Day 225-Beer 225 Mandril Pale Ale, Mandril Brewing Co., Barcelona Spain

Tonight's brew is an English Pale Ale. Generally they golden olden to reddish amber in color with generally a good head retention. A mix of fruity, hoppy, earthy, buttery and malty aromas and flavors can be found.
This one is unfiltered and unpasteurized and lists itself as a premium craft brew. It poured a hazy orange amber colour with lots of head that eventually settled to a thin cover of lacing across the surface. The aroma is has some sweet malt up front with lots of floral hops pine resin and grapefruit. Taste, malt, piney hops, grapefruit, oranges. A nice dry hop finish. Overall a good English Pale Ale  and very drinkable, 3.6 out of 5.

Day 224-Beer 224 La Saison Du Tracteur, Le Trou du Diable, Shawinigan, Quebec

Tonight's brew is a  saison/farmhouse ale .  See day 201 for a description of the type and a comparison brew.
This one is 6%ABV and poured a hazy golden yellow colour with lots of head that eventually left no lacing at all. The aroma is lemon, orange, bread yeast, some spice and grassy notes. The taste is malted rye and wheat with a bit of spice up front with hints of lemon orange banana and grapefruit with a very dry finish. This one is okay but no where near the quality of #201(July) 3.4 out of 5

Day 223-Beer 223 Deviator Dopplebock, Oak aged series, Carmeron's Brewing Company, Oakville, Ontario

Tonight's brew is a Dopplebock,  They are usually much stronger than a German style Bock beer and contain enough malty goodness. This style was originally brewed by monks  and that they have been considered a meal in a glass for centuries. The monks preserved there grains in this manner and considered it liquid bread during times of fast.  Generally they have a very full-bodied flavor and are darker than their little Bock brothers and sisters and a higher level of alcohol too. They range in color from dark amber to nearly black, and dark versions often have slight chocolate or roasted characters. this is my first of this style included in my beer tour.


This brew has an added characteristic in that it has been aged in Kentucky oak bourbon barrels for six months.  It is a very strong beer at 8.6%ABV. It poured almost black with just a small amount of tan coloured head that left no lacing at all. The aromas is sweet molasses and caramel up front with hints of alcohol ( I guess the bourbon barrels), dark fruits and bread malts. The taste is dark roasted coffee with camel and molasses with hints of licorice, bready malts and raisins. A little over the top in sweetness and its lack of carbonation mark it down in quality.  3.0 out of 5, I wouldn't recommend this brew unless you were a fan of the old malt liquors.

Day 222-Beer 222 Brockton IPA, Granville Island Brewery, Vancouver, British Columbia

Brockton IPA is another American IPA, see recent posts day 220 Kaaad Spring IPA 3.8 and Day 218 Monkey fist, also 3.8. Pat L brought me this one from a recent trip. Thanks for the beer Pat and Mary.
Tonight's pour a slightly hazy orange/amber colour with a white head that left a small amount of lacing near the edges of the glass. The aroma is slightly sweet for its style with a lemon/orange citrus background. The taste is malt up front with a disappointing amount of hop background and aftertaste. Not a great representation of its class. 3.4 out of 5

Day 221-Beer 221 Laker Lager, Brick Brewing Co. Waterloo, Ontario

OOh  tonight's brew was on tap at my farm. It was, if you can imagine my parents 70th anniversary. I drank way to many of this brew but here goes. It pours a golden yellow colour with nice white head , but little lacing is left behind. The aroma is typical lager and the taste is the same. A good brew but nothing out of the ordinary. 3.5 out of 5 or maybe with the number of glasses that I drank it should be more?

Day 220-Beer 220 Kåååd Spring IPA, Amager Bryghus, Kastrup, Denmark

Tonight's beer Kaad means frisky. It is another American IPA, see day 218, Monkey Fist for a description of the style and other similar brews.
This one poured a cloudy amber orange colour with nice white head that left some lacing across the surface . The aroma is grassy hops, grapefruit and a slightly sweet and fruity background. The taste is a sweet and fruity up front, orange/apricot with a quick change to lots of hop bitterness, grapefruit and more grapefruit and back to some sweetness in the aftertaste. Overall a good brew for its style 3.8 out of 5

Day 219-Beer219 The Witty Traveller, Railway City Brewing Company, St. Thomas Ontario

Tonight's Brew, The Witty Traveller has finally arrived! With spices from the East,  the fruits of the South, and yeasts of the North. Enveloped in taste and aromas of far flung places. He has stopped to offer us a pint!  Very witty indeed, it is a witbier. A Witbier is a Belgian Style ale that's very pale and cloudy in appearance due to it being unfiltered and the high level of wheat, and sometimes oats, that's used in the mash. They are often referred to as "white beers" (witbieren) due to the cloudiness / yeast in suspension. They are always spiced, generally with coriander, orange peel and other oddball spices or herbs in the back ground. The crispness and slight twang comes from the wheat and the lively level of carbonation. Similar brews are Hoegaarden (Hoegaarden Brewery) and Blue Moon Belgian  White (Coors Brewing).


This brew was very typical of the style, it poured a hazy gold colour with almost no head but lots of carbonation bubbles. The aroma is lemon and orange citrus, wheat malt with a hint of spices ( coriander and pepper). The flavour starts out sweet with hints of cloves, banana, coriander and a touch of pepper. Overall a little too light in aroma and taste. 3.2 out of 5.