Archive for category Beer Tasting
Beer Tasting – Beer List updated
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Beer Tasting, Misc, Photography on November 18, 2011
Its been such a busy week I have hardly had time to put up a post on my blog, but I am hoping to get a couple more reviews down shortly. I updated the master list with the latest commercial beers I have sampled, bring the total to 635.
Until then here is a picture of a very concerned dog.
The current state of the European economy weighs heavily upon my mind.
Beer Review – Unibroue’s Raftman Whiskey Ale
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Beer Tasting on November 4, 2011
Name: Unibroue’s Raftman Whiskey Ale
Origin: Quebec, Canada
Style: Whiskey Ale (5%)
Appearance: A foggy, light brown coloured ale. Big fizzy head, excellent retention.
Taste: A very citrus based aroma, that of sour lemons and wine. The sour flavours for this beer are winey though some of the malty character is detectable. Lemons and oranges seem to be the main theme of this beer. Overall a clean palette and clean finish.
Mouth Feel: Soft, creamy and easy drinking. Nice clean finish. Light bodied.
Final Thoughts (3 out of 5): Decent drinking beer, though a bit bland. Like all of the other Unibroue stock it carries that unique, winey Unibroue flavour.
Beer Reviews – To Saskatchewan and Back Again
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Beer Tasting on November 3, 2011
I would not have expected Regina to have much if any of a beer brewing scene and for the most part I was right. Fortunately we were closely situated to one of their most famous (and possibly only) brewpubs which gave me the opportunity to sample three of there beers. Two of them were sampled at the hotel and one right from the Bushwakker brewpub itself.
Sodbuster Brown Ale – I don’t think the hotel cleaned their pipes for a long time because this beer was not very good. With an astringent bitterness and a underwhelmingly bland flavour, I felt this was something of a cross between club soda and a brown ale. (1.5/5)
Dungarvon Irish Red Ale – This one was also at the hotel, but unlike Sodbuster it was a much nicer ale. I need to be honest though, I actually do not know if this was the Red Ale I had because the waitress only said “A Red Ale from the local brewpub” and this was the only one I could find on the list while at Bushwakkers. (2.5/5)
Chinook ESB – The best of the three beers from Bushwakkers, I got to enjoy this one right at the brewpub. Everything I would expect and want from an ESB, this exceptional beer has a fruity aroma and body, mostly of apples. It has a very strong pine-like bitterness that lingers. Creamy and easy drinking, this beer paired very well with the fantastic wild boar burger I drank it with. (3.5/5)
Though I do not think the first two reviews are fair because I really believe it was the fault of the hotel and not the brewery for the poor quality of the product server, they will stand as its all I have to judge by. If I end up in Regina again I will be sure to visit Bushwakkers again. If for whatever reason you end up in Regina, check them out: http://www.bushwakker.com/. The food is excellent and the beer is just as good.
Beer Review – Big Sky Brewing Summer Honey
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Beer Tasting, Photography on October 28, 2011
Name: Big Sky Brewing Summer Honey
Origin: Montana, USA
Style: Honey Ale (5%)
Appearance: A dark gold ale, pours with a small, short lived head
Taste: Aroma is oranges and honey. Flavour starts with a citrus-like orange, some subtle notes of honey. It becomes more sour and winey, with something like lemons. Finishes with a brief sweet, orange flavour, ends clean.
Mouth Feel: Soft, creamy body. Light bodied.
Final Thoughts (4 out of 5): Really not much else to say except I thought it was a great honey beer.
Beer Review – Whistler Brewing Co.’s Powder Mountain Lager
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Beer Tasting, Photography on October 27, 2011
Name: Whistler Brewing Co.’s Powder Mountain Lager
Origin: BC, Canada
Style: Lager (5%)
Appearance: A light, yellow lager with basically no head.
Taste: Aroma is somewhat of roasted grains and crackers. This is a rich flavoured lager, with sweet honey notes, a malty base and very obvious flavours of its floral and grassy hops. Aftertaste is sweet and grassy, but short lived.
Mouth Feel: A carbonated and sharp lager. Light bodied and refreshing. Slightly chalking mouth feel.
Final Thoughts (4 out of 5): If a lager should taste like something, it should be like this. Flavourful, but not so much to reduce its refreshing qualities. Hop notes are actually detectable, something most lagers sadly are completely devoid of.
Beer Review – Whistler Brewing Co’s Weissbier Wheat Ale
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Beer Tasting, Photography on October 23, 2011
Name: Whistler Brewing Co’s Weissbier Wheat Ale
Origin: BC, Canada
Style: Wheat Ale (5%)
Appearance: A cloudy, amber-orange wheat ale. Pours with a small, fizzy head that has very little retention.
Taste: Aroma is yeasty, but quite subtle. The flavour is fruity, starting with notes of grapefruit bitterness, but becoming sweet with strong flavours of banana and cloves. Spicy, reminiscent of potpourri, it finishes with a sweet banana like esters.
Mouth Feel: A very sharp, highly carbonated wheat ale. It is filling and medium body. Leaves a bit of a chalky feeling in the mouth.
Final Thoughts (3.5 out of 5): A good, flavourful wheat ale with a poor mouth feel. I felt that the high level of carbonation, detracted from its flavour. This may have been intentional to mask some of its stronger flavours, I would have preferred it just slightly less carbonated.
Beer Review – Niksicro Tivo
Posted by bradinator in Beer, Beer Tasting, Photography on October 18, 2011
Name: Niksicro Tivo
Origin: Montenegro
Style: Lager (5%)
Appearance: A very standard looking lager; crystal clear, pale yellow. A medium head that suffers from poor retention.
Taste: The aroma is light, with notes of malt and grasses. Like the aroma this beers flavours are also light and clean. There are notes of crackers or bread, finishing with a bitter, herbal aftertaste. I can detect some very gentle notes of lemon as well. Almost no aftertaste whatsoever.
Mouth Feel: An easy drinking beer for the masses. Light bodied, refreshing and only slightly filling.
Final Thoughts (2.5 out of 5): A refreshing, clean drinking lager with almost no character at all. Bland and unassuming, this beer works well on a hot day but not many places else.
