All posts by Blaine

Wychwood Hobgoblin

I bought this bottle because I thought the label was cool. C’mon, it has a goblin on it!

It poured out a nice ruby brown with a tan head of foam that dissipated quite quickly. This beer smells delicious, fruit, malt, toffee and later on, coffee. This beer went directly from my basement to a glass so it wasn’t chilled, allowing the flavours to really come through. I could really taste the caramel and it finished with a nice hoppy bitterness. This is a really rich, full beer.

I would definitely drink this one again!

 

Yellowhead Brewery Tour

A while back I reviewed Yellowhead Premium Lager for this very website. I am very, very fond of this beer and will drink it any chance I get. Today I had the pleasure of touring the brewery. Yellowhead is located in downtown Edmonton in the Shaw building. It’s a beautiful old brick building built in 1912 that once housed the Nabob coffee company, a cigar factory and a biscuit maker. The tour was entertaining  as well as educational. Our tour guide Ido Grapendale, who is Yellowhead’s special events manager, is quite knowledgeable even though he claims to only be parroting back what the brewmaster told him. I don’t buy it Ido! I think you know more than you give yourself credit for. Or perhaps that’s why he starts you off with a pint of their crisp, refreshing brew, to make you more suggestible. Regardless the tour is well worth the time and the $10 it costs. After touring the facility from grain room to brewery to bottling line the tour ends up back in their tasting room for another pint of beer.  The cherry on top is that  the glass that’s yours to keep!

I used to like Yellowhead but now after taking this tour and seeing a bit of their brewing process I love them! Yellowhead really seems to care about making a fine, consistent product, I have a whole new respect for them. I will definitely drink Yellowhead lager again and I will certainly take this tour again. You should too! Call me if you do, I wouldn’t mind tagging along.

Currently Yellowhead gives tours on a booking basis only so call ahead and give them 24 hours notice. Details for booking their tours can be found on their website here. Please go and support this excellent Edmonton brewer. Tell Ido drinkagain.ca sent you, he won’t know what you’re talking about and it won’t get you a deal or anything, but do it anyway!

 

Carolus

Here’s another one that I had earlier this summer on a hot day.
Carolus comes from the Het Anker brewery, a Flemish brewery originally founded in 1471. Anyway, blah blah blah, on to the beer.
It has strong alcohol in the nose, not surprising as it’s an 8.5% beer.
It pours out a bit cloudy with a dark brown color.
Strong caramel in the nose.
It has a spicy, molasses flavor and a slightly tart aftertaste.
This beer would be great at Christmas but not in the summer time. I would drink it again but it’s not remarkable.

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Royal Jamaican Alcoholic Ginger Beer

A few months ago Blu brought a 6 pack of this to gaming. I tried it, I hated it. At the end of the night Blu gave me the last bottle to take home. I took it, of course, I never turn down a free drink. It sat in my “beer cellar” (cardboard box in the basement) until today when I decided to dump it to make some room. I couldn’t just dump it without trying it again though. I had it wrong the first time. I was expecting a beer with ginger but this is a ginger beer, if that makes any sense. It’s like a Stewart’s ginger beer with alcohol, an alcoholic ginger beer like the label says. With that in mind it’s not too bad but it’s too much like an alco-pop for me. I don’t like pop so I won’t be drinking this again.

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Raftman

750ml bottle caged and corked.
5.5%
Smell: cloves, belgian yeast, soapy
Pour: copper amber with thick head of foam leaving lacing that lasted the entire glass
Taste: cloves, apple, acidic, carbonated, made with a smoked malt however I didn’t taste any smoke. A Belgian style ale. Not my favorite Unibroue beer but I would drink it again.

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Blanche de Chambly

I love the Sugarbowl. Love it. So many great beers. Sometimes I can’t remember which ones I’ve tried. So I decided to try them all. Not all at once but eventually. The easiest way is to start at the top of the list and work my way down! It’s a tough job but someone has to do it!

At the top of the beer list is Blanche de Chambly. It is a white beer from Unibroue in Chambly, Quebec. It’s nice and light at 5%. Has the banana and spice taste you’d expect from a witbier. I like it and would drink it again. In fact I will soon, I bought a 750ml bottle and will give it a shot!

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