COUNTRY BUMPKIN ~ OAST HOUSE

Country Bumpkin is a seasonal offering from Niagara Last house featuring fresh pumpkin and acorn, butternut, and hubbard squash that have been roasted then mashed with the malt and a load of pumpkin pie spice that has been added in the boil. Sampled on draught the beer poured a fairly clear deep orangey amber with an average cream coloured head. The aroma was a pumpkin pie! - lots of baking spice (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves), pumpkin, and roasted malts. Taste follows as would b expected, spices up front, followed by pumpkin and then toasted malts giving it a crusty pumpkin pie impression. There is very little hop bitterness. The body was medium and the carbonation was average to soft. This is one of the nicer pumpkin beers I’ve had.

5.5% from Niagara on the Lake, Ontario 18 IBU

BLACK SOW’R STOUT ~ OAST HOUSE

This is a bit of a crazy and daring brew…I have never had anything quite like this before. This beer is a sour stout aged in red wine barrels! Sampled on draught the beer poured a very dark brown –black with almost no head. The nose had quite a lot of complexity: roasted malts, red wine, wood, tart acidity, and dark fruits. The taste is really busy with tons going on. The first sip was very sour – a really tart sour. Dark fruits, currants, raisins, chocolate, caramel, licorice and coffee then follow the sourness. The finish returns to tart. The sourness from the first sip fades a little and the complexity of flavours emerges as the beer warms. The carbonation is soft and the body is on the thin side. A very interesting and innovative brew, but I would not want more than one. I think I would like this more if accompanied by food, perhaps some creamy blue cheese or Brie.

5.5% from Niagara on the Lake, Ontario

PITCHFORK PORTER ~ NIAGARA OAST HOUSE

Sampled on Draught, this porter poured a opaque dark brown, with coppery highlights and a medium sized creamy beige head. Caramel, coffee, dried fruit, dark chocolate, and slightly burned toast were all on the nose. The hops were very light in both aroma and taste. The beer tasted, as one would expect from the nose, with a very mild dry bitterness at the end, blended with roasted malts. The body was average to thin, but was quite flavourful. A straight forward modest porter. Would have this again.

5.3% from Niagara, Ontario

COUSIN ABBEY’S DUBBEL ~ OAST HOUSE

Cousin Abbey’s Dubbel is a very drinkable offering from Niagara’s Oast House brewery. Sampled on draught, it poured a clear very dark amber, with an off white head that quickly disappeared. The aroma contained lots of sweet malts, caramel, toffee, with notes of spice and fruit, and a whiff of booze. The taste was similar. The beer was sweet with lots of Demerara sugar and molasses. Sweet malts, plums and other over ripe fruits, spicy and estery Belgian Yeast, and vanilla all contribute to the flavour. The beer also tastes like it may have been stored in rum barrels, which have left an earthy and boozy taste. I find it medium to full-bodied, with moderate to low carbonation. Very warming on a winter’s night.

6.9% from Niagara on the Lake, Ontario IBU 18

SQUEAL LIKE A PIG KENTUCKY SOUR MASH ~ OAST HOUSE

Sampled of draught, Squeal like Pig is made in the Kentucky Common Style (A.K.A. Dark Cream Common Beer, Cream Beer or Common Beer) According to wiki, Kentucky Common was a popular beer, in …you guessed it Kentucky from the 1850’s to prohibition. The brew was only fermented once and then sent out for sale on draught to be consumed fresh.
‘Squeal’ had been made with 30% corn and the rest malted barley, and then aged for six months in Woodford Reserve Bourbon Barrels. The beer poured a medium tawny brown colour with little head. There was a ton of fruit on the nose, especially tart apples and grapes. The flavour was not beer-like at all. It was pleasantly sour, with lots of grape and fruit flavours and a wine like quality. The sweetness reminded me of sherry, there were also notes of figs and a touch of smoke. The finish was subtly malty with a hint of chocolate. The beer was well carbonated and had a medium mouthfeel. Great after a long day of Christmas shopping – I hope Oast House makes this one again.

6% from Niagara, Ontario 15 IBU

ROASTED CHESTNUT BROWN ALE ~ OAST HOUSE

Sampled on Draught. This Brown Ale is quite mild all around. The beer poured and dark straw colour with orangey undertones. The nose is mild with malts and a touch of tropical fruit. The beer was fairly light on the palette. Lots of malts provided the backbone, but I got little chestnut in the flavour. It was sweet like an English mild, with a wee bit of hop bitterness at the end. Not bad, but I think I would have preferred it to have more guts.

5% from Niagara, Ontario

VERJUS SOUR ~ OAST HOUSE 

Verjus (or verjuice) is the acidic juice made by pressing unripe grapes, crab-apples or other unripe sour fruit. It dates to the middle ages where is was used as a condiment. This beer is brewed with Niagara Pinot Noir grape verjus (from Lepp farms), lending its sour notes. This is a naturally sour beer, created by the verjus, no lactobacillus was added. The brewery also used a specially propagated by Oast house. Sampled on draught this beer pour a hazy light yellow with a small bone coloured head. The nose has lots of sour notes, with some grains, and grapes and other tart fruits. The flavour is similar, pleasantly sour and tart with subtle grape and grains. The sourness is not overpowering but more like a gueze. The brew is smooth, with soft carbonation. I really liked this one and look forward to tasting some of the brew that has been set aside to age in wine barrels.

4.8% from Niagara 7 IBU

BERLINER WEISSE ~ OAST HOUSE

A traditional Berliner Weisse or Berliner Weißeis is an opaque sour white beer.  It is commonly low in alcohol, averaging 3% to 4% ABV.  It dates back to the 16^th in Northern Germany.   A number of different grain combinations can be used to make it as long as the malts are kilned at a very low temperature to limit the colour added to the beer.  Fermentation happens with yeast and a lactic acid bacteria which gives the beer it’s characteristic sour taste.

Oast House Berliner Weisse was my favourite of the Berliners I tried this season.    It has a good sourness, but does not shred your taste buds and finishes with a pleasant puckering sourness.  Well done Oast!

4.9% from Niagara, Ontario
-beer 106-

KONICHWA PEACHES ~ OAST HOUSE

German Hefeweizen with peaches.  Pours a cloudy gold, with a frothy white head.  Aroma is peaches and as subtle spice.  First taste is peaches - not cloying fake peach or peach concentrate, but a fresh Ontario Peach.  A little yeast flavour and sweetness follows with a clean finish which clears the palate.  Lovely on a summer day.  Made with fresh Ontario Peaches from Lepp farms in Niagara, Ontario.
5% from Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario    18 IBU
-beer 86-