The Great Pumpkin Ale emerges — all hail the great pumpkin ale…. Rating: 90 points Stats: Spiced Beer. 5.5% ABV. Etobicoke, Ontario. Size: 650mL bottle Colour: Deep straw, golden Mouth Feel: Medium carbonation; clean, bitter and refreshing finish. Purchased: LCBO Price: $4.95 Pairing Notes: Green curry. And so the field narrows and it comes to a point as I complete my seasonal quest for…
“Pumpkin Ale” (Flavoured Beer) Grand River Brewing
Suddenly, out of the turbid waters, a pumpkin appeared. Rating: 84 points Stats: Spiced Beer. 5.2% ABV. Cambridge, Ontario. Size: 500mL bottle Colour: Deep straw, golden Mouth Feel: Medium-low carbonation; medium mouthfeel. Purchased: LCBO Price: $3.95 Pairing Notes: A light Indian curry. With the bar now squarely set, I approach the third in the Great Pumpkin Ale challenge with this one from…
“St-Ambroise Citrouille” (Pumpkin Ale) McAuslan Brewing
The benchmark in pumpkin ales. Rating: 88 points Stats: Pumpkin Ale. 5% ABV. Montreal, Quebec. Size: 341mL bottle Colour: Deep amber Mouth Feel: Medium carbonation; creamy and full in the mouth. Purchased: LCBO Price: $9.95 (4/pack) Pairing Notes: n/a After the first disappointment on the Great Pumpkin Ale countdown, I chose to go with a known entity … one I already knew I loved from…
“Pumpkin Ale” (Spiced Beer) Black Creek Historic Brewing
A pumpkin ale that is more ghostly because of what doesn’t appear. Rating: 70 points Stats: Spiced Beer. 5% ABV. Toronto, Ontario. Size: 500mL bottle Colour: Light-brown amber Mouth Feel: Low carbonation; low specific gravity; light end. Purchased: LCBO Price: $3.95 Pairing Notes: n/a First up on the Great Pumpkin Ale Countdown is this traditional sampling from Black Creek Brewing. This is…
Searching for the Great Pumpkin … Ale
As Canadian Thanksgiving arrives and we sacrifice hundreds of thousand of pumpkins across this fair land as part of our traditional devourment of the greatest pumpkin pies in the country, it seems appropriate that I spend a few days at least contemplating that other pumpkin treat: pumpkin ale. What makes a great pumpkin ale? And what is the…
“Kilannan Alt” (Altbier) Kilannan Brewing Co.
Stats: Altbier. 5.2% ABV. Own Sound, Ontario. Size: 473mL can Colour: Brown-Amber (unfiltered) Mouth Feel: Medium carbonation; watery start and creamy but dry finish. Purchased: LCBO Price: $2.90 Pairing Notes: Grilled lamb kebabs → 85 points So in collision of two bits of chance, I thought I’d do series on beers that come in cans — more or less exclusively. That…
“Dead Guy Ale” (German Maibock) Rogue Ales
As I’ve written before, when any company can connect their values with mine, it portends a great experience. So with a bottle cap that reads “Dedicated to the Rogue in Each of Us” and with the trilogy of high-power words around the neck, of Dare * Risk * Dream, I was already impressed. I then…
Ale No. 7 ~ “Corps Mort” (American Barley Wine) À l’abri de la Tempête Microbrasserie
For the final beer in the Ales Bells series, I reached deep into my fridge to pull out a bottle that has sat there for 20 months. Yes, 20 months! Trust me when I say that this wasn’t a mistake and I knew what I was doing … or at least I presumed that I knew…
Ale No. 6 ~ “Pale Ale Americaine” (APA) Brasserie Dunham
So for Ale No. 6 in the Ales Bells series, I’m turning my attention back to Ale No. 4, the English-styled pale ale. Why? Because if I’m going to write about one pale ale, the English version, then I really need to write about the other to make the comparison. Therefore, next up: a new American…
Ale No. 5 ~ “Spring Maple” (Belgian Blonde Ale), Lake of Bays Brewing Company
Fifth up is a unifying beer if ever there was one. If you like beer, but not sure if you like maple, you’ll like this beer; if you like maple but on the fence regarding beer, this will knock you over the fence. Not sure you like blondes, think you’re more of a darker drinker, think…