Howe DO They Do It?

I'm not generally the type to retread common ground, but when circumstances arise that make it viable, I won't shy away from it.  Such is the case with a great brewery like Howe Sound.  I've already shown you what these people are capable of.  King Heffy received the highest of praise some weeks or months ago from me, and rightly so.  Naturally, as this brewery took an already great beer variety and made it superior by adding the prefix 'Imperial' to it, it would be a safe assumption that they could do this again, would it not?  Why yes, yes they can.






Thus brings me to our subject for this evening's debate.  And that is, of course, Howe Sound's Pumpkineater Imperial Pumpkin Ale.  No, it's not new, and no, it's not *quite* the most intense pumpkin ale I've tried.  However, where I can answer 'yes' is to the question of whether or not this is better than Granville Island Brewing's offering, and in fact the majority of pumpkin ales available.  Indeed it is, which means one very important thing:  I can go back to hating GIB!

Well, at least until their Winter Ale becomes available.

Back to the Pumpkineater.  It's great.  It's everything you want in a seasonal, flavoured beer, and there's few beers that accommodate their appropriate season as well as a good pumpkin ale.  Much like their take on a hefeweizen, Howe Sound took the idea of a pumpkin ale, turbocharged it in every respect (including alcoholic content, coming in at a hefty 8%), slapped an 'Imperial' onto the name, packaged it in one of their iconic 1.1 liter bottles, and sat back to await the impending praise and groveling.  And by golly, they've done it again.

Even just looking at this beer, you know it's going to be a real kick-to-the-teeth, taste-bud-mutilating, sinus-exploding joyride.  It's heavy and cloudy, like any good heff, but darker and richer in appearance.  Catch but the slightest whiff of it, and you're going to be 1.1 liters of ale the poorer, and likely quite drunk.  Resist this temptation, and you have my respect.  Or my contempt.  It's one of those two; I often get them confused.

What time is it?  It's time to break it down!

Taste:  Potent.  Practically alive with flavour.  You may feel the compulsion to chase this with a dollop of whipped cream.  Without a doubt, one of the very best 'dessert' beers you can have this season.

Aroma:  Every bit as flamboyant as the taste.  If it had arms, it would be flailing them about; if it had a mouth, it would be yelling "Look at me!".  

Aftertaste:  Not nearly as complex as a stout or porter, but there's plenty of tasty spices and notes to discover.

Recommended?:  Not if you have a moral objection to the mass slaughter of pumpkins in autumn.  Otherwise yes.

Verdict:  Another home run by Howe Sound, but to be fair, were you expecting anything else?  Definitely one of my favourite pumpkin ales available, and well ahead of the offering from GIB.  

Score:  9.5 mugs out of 10.

Ye Olde Chocolate Stout

There are double chocolate stouts, and then there are double chocolate stouts.  This is the latter.  And it hails from the exotic and far off land of Englandia.

Good evening, and welcome to tonight's edition of Beer Cruise.  Or apply whatever time of day to the appropriate time zone you're in.  Today, we examine a titan of the stout world.  The beer that is perhaps the bar for others of its type.  There's no sense in tiptoeing around the subject, so I'll get right to it; today we review the one and only Young's Double Chocolate Stout.

Chocoholics: you have been warned.

When I set out to form Beer Cruise, I had two vague ideas in mind.  First, I would incorporate cruising wherever possible.  Second, I would focus mostly on relatively local microbreweries, specifically throughout BC and Oregon, but also from other parts of Canada.  Today, I dare to colour outside the lines.  Today, I invite our commonwealth forefathers to invade the sacred halls of Beer Cruise...and thank them for the incursion.

A collection of dogshi- er, inferior quality imports.  Being from another
country does not immediately indicate quality.  Avoid.

Because Young's double chocolate stout is a special occasion.  True, the UK produces some of the best beer in the world, but when it comes to imports, we tend to see little of that.  Yes, brands like Wychwood are excellent and widely available, and Guinness strikes a blow for mainstream beer, but by and large imports, whether UK or otherwise, tend to rely on the virtue of being imports rather than being quality in order to sell.  Take Heineken or Grolsch, for example.  Both very mediocre beers, but because of the foreign name and the pedigree of the nations they come from, they become popular among beer drinkers who think they're being sophisticated, when in fact they are being fooled.  Genuine beer from Germany, Holland, Belgium or the UK tends to be more specialized over here, with most of the really great stuff staying in its homeland.  But every so often, one slips through the net, and this particular stout is one of them.

Young's does something extraordinary with a very simple equation: combine two of the greatest inventions in human history (beer and chocolate) and bottle it.  Where they excel is in just how well they pull this off.  Anyone can infuse chocolate into beer, but not just anyone can do it so seamlessly and professionally.  Like any piece of extremely high quality chocolate, this stout is to be savoured and enjoyed, and is not to be spoiled by combining it with inferior food or drink.  Have it on its own, or with a piece of chocolate.  Have this with dinner, and I shall dispatch a flock of Reliant Robins to roll over onto you when you're on your way to work on the morrow.

British engineering at its finest.

Taste:  As with all chocolate stouts, this tastes of, you guessed it, chocolate.  You also get the smooth, malty flavours combined with notes of coffee.  It's very complex.  Stephen Hawking could have a field day trying to quantify this beer.  This is the standard for all double chocolate stouts.  Beat this, and you've done something extremely special.

Aroma:  Like melted down dark chocolate bars, a bottom-of-the-pot cup of coffee, and fermented malt and hops tossed into a vat, then bottled for your enjoyment.  Honestly if this stuff came in cologne or mouthwash form, I would buy it out before they could restock it.

Aftertaste:  As mentioned earlier, you'll be discerning between notes of chocolate, coffee, malt and hops.  Suffice it to say you won't be left wanting for some time after that initial swig.

Recommended?:  Don't be silly.

Verdict:  Ah Britain.  The land that gave us Concorde, Monty Python, Aston Martin, the entire British Commonwealth, Rowan Atkinson, and Russian Imperial Stouts.  Now we have another entry into that great legacy.  

Score:  10 mugs out of 10.

This Pumpkin...It's Smashing

Granville Island Brewing, oh you problem child you.  On one hand, you have a brewery that produces several very standout seasonal beers, some of which are available in 6 packs of 355 ml bottles.  On the other hand, you have a truly disingenuous 'microbrewery' that is in fact no microbrewery at all, but rather under the ownership of Molson Coors, and is bent on conquering the market of newcomer beer drinkers.  That is to say those who stray away from the mainstream but haven't broken into the realm of the small, extremely high quality microbrews, to which GIB offers a selection of mostly average and underwhelming beer posing as the genuine article.

Oh, hello.  I didn't see you there.  Welcome to this edition of Beer Cruise.  Tonight, we are taking a look at an interesting little specimen.  A beer I didn't entirely want to like, because of the label, but ended up enjoying all the same.  That's right, it's Granville Island's pumpkin ale, and I must concede...it's pretty good.









Now, a lot (small handful) of people accuse me of being a...well...I'll just come out and say it: a beer hipster.  And truth be told, if I could pin that accusation to my lapel, I damn well would.  There.  Yeah, I said it.  Deal with it...dot jpg.

Yes, I do so enjoy being on the cutting edge of beer elitism, so what.  But why all this hatred for GIB?  Sure, sure, much of it is overblown, and as much is undeserved, but the real problem I have with them is how they masquerade as a small, independent microbrewery, when in fact they are owned by the mainest of the mainstream (and among the worst of the worst).  Still...for the purposes of fairness, I'll put aside my personal views about the brewery, and focus on the beer in question.  As for the rest, well, I rather hate Granville Island, and some will hate me for that opinion...to which I can only say...

But...in the interest of science, drunkenness, and above all, cruising, I am willing to cast aside my beer-winged political beliefs to determine the greatest beer to accompany oneself on a relaxing cruise after a rough day.  And let me tell you folks, GIB's pumpkin ale pushes all the right buttons.  While not nearly as intense as the pumpkin ale from Steamworks Brewery that I had the pleasure of tasting at the Victoria Beer Festival,  it's a worthy returning cast member to the increasing line of pumpkin ales available today. The flavour is more restrained, more subtle, though it is still distinctly like a liquefied, fermented pumpkin pie squeezed into a 650 ml bottle.  Shame it doesn't come with a scoop of ice cream.

It's fitting then that this beer was sampled on the first day of autumn, perhaps the most underrated of all seasons.  With the coming of fall, we begin to put aside lighter, more refreshing beer in exchange for brutal bitters, savage stouts and, of course, delicious and unique seasonals.  GIB's pumpkin ale is no exception; it fits the bill, and it makes you glad for all of autumn's leaf-changing, temperature-cooling, squash-and-spice-smothered charms, rather than resentful at the passing of summer.  And that's a good thing.

Random filler.  But it's pretty nice filler, isn't it?

Taste:  Lacks the intensity of some flavoured beers, including another pumpkin ale by Steamworks.  However, this is not a bad thing, as too much flavouring can ruin the beer.  Now, as a personal opinion, I tend to prefer when flavoured beer really cuts loose and goes all out, because I figure since they're messing with the formula, they might as well be as ridiculous as possible.  But I'm certainly not going to deny the quality of a proper, subtle and refined pumpkin ale such as this.  

Aroma:  The next time you have pumpkin pie, snort it like a cocaine fiend, rather than eating it.  Then you'll have some idea what I'm on about.

Aftertaste:  Unfortunately with a more subtle flavouring comes a meeker finish which tapers off into a more generic ale taste.  And I've never been huge on most ales.  I've always considered them the Spain of beers; not trying too hard, not falling behind, and not taking sides.  Content with being enjoyable without being anyone's favourite.

Recommended?:  Yes, certainly.  If a Granville Island basher like me can enjoy their pumpkin ale, chances are you can too.  

Verdict:  It may be early in the season, but infusing pumpkin into everything from dessert to coffee to beer is what autumn is all about.  Enjoy it.  Revel in it.  Drink it.

Score:  7.5 mugs out of 10.  (Look; it's not an 8 or 8.5.  This one's for you Jesse!)

And Now for Something Completely Different

Bonus points for getting the reference.

Going into a taste test completely ignorant...not something I do often, I will admit, but there are big advantages to this sort of 'blind' tasting, particularly when choosing a type of beer one does not have a high opinion of.  Low expectations in combination with a good quality product make for an interesting and surprising experiment.

But wait a minute here.  A nut brown ale?  Well that's not really all that different, let's be honest here.

Ah, but in a way it is.  See, I am not a great advocate of nut browns.  Certainly, I am willing to try just about any beer at least once (unless it is some mainstream American crap, or contains the words 'real lime flavour' written on the bottle), but nut browns have never really grabbed me, not in a good way.  I find most nut brown ales to be too acidic or...tin-y.  Yes, sometimes that works in a beer, but I would argue only in moderation.  So it would happen that along comes a brewery that must have read my nut brown manifesto...






Yes, it's Cannery Brewing's Naramata Nut Brown Ale.  Bit of a mouthfull?  Well spit it the hell out to make room for this delicious malt beverage.  Cannery Brewing has done something extraordinary; they've made a truly great nut brown ale that I genuinely enjoy.  Well done Cannery.

So just what sets this here beer apart from the general riff-raff?  Well, for starters, there's a distinct lack of that overpowering acidic, 'tin' taste that puts me off other nut browns.  Score one for Cannery.  This also melds nicely with point number two, in that the Naramata nut brown, while dark and potent, has a smooth finish, not being harsh in the slightest.  But what's really great is just how much flavour there is for such a, well, dare I say 'regular' beer.  Nut browns are not exactly the most interesting or polarizing of beers, not having the distinct malty and syrupy nature of stouts and porters, nor the hoppy and jarring taste of IPAs or bitters, nor the utterly hopeless and boring entirety of lagers.

If you're a lager drinker, well...quite frankly I'm shocked you've stuck it out this long.  And also that you're sober enough to read this far into the article, as drunkenness is the only function of a lager.  Shouldn't you be working on your 17th can of carbonated piss-water about now?

Anyways, inferior beverage bashing aside, back to the Naramata nut brown.  We've established that it's not just a good nut brown ale, but a great one.  So what more is there to cover?  Well, the most important points have been made, but it's worth noting that this beer is exceptional for cruising, particularly if you have it upon your destination (midpoint), because the more moderate temperature really opens up the flavour.

In fact, serving temperature is something that is often disregarded among non connoisseurs, and is something I am quite guilty of from time to time.  It's critical that you keep in mind that nearly all beer (particularly those that actually have taste) is not actually best when it's right out of the fridge.  Sure, it might be appealing in the heat of summer to grab an ice cold amber ale, fruity porter, or, god forbid, stout (never never never have a stout ice cold), but the truth is that most beer has the most flavour at cool or below room temperature levels.  It's a tough one to judge, but much like an appreciation for fine beer, an appreciation for the right temperature at which to drink said beer will come with time and experience.  Just remember that extreme cold covers up the flavour, and therefore is best reserved for terrible beer that exists for the sole purpose of getting you drunk.

My my...that was quite the tangent wasn't it?  Yes...yes it was, invisible inquisitive reader.  But an important one.  Now...on to the main event.

Taste:  It's a nut brown ale...and by golly, I like it.  I like it a lot, in fact.  This is the absolute quintessential 'regular' beer.  Extremely flavourful, very palatable, and yet not out of reach for newcomers.

Aroma:  To be honest, it's not the strong point of the Naramata, though aroma tends to be a secondary factor in most of this type, in my experience.

Aftertaste:  Not overly complex, but not too simplistic either.  A great, smooth finish, lacking the metallic or acidic taste sometimes found in other nut browns.  

Recommended?:  Big big yes.  Not only can I recommend this to beer drinkers, but I would say beginners would find this just as enjoyable.  It's a beer for all.  The Volkswagon of beer, one might say.

Verdict:  Whether you're a fan of nut browns or not, a high time beer drinker or not, a drunk or not, I think there's a lot to enjoy from this beer.  I'd say it's a safe bet just about anyone can pick it up and thoroughly enjoy it, whether they've been drinking great beer for a long time, or whether they're just breaking out of the mainstream of limp-wristed fairy dust lagers.

Score:  9 mugs out of 10.

Oh, Now That's Just Peachy

A peach cream ale you say?  Sounds like the ideal summer beverage.  And indeed, that theory would prove correct...if only summer would remember that it's supposed to stick around for most of September.

Enough whinging about the weather.  This beer then...is it any good?  Well, allow me to answer that question with a question: do you enjoy beer, peaches, and/or the sensation of being refreshed on a warm evening?  If you answered yes to any of these, then yes, the peach cream ale may well be for you.

...What?  Why are you still here?  I said the beer was good...so just go out and buy it, damn you.  Go on now.

No, goddammit, wrong kind of peach!

Oh, very well, I suppose there are finer points to address.  The Tin Whistle's take on this fruity 650 milliliters of deliciousness is exceptional because the peach flavour appropriately accompanies and enhances the beer flavour, rather than overpowering it.  The latter is a great crime, something many flavoured beers (including the old version of Longwood's Framboise, mind you) are guilty of.  Certainly, it's more than traces or notes of the taste, but it's unmistakably a beer.  It strikes that balance between fruity and fermented rather perfectly.

But, while your mouth may thank you, your nose will applaud you.  This peach cream ale smells fantastic.  Certainly, the peach flavour is more dominant in terms of smell, but somehow it just works.  Beer connoisseurs and philistines (see: non beer drinkers) alike can enjoy the wonderful aroma of Tin Whistle's peach cream ale.




  
Annnnnnnd...queue the music; time to break it down!

Taste:  Quick!  Someone phone the press...this beer tastes of peaches!  Well, more than that, it tastes of peaches and beer, rather than falling too far in one direction or another, like some breweries tend to do with flavoured beers.

Aroma:  It's like being punched in the face with someone whose fist is composed entirely of peach flesh.

Aftertaste:  You can get a lot of taste from just a little swig.  The rather pleasant flavour will continue to stick around long after you've taken your first sip...though it will be hard to manage the willpower to allow for long durations between drinks. 

Recommended?:  10-4 roger that affirmative!  Not quite the most incredible beer I've had this summer (heck, not even the most incredible summer beer I've had this summer), but it is one of the most surprising.

Verdict:  So...you thought summer was over?  Well, frankly, summer is over when I damn well say it is.  And it's not.  So try this beer today, and give Mother Nature what-for.  

Score:  8 mugs out of 10.

The Bubonic Plague Has Come Again

Honestly, I don't see what all the fuss was about. Those Europeans were practically showered with Black Death all those hundreds of years ago...just what were they complaining about?

I do, of course, refer to Russell Brewing Company's tasty little number known as Black Death Porter. And I will admit, yes, it was the name that drew me to this particular beer (marketing works, folks!).

Now, let's address the elephant in the room. This is the second week in a row that I've reviewed a porter. Oh deary me. Well, quite frankly, I give not one damn, and will continue reviewing porters until Judgment Day if it pleases me. Truth be told however, I value variety and diversity in my beer-soaked adventures, so it's fitting then that this porter may not be exactly what you expect.

Whereas most porters I've tried tend to be on the syrupy and thick side of things, and heavy with molasses, the Black Death, while very potent, very dark and very flavourful, favours a more refreshing, sweet and crisp taste that I don't generally associate with porters. It's smooth, yet bitey...and I rather like it. And at 6.5%, it's no pushover.  It's also the perfect cruising beer, because as with all porters and stouts, it's best not to drink it immediately after removing it from the fridge, making it ideal to take with you to allow it to 'warm up' (have it cool rather than cold).

So...sounds great right? But where then is my usual lavishing praise, my nonsensical jargon, my silly and hyperbolic japes, all of which tend to walk hand-in-hand with particularly excellent beers that I'm reviewing? Well, the truth of it is that such silliness comes out only to accompany such passion. Don't get me wrong here; the Black Death is a very good porter, but I don't get that same punch-in-the-back, pepperspray-to-the-face sensation that I get with your King Heffys, your Frambroises, or your Old Rasputins. It also has little to critique, so I can't go off the deep end in the other direction, ripping it a new one in all manner of entertaining and shouty ways. I'm afraid that this review is the most dreaded thing of all. I'm afraid that this review...is serious and sober.

Depending on your definition of serious and sober, that is.

Well then, on to the really serious stuff.

Taste:  Somewhat unusual for a porter, but in a good way.  It's crisp and refreshing, almost in a way you'd expect from a more citrusy beer, like a hefeweizen or something flavoured.  While the thick and juicy molasses taste is certainly present, I can imagine a non-porter drinker enjoying it just as much.  Some may detect a hint of hops, but as a beer drinker who cannot abhor the taste of extremely hoppy beer, I can confirm that it's nowhere near enough to be off-putting.

Aroma:  To be honest, either I never noticed, or it was completely forgettable.

Aftertaste:  Oh complexity...how do I love thee?  Let me count the ways:  All sorts of fun things go on in your mouth after the initial swallow (INNUENDO MUCH?).  The stronger, traditional porter flavours are not immediately present, basically lulling you into a false sense of security before pouncing, leaving you at the mercy of syrupy molasses goodness.  You'll be better off for it though.  And it leaves a nice, near-burning sensation that you'd expect from something much, much stronger.  

Recommended?:  Yes.  If you're a fan of porters or dark beer, definitely give this one a shot.  If you're not, I would still recommend it because of the interesting bridging between dark, powerful beer and light and refreshing summery beer.

Verdict:  Jolly well done Russell.  This is not the most amazing beer I've had, not even the best porter, but it is nonetheless very good, and an interesting specimen as well.  Plus, you can tell all your friends that you're drinking Black Death, and that just never gets old.

Score:  8 mugs out of 10.