Dickens couldn't have penned a better tale than this one of my happy and adventurous fridge. Well, that is a lie but this is a decentralized social media platform and my readers enjoy my aggrandizement I will have you know!
Source: https://www.pinterest.pt/goldensaintbeer/ with a little Zeke design on top.
I am solidly into 2021 as of late and back to my obsession of finding new and used beers to discover and document. I slid down the slippery slope that is made of hops and leads to India Pale Ales and I am blessed when it comes to the bounty of various IPAs from breweries from seemingly every small town in this region.
This week, I tackle a couple from Toronto Ontario, and an old favourite from Vancouver on our left coast. Lets see how they look.
Shorty of the Week!
Back into the groove, I have another local Shorty of the Week. One of my favourite beer drinkin' tactics is to have a few short 355ml cans in the fridge along with the tall/pint cans. That way, when you can use another beer but it is too late to crush a full pint, you can crush a shorty! Plus, they tend to be neat one-off brews for something special and different.
This week, I am augmenting my beer supply with All Together IPA from local Black Swan Brewery https://www.blackswanbrewing.ca/ I threw an extra Impact IPA in there just in case this new one wasn't great but it was unnecessary. Almost through these as you can see by the pic and they have been some tasty late night treats. The coolest thing about this beer is perhaps the names of all the local restaurants and bars who have served Black Swan beer, or the fact that 10% of the sales are donated to a fund that helps local hospitality workers out of work because of Covid.
Yuzu Cray-Cray
I think I have mentioned Yuzu Pale Ale from Radical Road Brewery https://www.radicalroadbrew.com/ in the past because I play hockey with one of the owners, and it is a damn fine beer. My favourite kinda beer is 'lots' and I have had many of these with the boys when we used to play hockey and music.
I discovered it after a hockey game when a big bag of watery ale was being passed out in the room after a hockey game. Most people like the clean clear crisp simple tasting beer, especially when it is a 'thirst beer.' Your thirst beer is a manly substitute for the water you should be drinking and often the beginning of a wild night. When Steve broke out the ale, he mentioned that he had a few of these and it was a damn fine thirst beer by comparison.
Yuzu https://www.radicalroadbrew.com/craft-beers throws up a couple warning signs in the form of 5% ABV and the lack of the India in the Pale Ale. It pours out clear and the nice oriental fruit could throw the IPA purist off before even getting to sample it. Maybe it was the thirst talking but I liked this beer from the beginning because of the not-so-sweet Yuzu fruit and the nice obnoxious west-coast hops in a nice light application. Well, a year and a bunch later, it was still a good beer.
West Coast from the West Coast
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Granville Island Brewing https://www.gib.ca/en-CA is WAY across the second biggest country in the world, on the farthest west coast. Good IPA for quite a while and even a really nice chocolatty Lions Winter Ale https://www.gib.ca/en-CA/our-beers/beer-details that you really should taste if you have the chance.
The back label is none too creative or dramatic, missing so many of the key words. What I do like is the visual on the hops, strong ABV, and malt that is more than just 1. Coming from the west coast, you assume there will be a good amount of citrus, pine and bitterness and it is somehow sweetened and rounded out with that touch of malt. Nothing special to make the news or my top 10, but a solid IPA.
Heavily Armed with Citra!
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Rainhard Brewing https://rainhardbrewing.com/ is a little of a 1-off as far as I am concerned as far as the scale goes, and power of the brand on a provincial scale. Still, I love the branding and I have never had a Rainhard I didn't like. SO, when I spied an Armed 'N Citra dry hopped pale ale, with a hop-adorned tank on the label, I was pretty sure I was going to enjoy it. I bought 2.
That huge block of text suggest this beer has a big story to tell, or the marketing person is a little wordy. The first big block is actually a nice demystification of the dry hopping process and the role each hop plays. The second paragraph is lost on me and I would invite you to sum it up for me as I already like this beer. I would LOVE to find this on the local shelves on a regular basis because it really could compete for a slot in the Beerologist coveted top 10.
#BEERSaturday!
Thanks again for this wonderful #hive #beer gift by @spirall on Twitter! Join the Hive push with us.
It is week 188 of #beersaturday and I must have been here at least 100 of those weeks. Still, @detlev seems to be overlooking this and has not included me in the Special Thanks section even though I am here every week, always rehive, upvote, and curate most of the posts. I may have too many beers and take that personally at some point!
I invite a friend to the party every week and this week it is @jasonbu who is a new friend and seems to know his beer including Muskoka Brewery.
Cheers DOODS!
I am honoured to curate for:
Cheers! You introduced good beers here ... I haven't heard of this Yuzu thing yet, I have to find what kind of fruit it is, oh is some kind of citrus. Cool.
Yah! I had never heard of it either. I do like the citrussy element to IPAs and don't mind when they actually brew with a little fruit. Just a neat exotic oriental citrus in a beer I like to drink half because a friend is the owner.
I hear you!!
Saweeet, I've already hit a few of the sites to check them out - I know early Sunday morning - but I'm downed my first espresso - gtg! Sounds like I'm going to need to put a few home orders in. Definitely not your run-of-the mill LCBO/Bee Store buys. These look like some nice brews.
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Love a good Yuzu beer. Also never heard the term 'Shorty' in this context, I might start using it.
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