Homebrew Review

I received a nice bonus in my last beer trade, a homebrewed Russian Imperial Stout. The generous sender was Goldorak, who is an active member at ratebeer and beeradvocate. He hooked me up with a lot of top notch brews, some of which I still have to get around to reviewing. Anyways, thanks Goldorak. Here's a review of your brew, it was awesome!

Ilsa La Tigresse Du Goulag Russian Imperial Stout by Brasserie Deux Gars Fouettes

Aroma 8/10

Appearance 3/5

Flavour 8/10

Palatte 3/5

Overall 16/20

= 3.8

330ml brown bottle, capped. Pours a dark brown colour with reddish highlights, at first glance it seemed to be a bit light for an Impy, but it does fall within the BJCP standards. Head was composed of a small layer of light brown foam, fine swirly bubbles. Aroma held a nice fruit/citrus/orange note, suggesting American hops. The hop aroma intensified as it warmed. There was some sweeter chocolate malt aromas and a slight trace of alcohol. Flavour was roasty yet sweet with notes of chocolate and dark roast coffee. Nice complex long finish with raw coffee bean, dark chocolate and some late sticky hop bitterness, some raisin and slight alcohol warming in the throat. Full body with a fine active carbonation.

Veltins Pilsener

It wasn't too long after I finished my last entry that I realized my palate was sharp enough for one more beer... so I had to crack open that can of Veltins.

It poured a light straw colour. The head was large and fluffy, white in colour and long lasting. The aroma has a grassy, straw like note to it with grainy malts. The flavour is similar to the aroma, it delivers a clean grainy malt flavour with a background of grassy hops. The grassy hops linger in the finish, bitterness is light but noticable. It was pretty much what I imagined it would be, grainy and grassy and clean. I hate to use a cliche like "crisp", but this beer is crisp. It may not be the best German Pils, but it is quite drinkable and straightforward. Rating 3.

Paddock Wood 606 IPA

Greetings from Wild Rose country... I've been away for a while. Still drinking good beers, just not blogging as much as I would have liked to. Not too many new beers arriving in the province in the last month or so, I did manage to grab a can of Veltins on my last beer excursion, (some of you may know I have a soft spot for the German Pils style) plus a few old favorites that I hope to feature in the near future. I also grabbed a 6 pack of Paddock Wood 606 IPA, which I am quite impressed with.

Paddock Wood brews their beer in Saskatoon, they don't use additives and their products are unpasteurized. They typically sell their products by the 6 pack, but I have seen singles for sale, and occasionaly a mixer pack. Their bottles are 355ml pry offs, and they feature great artwork. And hey, the beer is usually great too.


The 606 IPA pours a caramel brown colour with a hint of orange. The head is unfortuantely short lived. It dwindled to a faint wisp on the surface. The nose is fairly malty for an IPA, they use Maris Otter malt from the UK. There is a bit of caramel sweetness and some light citrus/grapefruit hop in the background. Flavour is initially malty, then blends into some nice hop flavour, again of the citrusy/grapefruit variety. The hops used in this beer are Cascade and Amarillo. The hop flavour carries into the moderately bitter finish. I found the beer was a bit light bodied for the style with carbonation also being on the light side. It definately can stand up to some of the US IPAs I've had, though this isn't a hop bomb. It has good hop/malt balance. Quite drinkable and sessionable. Rating 3.7

More soon... cheers!

Two pints of lager...

I thought this was too funny, had to post it here. I ran the phrase "two pints of lager and a packet of crisps please" through the lost in translation site and it came up with this.

Still alive!

Well, it's been ages since I've updated, but summer happened. I'm sure any Ontario readers are enjoying the usually summer meltdown, but here in Alberta it's been unseasonably hot. Been spending a lot of time on the deck, using the new bbq, and just generally chillin'. Beer consupmtion has not slowed down, but has for the most part, been in the pale lager realm. Some of those include Cheetah Lager, Lech Premium, Gallo, Kokanee, Nik Gold. I can't say any of those were really mindblowing, but they did serve as decent thirst quenchers, and most rated in the mid 2 range. I've been told Jever is now availble in Alberta, so I'm looking forward to trying that one, it's been on my radar for a while. And as a plus, it's canned, so danger of that green bottled light struck flavour. It's funny just how popular canned beer is in this province, a total flip from Ontario where everyone buys longneck bottles. Here it's cans. Some mainstram domestic stuff is even harder to find in bottles. It's also interesting to see the various give-aways that come with a 24 pack of beer here, flip flops, t-shirts, cooler bags, glassware and sometimes even a free can or bottle.

Well that's about it for this short and sweet update. Cheers to you all.

and remember...

First Day Of Summer

Brewsters Rig Pig Pale Ale

It's the first day of summer. Why not celebrate with a good beer? I did just that. The weather was nice enough for me to sit out on the balcony and enjoy the late afternoon sun, beer in hand. The beer was from my local brewpub Brewsters, and was bottled in a 675ml "bomber". Rig Pig Pale Ale is in the style of an American Pale Ale. It has a deep golden colour, great creamy, lasting white head. Lightly hopped aroma - there's some citrus notes of orange and a trace of grapefruit. The flavour is a touch malty, some sweetness and caramel notes with subtle citrus finishing hops. 5% abv, a nice lighter beer with enough flavour to enjoy in the warmer weather. Here's to a great summer, with great beer!

Edmonton's Festival Of Beer '07 and other stuff

Beerfest: I attended another small festival this weekend - Edmonton's Festival Of Beer 07. It was housed in the Aviation Museum Hanger, a nicer more spacious venue than the earlier fest held at the Dinwoodie Hall at the U of A. I also got wise and got myself there at noon Saturday in hopes of avoiding the crowds, which made the experience more enjoyable, I actually got to have a few conversations with the brewery reps. It was a small fest, there really wasn't anything availble there that I couldn't have found at the local store or brewpub. I did manange to sample a few that I hadn't had, saving me from buying a sixer. I did find it strange that our 2 local micros were both absent from the fest. I can understand Maverick not being there, as they are in the middle of restructuring (possibly closing?), but Alley Kat, where were you? Sadly Paddock Wood was absent as well. Hopefully these three will be back at next year's fest, assuming there is one, and hopefully it isn't held on the same dates Calgary's fest. Now on to "other stuff"...

Beer Podcasts: I've been really digging the podcasts put out by the fellas at Craft Beer Radio. I've been loading 'em up on the ipod and listening on the way to work. Makes the 3 bus and one train trip a little more tollerable every morning. Thanks guys!

Recent Tastings: Not a lot to report, a few quickies from the fest. San Miguel Dark caught my eye, as something I might like, I was also curious to see if it was similar to Efes Dark which I had at the last fest. It was similar, sweet brown sugary aroma, a little bit of coffee and roasted malts. Rating 3 Brewsters Wit (listed as Christmas Wit on ratebeer) was a very drinkable example of the style - nice clove/yeast/pink gum aromatics, light bodied, sweet clovey flavour, a nice choice for hot weather (hope we get some soon) Rating 3.7 A second wit I found at the fest was Rickard's White. Can Molson make witbier? Sort of... it seemed quite sweet and orangey, and grainy especially in the finish. Really doubt I would buy this, especially when Hoegaarden or even Blanche De Chambly are so common, and more flavourful. Rating 2.8