January 19, 2022

3/3720) Home:  St-Ambroise Black IPA by Brasserie McAuslan of Quebec:  ***; 6.5%, 58 ibu; hopped with Bravo, Centennial, Cascade, Citra and Chinook; nose is roasted malt; roasty with mild pine notes, especially at the finish;

January 15, 2022

1/3718) Home:  St-Ambroise Baltic Porter (Porter Baltique) by Brasserie McAuslan of Quebec:  no rating; 8.2%, 42 ibu; brewed with six malts; no rating as this is an infected can with huge clumps of who knows what in the can; what a Baltic Porter Day letdown;

2/3719) Home:  St-Ambroise Milk Stout by Brasserie McAuslan of Quebec:  ***; 5.5%, 28 ibu; grain bill is wheat and barley; hopped with Bravo and Golding;  mild sweet mocha nose;  rather muted mocha flavours;

Some have reported that all four cans in this mix pack were infected but by my wife made no comment about the Oatmeal Stout and this one seems fine as well.

As I hinted earlier, I am not attempting anything this year in terms of number of new beers tried.

December 31, 2021

367/3717) Home:  Nitro Caribbean Chocolate Cake, a collaboration between Siren Craft Brew of England and Cigar City of Florida, U.S.A.:  ****;   a 7.4%; Tropical Stout with cacao nibs and cypress wood; also malted barley, oats and lactose; nose is remarkably like chocolate cake; flavours mainly of cacao nibs; full mouthfeel;

December 30, 2021

366/3716) Home:  The Chocolate Monocle, a collaboration between Third Moon Brewing of Ontario and BreWskey of Quebec:  ***1/2; an 11% Imperial Stout with chocolate, vanilla and lactose; bottom of tin reads "Life is like a box of chocolates"; nose is vanilla and chocolate; strong vanilla flavours with chocolate and roasty malt; the alcohol is absent until the finish;

December 29, 2021

365/3715) Home:  Tynt Meadow English Trappist Ale by Mount St. Bernard Abbey:  ****; 7.4%, 38 ibu; a "strong ale brewed by the monks of Mount St. Bernard Abbey, Charnwood Forest"; referments in the bottle; added sugar; mahogany colour; nose of dried dark fruit with a hint of dark sugar; dark fruit, mildly malty, hints of chocolate emerge towards the finish; a very fine abbey ale; 

Only a few weeks ago, I could not imagine achieving this milestone yet again.  I am not certain that I am fully recovered, even now, so I expect to be taking things easy for the next little while.

December 28, 2021

363/3713) Home:  Coconut Death Dealer by Third Moon Brewing of Ontario:  ***1/2; a 7% Porter with raw and toasted coconut;  nose is dark roasted, nearly burnt toast (which is sort of the way I like it); flavours are mostly roasty malt, with hints of coconut, especially towards the finish;

364/3714) Home:  Vintage Ale 2021 by Fuller's Brewery of England:  ****; 8.5%, 40 ibu; 25th edition bottle #144941; the best before date has been extended to ten years; added invert sugar; optimistically, I bought a second bottle to age; this has me wondering, have I become so jaded? - it tastes "young" to me; for example, I am not used to noticing the hops in this series, particularly towards the finish;  the nose is malty with the reliable marmalade aromas;  mildly astringent hops somewhat overshadow, perhaps only to my mind, the traditional maltiness and marmalade flavours; I will get back to this one in 8 to 10 years, should I live so long;

New for 2021 - no more leaflets inside the box.

December 27, 2021

361/3711)  Home:  Mountainview Stout by Bench Brewing Company of Ontario:  ***1/2; 6.0%, 20 ibu; grain bill is malted barley, wheat; nose of roasted malt and dark coffee; roasty flavours with coffee; no additions or adjuncts, just a solid, straight forward stout, the sort one can manage more than one of;

Billed as "The beer from wine country".

362/3712) Home:  Bestowed - S'Mores by Third Moon Brewing of Ontario:  ***1/2; an 11% Imperial Stout with chocolate, marshmallows and Graham crackers;  nose of Graham crackers, coconut,  marshmallow and chocolate;  coconut and graham cracker are definitely the most prominent flavours, overshadowing the vanilla, marshmallow and chocolate;  a slow sipper for certain;  it is very nearly too much;  I could not possibly down more than one;

December 26, 2021

359/3709) Home:  Origins of Darkness, a collaboration between Collective Arts of Ontario and Lerving of Norway:  ****; 11.6% Milkshake Imperial Stout Aged in Bourbon Barrels with Peanut Butter and Chocolate; brewed with barley, wheat, oats, milk and peanuts; nose is peanuts primarily and sweet bourbon; tastes of peanuts, not so much peanut butter as peanuts, with bourbon, vanilla and chocolate; another mess but a fine mess;

360/3710) Home:  Origin of Darkness, a collaboration between Collective Arts of Ontario and Vitamin Sea Brewing of New Zealand:  ***1/2; 10.3% Imperial Stout aged in Rum Barrels with Coffee, Almonds, Lactose and Speculoos Cookies; Speculoos cookies are described as a Belgian spiced gingerbread shortcrust; brewed with barley, wheat, oats, milk and almonds; nose is dark bitter coffee with a hint of rum and almonds; flavours of rum, coffee, ginger, spices;  perhaps things have been taken a bit too far this time;

December 25, 2021

358/3708) Home:  Origins of Darkness, a collaboration between Collective Arts of Ontario and Equilibrium of New York, U.S.A.:  ****; 11.8% Imperial Stout Double Barrel Aged in Bourbon and Tawny Port Barrels with cherries, vanilla and cocoa nibs; nose is sweet bourbon, port, roasted malt; sweet bourbon, dried fruit, port, cherries;

December 24, 2021

356/3706) Home:  Origin of Darkness, a collaboration between Collective Arts of Ontario and Garage Project of New Zealand:  ****; a 10.8% Imperial Stout aged in oak barrels and finished in Tawny Port barrels, with New Zealand Pinot Noir, South Pacific vanilla and New Zealand cacao; grain bill is wheat, barley and oats; nose is mostly red wine; tastes of red wine, oak, chocolate - vanilla is subdued; a bit of a mess but it is a glorious mess;

357/3707) Home:  Mayan Chocolate Stout by Odd Side Ales of Michigan, U.S.A.:  ***1/2; 6%, 32 ibu; brewed with Dutch chocolate coffee, cinnamon, nutmeg and habaneros; inspired by Mexican hot chocolate; uncommonly thin mouthfeel for a stout; nose has plenty of heat along with nutmeg and cinnamon; flavours of chocolate, nutmeg, cinnamon, with mild heat throughout; 

Advent day 24 and a fine send-off' for the Advent calendar.

December 23, 2021

354/3704) Home:  Bux Tripel by Brouwerij Biermaeker of Belgium:  ***; an 8.5%, 35 ibu Belgian style Tripel; unfiltered, referments in bottle; pours clear; sweet, honeyed nose; sweet and fruity with a touch of off-putting dankness; 

Advent day 23

355/3705) Home:  Ӧö XO by Põhjala of Estonia:  11.5%, 60 ibu; Cognac barrel aged Imperial Baltic Porter; nose of cognac, oak, dried fruit, dark coffee, unsweetened chocolate; fruit is more up front in the flavours with sweet cognac, roasted malt, bakers' chocolate;

December 22, 2021

352/3702) Home:  Confliction by Sloop Brewing Company of New York, U.S.A.:  **1/2; a 4.8% dry hopped sour; dry hopped with Citra and Galaxy; pours clear; nose is tart and citrusy; tart lemony flavours;

Day twenty two of Advent.  There had to be another sour in there somewhere.

353/3703) Home:  Pime Ӧö  by Põhjala of Estonia:  ****1/2; 13.6%, 60 ibu; an mperial Stout; "brewed to celebrate the darkest nights of the year", plural this time so I waited for the second shortest day of the year; pours dark as night; nose of alcohol, dried fruit, plums, figs, dark roasted coffee; tastes unusually sweet with roasted malts, chocolate, coffee, cherries, dark fruit; thick, heavy mouthfeel;