Thursday 29 November 2012

Triple Threat >> Scottish Ale / IPA / Winter Ale

I'm not sure how many people actually venture beyond their comfort zone when they drink their beer, but I decided to try three new brews in the same night!  I was at a tap house in West Vancouver, when I found the Whistler Brewing Co. "Valley Trail Chestnut Ale", the Howe Sound Inn & Brewing Co. "Devil's Elbow IPA", and the Storm Brewing Ltd. "Highland Scottish Ale".

Here's a pic I snapped, realizing I should take a picture before I end up with a picture of 3 empty glasses.


Let's start off with that Highland Scottish Ale (5% Alc, far right in picture) :

I wasn't quite sure what to expect, seeing as I've never really had a local Scottish Ale before.  The smell caught me off guard as I detected what seemed to be ginger emerging from within the beer. It also smelled like yeast, so I wasn't eager to down it.

The first sip wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Immediately I was put off by its average body, taste, and bitterness. It had a bit of nutty flavour to it, but aside from that, this beer is as average as the top of the bell curve in an E.S.L. class.

The "Highland Scottish Ale" gets a mediocre 6 / 10.


Moving on to the Devil's Elbow IPA (5.7% Alc, centre in picture):

There was a little more to be excited about with a new Howe Sound brew getting a go at my taste buds. I've been thoroughly impressed at the quality of the brews that have come out of their brewery in Squamish, and this IPA is pretty solid.  Through the first sniff I could smell citrus-y scents and even a hint of caramel.

The flavour transforms in this one from bitter to a very slight hint of caramel. Then the hops dominate the flavour until the citrus and what appears to be pine (yeah, weird) take over.  It's a weird and new after-taste, but not weird in a good way. I'm sure it would appeal to others, but the after taste brings down the score by half a point.

The "Devil's Elbow IPA" gets a good 7.5 / 10


And now the grand finale -- the Valley Trail Chestnut Ale (5% Alc, far left in picture):

This was definitely the black sheep of the beer tastings. From the first sniff of this beer, I was taken aback. The scent of sweetness and caramel and all things involving caramel-like sweets filled my mind. If there was ever a smell of a dessert beer -- it's this one.

As I tilted my glass back and let the beer gift my taste buds with its taste, the look on my face was priceless (according to my girlfriend). She immediately wanted a sip after smelling it, and she looked like her jaw was going to hit the table if it dropped any lower! The beer tastes like "Brandy-filled chocolates", and no kidding about that.

There are hints of vanilla, chocolate, caramel, almonds, pecans, chestnuts (duh), and so much more, I don't even know how to describe it more in words! You taste a lot of caramel with this beer, along with vanilla, and roasted chestnuts. This is honestly a dessert beer that I could drink forever. Reminds me a little bit of those tootsie roll pops, but better.

This is the absolute best winter ale I've ever had.

The "Valley Trail Chestnut Ale" gets an exceptional 9.5 / 10.


Sunday 25 November 2012

Banana Bread? Yes please!

If I ever told you that Banana Bread + Beer would make an excellent combination, you'd probably look at me funny. It's exactly what I thought too, until I discovered the Banana Bread Beer from Wells & Young's Ltd. This beer is actually brewed with bananas, and comes straight from the UK. They might not know how to cook, but they can certainly brew!

At first glance, it even comes in a clear bottle and shows off it's pretty colours. I knew I had to try it. You know most beers like this are usually hit or miss, and everyone that tried this with me had positive reactions to it.

On first pour, the Banana Bread Beer had a crisp-looking texture to it, and had about 1/2 to 1 inch of head before it dissipated. I took the glass to my nose and sniffed it, and it really did have hints of bananas. I felt like one of those wine people, swirling it in the glass and sniffing away at the banana bread-y goodness.

My initial first sip gave immediate flavourings of a honey brown ale mixed with a hint of banana bread, and then the taste goes away until after you've swallowed your sip. Then you can taste the hint of banana and it is just brilliant! The banana taste is put into the beer in such a way that it's noticeable but not overwhelming by any means. It is not too carbonated, which works with the way that it's flavoured; there are a lot of delicate tastes that you can pick up.

It's priced at $3.50 for a 500mL bottle at BC Liquor Stores, and is definitely worth a try!

What food would go well with this beer?
Well, honestly I would prefer to drink this on its own. It would probably go well with breads, grains, and carbs. I might actually suggest good ol' cheddar and crackers.

How does it stack up?
The Wells and Young's Brewing Ltd. Banana Bread Beer gets a solid 8.5 / 10

-- It's not only something to experience once because of its unique taste, but I've had this on many occasions. This is a beer where you walk into the liquor store, see it across the aisle, and go "Oh yeah, definitely gotta pick up one of those."

As always, Cheers!

Saturday 24 November 2012

The Closest I'll Come to Wine.

So I paid a visit to the Central City Brew Pub in Surrey on Wednesday, and saw an interesting feature under their seasonal brews.

A brew so uncommon in mainstream liquor outlets, that I relied on the server going into the brewery to ask my question, and I relied on Google for my question "What kind of beer is it?"

"Thor's Hammer" American-style Barley Wine from Central City Brewing Co. in Surrey, B.C.
Alcohol content: estimated between 8.0 to 13%

An "American-style Barley Wine", which I'm learning for the first time, is a very strong, very alcoholic beer. It is by no means a wine, and can be anywhere from dark amber to extremely dark in colour. However, American styled barley wines have a much richer hops taste than a traditional English barley wine.

Nonetheless, lessons aside, this beer had a very dark amber colour. Seeing as it was only served in a 10oz glass, I felt a little frilly as it arrived in a wine glass (as pictured below).


As I dove into this beer, I was a little skeptical as to what it would be. The server told me it would be strong, but have a bit of a creamy taste to it. Google told me it would be strong as a kick to the tongue.

So I took a sniff, and actually couldn't smell much.  I took a tiny sip to see if I would flinch in disgust, but I didn't!

Surprisingly, it tasted like an IPA had a baby with an Altbier mutt, having 1/4 Cream Ale in it. That would make this barley wine 4/8 IPA, 3/8 Altbier, and 1/8 Cream Ale. It has all the harshness that I expected, but was really smooth going down.

It had a very intense front taste, loaded with hops. The middle taste was similar but not as intense, as you can actually taste a slight hint of barley like from a barley soup. The end taste was crisp and to the point.  Likewise, I dove in for another sip, and another, and as it ends up, I was down for another beer!

Food pairings?
This beer was definitely released in time for American Thanksgiving -- it would go really well with dark meat poultry as Turkey or Chicken. As I said, this particular barley wine is a very dark amber-like ale texture. I would go for chicken as the base "meat", and add kicks to it with flavour or sauce (like spices or a BBQ sauce) in order to not overpower on either end. This beer would overpower honey-garlic wings, but may be suitable for a very salty meal (hence the American Thanksgiving timing).

What would I rate it?
It's solidly brewed, meaning that it has all the flavours that I expected something like this to have, but it didn't have the flow that I have had in other beers. It is a unique brew for sure. I didn't end up getting anything when I smelled it initially, aside from hops...and more like dank hops than anything else. Most noticeably, it had a smooth finish. If this beer did not have the creamy texture that it does, I think I would have just pushed it aside.


Would I recommend this to anyone else?
Definitely. It's a must-try in a category that rarely presents itself.

Would I order another one?
Maybe, depending on what I'm eating.


The Red Racer "Thor's Hammer" American-Style Barley Wine gets a good 7.0 out of 10.

Cheers!

Thursday 22 November 2012

More like BESTspresso Stout!

Welcome to Brewji!

I am a beer-drinking, beer-loving blogger from Vancouver, B.C. I aim to educate + entertain on the best of the best of beer, food + beer pairings, and anything else I find that may be of interest.

Seeing as I've recently returned from a trip to Victoria, B.C., I'm going to start off by introducing my new favourite Espresso Stout!


Voltage Espresso Stout by Hoyne Brewing Co., Victoria, B.C.
Alcohol content: 5.6%

The photo quality is always going to be blog-quality. This means that I was too busy having an awesome vacation to snap a photo-shoot photo.

On first pour, this espresso stout pours very dark, with tan coloured head. Immediately on the pour, I could smell the aroma of roasted malt, espresso (which is local to Victoria), and chocolate. I don't know how to describe the feeling I got, I remember a chill down my spine as I stared at my girlfriend in awe. I had a great feeling about this beer, and I was right. Even she liked this beer. She doesn't normally like beer. The only other two beers she has liked since she's met me are the Whistler Chestnut Ale, and the Red Racer ESB.

My bottle of this beer was not very much carbonated, but the blend between the bitter and the sweet was done so well, the formation of flavour on every taste bud in my mouth was like discovering a new wonder of the world. Mark my words, discovering a new wonder of the world. My mouth is watering just typing this article!

I was being ambitious when I realized I bought so much of this stout, that I was becoming full and decided it would be a good idea to cook with what was left of this stout. I began to make a video on YouTube about it, but I didn't get a chance to film the actual cooking or the eating because it smelled too good and tasted even better!

This is the 43 seconds of footage I was able to snap:


This is truly in my Top 3 Beers I have EVER tasted. Go out and get some, it's a limited brew!

What would I rate it?
This is honestly the best beer I've had since the Longboat Chocolate Porter, which was previously published as the #1 brewed beer within all of BC in an article I wrote for SFU's newspaper The Peak.  Along with that Longboat Chocolate Porter, this beer gets a solid 10!

Not only does the taste, texture, aroma, and everything else about it get me going, but it is so versatile.  You can cook with it, drink it, marinate with it, and it can be used in so many ways to add flavour to foods, sauces, and coffee (yes, I said coffee).

The Hoyne Brewing Co. Voltage Espresso Stout gets a PERFECT 10 / 10

Absolutely delicious.

Cheers!