Traitors and oxymorons …. I won’t get into the debate about Benedict Arnold and whether he was a traitor or hero. Moreover, I’m not entirely sure whether this beer is an oxymoron, but it definitely pushes the boundaries of contradictions. It is a Quebec beer, brewed with English hops, in the style of an Indian…
“Hop Head” (IPA), Tree Brewing Company
There is something powerful about going home. In that homecoming, there is a sense of being completed, of filling a space that is at the foundation of who we are. Even if that space goes unrecognized, even while we build upon it, and while we take our lives to distant ramparts, the space remains. Last…
“Fearless” (IPA), Dead Frog Brewery
Collect Experiences. Not Things. You will read these words at the top of this 650ml bottle which on the front displays an extreme surfer and on the side proclaims “For fearlessly pursuing your passion no matter how many sharks stand in your way … You have earned the coveted SHARK BAIT BADGE.” Not that I…
“Phillips Hop Circle IPA” (IPA), Phillips Brewing Company
This past weekend I had the pleasure of drinking Rogue Ale’s IPA, which is an excellent example of a west-coast IPA made on the actual west-coast … go figure, they actually make IPAs on the west-coast. When the beer came to the table, one of my very good friends remarked that it looked “hoppy.” While…
“Boneshaker” (IPA), Amsterdam Brewery
Purity • Passion • Revelry …. Such are the words found on the cap of Amsterdam’s “Boneshaker Unfiltered IPA.” Great words to drink to … even better words to live by. At 7.1% alcohol, a macabre skeleton riding a c.1865 “velocipede,” and with phrases like “over the top hops” and “copious quantities of hops” and…
“606 India Pale Ale” (IPA), Paddock Wood Brewing
I know I’ve had beer in Saskatchewan before … what I can’t say with any certainty is whether I’ve had a beer from Saskatchewan. So here’s another product of my impulse shopping at The Beer Store last month, a new beer I haven’t tasted before and from a new region. I have to admit, this…
“Mad Tom” (IPA), Muskoka Brewery
It is remarkable coming back to beers I know so well – I thought I knew – after starting this blog 6 months ago. In that time, I’ve sampled and really paid attention to nearly 4 dozen beers, of which 30 have been individually reviewed here. Muskoka’s Mad Tom is an IPA that I delightfully…
“Terre Ferme” (“IPA”), À l’abri de la Tempête
I must admit, with the ongoing search in the wintry Atlantic for the missing crew of the capsized Miss Ally, this beer and the poignancy of its brand takes on a whole new relevance these days. If one ever needed shelter from the storm, À l’abri de la Tempête, this crew certainly needs it. My…
“Colonel Cornwallis” (IPA), Bilboquet Microbrasserie
Here’s a beer I first tasted on tap in fall at the Chelsea Pub and which I wanted to give another whirl from the bottle this time. The other reason I pulled this tonight is because it is not coincidentally the first beer I recognized as being sur lies – and whence I first questioned “what does…
“India Pale Ale” (American IPA), Microbrasserie La Chouape
Sooner or later, we were going to have to tackle the question of what the heck is sur lie (which translates as “on the lees” in English). You’ve undoubtedly seen in as I have on some European labels and it is an even more common description on the labels of Quebec beers. So, what does it…