9/3359) Home: Age of Industry by Grey Matter Beer Company of Ontario: ***; a 5.5%, 30 ibu oatmeal stout; very roasty nose and flavours;
10/3360) Home: Checkmate by Grey Matter Beer Company of Ontario: **1/2; 4.8%, 12 ibu; billed as "a redesign of a classic German lager featuring regional ingredients"; also described as a Helles lager; pours clear; crisp, dry, fruity;
7/3357) Home: Hungry Hollow by Furnace Room Brewery of Ontario: ***; 5.5%; ; malt bill includes wheat and oats; from their Hazy Pale Ale series, the first installment of this rotating hops line; only very mildly hazy for all that; the tin does not reveal which hop but thankfully Untappd says Vic Secret; crisp, fruity, apple-like citrus;
Named for a trail south of Georgetown along Silver Creek, branching off the Credit River.
8/3358) Home: Kentucky Bastard Imperial Stout (2020) by Nickel Brook of Ontario: ****1/2; 11.9%, 70 ibu; aged in Kentucky bourbon barrels; brewed with malted barley, malted wheat, oats and demerara sugar; sweet oak, vanilla, boozy bourbon nose; flavours of vanilla, oak, bourbon, booze, dark chocolate, dried fruit; I had heard good things about the 2020 and still my expectations were exceeded;
3/3353) Home: Saint of Circumstance by Collective Arts of Ontario: **1/2; 4.7%; a Citra Blond Ale brewed with barley malt and wheat malt, orange and lemon zest; hopped with Citra, Amarillo and Centennial; pours clear; another blonde lawn mower beer partially redeemed by citrus zest; scant sign of those hops;
This has been around for a while. I am not sure how it is that I am trying it only now.
4/3354) Home: Pandamonium Super IPA by Phillips Brewing & Malting Co. of British Columbia: ***1/2; 6.8%; malt bill includes wheat and oats; pours cloudy; nose of tropical and pine; resin and tropical flavours;
1/3351) Home: ICE COLD BEER by Left Field Brewery of Ontario: **1/2; 4.5%; "100% Ontario Ale"; pours clear; sweet, nearly lagerish; extra half star for the back story; a typical lawn mower blonde ale, grassy, ever so mild hops; it is hard to be too harsh, plainly this is what they were aiming for;
Named in honour of a beer vendor at Toronto Blue Jays games for many years. You can see him on YouTube. He never had my brand but he was a big part of Blue Jays' games for many years.
2/3352) Home: 10₵ Beer Night by Left Field Brewery of Ontario: ****; 7.8%, 93 ibu; a Double IPA brewed with wheat and oats added to the malt bill and Nelson Sauvin and Citra hops; nose is dank and tropical; dark resin largely overshadows the tropical notes, berries and melon;
This is another great story. well covered on YouTube. It is hard to imagine that no one imagined that anything could go wrong. Given the name, I will not enjoy responsibly!
There are a couple of reasons for the switch from a three star rating system to the five star scale. First off it matches the tasting journals of which I have received so many of late.
The three star method was used in the Great Lakes Brewing News which I used to pick up free of charge when I was in Toronto, usually at C'est What. Regrettably, they published a mildly controversial article at some point. I found it juvenile and sophomoric. I turned the page. This, however, was not enough for the faux-outrage Twitter mob who decided on everyone else's behalf that no one should be able to read this or anything else printed in Great Lakes Brewing News. They were cancelled.
