Brewery: Brock Street Brewing Co
Origin: Ontario Canada
Style: Milk Stout
Abv: 5.5%
Marketing: Black and chocolate brown coloring on the can, images of bars of chocolate; everything seems to hint at whats inside and what to expect from this beer.
Color: Pours black as ink with a frothy head of foam.
Nose: I smelled an indistinct leathery aroma at first with mild chocolate undertones coming through. The leather might have come from a smokey smell from the roasted malts in the beer.
Taste: Sweet and slightly sour with strong cocoa flavors coming through. Roasted malt flavors and a sharp-sweet finish.
Texture: Small sharp bubbles with a smooth velvety texture underneath. Full bodied mouthfeel.
Impression: This was quite good on the first few sips but was getting pretty gross by the end for me. Overall it was way too sweet, sickly sweet even, almost like a beer and soda combo. The whole thing with milk Stouts is that they add lactose to them (milk sugar) to give them texture and a soft velvety mouthfeel. Traditional yeasts do not digest lactose though, and because of that, the sugars just get left in the liquid. That may be the point and it may be intentional but this is likely the reason why the beer tastes so sweet. I won't be buying this again, too sweet for my liking.
Brewery: Sawdust City Brewing Co
Origin: Ontario Canada
Style: M盲rzen
Abv: 5.7%
IBU: 25
SRM: 11
OG: 13.6P (Original gravity)
FG: 3.0P (Final gravity)
Hops: Cascade
Marketing: Despite its very German sounding name, this beer was actually brewed in Canada by a Canadian company. The name roughly translates to Sawdust City (or so the can tells me) which is the name of the Brewery it comes from. The can is festive, seasonal, and joyful looking with traditional German imagery and colors. I absolutley love the can and was excited to try the beer. Lots of information on the can as well, which is nice. I had to look up what a few of the abbreviations meant like (OG/FG).
Color: The beer poured a rich copper color with a fluffy tan colored head that dissipated quickly.
Nose: A sweet, malt forward aroma with citrus hops. Some floral and spice notes coming through for me.
Taste: The beer had a very interesting and unexpected taste. I found it to be dry with a very pronounced bitterness. A little spicy and citrusy.
Texture: Sharp bubbles with a mild weighty mouthfeel.
Impression: This beer was a little bit too far on the bitter side of the scale and did lack balance in my opinion, but nonetheless I really liked the beer. It was unexpected in taste and really reminded me of a dark beer that you might find in the Bavarian region of Germany. It was sort of reminiscent for me in a way. I would buy this again for sure.
Brewery: Silversmith Brewing Co
Origin: Ontario Canada
Style: Pale Ale
Abv: 5.0%
IBU: 35
Marketing: Generic name for the beer. Monochrome yellow color palate. Simple tree design behind the company's usual stained glass symbol motif. Pleasing can to look at.
Color: The beer poured a yellow straw/hay color with a loose white foam on top.
Nose: Floral and citrus hop notes. Grass coming through for me in background.
Taste: Somewhat dry, slight tanginess, finished strongly bitter.
Texture: Frothy in the mouth. Light body feel.
Impression: I generally don't care for Pale Ale style beers. I've always found them to be a little too hoppy and a little too bitter for my taste. That being said, I have mentioned in previous posts multiple times that I would drink any beer that this brewery produced. I have always found them to be quite exceptional. This beer was probably the weakest that I have tried from the Brewery but nonetheless I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was crisp and refreshing overall, just a little unbalanced to me, leading more to the bitter side.
Brewery: Broadhead Brewery
Origin: Ottawa Canada
Style: Oatmeal Stout
Abv: 5.5%
IBU: Low
SRM: High
Marketing: Simple black and white can. Somewhat boring to me. Indistinct information on back of the can.
Color: Poured black as ink with a flimsy mocha colored head.
Nose: Roasted notes with mild dark fruit aromas coming through for me.
Taste: Tangy, roasted malt flavors, strong cocoa, prune, mild smoke, finished bitter. Well balanced in my opinion.
Texture: Small bubbles, not too sharp. Medium bodied.
Impression: I found this beer to be very flavorful but not overpowering, well balanced, fresh tasting, and very drinkable. It was an all around good beer for the style in my opinion. I would drink this again.
Brewery: Big Deal Brewing Co
Origin: Rochester, New York, USA
Style: Golden Ale
Abv: 5.5%
Marketing: Simple can design, baseball style lettering, and almost no additional information provided.
Color: Golden yellow hay with a hearty white foam on top.
Nose: Floral notes from the hops.
Taste: Floral. I noticed a slight staleness in the background.
Texture: I found this beer to have just slightly flat mouth feel about it.
Impression: I wasn't a huge fan of this beer when I drank it but in fairness to the beer I drank it after having a glass of wine and while company was over so I didn't put a huge amount of effort into noticing its qualities and characters. That is the reason for my general lack of description above. Ultimately, I did not find this beer to be a "big deal" though. I didn't give it an equal shot but nonetheless I wasn't overly thrilled by it while drinking it so I wouldn't buy it again.
As usual, in this round of beer drinking there were some great beers and some duds. Overall I liked the S盲gemehl Stadt Festbier the best followed by the Broadhead Oatmeal Stout. Which beer sounded good to you?
