Across The Nation Coast 2 Coast
Central City Brewers + Distillers

 

Can: Poured a clear yellow color ale with a medium size white foamy head with average retention and minimal lacing. Aroma of light sweet malt notes with light herbal notes is OK. Taste is a mix of light sweet malt notes with some light herbal notes also apparent with a thin finish. Body is about average with good carbonation. Lack complexity and flavours.

 

 

Collaboration 2 Crows Brewing, canned: Bright dark straw color with tons of floating chunks of yeast, unusual but sexy. Slightly foamy 1-2 finger head, lasting around 5 minutes, not much legs nor swirl reaction. Flavors of sweet barley, apricot, apples, spelt, caramel, sunflower seeds, Belgian yeast, and floral hops. Slick and oily medium body with a moderate crisp. Light strength finish, pleasant rich grainy and bready feel, ends with balanced flowery hops and a shy barnyard feel. Moderately fruity, more malty. A bit overly accessible, faint Saison profile, though without an adjunct feel. Good freshness and balance. Cross Blonde Ale and Saison. Overall good quality craft.

355 mL can from the LCBO, included in their Across the Nation collaboration (Back East) mixed pack; dated Apr 3 2018 and served slightly chilled.

Pours a clear, bright golden-yellow colour; slightly flocculent, with one centimetre of white, frothy head gathering atop prior to fizzling off within two minutes' time. A slight collar lasts on, but nothing else of significance does; looks rather plain to me. The nose is pleasant but otherwise unremarkable - there's a fair bit of doughy pale malt and cereal grain sweetness, accompanied by hints of Juicy Fruit gum and vaguely herbal hoppiness.

Not great, but not bad; grainy sweetness more or less dominates the flavour profile, along with notes of doughy pale malt and wheat husk. It doesn't develop much from there - there's an indistinct orchard fruit ester thing going on, with herbal, earthy hops overlapping with weak hints of bubblegum, courtesy of the Belgian yeast. Medium-bodied, with light carbonation levels that provide a bit of a bite early in the glass, but weaken quickly thereafter; still, it has a nice, slick, weighty quality on the palate, and it's actually reasonably refreshing.

Final Grade: 3.56, a B grade. 2 Crows' Coast 2 Coast is a decent, unobjectionable strong Belgian-style ale, but I don't think it's something I'll remember as a particularly good saison. The spelt does give it a nice wheat-like character, and for all I know it might also have helped with the body (my favourite attribute), but I didn't really notice the sunflower seeds at all. Standard and unexciting in spite of its unique ingredients; I wouldn't refuse another, but I'm not in a hurry to find more.

Can - pours clear straw color with a weal collapsing cap...aroma is funky , not bad or off just an odd cereal aroma...flavor is sweet but there is some redeeming hop presence which increases in the hort thin finish...not bad, not good, just odd.

 

 

Pours a slightly hazy golden body with minimal head formation. The aromas are fairly complex and interesting, bringing forth a certain tartness and slightly phenolic character, along with very classic yeastiness. The tartness is subdued on the palate, with a very cereal-forward nature that exudes the raw, naturally fermented character of the grains, with a light hoppy bitterness, leaving behind a really crisp finish with just a touch of pleasant fermentation tones remaining. Super beer, wouldn't expect any different from 2 crows!

 

 

This is a very tasty saison, another collaboration in the Across Canada 2018 collection. Bright gold, white foam, and the appropriate farmhouse spice make for a pleasant drinking experience.

Clear lemon yellow with a full head. Grainy, funky nose. Light malt body with nice saison notes. On the lighter side for a saison but tasty.

355ml can, part of the 2018 Across the Nation collaboration pack with 12 different Canadian breweries, one from each province and territory. This one involves Nova Scotia's 2 Crows Brewing, and is an Ancient Grain Saison.

This beer pours a clear, medium golden yellow colour, with two fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and somewhat bubbly off-white head, which leaves a few minor instances of hanging archipelago lace around the glass as it quickly evaporates.

It smells of gritty and grainy cereal malt, some mild earthy yeastiness, and very faint leafy, herbal, and grassy hop bitters. The taste is bready and crackery pale malt, some indistinct otherly graininess, weird estery floral notes, fading phenolic yeast, and more well-understated earthy, musty, and dry hay-like hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly restrained in its dialed-in frothiness, the body a so-so middleweight, and generally smooth, with nothing really acting in bad faith at this particular juncture. It finishes trending dry, the various grains losing a lot of steam in their lingering stance.

Overall - yeah, what I'm getting here is just an amped-up version of all those gluten-free beer knockoffs that I've suffered through over the years. Not exactly pleasant to put back, even if it hides its elevated ABV quite well.