Day 270-Beer 270 Belgian Wit, Mill Street Brewery Toronto Ontario

Tonight's brew is a witbier, it poured a hazy golden yellow with adequate head that left a thin layer of lacing across the surface. The aroma has hints of citrus, orange with a wheat background. The flavour is sweet up front with bready yeasts and some spice, possible something like coriander and a bit of hop bitterness. This one is not my cup of ...Beer so to speak, 3.1 out of 5.

Day 269-Beer 269 Steam Works Pilsner, Steam Works Brewing Co. Vancouver British Columbia

This one poured a golden yellow leaving some nice sticky lacing. The aroma was more of an IPA than a pilsner, citrus hops up front with a sweet fruity background. The flavour was caramel malt and peppery spices with some hop bitterness but not the grapefruit that seem to be a big part of the aroma. Overall an okay brew 3.5 out of 5

Day 268-Beer 268 The Bold Belgian Pale Ale, Dead Frog Brewery, Aldergrove British Columbia

Tonight's Brew is a Belgian Pale Ale. This style of brew generally uses aged hops to produce a pale ale that is less bitter than other pale ale styles. The usualy have a sweet and toasted malt backbone. Don't make the mistake I made and pour it properly as they tend to have a lot of yeast sediment on the bottom.
This one poured a very murky amber/copper colour with lots of floaties, my mistake, lots of cream tan head that left nice thick sticky lacing.  The aroma is surprisingly hoppy with lots of citrus and a sweet fruity background. Not what I expected from the style. The taste also quite hoppy with lots of grapefruit more like an APA, but a very malty background not overly sweet with hints of bread yeasts as well. Overall a pretty good brew but after reading up on its style  I think they over hopped the beer but still I rather enjoyed it. 3.7 out of 5.

Day 267-Beer 267 Muskoka Detour, Muskoka Brewery, Bracebridge Ontario

99 bottles of beer on the wall if.......Tonight's brew is an American IPA. It is a very light version at 4.3 %ABV. It poured a hazy golden yellow colour with minimal head that left some nice sticky lacing around the edges of the glass. The aroma has hints of citrus and grassy hops with a nice floral aspect to it. The taste is not your typical overpowering APA but rather is has a nice clean taste with lots of grapefruit up front along with some pine and grassy hops. It is very flavourful for a lite beer. 3.6 out of 5

Day 266-Beer 266 Muskoka Summer Weiss, Muskoka Brewery, Bracebridge Ont.

100 bottles of beer on the wall if one of those bottles should happen to be drank tonight I'll only have 99 bottles of beer to go.
Tonight's brew is a Hefeweizen or unfiltered wheat beer.  I never really tasted any wheat beers that I liked prior to my sojourn but I have now found several that are pretty good beers and are very drinkable. This one poured a hazy golden yellow colour with only minimal head that left no lacing at all. The aroma is citrus, banana and honey. The taste is sweet honey, citrus (mainly orange) with hints of cloves and pepper. Overall a very refreshing brew and don't ruin it by adding a slice of lemon or orange, 3.6 out of 5.

Day 265-Beer 265 Artic, Mack bryggeri, Nordkjosbotn, Norway

This is #5 of five from Norway. My Daughter left for Norway again  today for a month contract flying job near the town of Bodo. This one is another pils that poured a clear golden yellow with nice white head that left some spotty lacing across the surface. The aroma was sweet malt with a hint of lemon , caramel and spicy hops. The flavour is sweet with a somewhat fruity background and some spicy/ peppery hops. Not quite as good as last nights but almost. Very refreshing with a nice dry finish 3.5 out of 5

Day 264-Beer 264 Ringnes Skjaergards Pils, Ringnes Bryggeri (Carlsberg) Olso, Norway

Norwegian Pils #4. This one is listed as a German style pils,  a comparable beer of this style is Warsteiner Premium Verum. It pours a golden amber colour with some nice head that settles to a thin covering of lace across the surface. The aroma is somewhat of a malt background with hints of honey, lemon and grassy hops. The flavour is nicely balance with some spicy hops and sweet malts. The feel is almost creamy with a nice dry finish.  A very good brew and certainly better than the first three pils from Norway 3.6 out of 5.

Day 263-Beer 263 Frydenlund Pilsener Ringnes Bryggeri (Carlsberg) | Oslo, Norway

Norway Pils #3 Fydenlund Pilsner. It poured a clear golden yellow with lots of head and carbonation bubbles that settled quickly leaving just a small amount of lacing around the edge of the glass. The aroma was fairly lite with just a hint of malts and some grainy yeasts. The taste again typical pils, some sweet malts up front with just a hint of something bitter in the background, but it just didn't seem to be a nice hop created bitterness. Not as good as the first two but not bad 3.4 out of 5

Day 262-Beer 262 Isbjorn Lys Pilsner, Mack Norway

 Norway beer #2
 Mack Isbjørn  is a pilsner from the northernmost brewery in Norway. The Polar Bear is the symbol of freshness in Norway and they feel its freshness is from the water that they use. It poured a clear golden yellow with some frothy head that dissipated quickly leaving only a little lacing . The aroma has a slight fruity hint to it with a caramel malt background. The taste is somewhat sweet up front with a quick hit of pepper and some grassy hops with no aftertaste or bitterness. A good pilsner, very drinkable with a nice dry finish but only slightly better than last night's brew from Norway 3.5 out of 6.

Day 261-Beer 261 Nordlands Pils, Nordlands Bryggeriet, Oslo, Norway

This is the first of six pils from Norway courtesy my Daughter who just returned from a contract flying job in the most Northern reaches of Norway, way inside the artic circle. This one is considered to be a Euro lager. Similar brews of this type are Stella Artois and Heineken. It  poured a clear golden yellow colour with nice foamy white head that left some spotty lacing. The aroma is earthy/grassy hops and some sweet malts. The taste is sweet up front with some nice herbal hops in the background and a nice dry finish. Somewhat of a typical Euro pils/lager 3.5 out 5.

Day 260-Beer 260 Arkell Best Bitter, Wellington Brewery, Guelph Ontario

 Another tough day, had to golf again, I was having a great game until the eighteenth where I quadruple bogied but I still broke 90, go figure. If you are ever in Guelph stop at the Fat Duck for a great spicy curry wrap and lots of beers on tap. We tried the Arkell Best Bitter. It poured an amber/copper colour with very little head that disappeared quickly leaving no lacing at all. The aroma was caramel and toasted malts and not much else. The taste although not overly sweet was malty up front, mainly caramel and just a faint hint of grassy hops with not bitterness. Overall an okay beer that was quite drinkable after a game of golf 3.5 out of 5

Day 259-Beer 259 Samuel Adams Octoberfest,Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams) , Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts

A great day on the course with 7 fellow golfers. We played Otter Creek and as usual it played pretty tough and as for my game the back nine beat me up. Anyhow after the game we had a few drinks in there 19th hole and on tap was tonight's brew.  It is listed as a Märzen / Oktoberfest Beer. These beers were brewed in the spring (Märzen or March brews) to be bready for the fall and kept a in cellars with cool enough temperatures to keep the brew over the summer as brewing in the summer b prior to refrigeration often prove difficult. They are generally dark/copper in colour with only a mild hop profile.
This one is very typical of the style, it poured an dark amber/copper colour with adequate head that dissipated quickly leaving some sticky lacing across the surface. The aroma was somewhat sweet with toffee and malt being the predominant smell. The taste was also fairly sweet, toffee, brown sugar with a fruity background and virtually no hop bitterness. Bill's comments were "a little to sweet, it looks like Rickard's Red and doesn't taste much better". Over all an okay brew that does fit its style but as Bill said not much better than a Rickard's Red, we both scored it at 3.5 out of 5

Day 258-Beer 258 California Sunshine APA, Cameron's Brewing Co. Oakville Ontario

Tonight's brew is an APA see Day 203 (July 23) for a description of the style or search APA for lots of comparable beers. This one pours a hazy golden yellow colour with adequate head that settled to a thin film of lacing across the surface. The aroma has hints of malts and musty earthy and grassy hops with a citrus background. The flavour is a little peppery and sweet up front but that quickly leads to a  grapefruit bitterness . Overall an okay APA but nowhere near the best that I have tried 3.5 out of 6

Day 257-Beer 257 Bear Paw Honey Lager, Whistler Brewing Co. Whistler, British Columbia

Tonight's brew poured an amber  colour with very little head but what was there stuck around for a while and left some nice sticky lacing. The aroma as one might expect for a honey lager is quite  sweet with hints of honey and caramel. The flavour consists of honey up front with some caramel malts, a hint of licorice and just a touch of grassy hop bitterness in the background. This is a very drinkable brew and above average for a honey lager. 3.7 out of 5

Day 256-Beer 256 Chimay Première (Red) - Bières de Chimay ,Baileux (Chimay), Belgium

Tonight's brew is a Belgium Dubbel, Dubbels are rich malty beers with some spicy characteristics. Generally they have dark fruit aromas and flavors with a mild hop presence.
This beer has a Trappist logo certifying that is was brewed within the walls of a Trappist  Monastery and under the control of  the Trappist Community. " The exceptional yeast isolated by Father Theodore combined with the purity of the highly protected water of the abbey's wells give Chimay its unique richness. Since 1862 Chimay's secondary fermented ales have neither been pasteurized or filtered and only natural ingredients are used."
Its definitely and unfiltered beer as it poured a very murky dark amber colour with lots of head that when settled left virtually no lacing. The aroma is bready yeast, caramel, dark fruits and some spices (maybe pepper and cloves). The taste has hints of caramel, toffee, pepper, dark fruits(plum) honey up front with a hint of cloves and some grassy hops that produce just a touch of bitterness. Even though it is a strong ale at 7%ABV there is no real tastes of alcohol. 3.7 out of 5

Day 255-Beer 255 1812, Butler's Bitter, Niagara College, Niagara on the Lake, Ontario

Thanks Pat for another brew to try, this one from Niagara College. It runs a college program in beer making, just wish I was a little younger when they started this course. As the name states it is an English Bitter.   The English  meaning of bitter is pale ale. They are the typical casked beer on tap in an English Pub, usually poured at cellar temperature and had alcohol contents between 4 and 5%. They are usually gold to copper in colour and are light bodied with low carbonation. Hop bitterness is generally very moderate and most have a fruitiness in the aroma and flavor.
This one poured an amber/copper colour with good soapy head that settled to leave some nice lacing across the entire surface. Not much in the way of aroma with just a hint of sweetness and bready yeasts. The taste is made up of a sweet fruity and caramel flavours with some subtle hops that have earthy tones. A nice dry finish with no lingering bitterness. A good beer for its style, 3.6 out of 5.

Day 254-Beer 254 Kill-a-wat Irish Red Ale, Silversmith Brewing Company , Virgil Ontario

This one is listed as an Irish Ale but its more of a crossover, The colour dark amber with a reddish tinge, nice off white head that leaves some very nice sticky lacing are certainly typical of an Irish Red but that's the extent of it as it would better fit in an IPA classification. Irish Red's tend to be heavy on the malt aroma's and taste with a very sweet background and often just a hint of hops. This brew has a very prevalent hops aroma, made of grassy hops, grapefruit and pine resin with just a hint of caramel malt in the background. The taste is also typical IPA, caramel and toffee up front which is quickly overpowered by grapefruit and a hop bitterness and a nice dry finish. Not much as an Irish Red but a really good and very drinkable brew that I enjoyed. 3.8 out of 5. Thanks Pat for the brews you donated to my cause.

Day 253-Beer 253 Ellicottville American Pale Ale, Ellicottville Brewing Co., Ellicottville New York

As the name states tonight's brew is an American Pale Ale. It pours a light amber colour with nice white head that left some nice lacing. The aroma is very hop-dominant, it's all grapefruit and pine resin. The taste is much the same grapefruit dominant with just a hint of sweetness from the malts in the background. Overall very drinkable, an excellent APA, 3.9 out of 5.

Day 252-Beer 252 Irish Style Brown Ale, Trafalgar Ales and meads, Oakville Ontario

Tonight's brew is an English brown ale, comparable beers Newcastle Brown and Southern Pecan. This one poured a clear dark amber colour with a hint of red. The cream coloured head settled quickly leaving some sticky lacing around the edge f the glass.  The aroma was very sweet, caramel toffee and roasted malts. The flavour  very sweet up front, toffee, roasted nuts and some dark fruit with just a hint of hops in the background. Overall an okay brew but too sweet for my liking, 3.3 out of 5.

catch up time days 246-251

Thursday  Sept. 4 Beer 246- Blanche De Chambly, Uniboue, Chambly Quebec. This one was courtesy John B who also hosted our great weekend at his cottage with the boys. It poured a golden colour with adequate head and lots of carbonation bubbles that left almost no lacing. The aroma was citrus and spices. The taste was bready yeast, hint of hop bitterness, some orange zest and a spicy aftertaste. An okay witbier, 3.5 out of 5.
Friday Sept. 5 Beer 247- Kostritzer Schwarzbier, Bad Köstritz/Thüringen,Germany. Schwarzbier means black beer, but this is not like stout or porter but rather a lager with added colour and taste. This one pours almost black  with a tan coloured head that left a little lacing. The aroma was roasted malts with a hint of nuts and grassy hops. The taste was dark roasted malts with a hint of caramel and a touch of hops. 3.6 out of 5.
Saturday Sept. 6 Beer248 Side Launch Wheat, Side Launch Brewing Co. Collingwood Ontario, This is a hefewiezen, it poured a hazy golden colour with adequate head that left some lacing across the surface. The aroma had hints of banana, cloves and bread yeasts. The taste had hints of lime and spices. An okay hefe but nothing special 3.4 out of 5.
Sunday Sept. 7 Beer 249 Resurrection Ale The Brewers Art Pottstown Pennsylvania.  This one is a Dubbel, Dubbel's  are rich malty beers with some spicy characteristics and mild hop bitterness.  This one is very typical of the style.  It poured a hazy copper colour with off white head and some lacing around the edge of the glass. The aroma was sweet, burnt caramel, grassy hops, bready yeasts and a hint of citrus. The taste had hints of toffee, sweet malts and some spice, lemon grass and citrus hops. 3.6 out of 5.
Monday Sept. 8  Beer 250Argyle St Grill Pale Ale, brewed by Sleman's Brewing Co. for the Argyle St. Grill Caledonia Ont. Had this one on tap, it arrived at our table with very little head and very little lacing. It was copper colour. The aroma, although not strong had hints of caramel malts and a hint of grassy hops. The taste fairly sweet, caramel and toasted malts with a touch of hop bitterness.  A very drinkable ale but nothing out of the ordinary 3.5 out of 5.
Tuesday Sept. 9 Beer 251 Extra Special Bitter, Trafalgar Ales and Meads, Oakville, Ontario  ESBs are essentially more aggressive and more balanced Bitters, both in alcohol and hop character, but nothing overpowering. Color range will be similar, though leaning towards the darker end of the scale; dark golds to copper. Low carbonation. Malts tend to be more pronounced, often toasty and fruity, with maybe some notes diacetyl. And despite "bitter" being in its name, ESBs are not really all that bitter. They key to an ESB is balance. This one poured a copper colour with only a little head and no lacing. The aroma was caramel, toffee and grassy hops. The taste was sweet caramel malt up front that is almost instantly overpowered by citrus, grapefruit hops. Overall a good but not great bitter, 3.6 out of 5.
Back home and all caught up after a great weekend of brews, golf and cards at John B's cottage with John B., Pat, Norm, John S. and Bill. An absolute great time.

headed out for a few days

A boys weekend in the north, I will update the beers when I get access to a computer or when I return
until then enjoy your beers

Day 245-Beer 245 Wild Oats series 19, Patio Saison, Beaus All Natural Brewing Co. Van Kleek Ontario

Tonight's Brew is a saison, 6%ABV, see July21 Veille Provision Saison for the description of the style (3.9/5) Other comparable brews are on Aug 26 and Aug 13. It poured a hazy golden colour with lots of  white head that left lots of nice sticky lacing. The aroma had hints of citrus, lemon banana and cloves and bready yeast. The taste was sweet malts up front with hints of zesty orange  and some nice spice and yeast with a little peppery finish. Another very good saison 3.8 out of 5.

Day 244-Beer 244 Elsinore, Phillips Brewing Co. Victoria British Columbia

Tonight's brew is a Czech Pislner. Others of this type include Pilsner Urquell, Red hook Pilsner, King Pils (June 9,3.9/5)  Karlavacko (May 11, 3.7/5)It poured a slightly hazy golden colour which cleared quite quickly. It has some nice white head that left nice sticky lacing.  The aroma was typical pils, grassy and floral hops and a hint of sweet malts. The taste also very typical but with slightly more floral hops. Overall a good pils but not outstanding 3.5 out of 5
.

Taste - Similar to the nose but with a very green tea / tea like aspect on the conclusion that is unusual. Grassier and more floral tasting than many other pilsners. For this it is more flavorful, but not quite as crisp and as clean as other sin the style.

Day 243-Beer 243 Palomar Ale, Mill St Brewery Toronto Ontario

If you have to add fruit to a beer to make it taste good.... Well this one is brewed with chipotle and lime, right of the bat I like the idea of chipotle but lime, I just don't know but we will see shortly. Well a least it listed as a chili beer and not a fruit beer. It poured a hazy orange/copper colour with very little head and not much for lacing either. The aroma was caramel malt with a smokey background, I couldn't really detect the lime (this is a good thing). The taste is a sweet background with maybe a hint of lime and lots of chipotle chilli pepper leaving a nice slow after burn, but not overbearing. Overall not a bad beer but I probably won't go searching out another. 3.3 out of 5