Wychwood Hobgoblin

Today's beer: Hobgoblin by Wychwood

Today is another double beer day. I had intended to have another WheatKing, but I went to buy a Innis & Guinn Canada Day special edition to drink tomorrow, but the liquor store I went to (not my usual one) didn't have any. Despite not having the beer I went there to get, I came back home with 6 more beers, including a Special Reserve 16 of Ola Dubh. I will be reviewing that with in the next few days. I'm looking forward to see how it compares to the Special Reserve 12. Hobgoblin has always been a favourite of mine. It was among the first "specialty" beers I had. I have looked at picking it up again several times at my local store, but always turned away for some reason.

Hobgoblin pours into the glass with virtually no head. It's a ruby brown in colour. My first sniff revealed the smell of orange peel and hops. Hobgoblin has a slightly fruity flavour with well balanced hops and malt. There is also a slight hint of both chocolate and something else, perhaps toffee. It has a relatively low carbonation, but that's fine, a beer doesn't need a lot of carbonation to be good.

Hobgoblin is an English beer and they have an advertising campaign which reads: "What's the matter lagerboy, afraid you might taste something?" Which I believes embodies this beer perfectly.

Rating:




May your glass always be full of good beer!

Phillips WheatKing

Today's beer: WheatKing by Phillips

Yes I know I recently reviewed another Phillips beer. While at my liquor store, I was waffling between getting a pack of Blue Buck or getting another case of the Phillips Show Case. The Show Case won out. Instead of having 3 Dr. Funks in the case as last time, this case had 3 WheatKings. I was just fine with that, even though I'd been looking forward to some more Dr. Funk, I'd also seen WheatKing on the Phillips website and did want to try it.

WheatKing as you may guess is a wheat beer.  When poured into the glass, it produces a large head. As with almost all wheat beers, it is a cloudy yellow in colour in the glass. I couldn't smell much beyond a standard beer smell, though my dad said he could smell pineapple. As for taste There is a subtle taste of fruit with a decent balance between hops and malt. After my dad made the comment that he could smell and taste pineapple, I made the effort to try to taste it. I could taste something else, I'm not too sure if it was pineapple or not. WheatKing is a very enjoyable beer and I could easily see my self drinking several over the course of a hot afternoon and evening.

Rating:

May your glass always be full of good beer!

Wild Rose Foothillz Pilz

Today's beer: Foothillz Pilz by Wild Rose

Yes there are two reviews today! Lucky you! I picked this up today, after contemplating buying it several times only to decide on something else. This is a seasonal brew from Wild Rose, and it's rather fitting as a pilsner seems to suit summer.

Foothillz Pilz is a Czech style pilsner. I'm not too familiar with the pilsner style. I've had a few pilsners in the past (Heineken and Czech Mate by Paddock Wood) but I don't remember too much about them and I'm not too sure what distinguishes a great pilsner from a mediocre one.

Poured into the glass, Foothillz is quite pale and developed a very large head that persisted for a while. It made getting to the actual beer a bit challenging, but eventually I got to it.
The first smell I got was hops and it was just a faint smell at that. There is a decent hit of hops in this beer. To be honest I really couldn't taste too much else. The hops isn't overwhelming, but the lack of other flavours was a bit of a surprise. Despite the lack of complexity it was a crisp refreshing beer.

Rating:

May your glass always be full of good beer!

Harviestoun Ola Dubh

Today's beer: Ola Dubh by Harviestoun

Harviestoun is an Irish brewery so it's fitting that the beer name is in Irish. Ola Dubh translates as Black Oil, rather convenient since this is a stout. My dad has had this beer for over 2 years, maturing in his basement. Now that he and my mom are moving, things that were once forgotten are now being rediscovered. This beer is one of those things. Another one of the things discovered was a Thomas Hardy's Ale 2006. I will not be reviewing it anytime in the near future, as it is a barley wine and it's said that it should mature for a decade (if you have the patients). On with the Ola Dubh!

This is the Special Reserve 12 Ola Dubh. There are 3 varieties: Special Reserve 12, Special Reserve 16 and Special Reserve 30. If I can get a hold of any of these others I will defiantly try them. Similarly to the Innis & Gunn stout, Ola Dubh is aged in Irish Whisky casks. As I said, this "Black Oil" truly lives up to its name. Poured into the glass it was thick and black as crude oil. The only beer I've seen that comes close to this is Guinness.  There is a moderate deep tan head that forms, but it dissipates fairly quickly. The first smell I got was that of fruit, though there was also a hint of coffee. There is a really big hit of chocolate with this stout, as well as the taste of coffee and burnt caramel. Ola Dubh is very smooth and rich, but not filling as some stouts can be. I'm having a bit of a difficult time rating this, as about half an hour after I drank it, I got the beginnings of a migraine and I don't know if it's related to the beer or not. I can only rate this on my impressions and on this one that has matured for 2 extra years.

Rating:

May your glass always be full of good beer!

Dunkertons Dry Organic Cider

Today's beer: Dry Organic Cider by Dunkertons

So this is a continuation of some cider reviews that a friend asked me to do. He didn't ask me to review these particular ciders, but asked if I was going to review any ciders in general. I have one more cider I'm planing on reviewing after this one. As I have said before, I don't know too much about ciders.

To start with this is a dry cider, so it's got a bit higher alcohol content at 7%. It says it's organic and made with organic apples. All of the apples it's made with I've never heard of before, but I really don't know that many apples. Apples like Sheeps Nose, Foxwhelp, Yarlington Mill and Brown Snout. The smell I got from my first sniff was apples and spices. There's also a slight smell of orange and clove. I'm not too sure just what spices. The taste was the same apple and spices. In fact it tastes almost like hot apple cider. My dad, who I was tasting it with didn't like it. He said that there was the taste of something like cough medicine. I couldn't taste it when he said it (although I could taste something strange) but I did eventually taste it. I wouldn't buy this cider again.

Rating:




May your glass always be full of good beer!

Rogue Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple

Today's beer: Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale by Rogue

When I first picked up this beer I was excited. I had been talking with the beer guy at CSN and joked about trying a bacon beer. He gave me a smug grin and told me he had just gotten this in. I ended up buying it as well as one of the first beers I reviewed: Blood Alley, mostly because it had a pig on the label.

Voodoo pours into the glass red amber in colour with a monster head that lasts quite a while. There is a huge smell of maple and a slight smell of hops. My first sip brought forward a massive hit of maple, almost like a maple doughnut with a decent taste of hops as well.

And unfortunately, that's where the good ends. Despite my fervent wish for a bacon flavoured beer, and this beers promise to deliver, it doesn't. There is no taste of bacon at all, just an overwhelming taste of maple. There is also a large smokey component that flows together with the maple. And the smoke flavour lasts. And lasts, and lasts, even after you've finished drinking. I finished drinking it over 25 minutes ago and I can still taste the smoke.

The monster head would make you think that there is a great deal of carbonation in Voodoo, and perhaps there is, but almost none of it gets into your glass. There is a distinct lack of carbonation with this beer. Perhaps it is the lack of carbonation in the beer, but it is very sweet, almost sickly sweet. The smokey after taste make it hard to drink, and while the maple flavour is at first intriguing, the sweetness makes it almost impossible to drink after w while. I pride myself on finishing beers, no matter how bad they are. Someone took the time to craft the beer and produce it, so the least I can do is finish it. I could not finish the Voodoo. If it were in a smaller bottle (it's a 750ml bottle) I might have been able to drink it all, but as it is, I had to pour a fair bit of it out. While a good concept, the execution leaves more than a little to be desired. If they dialed back the sweetness and smoke, reduced the size and increased the bacon flavour, it could be a decent beer. As it stands it is most definitely not a good beer.

Rating:




May your glass always be full of good beer!

Phillips Slipstream

Today's beer: Slipstream by Phillips

This is the final beer from the Phillips Show Case sampler pack. Both the final beer from the pack to be reviewed and the last beer. I guess I need to buy some more. I have to admit I'm a fan of the cream ales. In fact, Warthog by Big Rock was one of the first "microbrewery" beers I ever drank.

As I said, Slipstream is a cream ale. In the glass, Slipstream is a rich brown in colour, with a small, light tan head. The first smell, in fact one of the only smells from this beer is hops. However the smell is rather faint. This could be because I'm drinking my beer too cold. I'm looking at getting a thermometer so I can drink my beer a the right temperature. There is a big hit of chocolate right off the bat along with subtle nutty and earthy flavours. This is one of the rare beers that don't weigh heavily on either the hops or the malt, the both seem nicely balanced. The aftertaste is that of hazelnuts and quite nice. Along with the other flavours is one I can't identify. It's not a bad flavour, but an unusual one. There is a nice amount of carbonation, not too heavy, but still definitely there.

Rating:

May your glass always be full of good beer!

Michelob Ultra

Today's beer: Michelob Ultra by Michelob

The beer guy at CSN, my local beer store, has given me a few beers that could be described as bad. The first one he gave me was Bud Light Lime Mojito. I have yet to work up the guts to try it. This is the second one given. For some reason, I just can't bring myself to try the Lime Mojito.

Michelob Ultra is extremely pale. It is almost the colour of champagne. There is the slight smell of apple, with a very light taste of fruits/apples. Micholob Ultra is light on both hops and malt. There is very little taste of any kind while drinking, however, there is an unusual aftertaste that I can't quite place.

This beer is very unsubstantial. I usually only have one beer in a day, but I'm quite likely going to be having one later this evening. If you want a beer that is low in calories and carbs, this may be the beer for you. However, if you are looking for taste, this is definitely not the beer for you. It's not as bad as the Rolling Rock as it actually has some flavour.

Rating:

May your glass always be full of good beer!

Phillips Blue Buck

Today's beer: Blue Buck by Phillips

This is one of my favourite beers. If I want a beer to drink and enjoy just about any time, I'll reach for a Blue Buck. I was introduced to this beer by my brother in law and for that I am eternally grateful.

Blue Buck pours into the glass with a beautiful bronze colour. There is a slight smell of hops and mot much else. The flavor however, is very light on hops. There is a bit, but not much. There is a great deal of malt. There is the flavour of roasted malt. Also there is a very faint hint of citrus. There is a fair amount of carbonation, with the bubbles releasing in your mouth.

This is a very drinkable beer, no matter what kind of mood you're in (unless you're craving a specific type of beer such as a stout).

Rating:

May your glass always be full of good beer!

William's Sir Perry

Today's beer: Sir Perry by William's

I must admit to a certain amount of confusion with the beer and the brewery. I'm not sure if the name of the beer (actually it's a cider) is "William's Sir Perry" or if it's as stated above "Sir Perry" with William or William's as the brewer.

Several weeks ago, a friend of mine asked me if I was going to do any cider reviews on my blog. I had thought about picking up a cider to review a week or so before but had dismissed it as not being a beer and my blog being about beer. However after I changed my mind and will be reviewing two ciders (at least). One tonight and one at a later date. I don't know much about ciders. I think I have drunk one brand several times, but it's not a traditional cider. Apple or pear cider I've only drunk once or twice in my life time.

Sir Perry is a pear cider. It poured into the glass with no head and quite heavy carbonation. In the glass it is a very pale straw colour. There is almost no smell to the cider. My first sip brought huge tastes of ripe pears. Absolutely delicious. After most of a glass there was a slight taste almost like white wine. At 6% it is slightly stronger than a standard beer. I could easily see drinking several of these over the course of a long hot afternoon and evening.

Rating:

May your glass always be full of good beer!

Wold Top Against The Grain

Today's beer: Against The Grain by Wold Top

I wanted to have a drink with my dad today so we went to the beer store since I didn't think he'd appreciate most of the beers I have in my fridge. I told him to pick a beer that he'd like to drink. He picked up Against The Grain. My dad no longer eats gluten. In fact the only gluten he allows himself is the occasional beer. Now I know there are gluten free beers out there, but it's been his experience that for the most part they are sub-par, and some are virtually undrinkable. Against The Grain is a gluten free beer that is a cut above the rest. On the label it says that it has less than 3 parts per million of gluten. It also says that its gluten content is certified at less than 20ppm. Instead of using the standard barley malt, corn is used.

 In the glass the beer is very very light in colour. Most other corn beers are generally fairly light, but I was quite surprised at just how light this one was. My first sniff yielded the smell of apples which was quite interesting. I've had beers that give a hint of apple or other fruit, but this was a very strong smell, almost as strong as apple juice. There is a faint taste of apples in the beer. There is a nice hit of hops. Not a lot of hops but just enough to give the beer a nice crisp flavour. This is a very drinkable beer and I would recommend it to anyone, even if they aren't allergic to gluten. This isn't just a good gluten free beer, this is a good beer period. I had a bit of difficulty in rating this beer, wavering between 3.5 and 4.


Rating:




May your glass always be full of good beer!

MicroBrasserie Charlevoix La Vache Folle

Today's beer: La Vache Folle by MicroBrasserie Charlevoix

This beer was originally suggested to me by the beer guy at CSN, my local liquor store. He knows my like of dark beers and stouts and suggested this brew from Quebec. The name translates as The Crazy Cow. Tonight seems like a good night to drink a stout: cool and rainy.

La Vache Folle is a Imperial Milk Stout. Milk Stouts are an interesting variation of the stout. In addition to the regular ingredients, lactose (the sugar in cow milk) is added. Since the yeast can't convert most of the lactose to alcohol, it ends up sweetening the stout. I did notice after drinking the beer that it does have an IBU rating. Of 10.

La Vache Folle produces a huge tan head when poured into a glass. As is expected with a stout it is an opaque black. The primary smell I got was that of alcohol. But there isn't a big taste of alcohol. There is a taste of chocolate with a hint of citrus/orange. I found that it coated the inside of my mouth, rather like a glass of milk. The carbonation is quite nice and foams up in your mouth. The faint taste of alcohol hides the fact that this beer is 9% alcohol, and even now, half an hour later I'm feeling the effects. If you are allergic to milk, do not drink this beer. If you're not allergic to milk and like dark beers, you'll probably enjoy this one.

Rating:

May your glass always be full of good beer!

Lagunitas Hop Stoopid

Today's beer: Hop Stoopid by Lagunitas

I've been eyeing this beer for a while, waiting for the right time to try it. This afternoon was the right time. It was a nice afternoon, warm but not too hot.

Hop Stoopid pours into the glass yellow/gold that I've come to expect from a hoppy beer. This beer has a IBU rating of 102 which is the highest rating I've tried so far. Despite the rating, many of the other beers have been far more bitter than this one. Hop Stoopid does have a bitter component but it's not overly so. When you smell this beer, all you can smell is hops. The taste is that of hops and a faint taste of orange. A touch of malt keeps the hops from being overwhelming. There is lots of carbonation in the glass, but there is very little in the mouth. The carbonation seems to come out just as you swallow giving a little burst of flavour. There is not a big taste of alcohol with Hop Stoopid, which is rather surprising, considering it has 8% alcohol. Overall this is a good beer and a good beer to enjoy on a hot day.

Rating:

May your glass always be full of good beer!

Cannery Brewing Vulcan Ale

Today's beer: Vulcan Ale by Cannery Brewing

Since today is the last day of Spock Days in Vulcan, Alberta, I thought this was an appropriate brew to try. Shortly after I bought this last week, someone came in and cleaned the store out, presumably to stock Spock Days.

I was pretty excited to try Vulcan Ale. In the glass it's a golden yellow. On my first sniff all I caught was sweetness. With a second sniff I smelled licorice and star anise and something else that is familiar but I can't quite identify. My first sip revealed a slight taste of star anise with mild hopyness and the same familiar flavour/smell. There is a lot of malt in this beer. This beer is very sweet. It has good carbonation that froths up in the mouth.

Due to the sweetness of this beerI couldn't drink more than one. In fact I had difficulty even completing one.

Rating:




May your glass always be full of good beer! 

Estrella Damm Inedit

Today's beer: Inedit by Estrella Damm

I've looked at trying this beer several times and have shied away because this beer says that it should be paired with food. Tonight I had it with some fish and it went really well.

The beer is the same colour as a lager but with a bit of cloudiness. It took me a while to figure out what the dominant (though faint) smell is: vanilla, although my dad says that it's orange peel. There is very little hops in this beer making it sweeter than most of the beers that I've tried, but when it's paired with food, it makes it quite good. There is also the taste of citrus and the slight taste of spice. Inedit has very low carbonation, but rather than being a detriment to the beer, is actually a very good thing. Because this beer is meant to be had with food, any heavy carbonation would have the potential to disrupt the delicate mingling of tastes between the beer and the food. I had fish with this beer and it was a fantastic pairing. I think just about any meat dish would go quite well with this beer.

Rating:

May your glass always be full of good beer!

Alley Kat Black Dragon

Today's beer: Black Dragon by Alley Kat

Black Dragon is a double IPA and as such is seriously hopy. It's also got a pretty decent alcohol content at 7.5% This is one of the beers I was considering last night, but I didn't want to drink this much last night. Tonight, however, it was just right.

As I said Black Dragon is a double IPA and says it has a 70+ IBU (International Bitterness Unit) rating. It's also made only with a single hop variant: Warrior Hops. I did a bit of checking and discovered that Black Dragon is part of the Dragon series by Alley Kat, which features Red, Green, Blue and Black. Each is a single variant hops double IPA. I'd like to try them all, but it looks like each was a limited release and so the earlier ones might no longer be available. I'll  have to check with the beer guy at CSN to see if they can be ordered in. If they can, I'll definitely be reviewing them.

The colour of this beer is quite similar to a wheat ale, a cloudy golden yellow. Unsurprisingly, the main smell I got was that of hops. Surprisingly there was a very faint smell of grass too. This beer is all hops with very little malt. Due to the massive amount of hops this beer is quite bitter, but the bitterness, unlike the Piper's Gold (my first review), doesn't overwhelm everything else. While dominant, I did also faintly detect the taste of pepper. The only bad thing I would say about this beer is the lack of other flavours. If they were able to somehow introduce at least another flavour into the beer, perhaps pine or citrus, it would make it much better. This beer would be perfect for enjoying outside on a hot day.

Rating:

May your glass always be full of good beer!

Phillips Dr. Funk

Today's beer: Dr. Funk by Phillips

So today I was feeling like a good, dark beer. A nice thick stout. The only trouble was the stouts that I have are 650ml, and I didn't feel like having that much beer. There were a few other non-stout beers in my fridge that caught my eye, but again, they were rather big. I've had the Dr. Funk before, but I didn't remember anything about it. All I could hope was that it would take care of that craving for stout.

This beer is dark. Very dark, not quite black, but a very dark brown.  My initial sniff revealed a nutty smell. There is also a very faint smell of chocolate. My first sip revealed the taste of chocolate and a touch of burnt caramel. As well there is a solid nutty taste. The taste is almost that of hazelnut but not quite. Dr. Funk has a generous helping of malt with just a touch of hops. There also seems to be a rather large taste of alcohol, but this seems to help balance all the other flavours out.

Even though it didn't satisfy my craving for a stout, it is quite a good beer in its own right.

Rating:

May your glass always be full of good beer!

Shmaltz Human Blockhead

Today's beer: Human Blockhead by Shmaltz

Human Blockhead is part of the Coney Island set of beers brewed by Shmaltz.  Human Blockhead is touted as an Imperial American Bock. I'll be honest, I'm not entirely sure what a bock is, but if they taste like this, I think I'll like them.

In the glass Human Blockhead is a red-copper colour with a very small head. I took a whiff and couldn't detect much smell. What I did smell, I'm still trying to identify. I wanted to say there was a smell of caramel, but that's not quite it. My first sip brought hints of spice. There was also a great deal of malt with a nice touch of hops. There is a large hit of alcohol with this beer. In fact there is, in my opinion, too much alcohol in the beer. While most strong beers top out at 8% or 9%, Human Blockhead comes in at 10%. And you can taste every one of those percent. 10% is too much for this beer, it would be better off with an 8% or perhaps even an 8.5%. After a few sips, the taste of alcohol becomes more prevalent and detracts from the overall quality of the beer. If it weren't for that massive taste of alcohol, this would be a highly rated beer at 4.5.

Rating:

May your glass always be full of good beer!

Latrobe Rolling Rock

Today's Beer: Rolling Rock Extra Pale by Latrobe

I try not to judge beers based on their bottle or can. So when I saw this I thought 'great, I like pale ales.' I took it outside to enjoy my beer in the warm sun.

The first thing I saw when I poured this beer is that it is pale yellow. This does not bode well. This doesn't look like a pale ale. I took a sniff and got a fairly good smell of citrus. Things were looking up. Then I took my first sip. Then took another larger sip, almost a swig, just to make sure I had actually gotten some in my mouth. This beer has almost no taste what so ever. None. Eventually I did detect a tiny amount of hops and malt, but it was like some one had dipped a tea bag in to the brew and taken it right out again, lest too many flavours be imparted. This beer is touted on the can as a premium beer. If this is their idea of a premium beer, I'd hate to try their regular beer. There is almost no carbonation present in this beer. This is a pale yellow liquid that is trying to pass itself off as beer. Very disappointing. The rating of a 1/2 glass is only because that is as low as my scale goes.

Rating:

 
May your glass always be full of good beer!

Phillips Hop Circle

Today's beer: Hop Circle IPA by Phillips

This beer is one of my favourites by Phillips. While I do quite enjoy my dark beers, sometimes I'm in the mood for a nice IPA. On the bottle it says "With a hop flavour that is out of this world, Hop Circle IPA will probe your tasebuds and abduct your senses. The gravitational pull of this IPA will have you searching the galaxy for another close encounter of the thirst kind. Resistance is futile." I don't think I could have put it much better myself.

In the glass Hop Circle is a beautiful gold/bronze colour. When I poured it into the glass a rather large head appeared, but it dissipated shortly. There is a fruity smell that I can't quite identify. At first I thought it was maybe apple or pear, but that's not quite it. I looked at a few other websites and some said grapefruit or even pineapple, but those don't quite seem to be right. It's a familiar smell, but I just can't quite place it. There is a good hit of hops with the same underlying fruit taste. There is also a hint of spruce as well as alcohol. I was rather surprised to discover that it's a 6.5%. Light malt balances out this great IPA.  This is a very drinkable beer and I could see myself enjoying a few over the course of a night.

Rating:

May your glass always be full of good beer!

Fyne Ales Maverick

Today's beer: Maverick by Fyne Ales

Finally, the beer I've been talking about since the first post; the beer that saw me to try Avalanche, even after the not so good Piper's Gold. Maverick is described on the label as a dark robust bitter ale. Like all Fyne Ales, it has a relatively low alcohol content at only 4.2%.

The first thing that struck me about the beer is the colour. It's a deep reddish-brown. My first sniff revealed very little beyond the standard beer smell. Later sniffs found a very faint earthy smell. The first sip gives the standard Fyne Ales huge hit of hops. Along with the hit of hops there was a pleasant taste of malt on the back of my tongue. There is a faint smokey taste that comes with the initial hit of hops. The Maverick has a nice crisp flavour and would be outstanding on a hot day. With the large amount of hops comes the bitters. In Maverick the bitters aren't overwhelming, but seem to give just the right amount.

Rating:

May your glass always be full of good beer!