beer column

here are my notes from yesterday’s beer column on cbc radio one’s on the coast

As we near the end of November, you may be planning a holiday party. Would you like to make it stand out? How about having a beer and cheese party?  It’s pretty easy to make your party the talk of the season!

Beer and cheese go together like chocolate and peanut butter! If you have ever hosted a wine and cheese party, putting together a beer and cheese party is just as straight-forward. I know wine lovers will hate me for saying so, but beer is actually a better pairing for cheese than wine is! The hops in beer, along with the carbonation, cleanse the palate between bites so you can enjoy the full flavour profile of each different food you nibble on. Also both beer and cheese have a similar origin, grass. Barley is a cereal grass used in making beer and milk is a by-product of a cow eating grass. As a result, beer and cheese complement each other by sharing some common characteristics in both aroma and flavor, such as the nut and caramel aromas found in aged cheeses which are also present in malty beers like brown ales, stouts and porters. Beer is also much less acidic than wine making a pairing with creamy cheese more harmonious.

A beer and cheese party can look however you want it to look.  The basic concept is the same as a wine and cheese: the host provides different beers and different cheeses for people to enjoy together. Or the host requests that guests bring a beer and a cheese to pair and share. If your guests are just getting into craft beer, it might be easier for the host to provide the beers and cheeses so that no one feels too much pressure to come up with a good pairing. If your friends are more adventurous and/or beer knowledgeable, it is interesting to see the different pairings that they can come up with. I do want to add though that there are no hard and fast rules to beer pairing – just like with wine and cheese there are a few guidelines that you can follow to increase your odds of coming up with a good pairing, but taste ultimately comes down to the taster. 

 

A beer and cheese party is the perfect time to experiment. You could stick to one family of beers, such as winter themed beers, and try a bunch of different cheeses with them to come up with favourite pairings; you could choose several styles of beers to do a compare and contrast kind of tasting with various cheeses; you could choose regions of the world to follow like German beers with German cheeses; or stay local with growlers of local beers paired with locally produced cheeses. The sky is really the limit on twists you can throw into a beer and cheese tasting.

There are several short-cuts to planning your beer and cheese pairing if you don’t have time to spend on the pairings, or fear you don’t have the expertise to make executive decisions.  The first is to call Benton Brothers Fine Cheeses in Vancouver and get them to choose the cheeses to match your beers. They’ll also provide the bread and crackers to put the cheeses on (neutral flavours of course), and dried fruits to complement the cheeses. 

 

If you prefer to remain hands-on in the putting together of your party, get on the internet and find combinations that have already proven themselves to be winners. TheBeerStore.com has a very simple chart of suggestions that you can follow. Thenibble.com also has a more comprehensive pairing chart, including wine pairings in case you want to do a beer and wine and cheese! If you want to pair other foods as well as cheeses with your beers, The Brewers Association has come out with a wonderful chart that even includes suggested beer glasses and serving temperatures for each pairing. If beer pairing is something you think might become a habit, you can also pick up Garrett Oliver’s book, the Brewmaster’s Table, and have a handy resource always at the ready (p.s. this is also a great gift for the beer-lover on your holiday shopping list!).

Below are a couple of the pairings I put together with an abundance of help from Benton Brothers for a beer and cheese tasting I held last week.   

 

Bridge Brewing’s Northshore Pale Ale with Red Leicestershire

Driftwood Brewing’s Fat Tug IPA with 4 year Artisan Gouda

Also, any kind of beer tasting is a great time to pull out that bottle of special beer that you’ve been waiting for the right occasion to crack open. A 650oz bomber bottle or a corked bottle of beer are akin to a nice bottle of wine and add to the party atmosphere! If you don’t have any on hand, I suggest picking up one or all of the following:

Chimay Grand Reserve Blue ($12.25 at Legacy) – Belgian Strong Dark Ale, which should pair nicely with a strong gouda or a washed-rind cheese

Brooklyn Sorachi Ace ($13.35 at Legacy) – Saison with lemonly Japanese hops, which should pair nicely with goat cheese on an apple slice (thanks Brooklyn website for that idea!)

Moon Under Water 1 year anniversary Red Wheat Wine ($12.55 at Legacy) – a whopping 11.5% beer, which should pair nicely with a gorgonzola (or if like me you just can’t do the blue, a Mont Jacob semi-soft washed rind cheese)

 

For those too lazy to follow the link above (and no judgment from me on that), here is a quick and dirty pairing chart from TheBeerStore.com:   Fresh, very soft cheeses that are uncooked and unripe or barely ripened. For example, cottage cheese, cream cheese and ricotta pair well with wheat beers or lagers
Soft, spreadable cheeses, such as Camembert or Brie that have bloomy rinds pair well with pilsners, pale ales and porters
Semi-soft cheeses including many monastic cheeses and washed-rind cheeses. Good examples are Gouda, Havarti, Colby or Monterey Jack pair well with brown ales, amber ales, bitters and belgian pale ales
Semi-hard, sliceable cheese as Cheddar, Edam or Jarlsberg pair well with pilsners, extra special bitters and ipas
Hard cheese is very firm, grainy, cooked and pressed or grating cheeses as Parmesan pair well with strong ales, doppelbocks, stouts or porters
Blue vein, marbled cheese, strong flavoured and crumbly, including Roquefort, St. Gorgonzola, and other blues pair well with stronger porters, stouts, old ales and imperial stouts
Goat cheese, Roquefort, Romano and feta pair well with ipas, brown ales, stouts and porters
Pasta filata (the stretched curd cheeses of Italy, such as mozzarella and provolone) pair well with wits and wheat beers

legacy

new beer offerings at legacy liquor store in vancouver:

Brooklyn Brewery – Silver Anniversary Lager – $18.90
Happy Anniversary, Brooklyn, 25 years of excellent brewing and many more to come! Brewed to the strength of a dopplebock, this lager uses four different malts in addition to Cascade, Willamette, and Hallertauer Mittelfrueh and Saphir hops. Pouring dark amber in colour with notes of citrus, toasted malt and butterscotch on the nose, aromas that carry through on the palate before fading into a spicy hop finish, this brew is an excellent way to celebrate 25 years.

Tree Brewing – Hop Head Black IPA – $7.85

Nestled in the BC interior, Tree Brewing consistently churns out some spectacular seasonal beers, their Hop Head continuing the trend. Five hops and six malts can be found in this dark brown, nearly black beer. Biscuits, citrus (think grapefruit) and a little pine are all found in the aroma while smoke and chocolate lead the pack on the palate followed closely by citrus and pine. A dangerously quaffable brew.

Russell Brewing – Nautical Disaster Barleywine – $11.25

A new Golden Stag winner has been chosen and with it comes a new beer from Russell. Based on homebrewer David Shea’s recipe, this Barleywine uses four different malts and undergoes a three-hour brew to produce a complex beer. Drink it now, or let it mellow out for a year and see what a little elbow grease and ingenuity can do for you.

beer notes

these are my beer notes from last night’s beer column on cbc radio’s on the coast with stephen quinn:

Its dark and cold out these days – which means people are more likely to be sitting down to heartier fare like soups, stews and casseroles for dinner.  Beer makes a great addition to all of those.  Beer provides body and rich flavours to dishes.  You can make a very easy beer and cheese soup by just adding a bottle of beer to boiling stock, simmer it for an hour and then add some nice cheese just before you serve it.  For a stew or casserole, just substitute beer for some of the liquid and you’ve upped the flavour content.  If you’re making pulled pork in the slow cooker, add beer!  Marinade your meat in beer.  Reduce the beer and use it in sauces and gravies.

If you want proper recipes of how to use beer in your cooking there are plenty floating around on the internet, including on beer websites such as craftbeer.com.  They have soups, main dishes, desserts, you could make a whole beer themed dinner party out of their recipes.  Or start your day with breakfast beer popovers…

My favourite beer recipes are the ones for beer brittle and beer caramels.  So divine!  I admit that I do not make the brittle and caramels, for that I have a friend who cooks and bakes.  I just eat them!  He often uses an ipa, because we are a hop-heads, but any beer style will do for those recipes.  The only rule of thumb is to think of the properties of the particular beer you are using and the desired end flavour of the dish.  If you think they’ll match well, then go for it.  I wouldn’t use a chocolate mint beer in a stew, but it would be great in beer brittle.

In fact, if you have a bottle of beer that is past its best before date, cook with it!  Just like cooking wine, you can use off-beer as cooking beer.  Someone gifted you with a beer you know you don’t like?  Cook with it!  Bought a six pack and weren’t overly thrilled with it?  Cook with it.  Or in my case, brew a beer that’s not quite right, cook with it!

CAMRA Vancouver is having its annual general meeting on Sunday January 13 at noon at what was formerly Smiley’s pub at 911 West Pender Street.  Now called the Butcher and Bullock they have some very nice craft beers on tap.  The meeting is open only to CAMRA members, but there will be a membership table there so I encourage all interested beer enthusiasts to show up and buy a $25 membership, and all members to show up to vote on next year’s executive and the future direction of CAMRA.  It should be a very interesting year as rumour has it the Liberals are going to deregulate tied house and trade practice laws.  Its an election year, so anything can happen, and in the beer world, it looks like its about to.  Whether this will be a good thing for craft beer or not remains to be seen, but either way, its a great time to get involved in beer advocacy and CAMRA is a great way to do that.

I am currently doing a cleanse, so I have not been drinking beer.  I think these beers are worth looking for though, and I’m going to get some to await me in February when I’m back to my usual beer drinking ways:

Brooklyn Black Ops – $37.25 at Legacy Liquor Store – stout aged in bourbon bottles for 4 months, bottled flat and re-fermented in the bottle with champagne yeast. Chocolate, coffee and vanilla-oak notes.

Hopworks Abominable Winter Ale – $9.75 at Legacy Liquor Store – its a hoppy winter ale, brewed with cascade, centennial and chinook hops.

legacy liquor store

new and exciting beers at legacy liquor store in vancouver:

Brooklyn Black Ops – $37.25

A robust stout aged in bourbon barrels for four months, bottled flat, and re-fermented with champagne yeast. This beer has chocolate and coffee notes, with highlights of vanilla-like oak notes.

HUB Abominable Winter Ale – $9.75

Brewed with Cascade, Centennial and Chinook hops and six organic malts. This winter ale has a complex floral, spicy and citrus hoppiness backed by the right amount of sweetness from the malt.

Delirium Nocturnum – $4.45

A dark brown beer with an aroma consisting of caramel, mocha, coriander and liquorice. These aromas follow through in the flavour of the beer in addition to the traditional flavours you would find in a dark belgian beer.

gifted

my non-exhaustive gift buying guide for the beer geek in all of us:

if your beer lover has a favourite beer:

-check out the private liquor stores for branded glassware gift packs

legacy liquor store in Olympic Village suggests:  Sam Smith’s 3 bottles plus a glass for $20, $88.50 for 6 bottles of Westvleteren plus 2 glasses, $11.95 for 2 tall cans of Tiger and a glass,  Chimay – red, white, and blue caps with a glass $18.85, St. Ambroise Discovery pack – $14.95 2 beers and a glass, Lindemann’s –  $15.95 two beers and a glass

-go online and see if the brewery has swag for sale – tshirts, bottle openers, beer cozies, etc.
Dead Frog has tees, hoodies, hats, cozies, underwear and bottle openers for sale in their on-line shop and at the brewery in Aldergrove.  If  you order online in the next couple of days, there is still time to receive your order before Santa arrives.
Stone Brewing in California will ship you a pub light for $50, plus shipping and handling, but how can you put a price on having branded lights for your home bar?  They also have wallets, dog accessories, soap, candles, towels, you name it, they’ve branded it!

-get them a membership to a beer of the month club – join online and they send you a beer every month via mail
or a membership to a beer tshirt of the monthclub – join online and they send you a beer tshirt every month and best of all if you join right now, 3 months, 6 months or 12 months, the shipping is free!

if you want to shop local this season:

– check out craft sales for handmade beer cozies

– go to the brewery to purchase swag or a growler

wanna get something crazy or interesting, and have a few extra minutes on your hands?

-do what the beer wench suggests and google “beer” or “beer gifts” to see all the wonderful, and sometimes wacky, search results like:

beer and food pairings calendar on etsy for $24
also on etsy, beer soap and bottle openers
(or just visit beergifts.com)

-search the interwebs for wall mounted bottle openers – make sure you never misplace the opener again!
go for branded ones or fancy ones

– go to a craft store and get them scrapbook for their label collection or a decorative box for their coaster collection

is your beer geek a new beer geek? 

–you can’t go wrong with a taster pack from the liquor store
Granville Island, Parallel 49, Okanagan Springs all have taster packs out right now that include a seasonal beer plus their regular offerings
or walk on the wild side with an Innis & Gunn pack of 4 beers including rum cask, pale ale, original whiskey beers for $18

-visit your local u-brew shop and design your own beer by adding hops to a beer kit

or go whole hog and get someone all the basic gear for homebrewing for about $75

 

need a hostess gift?

-take a bottle of fancy schmancy beer!  maybe something to cellar like a barley wine or a sour, or something seasonal to open right away. 
take them a brooklyn brewing local 1, its a belgian style strong pale ale and comes with a cork. now that’s fancy

-get a growler and fill it on your way to the party, fresh beer to drink that night and a lovely growler for them to keep and fill forever more

 

-books!  give the gift of literacy!
So much choice – from the text-book “Tasting Beer” by randy mosher to guides of pacific northwest pub crawls to anecdotal histories of beer to picture books of beer labels, there’s a beer book for everyone!

stocking stuffers:

-you could put a beer in there…

-gift certificates to pubs like biercraft – who will give you a gift card for everyone you buy for someone else ($10 for $50 or $20 for $100)

-key-chain bottle openers

-playing cards

-beer bottle cap tree ornaments

 

 

and the list could go on forever, but i have to go and drink some beer now!

recipe

all i can say is “you’re welcome”!
beer cupcake recipe:  dark beer chocolate cupcakes with salted caramel frosting
(this recipe has been reprinted on several blogs and beer websites, but i think the link above is to the original recipe… if not, i apologize profusely)

Cake:
1 cup flavorful dark beer– I used Rogue Mocha Porter but Lagunitas Cappucino Stout and Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout (hometown love!) are also faves. Ask your favorite beer geek for a recommendation.
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
3/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Combine the beer and butter in a large sauce pan and heat to melt.
Remove from heat; whisk in the cocoa, sugar, and espresso.
In a bowl, whisk the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla, then whisk into the beer mixture.
Sift together the flour and baking soda, and fold into the batter.
Pour into cupcake pan (you can go a little more than ¾ full on these) and bake for 25 minutes. Cool completely on a rack.

Salted Caramel:
4 tablespoons water
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt, kosher or sea
Combine the water, sugar, and the corn syrup in a deep saucepan and cook over medium heat—stir with a wooden spoon to combine
Cover the saucepan and let it cook over medium/medium-low heat for 3 minutes.
After 3 minutes, remove the lid, increase the heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil.
(Do not stir from this point on, but once it starts to turn brown at the edge you should carefully shake/swirl the pan so that one area of the caramel doesn’t burn.)
Continue to cook until the caramel turns an even amber color then remove from the heat and let stand for about 30 seconds.
Pour the heavy cream into the mixture. Be careful. The mixture will bubble up!
Stir the mixture. Add the butter, lemon juice, and salt. Stir until combined.
Pour into a Pyrex measuring cup.
Stirring occasionally, allow to cool until thick and warm, about 20 minutes.

Frosting:
1.5 sticks butter at room temperature
6 ounces cream cheese
4-5 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup salted caramel
Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed until creamy.
Sift 2 cups of powdered sugar into the cream cheese mixture and beat to combine.
Add 3/4 cup of the salted caramel and beat to combine.
Sift rest of powder sugar, in 1 cup increments and beating between each, until you arrive at the thickness and sweetness you desire.

To Assemble: Frost the cakes, drizzle leftover caramel on top, and sprinkle a few grains of salt on each one. Top with a chocolate covered espresso bean if you’re feeling fancy. Pair with the rest of your beer! Makes 22-24 cupcakes.

yard work

the poor beleagured hops we’re growing in bridget’s back yard got moved again!
these poor little troopers have been moved three times now
(rhizomes culled from an east van garden, planted at bridget’s by the fence a week before the neighbours tell her they’re going to put in a new fence, moved to the garden patch where they spent a year before being moved to their current home in the new raised bed)

the hops had a hard time growing last year – crappy soil, not enough sun
so a major work party happened this weekend to fix that situation!

woo hoo, i got to drill!

we built a raised garden bed and filled it with 2 yards of stinky soil
(i used power tools!! bridget and the viking did the heavy work)

the garden frame

filled to the brim with stinky soil

the hops in their new home

and what did we drink while doing all this yard work?
central city ipa and pale ale
it does a body good!

what did we drink after doing all the yard work and resting on our laurels?

brooklyn’s local 1

smoky beer ryan brought back from paris

third beer of the apocalypse that i brought back from portland

tasting notes

from last week’s beernesday at st. augustine’s:

i began my night with a sampler
dead frog’s christmas beeracle!  5%  a festive, rich, warm amber ale with a medley of spices including cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.
cannery’s no jail pale ale:  3.05% a lower-alcohol beer with an authentic ale taste!  a clean, crisp ale with a bright hop finish and about 40% less alcohol than conventional beer
salt spring’s golden spike ale:  5%  voted “best golden ale” at the canadian brewing awards
paddock wood’s london porter:  5.3%  a dark ale based on a recipe from 1850 which lets chocolate malt take the lead.  smoother than stout, but still holds a deep roast profile

i very much liked the christmas beeracle!
gingery goodness (reminiscent of the steamworks ginger from last spring)
and no vanilla!!
i would definitely have this one again
and i don’t say that about many christmas or winter ales
bridget liked it a lot too!

the no jail was a little thin
very pale in colour and quite crisp
i didn’t really find that hop finish they spoke of
you could definitely session this one
and what’s not to like about a beer you can have one of and still drive afterward?
but i probably won’t have it again

i’ve had the golden spike before, but didn’t remember that until i tasted it
apparently i am not a golden ale fan because i really didn’t like it
(neither did bridget)
i like a roastier malt

the london porter was fabulous
very light and refreshing for a dark beer
malty without cloying chocolate or espresso
i would definitely have this one again

next up for me was a bottle of the pyramid snow cap 2010:  7%  deep mahogany in colour, this full-bodied winter warmer is crafted with roasted chocolate and caramel malts, and is generously hopped

yup, its dark and the mahogany comes through in the light
quite clear
and no vanilla!
nicely malty, not too sweet
no over the top flavours
just good reliable maltiness

brooklyn brewery’s penant ale ’55:  5.1%  a classic english pal ale, brewed with the prized maris otter malt and fuggles, willamette and cascade hops.  maris otter is an old malt variety that yields an incomparable biscuity flavor.

lovely stuff this
the maris otter are a fine malt
this would make a great session beer
tasha is not a big fan – but it does make her want a hot dog!
i would prefer a bit more of a hop profile, but that’s hardly a surprise
i’d have it again
i might especially like to have it at a ball game, hot dog or not!

anchor brewing company christmas ale 2010:  5.5%  aroma and flavours of figs, cherries, plums, vanilla, caramel malts, raisins, nutmeg and other winter spices.  medium-bodied with low carbonation and malty, spicy mouthfeel.

i didn’t like last year’s christmas ale, but this year’s isn’t bad
i don’t love it, but its alright!
quite fruity, but not too sweet
and the vanilla isn’t overwhelming
glad i tried it, but i won’t have another

and finishing off my night, i had to go with the southern tier pale ale again – i love this stuff!!!

firefly tasting

i attended the “evolution of the ipa” tasting at firefly last week
i was so excited that they were having a whole night of ipas!
and i wasn’t disappointed

there were only two ipas on the list that i hadn’t yet tried (one because its limited release and the other because it was only just released)
but that meant that i could focus more easily on comparing and contrasting the hops varieties, strengths and malt balances between the beers

we got lots of great hand-outs
a hops profile chart, a beer evaluation sheet, the history of ipas and a beer aroma wheel
not to mention all the great information our fearless leaders had to impart
i feel like i got a lot more than just a tasting

we began the night with samuel smith’s india ale (5%) from england
this is one that i had tried just the night before and not liked
i found it had a biscuity nose and felt kind of belgian
but the further i got down my taster glass of this semi-traditional british ipa, the more drinkable i found it

next up was brooklyn brewing’s east india pale al (6.8%) out of new york city
it poured with a great head, quite carbonated, lovely nose
this was more what i expect from an ipa – to be like a pacific northwest ipa
the brewers used a recipe from the victorian era, with some english hops (kent golding) and some pacific northwest hops (willamette, centennial and amarillo) which give it a nice citrusy, spicy, floral aroma
nicely balanced, could definitely drink this as a session beer

driftwood brewing’s sartori harvest ipa (7% 66 ibus) was up next
these bottles came from lundy’s private stash, and i’m thrilled that she sacrificed them to the cause
i love me a wet-hopped beer!
fresh hopped with centennial hops from sartori’s farm, this is a beer of great beauty
even if everyone who had it last year said that last year’s brew was better
driftwood is the only brewery doing a fresh hopped ipa
everyone else are making extra special bitters with the fresh hops (phillips, granville island)
fresh hops should be added within 24 hours of the harvest to get the full flavour, and added at several points during the brewing process
you don’t want to store this beer – the hops degrade over time and lose their great bite the longer you age the beer
look for this one again the last week of september next year
and find yourself lots of other great fresh hopped beers at hopfests all down the west coast

also from lundy’s personal stash was deschutes brewing’s hop in the dark (6.5%)
i love the hop in the dark and was very, very, very happy to see it in the line up
great to have a black ipa (cascadian brown ale) in the list, but especially this one that i just don’t get very often
cascade, centennial and chinook hops
(probably the best hop combination on earth!)
amazing head, lovely brown colour, great hop nose
i can taste the malt, but it doesn’t overwhelm the hops
wonderful balance and uber-drinkability
i could drink this beer alllllll night long!

from oregon to california, next up was lagunitas hop stoopid (7.5% 102 ibus)
not nearly as bitter tasting as you might expect 102 ibus to be
pale and clear, a good food pairing beer
grapefruity, very malty to balance all those hops, but definite hop nose and taste
i do enjoy this beer but wouldn’t want to drink more than the one big bottle of it
it just gets too bitter on the back of your tongue if you have enough of it

mikkeller’s stateside ipa (7%) was next
now here are guys from denmark who came to the u.s. to check out the ipa revolution and take that learning back home with them
this is denmark’s ode to the american ipa, and not just in name
cascade, centennial and chinook hops
they use lager malts (munich and pilsner) for balance
which give it some belgiany notes to my palate, which makes it not my favourite ipa around
it tastes like an ipa though, don’t get me wrong, and is quite drinkable
there are just so many other ipas around that get me more excited!

jumping from the upstart danes to the bad boys of brewing in scotland, brewdog’s hardcore ipa (9.2% 150 ibus) was up next
now these guys get blamed a lot for getting people drunk on their high alcohol volume beers
but that’s not their goal – in fact they’re lobbying to get smaller pour sizes legalized in britain to combat over-drinking of higher alcohol beers
they just want to brew punk rock beer
the hardcore is an imperial ipa using scottish malts with pacific northwest hops – centennial, columbus and simcoe initially, and then dry-hopping it again along the way
malty nose with caramel or biscuit (you know, the stuff i don’t like)
balanced between the high ibus and the malts
you can smell the alcohol a little bit on the nose
but overall quite drinkable if you can handle your higher alcohol volumes!

last up was the lighthouse brewing shipwrecked triple ipa (10%)
and i gotta say, i absolutely love the bottle design
only offered in 650ml size, this is a departure for lighthouse
and the highest volume beer of the night for us, hence its appearance at the end of the night
double the malts and triple the hops
amarillo, columbus, perle hops – 3 intense hops combined
maris otter malt
golden colour, i’m getting a slightly alcohol nose instead of hops
it tastes rather malty-fruity, with hops back
not as good as i was expecting it to be
a case of judging the beer by its great bottle design?

beernesday II

i have been remiss
i just found my tasting notes from beernesday back on september 29th
bad, bad beer blogger!

i had two samplers
1. brooklyn brewery post road pumpkin ale:  5%  subtly spied, orange-amber color, warm pumpkin aroma, biscuity malt center, and a crisp finish
1. hopworks uban brewery ipa: 6.6%  100% organic. rich and resinous flavours of citrus fruit and pine.  the finest organic canadian pilsner malt and organic munich and caramel malts then bring balance to your new favorite beer
1. old yale brewing sergreant’s ipa: 5.5%  uses special pale and crystal malts and loads of golding hops
1. storm brewing 12 year black current lambic: 7%  not for the timid! this beer is INTENSELY sour, dry and complex

2. red truck limited steam beer: 5%  a hybrid beer style brewing using ale yeast fermented at lager temperatures. the result is a full flavoured, yet surprisingly crisp beer
2. mt. begbie nasty habit ipa: 6%  a perfect balance between the subdued english-style ipas and west coast hop monsters
2. crannog anniversary ale (wasn’t on the menu yet, so i don’t have st. auggies’ tasting notes on this one)
2. tinwhistle black widow (wasn’t on the menu yet, so i don’t have st. auggies’ tasting notes on this one)

beers i had tried before and loved, so needed to include in the samplers, were the storm lambic, red truck steam and mt. begbie nasty habit – big fan of all three of them, and not disappointed to have them again.  nope, not one iota sad!  (and who doesn’t love a nasty habit (or three!))

in the first round i found the pumpkin not at all to my liking.  it smells great and spicy, but the biscuity malt is not at all to my taste.  gwen thought it was okay, and christal thought it was great.  they finished my glass between them!
i love the hopworks ipa – citrusy perfection and organic to boot!  it really could well be my new favourite beer!  please sir, can i have some more?  oh portland, how i love your beers!
i found the sergeant’s ipa to be a much maltier creature, still nicely hoppy, but not as much to my liking as the hopworks.  probably due to my preference for the more citrusy hops…

from the second round, i quite enjoyed the anniversary ale – its a delicious little ale!  the black widow was very much like a black ale as opposed to a stout, not thick and creamy.  it was quite complex and delicious and i would happily have it again should it appear on the menu.
i appreciated that my server suggested these last two to me, as they were not on the menu and therefore were not on my radar at all.  great suggestions and i was a very happy camper!

on her search to figure out which stouts it is that she enjoys, lara tried the st. augustine’s stout.  she says “i like this very much.  i would order it again absolutely!”  aha!  she does not like the coffee and chocolate notes, she prefers her stouts to be old school.  good to know!