobs. The Beliner Weisse beer was fermented in Oak Foeders (pronounced FOOD-ers) They are essentially large oak barrels stood on end instead of on their side. Once initial fermentation was done the beer went on a little trip. A 4.5 hour 480 Km trip to Stack Brewing in Sudbury. There it was aged in wine barrels for 2 months. The the beer put on it's roller skates one more time and drove another 3 hours, 260 kms down to Sawdust City in Gravenhurst where pink guava was added and the beer underwent Can Conditioning. So 740 kms later we have Flotter Dreier. 

Let's taste.

Pours a cloudy light gold with bright white head made up of small to medium bubbles. Head dissipates rapidly. The aroma is biscuit, woody, winey, active yeast, citrus, light herbal hops and some guava and tropical fruit in the background. First sip gives us the tangy twang of brett with some citric acid, lemons, oranges, some grapefruit. Hints of spicy oak, some toast and a tropical sweetness to end. Guava comes out more on the aeration, with some more lemon and a touch of pineapple. Slightly sweet yet still dry enough to be thirst quenching. Very smashable (good thing it is only 4.0 % these go down too fast!). Good cheek puckering Berliner.

 Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 


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

Final Thoughts:

Super refreshing patio sipper. I love the can design. Given the meaning of the name, the all black label and the simple three stick figures make perfect sense. Sadly this gem was limited to 750 Cans at each brewery. Yup... They are gone. However, I assume this may become a FUNKFEST Tradition (one can hope). I would usually leave off by saying get one of these into you... but if you haven't got one in your fridge by now... your going to have to wait until next year. So why not book your tickets for FUNKFEST and come see me there! (they go on sale around May 1st)


Cheers

CJT

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Stack Brewing Trademark Infringement Gose Second Anniversary Ale

Beer # 244 Trademark Infringement Anniversary Ale

Stack Brewing Company

Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
Independent Microbrewery
Gose 4.5% ABV Brown Glass Bottle 500ml
$6.00 (Canadian) At The Brewery
Twitter: @Stackbrewing


Another beer from the good people up at Stack Brewing in the Nickle City. This is a Gose they brewed for their second anniversary back in June. I may have sat on this beer for a bit... Glad I'm finally getting to it.

It's about time...drink me.



Pours a light cloudy gold with a thin head of made up of tiny bubbles. Aroma is sweet, wheaty, slightly caramel with hints of singed citrus. There is also a hint of mineral. First sip is slightly nutty with light grapefruit and lemon. Tart and mildly sour with a good backbone of minerals and salt. Aeration gives us some more malty, nutty, herbal notes.

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:

Full disclosure, I have had this beer in my fridge for a couple of months, so it definitely has picked up some age. But the flavours are all still there. Lovely use of the salt in the beer. 
 
Cheers

CJT


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Cleaning out the Cupboards

Back Again.... did you miss me?

After a long drawn out and somewhat tiresome summer (that dragged over into fall...) I return to my blog to hang my head in shame as I have not paid it much mind recently. This is actually a big month here at Pint Jockey Headquarters. Five years ago this Sunday (November 8th) is the fifth anniversary of my first post. Sadly I often miss my own anniversaries because of being busy at work... being a chef we start into Christmas parties right about now. However this year I plan on celebrating... with a beer or two and a few posts to boot. However, That being said I have to clear off my desktop and post a few beers I tasted but never managed to finish posting. So here is a a quick three teaser of some of the summer beers I tried to write about for you...

Beer # 240 Panache

Stack Brewing Company

Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

Independent Microbrewery

Twitter: @Stackbrewing

Cedar aged American Pale Ale 
4.5% ABV Aluminum Can 473 ml (16 oz).
$3.00 (Canadian) At The Brewery

Back again with another craft beer from Stack Brewing in Sudbury Ontario. Sadly when I picked these up I didn't get much information on them


Pours a slightly hazy dark gold with an off-tan head made up of tiny to small bubbles. Aroma is woody, mossy, grassy, and slightly fruity. Some pineapple is evident. First sip is very light, drinks like a session APA. some fruit, mostly tropical, pineapple and bitter orange. Cedar is an underscoring note light and refreshing on the back of the palate. Aeration warms up the cedar giving it a bit more of a sawdust smell, some resinous hops and a long finish of bitter orange peel.


Impression: A Solid 5/6 

Lovely little beer. Cedar works very well with beer, especially the APAs.









Beer # 241 1606 Winewood Series Barrel Aged Stout

Sawdust City Brewing Company
Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada

Independent Microbrewery

Barrel Aged Raspberry Stout
5.7 % ABV Brown Glass Bottle 750 ml
$12.95 (Canadian) At the brewery

Twitter @SawdustCityBeer

pours a very dark brown with slight hints of red and chestnut. The head is dark tan and made of very fine bubbles. The Aroma is leather and wood, some cedar, red fruit, and slightly molasses sweet. First sip is smoky sweet with lots of oak, sweet berries, slightly tart, some cranberry. Some tobacco, raisins, and coacoa powder. Aerations gives us a slight whisky nose, with some grapey astringency. Mouthfeel is cream












Impression:   6/6 

Hands down this was the beer of the summer. After ageing for 10 months in wine barrels with the periodic addition of fresh raspberries, this beer was a flavour bomb, but very easy drinking. I could sit all night and slowly sip a pint of this.



Beer # 242 Revenge of the Ginger IPA

Double Trouble Brewing
Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Independent Microbrewery

Flavoured IPA (Australian Pale Ale)
6.2 % ABV Aluminum Can 473 ml
$3.00 (Canadian) At the LCBO

Twitter: @HopsandRobbers


Pours a red tinted clear amber with an off white head made up of small bubbles. Aroma is fresh ginger, or Jamaican Ginger beer, sharp and citrusy. Rich malt in the background. First sip starts out like a ginger beer, some zing which calms down into a malty robust IPA. Some elements of a red ale especially in the malt profile. Some caramelisation, some residual sugars. The gingerol gives a pleasant tingly mouth numbing feel, and the herbaceous hops lend a nice bitter green taste to counteract the heat of the ginger and the sweet of the malt. Aeration gives off a warmth that fills the body, there is some grassiness, and some hay. The finish is earthy, mineral, and slightly sticky on the lips.

Impression: 5/6

Not a beer I would drink often but a good flavour profile nonetheless. I would actually like to cook this this. It screams beer butt chicken to me...



























There you go... I am caught up again it is time to move forward. A new year dawns here at Headquarters let's see what new beers await.

Cheers
CJT

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Stack Brewing Les Portes L'Enfer Side by Side

Les Portes de L'Enfer: Side by Side

Stack Brewing Company

Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

Independent Microbrewery

Twitter: @Stackbrewing

Two beers for one tonight. I just stopped up in the Nickle City (AKA Sudbury) the Paris of Northern Ontario. I kid you not! More good stuff goes down in Sudbury than anywhere else around here. There is a thriving art community, a theatre community, a music community, There is a Cheese Shop! And thankfully, there is an amazing craft brewery. We go up once or twice a year to go to Science North, and Dynamic Earth... because we are nerds. And my visits would not be complete with out Cheese from the aforementioned Fromagerie Elgin, Drinks at Hardrock 42 the best craft beer bar north of Toronto (possibly). And last, but not least a visit to Stack Brewing. I left with 6 beers this time... stay tuned to this space.

Les Portes de L'Enfer (The Doors to Hell) is Stack's award winning biere de garde (Gold at the Ontario Brewing Awards in the Biere de Garde category and Bronze in the Canadian Brewing Awards) I tried to get some on my last trip to Sudbury but it was not long after the Ontario Brewing awards so the beer had all been snapped up. As it was a seasonal I had to wait for it to be brewed again and when I arrived in Sudbury this time, I was rewarded with a bonus a Portes de l'Enfer that had been barrel aged in Malivoire Winery's oak barrels. So tonight I present them to you side by side.

Onto the tasting.


# 238 Les Portes de L'Enfer

Biere de Garde 8.0% ABV Brown Glass Bottle 500 ml (16 oz).
$6.00 (Canadian) At The Brewery

Pours a hazy chestnut brown with a tan head made up of small bubbles. Aroma is clove fresh hay some bread malt sugars and a touch of earthiness. First sip is toasted wood,caramelised sugars, some coffee and toffee. wheat notes sneak out underneath the bolder flavours along with a hint of bitter green hops. Rich and complex, very chewy, a good strong mouthfeel. Aeration brings out the darker breadiness, deep rye or pumpernickel tones with lots of toasted sugars and some pleasant bitterness from the hops finishing in a slight black tea taste.

# 239 Les Portes de L'Enfer Barrel Aged

Oak Aged Biere de Garde 8.0% ABV Brown Glass Bottle 500 ml (16 oz).
$6.00 (Canadian) At The Brewery

Pours a lighter chestnut that it's un-aged counterpart with a hint of red running through it. Head is a similar tan colour but the bubbles are much finer. Aroma is a stellar red wine and oak wood nose a slight berry, and red fruit aroma with hints of grape must and yeast. First sip is... WOW. Very smooth, creamy toasted oak and vanilla mixed with the breadiness of the beer. Taste similar to a Cabernet Sauvignion, some slight tannins, some tartaric acid and the barest hint of hops underneath. The fruit and the bread give it a sort of "jam sandwich" flavour which is not unpleasant at all The barrel aging has softened the beer and smoothed out the flavour profile, drawing out the finish into a nice long hum of wheat and fruit. Slightly tart on the attack, it has just enough sugar in it to balance it out, and not be cloying. Aeration gives us a rounded creamy oaky explosion, slightly nuty, bready, and yeasty.

Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 


Regular                                     Barrel Aged

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


Final Thoughts:


Two Great beers great for two different reasons. Honestly it is hard to tell that they started out as the same beer. While the regular one is a wonderful example of a biere de garde, the oak aged is all about what the barrel brings to the product, it's magical transformation. Though equal, I would say that the barrel aged beer slightly edges out the regular on my palate. lovely smooth and fruity. I could drink that beer for days.


Cheers
CJT


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Hwy 69 Sawdust City Stack Brewing Collaboration

Beer # 224 Hwy 69
Collaboration

Sawdust City Brewing Company
Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada

Stack Brewing Company
Sudbury, Ontario

Independent Microbreweries
Flavoured Belgian Pale or Golden Ale
6.9 % ABV 20 oz Draft (591 ml.)
$6.50 (Canadian) At the brewery

Twitter @SawdustCityBeer @StackBrewing

I was very excited to hear about this collaboration as Stack Brewing is one of my picks to be a major up and coming brewery. They had already won a gold medal at the Ontario Brewing Awards for their Belgian Farmhouse ale: Portes de l'Enfers. And a Bronze for the same beer at The Canadian Brewing Awards. They also gleaned headlines for their "All-too-Canadian" dispute with Moosehead over the naming rights to two of their beers. (Friendly Moose and Angry Moose) Essentially I imagine the phone call went like this:

Moosehead: Hello eh? This is Moosehead... you gots them beers named Angry and Friendly Moose. Well we have naming rights for any beer in Canada that has the handle "Moose"

Stack: Oh Geez boy, Didn't know... Sorry.

Moosehead: Sorry.

Stack: I guess we will rename them then... Sorry

Moosehead: Thanks, and sorry.

Okay... maybe a tad stereotypical, but Stack made it clear that the conversation was very friendly and they did agree to change the names. (sorry)

So onto our collaboration...

Pours a slightly hazy dark gold with a thin off-white head made of small bubbles. Bright citrus and mandarin on the nose. First sip gives us more citrus plenty of wheat and at the end a little hit of black pepper. Aeration gives us some tongue prickling heat from the pepper some orange pith a little funky herbal hops mild traces of marijuana. 

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:

Very orange and citrus flavoured which worked well with the golden ale style. The pepper was a nice counterpoint and did not overwhelm the beer at any point. While quite good, I never felt the beer "wowed" me at any point. But nevertheless, it is a nice refreshing beer. Hopefully Stack and Sawdust will collaborate on more beers because I'm pretty sure they could brew up a stellar pint together.



Cheers


CJT



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