Three strikes you’re out. … having said that, with the advent of another World Series playoffs, baseball apparently has more surprises and dark horses than Les Brasseurs du Monde. It is a brewery that continues to disappoint … and fail consistently with the same flaws. My second beer review, L’Interdite focused on the excessive carbonation…
Maple-Apple Jelly
At its most fundamental level, cooking is pure chemistry and physics. At its most profound, it is art, tradition, culture, identity and love. Nothing arguably combines both as purely as making preserves. Thus when I took up the most recent challenge in The Canadian Food Experience Project chose to make it personal, I found myself with the challenge…
Preserving: Our Canadian Tradition
I grew up among trees. Indeed, trees define a huge part of our national identity – and our food – in this country. Speak to any foreigner about their image of Canada and it will almost universally be of “wilderness” and the wide expanse of mountains, water, open spaces, and trees. Growing up, everywhere I…
“Benedict Arnold” (IPA), Frampton Brasse
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…
The Magic is the Light
For years, I thought the mystery was the molten glass, but the magic is the light. I’m reluctant to put quotes around these words because I think I’ve done a poor job of remembering them word for word, but this is the essence of one quote I read on the wall of the Musée des beaux-arts…
“Joseph Bellarmin” ( Double IPA), Microbrasserie de L’Île d’Orléans
It is truly remarkable how much the essential same ingredients can continually play out different surprises on the palette. It is probably one of the things that is fascinating me so much about this beer portion of the blog. Who is Joseph Bellarmin? Well, according to the words on the side of the bottle, he…
“St-Ambroise Apricot Wheat Ale” (Wheat Ale), McAuslan Brewing
Tradition is such an integral part of our lives. It gives it structure; it gives us place; it gives us identity. I remember hearing an interview with a Jewish Canadian cookbook author who was talking about the importance of the Shabbat in developing her love and reverence of cooking – because she cooked for her…
“Hopkins Double I.P.A.” (Double IPA), Boquébière Microbrasserie de Sherbrooke
Hmm … so I’ve been waiting some time to try the big (BIG) bitter brother of Hopkins single IPA that I previously reviewed. There was the small distraction of some amazing food and a recent trip to Prince Edward County (and a lot of wine) that interceded between tastes, but we have finally arrived at…
The Transcendental Taste – the Foodgasm.
Life is replete with the banal and the ubiquitous. Everyday has the risk of being routine as we slip from slumber and onto the hamster wheel that would otherwise propel us in circles. However, it is the moments in life where we break free of this predictability where, in an instant, in a moment, we…
“Hopkins India Pale Ale” (West-Coast IPA), Boquébière Microbrasserie de Sherbrooke
Sometimes you just get a good feeling about a beer before you even open it. Hopkins, brewed out of the Eastern Townships (which is Western Quebec for those not from around these parts), is a good example of just that. The label says “funky” with its retro, throwback monochromatic portrait but what really impressed me…