It is #beersaturday again and I have been off exploring the region looking for new beers to share with the world!
Beer blogging comes naturally to me due to years spent brewing for myself and restaurants, working with breweries on their technology & marketing, and the decades spent imbibing. Hence, the self-decreed title of the #Blockchain #Beerologist doing my best to consume, report and even brew to do that title justice.
This week, I am taking you from low test to high test in a single beer blog post!
Shorty of the Week
When I go to the store and select this week's batch of wild and hoppy beers, I always look for that one short can to pop into the fridge for those special occasions. Like when a full pint would be too much for the end of the night or I would like something completely different. When I see Left Field Brewery https://www.leftfieldbrewery.ca/ out of the big city and it is an IPA or Pale Ale, I snag it!
Flutterball Pale Ale https://www.leftfieldbrewery.ca/beers is now sold out so they made the description page unavailable for some reason. Anyhow, Hazy and citrussy is my jam and making it a little lighter at 5% ABV and adding gooseberry, you can't really go wrong. Like most of their beers, it was a nice one with a nice balance between sweet and bitter, but not overly so, and a good mouthfeel made for a nice experience. If you can pick up Leftfield where you are, I would encourage it!
How about a Different Shorty?
While cruising the Collective Arts Brewery https://collectiveartsontario.com/ section, which I regularly do as their IPA game is awesome, I found this! Sometimes, an EXTREMELY light beer is in order but unfortunately those usually taste like ass. Might as well give it a try!
Apparently Collective Arts has a whole non-alcoholic https://collectiveartsontario.com/collections/non-alcoholic section with all kinds of cocktails, mineral water and beers. As for this one, I didn't hate it! That is about as good as I can expect it to get really. Alcohol free but has some taste to it! If this wasn't $2.75 per small can, I would probably keep a few of these around all the time. Good stuff for the end of a night or a drive for sure.
Gardening Beer!
'Tis the season to be spending weekends in the garden doing hard labour to get things ready for summer. Cutting and raking and bagging and shoveling and planting is hard work that leaves you quite thirsty. If you dive into a couple heavy IPAs, you run the risk of slowing yourself down and even derailing the agenda of tasks to be completed.
Enter stage right MVP Brewing Premium Lager! https://mvpbrewing.ca/ They are a local organization who brilliantly worked on the brand story and piloted with a heavy sales process before laying down roots.
This is definitely a @davedickeyyall beer and it went down like liquid gold after a long shift in the garden. Smooth and unassuming, lighter on the alcohol, and tasty enough to enjoy in small sips or a good healthy chug. It really helps they are a local company and we have the prospect of helping them with marketing and Tyler is a fantastic dood. Good beer!
How About an IPA?
I have not really had that many opportunities to enjoy https://www.deschutesbrewery.com/ and couldn't even remember where they are located. A good amount of digging on the webpage reminded me they are from the Portland area. When the label is bright enough to catch my attention, has a neat illustration, and has the letters IPA on it, I am in!
Fresh Haze IPA https://www.deschutesbrewery.com/beer/fresh-haze-ipa/ pours hazy to fit that description for sure. A reasonable 45 IBU (international bitterness units) and solid 6.5% abv coupled with the juicy and hazy descriptors make it almost automatically up my alley. Man was this a nice smooth, full and subtly sweet brew. Probably not really close in true taste but reminded me of old favourites like Sierra Nevada and other delicious American brewed IPAs. A damn fine beer I will buy again when stocking up and the perfect companion for some evening gaming with the guys.
Well met Deschutes! I need to get me to Bend Oregon!
#BEERSaturday!
Whether you are a light beer sipper or a #beerologist, I encourage you to join @detlev and the gang at #beersaturday This week, you can join us at @detlev/beersaturday-307 for this week's #beersaturday post. Grab a pint and join in the fun with a beer story of your own.
This week for #BeerSaturday, I would like to invite @petrvl who has been around here since 2016 and needs to post more! Take a few pictures, tag #beersaturday and raise a glass with us on Hive!
Cheers to our global family of beer-drinkers!!
I am honoured to curate for:
