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Hopped Up Lager Day

Busy times in the workshop yesterday. People dropped by to chat and pick up projects and when Happy Hour rolled around I was caught up short. I didn't have my light lager ready for hops off the vine. However, after tidying up the shop (my next 'little free library' is underway and it's a dusty business), I improvised.

I dropped six fresh hop cones into a glass and added lots of mild pilsner and a touch of Mad Tom. Stirred the hops. Sampled.

Conclusion: Smashing!

["My moustache smelled delicious as well"]

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Photos by GH

It Strikes Me Funny: Happy Hour 2

I didn't celebrate Happy Hour in the workshop yesterday because Monday night is Marathon Night on my exercise bike and I wanted to start riding right after supper.

["Red cedar and Yellow Snow are a good pairing"]

However, I think I failed to mention that earlier in the week I had a 'new one' for Happy Hour (i.e., a beer new to the shop). Observers with a keen eye may have noticed that in an earlier post a bottle of Yellow Snow IPA appears beside one of my brilliant birdhouses.

I'm here to say Rogue Yellow Snow - from western USA - is brilliant too and goes down well when the smell of red cedar hangs in the air.

Is Rogue Brewery named after the Rogue River in Oregon? Yes.

Can yellow snow often be found outside my workshop after wintertime Happy Hours? Lemme see.

Photos by GH

***

 Please click here for more It Strikes Me Funny

Favourite Photos: Quay Street Brewery, Port Huron

Last Sunday my son Paul dusted me off and dragged me out of the workshop for an afternoon. Smooth move too, I say. 90 minutes later he plunked me down at the bar in the Quay St. Brewery just on the other side of The Canada - US border.

["We parked on Quay St., beside a graceful metal sculpture"]

I was soon surrounded by the house specialty - a sampler tray of eight brews. "What do I do now?" was not a question I had to ask. I just had to select one 5-ounce glass at a time in a leisurely fashion... and sip away. It's good work if you can get it.

Two hours and one delightful lunch later we walked back to the car, but not after I'd snapped a few pictures of the brewery's east wall. It was home to a few hop vines (lower left of building), a rare sight in my experience.

Though the few cones I picked did not survive the trip back to London in my coat pocket, one or two photos remind me of the day's rare outing.

I should ask my son to dust me off more often!

Photos by GH

***

On Saturday night I sampled one small glass of Great Lake Brewery's Winter Ale. Yummy.

Have you sampled a good beer lately? Which one?

Please click here for another Favourite Photo

The search for a fine glass of beer continues

Today I definitely found one.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, 12 fluid ounces, 5.6% alc./vol., a gift from my son (so - and this is important - no cost to me), delightful taste.


["I love my Guinness glasses. They were free as well": photos GAH]

Many say, free beer always tastes good, to which I would reply, not always. For example, I wouldn’t turn down a cold Bud on a hot day if offered, but I wouldn’t ever buy it because it holds no appeal for me.

Sierra Nevada - as soon as I smelled it I knew I would like it. Nice pop in the nose.

There are no additives, says the label. Only the finest malted barley, whole hops (etc.).

I wish they said what kind of hops. The brewers (from Chico, CA) display a picture of hops but no name, and I’d like to know where the nose and taste of grapefruit comes from.


["I want to know - what kind of hops?"]

The other night my youngest son and I enjoyed a glass of ‘10 Bitter Years’ at Chancey Smith’s (sounds like it was brewed by an unfortunate pair who just couldn’t stand each other, but hung in there for 10 years. Who knows. maybe they're still together. Sorry, I digress.) and after our first sip we fell in love with it (Unlike the aforementioned couple).

This Pale Ale reminds me of that experience and I’m grateful for it.

The colour reveals a hint of orange but the first and aftertaste is grapefruit. Lovely, lovely. So refreshing.


["Everything in moderation; the second one goes with supper"]

I’ve tasted and reviewed another fine American beer (Liberty Ale from San Francisco) and would go back for a seconds of this one and that one anytime. (I just remembered. My son gave me two Sierra Nevadas for doing work in his attic. I’ll be right back.)

Thanks for waiting.

In David kenning’s book, Beers of the World, I read the following about today’s Pale Ale:

“Hops dominate the aroma with a fragrantly spicy, floral character, while on the palate this is a remarkably full-bodied, mouth-filling beer with a lively, complex maltiness...”

Though he later mentions ‘notes of orange fruit and toffee,’ I taste and smell grapefruit. Everybody gets what they get in this game, I guess.

Now, about my second fine glass of Sierra Nevada. It was stored in a cardboard box on the basement floor, not refrigerated. The head reached to the sky and the flavours seemed amplified at their slightly warmer temp.

Would I buy it myself instead of waiting to be asked to work in my son’s attic again?

A resounding, hoppy ‘yes.’

And please visit www.sierranevada.com for more details and buy it at the US/Canada border when you can.

***

Please click here to read the last beer review: Upper Canada Lager.

Milos Kral, General Manager of Chancey Smith’s Steak and Seafood Emporium, has started a blog about beer and his adventures related to finding beer that keeps me going back for more.

Please click here to read about ’10 Bitter Years.’ Poor couple!

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Searching For a Fine Glass of Beer: Upper Canada Lager

The Upper Canada Brewing Company was founded in 1984 to (according to their website), produce a family of traditionally-brewed, all-natural beers.

Because a member of my family stored their lager in my fridge last weekend I got to try one or two. I tried not to be influenced in my assessment by the fact they didn’t cost me a penny.

The colour is golden and the aroma is light, with a touch of sweet corn or honey.


["Looks good, smells and tastes quite mild to me": photos GAH]

The taste is mild, in my opinion, perhaps because the lager is brewed with only four ingredients in accordance with the Bavarian Purity Act of 1516, which allows the use of only four pure ingredients (malted barley, hops, yeast and water), none of which are high on unique flavors.

Because the label depicts large, handsome (in a rugged sort of way), hard-working Voyageurs, I was expecting something heartier or more potent, even though the label clearly states the beverage is 5% alc./vol.


["Okay, maybe not handsome. At least rugged"]

My son likes the price per bottle and after a hard day of paddling the back waters of Northern Ontario on a hot day I suppose I’d be happy to dring two or three in a row while eating a plate of brown beans and watching the sun set in the west.

Would I buy it myself?

Likely not. Too mild for my taste. Even though, according to the brewery’s website, Upper Canada Lager won a Silver Medal at the 2004 Brussels Monde Selection in 2004, I’d lean toward trying something else from their family of beers first.


["Can you remember the four natural ingredients in this beer?"]

Maybe the Upper Canada Dark Ale, because it won a Gold Medal again at the 2005 Brussels Monde Selection.

Or their Maple Brown Ale, introduced in 1998, with pure maple syrup infused into the brew.

***

Please click here to read my last beer review, i.e., Dead Elephant Ale.

http://itstrikesmefunny.blogspot.com/2010/03/searching-for-glass-of-fine-beer-dead.html

Please visit Searching For a Fine Beer in the lower right margin for 12 recent beer reviews.

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Searching For a Glass of Fine Beer: Labatt Blue

Gord, have you ever purchased a case of 24 Labatt Blue?

No.

What about a 6-pack?

Never.

Why not?

Let me explain by showing you a photo from April, 1969.


["No Blue in Bermuda? I'm OK with that": photo of GAH,1969]

In it I’m sitting on Horseshoe beach in Bermuda with a bottle of beer in my hand.

Labatt Blue, Gord?

No. It’s Bass Ale. Even when I was under-aged I preferred beer that had interesting flavours, something to write home about.

And after drinking the Bass Ale, did you write home to tell your mom and dad you were spending your tuition money on beer?

Hmmm... let me think.

Back to the present: Why am I reviewing Labatt Blue today?

Two reasons.


["A Blue that was left behind": photo GAH]

One, it’s a decent, though unremarkable, example of a typical Canadian beer. It’s Canada’s Pilsener - says so right on the can.

Two, a fellow hockey player left two cans in my workshop after a recent chili night and I thought I’d do more than just say, "Thank-you, Johnnie. Kiss your beers good-bye.”

Blue is rated at 5% alc./vol. and is probably often sold in large quantities - i.e., by the jug - to hockey players who are simply looking for something cold to drink after stepping off the ice.

In a glass, the foam settles quickly and presents light, pleasant, grainy flavours to the nose, not much more. Because I live five blocks from the Labatt Brewery in London, Ontario, I am well-acquainted with the smell.

About the taste, I’d say mild Pilsener, and though it is described as ‘a well-balanced beer, matured for a smooth body and a full, fruity flavour’ in Beers Of The World (by David Kenning), my notes read as follows:

If it’s Canada’s pilsener then we must be mild-mannered with medium interest in good beer.

I’ve declared before that my chief interest lies in ruby red ales and rich, thick stouts (flavoured wheat beer on occasion) and I’d be more interested in earlier Labatt beers - that one cannot get any more - than present-day offerings.


["Labatt Bock, anyone? Anyone?": photos GAH]

I’d love to try Labatt Velvet Cream Stout but it has likely been off the scene - due to poor demand and sales - for many years.

Today, as I drink the last mouthful of Johnnie’s beer, I wonder what the two original founders of the brewery would say of today’s Labatt corporation?

(John Kinder Labatt and fellow Irishman, Samuel Eccles, formed a brewery in partnership in 1847, about 17 years after Labatt immigrated to Canada).

Would they tap on the bar at a local tavern for a home-grown stout and not be able to find one?

It’s a pity, I say.

***

Please click here to read my last beer review - Dead Elephant Ale.

Find Searching For a Fine Beer in lower right margin for more beer reviews.

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Searching For a Glass of Fine Beer: Dead Elephant Ale

I initially turned away from it.

I saw a bottle of Dead Elephant at a local LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario), it raised an immediate question (“What parts do they use?”), the bottle was sitting beside Iron Spike beer, I knew the two beers came from the same brewery in St. Thomas, Ontario, and I’d sampled Iron Spike when it was early days for the brewery and didn’t really like it.

I’ll rephrase: I really didn’t like it.

So I looked at other offerings on the LCBO shelves.

Within 10 seconds I looked back at the colourful Dead Elephant label and wondered if I should give the young brewery and female brewmaster another chance.


["Only one Dead Elephant in the house. Drat!": photos GAH]

Though I had to part with $3.40 for a 500ml bottle, I’m really glad I did.

I caught the smell of burnt caramel off the foam, lovely citrus flavors from my first sip and immediately tipped my hat in the direction of Railway City Brewing Co. in St. Thomas, and Jumbo, the elephant that died many, many years ago near the town’s railway tracks so that it could be served up later in nice-sized brown bottles.

(The strong of heart may visit the brewery’s website to view the story of Jumbo’s tragic death @ www.railwaycitybrewing.com)

The elephant is immortalized in a strong ale (6.5% alc./vol.) with a clear, pale orange colour and receives a compliment in my notes, i.e., “it’s chompy” and “lovely, lovely.”

Those who like Tankhouse Ale from the Mill St. Brewery will recognize a few similar flavours - hoppy, citrusy, sour - in milder form.

I allowed the last half of the bottle to warm up while I cycled for an hour and enjoyed that half as much as the first.


["Gord's gourd w living elephant beside Dead Elephant"]

In other words, it was still just as chompy.

Because I feel a few nicely balanced flavours provide a satisfying mouthful I would gladly buy it again and recommend it to others.

***

Please click here to read my last beer review, re Bucanero Fuerte, and visit Searching For a Fine Beer in lower right margin for all reviews.

Let me know of a beer you would like to recommend.

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Hit Single in Progress: Livin’ a Life of Quiet Desperation

Backgrounder: After a hockey game last week I drove to a friend’s house to watch the Knights’ game on cable. As happens on occasion, the revs from the motor and hum from the tires combined to produce a melodious sound inside my head.

The following began to take shape:

Livin’ a Life of Quiet Desperation

[Three backup singers begin with... pada-pum-pum.]

Pada-pum-pum.

Livin’ a life of quiet desperation [Pada-pum-pum].
Wearin’ a shirt that smells of perspiration [Pada-pum-pum].
Wonderin’ if you’re the girl for me [Pada-pum-pum].
Wonderin’ how happy I would be...


With you [Backup echo: With you].
With you [With you].
With you [With you].
With you [With you].

Pada-pum-pum.

Do you know how this man thinks? [Pada-pum-pum].
Do you know hockey equipment stinks? [Pada-pum-pum].


Do you know I only wash it once a year? [Pada-pum-pum].
Do you know after a game boys drink beer?

That’s me [That’s me].
That’s me [That’s me].
That’s me [That’s me].
That’s me [That’s me].

That’s it so far.

I plan to fit in lines about ‘every man needs a shed’ and ‘together ‘til we’re dead,’ then do a quick wrap up.

My wife already just rolls her eyes but I think it’s a real winner, eh!!

***

Please click here to view many completed Hit Singles.

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Searching For a Fine Glass of Beer: Bucanero Fuerte

Last weekend’s choice of beer, Guinness Draught, was purchased by my wife. Lovely. She received no complaints from me.

This week’s choice was purchased by a friend who returned from a vacation in Cuba with two cans of beer in his luggage.

The subsequent chat we had about his trip only improved when he handed a brown bag containing the surprise - both cans were for me.

Bucanero Fuerte is brewed in Holguin, one of the largest towns in Cuba, and close to the spot where Columbus first landed in 1492.


Had he been handed a can of this light lager after stepping from his ship he would likely have found it quite refreshing.

I know I did.

Though it has a mild nose it is pleasant nonetheless. With a manly name like Bucanero I was expecting more but wasn’t disappointed.


["This Bucanero only looks Fuerte": photos by GAH]

(After all, with a name like Fuerte but only 5.4% alc. by volume I knew that it wasn’t going to be as strong as many other beers I have tasted).

The flavors on my tongue were very mild as well, but the beer receives no complaint from me. (I admit, it's not polite to look a gift-horse in the mouth, and I like highly flavourful lagers and ales, but this light one is nice).

About another of Bucanero brewery’s other offerings, David Kenning writes:

Bucaneros specializes in easy-drinking lagers... Mayabe Calidad Extra has a light, uncomplicated, slightly sweet, grainy flavour. (From ‘Beers of the World’)

Then he adds:

Another stronger version is called Fuerte.

After enjoying several sips from the glass the word ‘mildly’ came to mind. How surprising, eh?


The beer is mildly hoppy, mildly flavourful, mildly crispy and more than mildly satisfying, without one offensive note.

Would I buy it if it was available in Canada?

I’d say yes, even though I love my ruby-red ales and dark, thick stouts.

Why, I can see myself enjoying two in a row on my back deck this summer - after my friend returns from his next vacation in Cuba.

***

Do you a beer you’re willing to recommend?

Please click here to read my last beer review - Guinness Draught, or visit my growing list of beer reviews (Searching For a Fine Beer) in the right hand margin.

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Searching For a Glass of Fine Beer: Guinness Draught

I’ve had Beamish. It’s not the same. I’ve had O’Hara’s and Murphy’s stout. They’re not the same, though lovely in their own way.

But when I want stout I’ll generally buy cans of Guinness Draught.


["Do you have any Guinness at home?": photos by GAH]

Today’s purchase started with a phone call from my wife.

“Do you have any Guinness at home,” she asked.

“No,” I said.

She then explained she was outside an LCBO, needed Guinness for a recipe (My gosh, I thought. I am such a lucky guy), and was about to go inside.


I explained she could buy a four-pack of cans for about $12, and she agreed to do that rather than buy just one can. (I thought, thank you!)

I am now enjoying the first of the three cans not needed in a recipe, having just sent in my weekly column before deadline, listening to Closing Time by Tom Waits, and strongly feel (I’m not gently suggesting...) there are few things better than a glass of stout purchased by one’s partner. Try to sway me, if you dare.


For all those from another planet, Guinness is brewed in Ireland.

Though Guinness in other forms has been brewed at St. James’s Gate in Dublin since 1759, Guinness Draught has only been with us since 1959.

And how shall I describe it now that I’m certain I’m spelling it correctly with two nns and sses?

Well, it has a lovely nose. Distinctive, like burnt malts.


The book ‘Beers of the World’ by David Kenning says the taste reflects a burnt-caramel bitterness, so maybe the burnt smell is from caramel. It’s still lovely.

The taste that comes from the 440 ml cans (under $3 per, a good bargain) is lovely lovely, which is, in my humble opinion, twice as lovely as lovely.

“Guinness Draught has a deep, dry roasted malt flavor with a refreshing burnt-caramel bitterness and a slightly sour edge...,” says Mr. Kenning.

Me? I say, I like that the flavour fills my mouth, swirls around my tongue and stays long in my throat.


I’ll add that it’s a meal in itself, a manly stout and was - likely still is - the post-run beverage of choice for most of the marathoners I ever toiled long and hard with in the not-too distant past.

Will I buy it again?

Yes. I’ll have it on my beer list well into my 90s.

***

Do you drink Guinness? Why or why not?

Did a woman you know ever say she drank Guinness after giving birth?

Did she enjoy it? I.e., the Guinness, not the birth.

Please click here to read my last beer review - Alexander Keith's IPA.

See lower right hand margin for the growing list of reviews.

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Searching For a Glass of Fine Beer: Alexander Keith’s India Pale Ale

It was an impulse buy.

The Canada - US Olympic Hockey final was in 45 minutes, 3 friends were popping over and I felt, to be a good host, I should have more in the fridge than 3 bottles of beer.


["15 for the price of 12? Why thank you": photos GAH]

I admit, everyone was bringing their own, but 3 beers and a bag of BBQ chips? I’d better get moving.

Because 4,000 other Londoners felt the same way and the Beer Store was pretty busy I went for the ‘15 for the price of 12’ Keith’s display inside the front door and ran for the check out. Some over zealous referee could drop the puck at anytime.


["I like the wavy lines created by my Tom Waits CDs"]

While standing in line I recalled that the first time I had Keith’s, about 8 years ago (on tap at The Wort in Old South), I sent it back because I thought it tasted off.

But it wasn’t off. It just had a slightly different flavour than other Canadian beers I’d grown used to.

I opened my first bottle of Keith’s moments before the hockey game began, and between yelling like a maniac and stuffing my face with BBQ chips, I had the following fairly lucid thoughts:

For a hockey game, Keith’s is fine.

It is sweet (like honey) and mildly hoppy on the nose.


It is cold, smooth and refreshing on the tongue, washes down BBQ chips with ease, and leaves some barely discernible flavours on the throat, like pale malts and slightly bitter hops.

(The cardboard case says, “a smooth golden ale, with a distinct taste” and I won’t argue with that, I just like many ruby red, more flavourful ales better, and there are many).

It’s nicely carbonated and at 5% alc./vol. accompanied me into the overtime period (without knocking me out) and was right beside me when Sid scored the winner.

In the Canadian Beers section of David Kenning's book 'Beers of the World', Keith's is listed, and described as follows:

The flavor is a pleasant combination of tangy and sweet, and there are additional hints of apricot, honey and butterscotch."

I sensed some of that, but I'm perhaps 10 years away from picking up hints.

Though it’s brewed across Canada, from Halifax to Edmonton, and it felt right to buy Canadian while watching the hockey game, I likely won’t buy it again until 2014, and only if Canada is in the finals again.

If it’s a Czech - Russia final, I’ll buy a Czech beer and holler, “Beat those boys in red!”

***

Are you a Keith’s fan? Why?

Please click here to read about a lovely lovely IPA.

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Searching For a Glass of Fine Beer: Greene King IPA Ale

If someone asked me to name my two favourite IPAs I’d say, at the present time and knowing there are likely others out there in the real world I’ll enjoy just as much when I get there, Rogue Yellow Snow and Greene King.

Not because I’ve enjoyed them both during Shed Nights while sitting in a comfortable chair and talking with friends, even though everything tastes better in the shed, i.e., my workshop.


["Shed Night: A good beer and a sip of whisky": photos GAH]

Not because the Canadian men’s Olympic hockey team was leading Switzerland 1 - 0 last Thursday night while sipping Greene King.

But because the fine brewers of Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, make an IPA (“brewed to a stronger 5%, to recreate the original IPA taste and strength that characterised the beer that was shipped to the Indian Raj in the 1800s”) that smells and tastes really good.


["Chilled to perfection on the basement floor, and in a glass that shows off the colour and is wide enough to accept my nose"]

To my nose the beer is pleasantly hoppy and malty with sweet honey notes. To my tongue it is smooth, full of delicious flavours. To my throat it is all balance and harmony, which is the opposite of what anyone would say while listening to an orchestra that included me on first - even second - violin.

Though the 500 ml bottle costs $3.40 at local LCBOs, a pretty penny in my book, to the fine men of Bury I say, I dig your work.

I find the reddish-brown colour appealing, would happily recommend it to all those who have their own shed, wherever it may be, and will buy it again.

Two special notes follow:

Firstly, on the back label I see that Greene King IPA won the Silver Award at The British Bottlers’ Institute 2006 Competition.

I ask myself, who won gold?

Well, with the help of Google I discovered that in CLASS C (Ales 5.0 – 5.9%) the Gold Award went to The Chiltern Brewery Aylesbury 300’s Old Ale.

Well, the search begins.



["A glass for beer, a boot for whisky"]

Secondly, while sipping the Silver Award winner last Thursday evening, I was told Vancouver’s Olympic Committee shipped a working ice-resurfacing machine (improperly called a Zamboni at times) over the Rockies from Calgary to Vancouver, by helicopter, in order to repair the ice for Olympic speed skaters. (No word if the driver was strapped to the fender during transit).

At the time, while raising a glass of Greene King high, all I could say was, I love this country!

***

Please click here to link to my last beer review: John By Imperial Stout

You can find more Searching For a Glass of Fine Beer reviews farther down in the right hand margin.

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Searching For a Glass of Fine Beer: John By, an Imperial Stout

I like stubbies. We go a long way back together.

The last beer I drank from a stubby bottle was likely Carling Red Cap ale, my drink of choice in 1968 - 70.

Even at the tender age of 20 I knew that not all beers tasted the same, or were at all good, and I generally drank ale to get some semblance of flavour. I wasn’t always successful.


["I still think stubbies are cool": photos GAH]

I still have a case of stubby bottles (capped) in the basement: Cool Spring Light beer, from June, 1984. My dad bought them (in Formosa) for his friends during the beer strike the same year. Maybe I’ll sell a few online, but I’ll keep some for old time’s sake.

When I saw John By Imperial Stout in a stubby recently at the LCBO I had to try one.

The price, i.e., $2.65 for a 341 ml bottle (equivalent to $3.89 per 500 ml), may put it in the premium price league, but I like a good stout.

The alc./vol. is 8.5%, putting the stout into the strong beer league as well, so I began to expect great things at the time.

I wasn't disappointed.


The label proclaims the following:

We celebrate the work of Lieut.-Col. John By (no relation to Ise the By that builds the boat) and the men who built the Rideau Canal.

(If you’re a history buff, please visit Bytown Museum for more details).

Our John By Imperial Stout is so deep brown in colour you might as well say it is black. This ale’s powerful malt flavour is not overwhelmed by its alcohol content. Just the thing to ward off the cold of a Canadian winter.

(Link to Scotch Irish Brewing Co. for more details if interested).

When I arrived home with the stout I didn’t go online. Instead, I went to the kitchen drawer for the bottle opener because here in Canada it’s winter time and, though I wasn’t cold, I wanted a taste of stout.

So, I popped the cap, poured most of the stubby bottle’s contents into a glass and had a good sniff.

It smelled thick and rich and sweet and familiar, perhaps a bit like Miller St. Tankhouse ale (Toronto) or a can of Jamaican stout I had last year.

Some of my remarks after the first few sips follow:

Rich, yummy mouthful. Is 8.5% alc. overpowering? My head didn’t land on my desk so I’d say not.

Sweet.

(Please note - I don’t produce long, descriptive sentences like David Kenning, author of Beers of the World).


I only bought one bottle, and though I worry the stout may promote hair loss (see the label), I should have bought another, because that’s how I feel after drinking half a glass.

I can say without hesitation I’d buy it again, and not just because it’s in a stubby. The Imperial Stout would be right at home in my shed during a winter time gathering with friends.

I also recommend it to those who enjoy rich, sweet stouts with hearty dark malt flavours.

Good one, By.

***

Please click here to read a beer review of KLB Raspberry Wheat.

Please see lower right hand margin for Searching For a Fine Glass of beer reviews.

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Searching For a Glass of Fine Beer: KLB Raspberry Wheat

In my opinion, the enjoyment and appreciation of beer changes depending on the circumstances.

For example, there are times when I would give a beer a score of 75 out of 100 because I have just finished a half marathon on a hot day, am tired, wanting to sit and stay immobile for an hour or more, and after finding a comfortable chair am handed said cold beer and offers of more where that came from, when it really only rates a score of 54.


["Hmmm. I like it. Cranky likes it too": photo GAH]

Not that I’ve been known to score beers out of 100, and don’t plan to anytime soon.

But, and I’m sure many readers have been there, if a bucket of 54-style beer arrived at my comfortable chair with a platter of chicken wings and sweet potato fries and I was sitting next to a piano and handed a songbook along with the encouragement to sing along as loudly as I liked and informed the total bill would only come to $8, then I’m the kind of guy who would say, “You had me at bucket.”

I only share the above because I tried my first can of Raspberry Wheat beer from Kawartha Lakes Brewing Co. as the second half of last Sunday’s Super Bowl was about to start and the Saints were still in the game.

So, I might be unreasonably positive about the beer.

That being said, here are the facts.


["Another fine beer from Kawartha Lakes Brewing Co.": photos GAH]

A 473 ml can of KLB Raspberry Wheat costs $2.40 and comes in at 4.5% alc./vol.

It’s one of the beers that made Peterborough famous, along with Quaker Oats, though brewed by Amsterdam Brewing Co., Toronto.

When I popped the can I smelled raspberries quite plainly, and was reminded of how much I’d enjoyed another fruity beer years ago for the first time, i.e., a St. Ambroise apricot wheat ale, at Mitsy's Sister, a wee pub on Queen St. W., Toronto.

As I poured I was attracted to the reddish orange colour but noticed the lovely head disappeared fairly quickly.

This ain’t a stout , I said to myself as Drew Brees fired a bullet toward a Saints receiver.

I took my first generous sip.

Son of a Gunderson, I said. What they say on the can (‘A perfect balance of German hops and Belgium wheat and pure raspberry essence gives this beer it’s signature aroma and flavour’) is true. I taste raspberry, and it's good.


["Yes, I'd buy it again"]

It wasn't a heavy raspberry taste at all, and I felt the glassful would be very quaffable.

After my second sip I knew I’d enjoy the full can. And I did.

Not only do I recommend others give it a try but know I’ll buy it again myself.

I’d say two cans on the back deck in the fall would be perfect.

***

Click here to read a bit about Liberty Ale from San Francisco, and visit ‘Searching for a fine beer’ in the lower right hand margin to link to others.

Cheers.

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Searching For a Glass of Fine Beer: Liberty Ale, from San Francisco

A year ago I couldn’t name too many fine American beers.

Oh, I knew about Bud, Miller Lite and Old Milwaukee, but the only fine ones I had sampled came out of Boston (e.g., Samuel Adams) and Chicago (e.g., Goose Island Brewery), two fine marathon cities I visited while chasing dreams with expensive running shoes on my feet.

My oldest son, David, told me about Liberty Ale by Anchor Brewing Company (or Anchor Steam Beer by the same company: I forget which one, but I do remember I liked it) so when I saw it today at the LCBO near Wellington St. and Bradley Ave. I had to have it.


["Liberty Ale: A fine bottle of beer": photos by GAH]

The 650 ml brown bottle costs $3.70, which comes out to $2.85 per 500 ml can. (I like bottles and interesting paper labels: Today’s shopping trip cost me about $30 for 10 beers and eight are in bottles).

Though I have never tasted the other nine I opened Liberty Ale about 30 minutes before supper and was immediately glad I did.


["Elvis likes it. You will too"]

It has a lovely nose - hoppy, mildly spicy and citrusy, not overly sweet.

It wasn’t icy cold, which was fine by me, and as I poured a fairly substantial head formed and lasted for the duration of the quick photo shoot in front of my Elvis Costello LP.


["The second pour was a big one"]

My first sip was very pleasant. The label says ‘strong beer’ and ‘5.9% alc./vol.’ and though I’m 10 years away from being able to immediately identify how those words and numbers affect the taste or from knowing what flavours roll across my tongue I can say I really liked it.

For example, I don’t know what hops were used but the neck label reads ‘dry hopped, a classic ale tradition.’

What citrus fruit?

I thought orange at first blush but ‘Beers of the World’ by David Kenning reported that the ‘flavor is dominated by slightly astringent hops balanced with light, fruity maltiness, and the finish is dry and refreshing with hints of lemon rind.’

Okay, maybe I’m more than 10 years away from such knowledge but I’ll enjoy every year that goes by.

Would I buy it again?


Definitely. I can already picture 6 Rietveld chairs and a bucket of Liberty Ale on my back deck in September. Lovely lovely.

Would I recommend it to others?

Absolutely. Two bottles would be a good start. If you like it, you have another. If not, you know who to call.

***

I saved the last half of the American pale ale until after supper. It warmed up a degree or two (which is more to my liking), and now I wish I had that second bottle.

What ales are in your top ten?

Click here to go to last week’s beer review or visit Searching For a Glass of Fine Beer in the lower right-hand margin.

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