October 28, 2026

179/4925) Home:  Horner Creek by Great Lakes Brewery of Ontario:  ***1/2; 3.5% Ordinary Bitter; with wheat; clear, copper; malty nose with herbal, earthy hop notes; earthy, herbal notes; I was missing the biscuity flavours many traditional bitters feature; 

Named for a stream near the brewer’s family farm.

October 26, 2026

178/4924) Home:  Blood & Art II by Collective Arts in collaboration with Blood Brothers, both of Ontario:  ****; 8% Double IPA; grain bill includes oats and wheat; hopped with Krush hyperboost, Citra and Superdelic; somewhere between hazy and cloudy; tropical, citrus nose with an edge of bitter alcohol; bitter alcohol edge throughout with candied citrus and tropical notes;

October 25, 2026

177/4923) Home:  Splash by Mikkeller of Denmark:  ****1/2; 5.5% IPA; grain bill includes barley and wheat; translucent with a foamy white head; aromas are dry, Old School resiny pine; dry, bitter resiny pine and grapefruit flavours;

Brewed in Ontario for a Danish brewery.

October 24, 2026

176/4922) Home:  Baked Fresh by Side Launch in collaboration with Craig's' Cookies both of Ontario:  ***1/2; 5.5% Chocolate Chip Cookie Stout; grain bill includes barley wheat and oats; pours black with a white head; chocolate chip, mild vanilla and coconut nose; tastes of chocolate chip with cookie base flavours. Very nice;

October 21, 2026

175/4921) Home:  Cosmic Debris by Great Lakes Brewery of Ontario:  ***; 4.6%, 20 ibu Hazy Pale Ale; grain bill is malted barley, golden flaked oats and wheat; hopped with Motueka, Citra LUPOMAX and Talus; hazy; tropical aromas; mostly tropical, unpleasant bitter lingering edge; 

Not to be confused with "Cosmik Debris" from Frank Zappa’s apostrophe (') LP.

October 20, 2026

174/4920) Home:  Triple Octo by Great Lakes Brewing of Ontario:  ****1/2; 10% “3 X IPA”; with oats, wheat and hopped with Citra, Mosaic and Citra Hyperboost (a high oil hop extract); hazy; orange brown yellow; sharp dank peaches and tropical; hints of bitter alcohol, pineapple, peach and citrus; 

“Triple IPA version of our beloved Octo featuring a vicious uppercut of Mosaic hops and a flurry of flavour.”  This one is a monster.

October 17, 2026

170/4916) Birreria Volo:  Des Cèdres by Microbrasserie 5e Baron of Quebec:  ****;  7.0% West Coast IPA; their Ten Falls with an adjusted hop balance:  50% Cashmere, 30% Centennial, 20 % Chinook; last two souirced locally in Quebec; clear; pine and peach nose; resiny pine flavours with a hint of stonefruit;

Translates as cedars.

This event was Off-Cask Days:  Mellön & Friends.  I did not attend Cask Days.  It is expensive and I had great beer here without paying to enter, as always.

171/4917) Birreria Volo:  Quelqu’un M’a Dit Que Tu M’amais Encore by Mellön Brasserie of Quebec:  ****; 7.0%, 40 ibu West Coast IPA; pale, clear; blend of pine and peaches with mild nerbal notes; 

Translates as “Someone told me that you still loved me.”

The joint is pretty quiet for 4PM.

172/4918) Birreria Volo:  Intuition Riwaka by Brasserie Ayawan of Quebec:  ****; 6.2% IPA; murky;  stonefruit nose; stone fruit with a hint of tropical flavours; mildly sweet;

The barmaid said this is the most popular of the lot last night.

173/4919) Birreria Volo:  Morte de Trouille STRM Turbo by Messorem of Quebec:  ****; 6.5% IPA; hopped with Nelson Sauvin, Citra, Citra Dynaboost, Motueka and Motueka hop kief; swampy; nose is a blend of tropical, stonefruit and white wine; stone fruit up front in flavours with tropical notes;

This translates as scared to death.