Ok, so I’m learning that I’m a sucker for a pretty, I mean well-designed, bottle. Yes, I guess that makes me easily influenced when it comes to beer reviews …. (Shhhh) So here’s a 650mL bottle that has been yearning towards me for a number of weeks, but I had to get through the Renaissance…
“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…
“Rousse Bitter” (English Bitter), La Barberie
A Canadian spring is a fickle creature and just as changeable – so it makes sense to approach with caution. It’s nice to do a slow decompression from a longer than recently typical winter and instead of rushing into “summer” beers, an amber (or red) seemed an appropriate ‘next step.’ I have to say, one…
“Brown Ale Americaine” (Brown IPA), Pit Caribou
As relatively disappointing as my last few tastings have been, and with a bizarre spring storm brewing that has sucked the light out of the air last weekend, it felt right to return to Quebec and a darker brew. This is also a nuanced type of beer I haven’t hitherto tasted: Brown American Ale. I’ve…