Beer # 281 Lawrence of Arabica Coffee Orange Porter Amager Bryghus

#281 Lawrence of Arabica Coffee Orange Porter
Collaboration with 18th Street Brewery


Amager Bryghus

Kastrup, Denmark
Independent Microbrewery
Flavoured Porter
7.0 % ABV 32 IBU
500 ml Brown Glass Bottle
$6.30 (Canadian) At the LCBO

Twitter: @18thStreetBrew


It's been a while since I had a beer from Amager in Denmark. They tend to be quite good. However I didn't originally pick this up because it was from Amager, I didn't even know it was a collaboration until I logged in on Untappd. I was initially struck by the artwork on the bottle, and I'm a sucker for good ( read: bad) puns. So basically I bought it because it was punny. Tonight's offering, aside from being the aforementioned collab between Amager Bryghus of Denmark and 18th Street Brewery of Hammond Indiana, Is a coffee and orange peel infused strong porter. 

Onto tonight's tasting...

Pours an inky black/brown with a thin dark chestnut coloured head. Aroma is smoky, slightly tarry, with chocolate, coffee, molasses, and charcoal. First sip is a deeply roasted malt with strains of dark coffee and espresso. A slight charred bitterness, with light hints of citrus and a minute sparkle on the back of the tongue. As the beer warms a nice woodsy whiskey flavour. The orange is more evident at warmer temperatures. Aeration bring out smoky wood, and charcoal campfire coffee, and hints of vanilla.


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:

This is a wonderful beer. very flavourful, aromatic and complex. This sultry smoky deliciousness is exactly what a porter should be. The coffee and the orange are light enough to compliment the dark roasted malts, and not too heavy as to hijack the taste profile. Well balanced and worth a try.


CJT


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Beer# 280 Hopsta La Vista IPA Longslice Brewery

#280 Hopsta La Vista

Longslice Brewery
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Contract Brewery
India Pale Ale 
6.5 % ABV IBU: 69
473 ml Aluminium Can
$2.90 at the LCBO

Twitter: @LongsliceBrews

Longslice brewery is a new one on me. I was initially attracted by the punny, bright packaging. Started by two brothers from Bracebridge, Jimmy and John Peat who started homebrewing in high school with their Dad... ( way cool Dad!) In 2013 Jimmy Peat took second place in the Toronto Beer Week Homebrew competition with a hybrid English Pale Ale/ American IPA. That beer would go on to become tonight's offering Hopsta La Vista. The Peat Brothers were joined by longtime friend Sebastian Lesch and on March 20 2014 Longslice Brewery was born. In 2015 Hopsta La Vista added another medal to the trophy cabinet taking home a Gold at the Ontario Brewing Awards.

They also have the most awesome retro 1990's style website that made me laugh when I saw it. Please check it out here.

Onto the tasting...

Pours a darker orange amber in colour with an off tan head made up of small bubbles.The nose is malty with a herbal hop and tea nose. First sip is strong and malty with notes of bitter greens black tea. A bit of a creamy mouthfeel. Spikes of pine and cedar with some leather in the background. The beer is viscous, almost oily and clings to the glass when swirled taking on almost a bubbly honey look cascading down the inside of the glass. Aeration gives us some malt and molasses with hints of dried fruit and very mild spice. Finish is bitter herbs and a slight marijuana feeling. 

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: 5/6 PASS

Final Thoughts:

A very good IPA Deep flavours, well constructed. Great mouthfeel, and well balanced. Definitely pick this one up, if you like full bodied IPAs this is the beer for you.

Cheers

CJT

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Muskoka Brewery's 20th Anniversary Event Saturday June 25th 2016

Ok. My summer has been super busy. I'm just sitting down now to clear up my notes for the blog and I have a few posts that I have started and not finished due to lack of time. Usually, I would just move on and put in fresh content but there are two posts I started that I do not want to disappear into the cyber ether. One was for Sawdust City's First annual "Funk Fest" which was an amazing day of beer and music, which I will get to a little later and the other was this post. Back in June I had the opportunity to attend The Muskoka Brewery's 20th Anniversary. They threw a party and invited a few hundred of their closest friends. It was a fantastic chance to try some interesting one-offs and some seasonal beers that were not going to make it into cans or venture much further than the tasting rooms of the breweries that made them. In attendance to help the Muskoka Brewery celebrate were friends from Sawdust City Brewing Company in Gravenhurst, Whitewater Brewing Company in Forrester's Falls, and Lake of Bays Brewing Company in Baysville. Here are my notes... as always... better late than never.


Time to Party Like it's 1996

The Beer-Story

Serious Bling

Started in June 1996 The Muskoka Cottage Brewery, as it was known then, on the corner or Taylor Road and River Road in downtown Bracebridge. Over the years it has grown and expanded from its tiny original location with its rabbit warren of tanks and equipment to its shiny new location on Muskoka Beach Road at the edge of town. Their beer portfolio has grown from just a few bottles to a large number of interesting and flavourful brews that have filled their Trophy room to the brim. 

It was also a special day for another reason. Muskoka Brewery was celebrating the fact that they had become the first Brewery in Canadian history to guarantee a Certified Living Wage to all of its employees. That means that any employee would earn enough money to comfortably pay all of their bills and achieve "a basic level of economic security above the poverty line." It is a fantastic commitment from the company and a great investment in the community that the brewery serves.

Onto our Beers of the Day...


Whitewater Brewing Company

Forrester's Falls, Ontario
@WhitewaterBrew

Chinook Me All Night Long

Chinook me all night long 

Session IPA
3.8 % ABV
50 IBU

Honey amber colour light caramel on the nose with hints of citrus. First sip is chinook hops dominated piney and citrus. Aeration  brings out some caramel and bitter greens. Very refreshing

Honey Badger Brown

Honey Badger Brown

Brown Ale

5 %  ABV
20 IBU

Dark amber  with a smoky and molasses nose. Lots of caramel. First sip is sweet and malty yet still light. Honey on the background with just a hint of bitter greens.  Aeration gives us espresso  and lots of sweet honey.

Lake of Bays Brewing Company

Baysville, Ontario
@LB_Brewing

The Daily Rind

The Daily Rind

Flavoured Session IPA with lemon zest
5.2 % ABV
50 IBU

Slightly cloudy Honey amber colour nose is light caramel with hints of lemon peel.  Very crisp and clean plenty of lemon zest... tart and zingy. some bitter greens on the finish. Aeration gives us more caramel and some sweet lemon curd.

Sawdust City Brewing Company

Summer Stache

Gravenhurst Ontario
@SawdustCityBeer

Summer 'Stache

Flavoured Berliner Weisse with Cranberries
3.5 % ABV

Bright red cranberry colour. Nose is very light red fruit first sip is very tart cranberry very clean bright and refreshing with a little wheat finish. Aeration brings out a citrus almost cranberry lemonade.

Muskoka Brewing Company

Ruff Draught

Bracebridge Ontario
@MuskokaBrewery

Ruff Draught

Tropical Blonde ale
5.0 % ABV
25 IBU

Light gold in colour nose is tropical fruit. First sip is pineapple with hints of wheat and banana and a hint of spice. Aeration pumps up the tropical fruit especially the banana

Cool as a Cuke

Flavoured Session American Pale Ale with Cucumber and lemon grass
4.7 % ABV

Cool as a Cuke

25 IBU

Colour is clear gold with hints of green. Nose is light grains and some caramel. First sip is bright refreshing  cucumber salad with hints of citrus. Aeration  gives us a hint of bitter greens more citrus and lots of sweet cool cuke.

Moonlight Kettle Series Muskoka Equinox

Flavoured American Pale wheat ale

Black cherry vanilla

4.6 %  ABV
20 IBU

Moonlight Kettle Series: Equinox

Slighty cloudy off gold nose is light and wheat with some vanilla. First sip gives us some background sweetness with cherries vanilla and banana... hmm I could make some ice cream with this. Tastes like a cherry soda. Aeration pumps up the vanilla and cherry with hints of lemon.

Longest Day

Oak Smoked ale

Piwo Grodziskie Oak Smoked Ale

3 % ABV
25 IBU

Moonlight Kettle Series: Longest Day

Rauch bier style. Smoked with oak. Very clear gold  with a strong campfire nose. Heavy oak smoke on the first sip tangy and zingy some citrus and very light caramel. Aeration is sweet smoke and Bbq.

Cross Border Citrus Porter

Collaboration with Ellicottville Brewery New York USA
@EBCwny

Cross Border Citrus Porter

4.5% ABV
33 IBU

Extremely dark chestnut nose is hoppy grapefruit and tropical fruit and strong citrus 
First sip makes me think of breakfast... strong coffee and grapefruit. Two different hints of bitterness bitter coffee and bitter grapefruit zest. Hints of chocolate and cocoa powder. 





Cheers

CJT

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Beer # 279 Heroes Cold filtered Lager

#279 Heroes Cold Filtered lager

Southpaw Beverage Company

Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Contract Brewery
Lager 
5.0 % ABV Aluminium Can 473 ml.
$2.75 (Canadian) At The LCBO

Twitter: @southpawbevco

This beer appeared in the LCBO for the summer and it was very bright and stood out on the shelf. It was fairly easy to see this beer was more of a marketing stunt than a craft beer. It's packaging is overtly patriotic bordering on jingoistic. Southpaw is a contract brewery but my research has not turned up at which brewery they brew at. I figured I would give it a quick taste anyway...

Onwards... heroically.

Pours clear gold  with a short off-white head made up of small bubbles. Nose is citrus and light grain with hints of some chemicals. When I first cracked the can there was a fairly strong off, sulphurous smell. First sip is tart grainy and some hints of citrus. Beer is light and lacks substance. Aeration brings out some acidic breadiness.

Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 


Cost: 5/6 PASS
Colour: 5/6 PASS
Beer Style: 1/6  FAIL
Re-Order:  0/6  FAIL
Experience: 1/6 FAIL

Final Thoughts:

My initial thoughts were correct. More insight was placed into the packaging and marketing than actually brewing a good product. The beer is dominated by off-flavours and chemical notes. Trust me you could be far more patriotic by supporting a local brewery that hires your neighbours than giving your hard earned cash to this company. Avoid.

Cheers

CJT

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Beer # 278 Black Rock Dark Ale Boshkung Brewing Company

#278 Black Rock Dark ale

Boshkung Brewing Company

Carnarvon, Ontario, Canada
Brewery
Dark Ale 
5.5 % ABV IBU: 23
32 oz Brown Glass Half Growler
$7.00 (Canadian) At the Brewery Saloon

Twitter: @Boshkungbrewing


Back again to Boshkung and the second of the two half growlers I bought when I visited the bottle shop by the lake. I will have two more offerings from Boshkung coming up this week as I have to do a little housekeeping. The Fridge of Fame is bursting at the seams with craft beer (Not usually a bad problem...) and I really need to work my way through it.

Tonight's offering is a dark ale and a silver medalist in its category at The Ontario Brewing Awards 2016.

Let's see how it earned it's silver...

Pours a deep chestnut colour with a dark tan head made up of tiny bubbles. Aroma is deeply caramelized sugar, molasses, licorice, and barley biscuits. First sip is smoky rich caramel, coffee, and notes of cola and licorice. Aeration gives you more smoke and espresso, molasses, and vanilla.




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: 5/6 PASS

Final Thoughts:

Nicely complex, lots of layering of flavours. A good beer to sit and ponder. Definitely worthy of award and praise. I would sit and sip this, long into a fall night in front of a campfire. You should too.

Cheers

CJT

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Beer # 277 Kungaroo IPA Boshkung Brewing Company

#277 Kungaroo IPA

Boshkung Brewing Company

Carnarvon, Ontario, Canada
Brewery
IPA 5.8 % ABV IBU: 40
32 oz Brown Glass Half Growler
$7.00 (Canadian) At the Brewery Saloon

Twitter: @Boshkungbrewing

Now, I've been wanting to try Boshkung Brewing beers for quite some time, however I've never had the opportunity to get over to Carnarvon to visit them. They are a small batch brewery and they are located next to Mirror Lake, and under a restaurant. They share a space with Rhubarb Restaurant, a well respected eatery in Haliburton. Boshkung (yes, pronounced exactly how it is spelled) is actually named after a nearby Lake and sports an overall outdoorsy, canoeing theme. Some of their beers names are plays on the name of the brewery, especially tonight's beer Kungaroo IPA (My other favourite is King Kung...)

Let's hop on over to tonight's tasting:

Pours a slightly cloudy off orange colour with hints of tan and red. The head is short and off white made up of a loose collection of small bubbles.The aroma is bright citrus and bitter herbs with some light caramel malt on the background. First sip is a bright and spicy citrus with a strong malt background. Hints of caramel and licorice, lots of green herbs. Plenty of warm citrusy orange notes. Aeration gives us lots of bitter green hopes with a spicy tart finish.



Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 


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

Final Thoughts:

A good serviceable IPA. I am partial to big juicy IPAs and this one tickles my fancy. A very simple brew not a lot of complexity, what you see is what you get. A good beer to introduce beer newbies to hoppier brews.

Cheers

CJT

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Redline Brewhouse Visit

Redline Brewhouse

Independent Brewpub/Microbrewery

Barrie, Ontario

Twitter: @rlbrewhouse

So I have had a few Redline beers before but I had always wanted to get down to their brewpub. As it is just in Barrie and barely an hour away one would think this is an easy task. However, in reality it has taken me almost a year since I heard of them to actually walk through their doors. Tucked in the centre of a strip mall on Bayview Street in the South of Barrie. A stones throw from the Barrie Colt's hockey arena and the large Park Place "Mega Store" shopping area (That used to be Molson Park Ontario's former best outdoor music venue where I saw Kim Mitchell Alannah Myles, Vince Neil and Van Halen, among others). Large and boxy but open and still inviting The aviator themed brewhouse boasts a small seating area separated from the brewing floor by a short wall and some glass for brew gawking. The small swag shop offers the usual glassware and t-shits, hats, plus cans, bottles, and a growler fill.

The bar supports 12 taps divided up into core beers, seasonals, and guest taps. When I was there they were offering beers from Left Field Brewery, Muddy York Brewing Company, and Folly Brewing, all out of Toronto. The names of all the beers were dutifully marked on a large chalkboard just to the right of the large TV playing soccer. To the left of the bar is a semi open kitchen, still sparkling like new, and very quiet and orderly. The only real sound was a very polite "service please" every time one of the kitchen's creations moved into the window, Speaking of creations, I don't generally talk about food, but Redline had a lovely charcuterie  platter on offer that day (pictured below). For $18 CAD this quite large (almost too much for two people) consisted of blue cheese marinated in Hops across the Pond beer, pesto sun-dried tomatoes, maple horseradish cheese, Genoa Salami, prosciutto, olives, pickles artichokes, and the star of the platter, bacon jalapeno jam. The platter was delicious, and paired well with the beers.

The Beer

The beers that I have had, such as Clutch, Cruise Control, 396 (all IPAs) were guest taps up here at Sawdust City, and were quite good I must say. So I was quite excited to try some of the beers that haven't made it out of their taproom. Some of the beers are pictured below, I seemed to miss taking a picture of one of the racks (sorry)

L to R: 5:01, Double Clutch IIPA, Diving Horse, Grandstand 

L to R: Clutch, Air Ride IPA, Grandstand (again) Second Smile

Ok. Enough preliminaries, onto the tasters:

Main Beers

Kollision  

Kolsch 

ABV 5.3% IBU 37

Light gold in colour with a tropical fruit and hoppy nose. Sweet grapefruit and citrus with some fresh green hops fading out to a malty finish.

Holeshot  

English style mild brown ale 

ABV 3.7% IBU 19

Chestnut in colour with a light tan head. Smoky hazy nose with hints of charcoal
Lighter and fruition in taste some raisin and chocolate Aeration gives us a burst of malt and some bruleed sugar.

Hops Across the Pond 

Belgian style pale ale 

ABV 4.9%  IBU 21

Clear gold in colour with a thin skiff of a head and some glass lacing. Light tropical fruit nose some sweetness. First sip is lightly wheat and some banana like a light tropical drink. Guava and pineapple in the background

Apropriate Haze 

German Wheat 

ABV 4.8 IBU 21

Hazy translucent gold in colour with a light head made up of tiny off white bubbles. Bananas sugar and clove on the nose and in the first sip hints of cinnamon and fresh baked bread

5:01 

Golden ale 

ABV 4.2 IBU 17

Rich gold in colour toasted hops and singed paper on the nose. Heavy on the German hops (Hallertauer? Maybe? ) taste of rainwater and slightly woody.

Double Clutch IIPA

Imperial India Pale Ale

ABV 8.1 IBU 83

Hazy light gold with a creamy white head. Pineapple and grapefruit on the nose. First sip is hot with alcohol and heavy mouthfeel. .. Slightly  creamy in consistency.  Piney and aromatic with some bitter herbs.

Air ride IPA 

India Pale Ale

ABV 6.1 IBU  67

Cloudy white gold with a vibrant white head made up of small bubbles. Light  nose with hints of tropical fruit. First sip is quite hoppy with strong grapefruit notes fuller mouthfeel with a slight creamy texture. Very fine bubble structure  and gentle after taste.

Guest Taps

Grandstand 

Left Field Brewery, Toronto, Ontario

@LFBrewery
Hopped Wheat

ABV 5.5%

Golden in colour with a light off white head.
Bright green hops on the nose light bodied and fruity hints of pine and touches of incense.

Second Smile 

Folly Brewing/Brewpub, Toronto, Ontario
@FollyBrewing

Sour Summer Saison  

ABV 4.2 

Cloudy and very light gold in colour thin off white head. Juicy peppery and sour nose. Sour candy on the first sip light and fruity. Hints of wheat very very light. Quite drinkable.

Diving Horse APA  
Muddy York Brewing Company, Toronto, Ontario
@MYBrewingCo
American Pale Ale
ABV 5.6

Darker gold in colour with a thin skiff of an off white head. Smoky pine on the nose and rich caramel malt.

Final Thoughts:

Overall a very enjoyable experience, the beers were light fruity and quite refreshing. I would look forward to them doing great things in the future.


Cheers

CJT

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