INTO THE SHADE ~ CAMERON'S

Into the Shade is an award winning saison, receiving the Silver Medal at the Ontario Craft Brewing Awards.  On the breweries website it states this brew has endured higher fermentation temperature than your average beer and uses special yeasts. 

Sampled on draught, the beer poured a hazy pale orange-amber.  It had about a finger of head which dissipated and left good lacing.  The nose contained orchard fruits, lemon, and little spice and wheaty yeast.  The beer itself was quite sweet with a slight sourness. Both the lemon and stone fruits came through with a little spice.  A slight hop bitterness at the end.  Flavourful and aromatic for 5.3%.  Thirst quenching and easy drinking.

5.3% from Oakville, Ontario     29 IBU

SCOTTISH ALE ~ HIGHLANDER BREW CO.

Highlander Brew Co. is located in South River, Ontario, in the Almaguin Highlands from which Highlander takes its name. The brewery is on the Northern edge of Algonquin Park, positioning Highlander as one of the most northerly craft breweries in Ontario.

The Scottish ale (from a bottle) poured rich coppery colour, with a thin layer of head.  The aroma was rich with a plethora of flavours to dance in your nose:  Floral hops, carmamelly malts, a little blackstrap molasses and bread and yeasts.    The taste leads with a caramelly maltiness, a wheaty breadiness and finishes with mild hops.  Though the beer finishes somewhat dry, hops are not the headliner, the malts are.  A fine pint indeed!

5.2% South River, Ontario

~ VANILLA PORTER DRAUGHT ~ 

MILL STREET

Sampled from a tin.  There seemed to be a widget at the bottom on the tin that I assume contained nitrogen.   This porter poured a dark brown with a slight ruby hue, with an off white head.   The nose is dominated by vanilla with notes of roasted grain, coffee and chocolate.    The taste has a lot of vanilla, followed by roasted malts, and mild bop bitterness.  The vanilla may have been a little over the top on this one.   The mouth feel was a little thin, as the carbonation was very low.

Hops: Washington State Nugget

Yeast: Mill Street House Yeast

Other: Pure Vanilla extract – made from cold pressed vanilla orchid bean pods.  – Apparently cold pressing gives 5 times more flavour notes than the conventional hot extraction.

Multinational Labatt’s purchased Mill Street earlier this month.  Mill Street will remain an  ‘independent brewery’ (what ever that means) and continue to produce the same product, but I am sorry to see Canadian ownership go.

5% from Toronto, Ontario    IBU 29

YOUNG’S DOUBLE CHOCOLATE ~ STOUT CHARLES WELLS BREWERY

Young’s is the UK’s largest privately owned brewery.  They make a number of beers and their name is on 200+ tied houses.  They have been brewing as a family owned business for 130 years.  Though they are a big production they are still considered a microbrewery. 

The bottle poured a very dark brown with a slight ruby hue.  The nose had notes of dark chocolate, coffee and a touch of vanilla.  The beer smelled boozier than it actually is.  The beer, which is brewed with real chocolate and chocolate essence among other things, (“Pale Ale and Crystal malt, Chocolate Malt, a special blend of sugars, Fuggle and Golding hops) was not as richly chocolaty as I was anticipating.  The chocolate taste was minimal at first but became more predominant as the beer warmed.   I was expecting the beer to have a creamier mouth feel and be more full bodied.  It was nicely bittered and had a dry finish.  Not disappointing but not the best chocolate stout I have had either. 

5.2% from Bedford, Bedfordshire, England

CITROUILLE ~ ST. AMBROISE

Citrouille or the Great Pumpkin Ale (in English) is a fall offering made by one of Quebec’s earliest microbreweries. The beer pours deep coppery amber with moderate carbonation and a finger of off white head. Many spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, ginger) dance around my nose complimented with caramel toasted malts (blonde and caramel malts) and pumpkin. The beer taste much like it smells, it has a sweet malty backbone, with notes of pumpkin and spice. The beer is not overly spiced or overly sweet, and has a nice crisp finish. Hop (Cascade and Wilmette) finish is subtle. Over all a very enjoyable pumpkin beer.

5% Montreal, Quebec IBU 18

C2C ~ FLYING MONKEYS

Flying Monkeys motto is “Normal is Weird” so it seems fitting that this concoction is brewed by them.  This is a really bizarre beer…in a good way.  It is a Sour ESB.  The beer pours a very strange off-putting murky brown orange, not unlike something you may find in a diaper.   It has lots of sour apple, and berry and acidity on the nose. It is mouth-puckering sour with a plethora of different flavours.  The smorgasbord of flavour included raspberry, sour green apple, apple cider, and a touch of vinegar, spice, subtle maltiness and herbal flourishes.  A strange one, but I enjoyed it!

5% from Barrie, Ontario