Stitches: Gerry Cheevers Oktoberfest
Lake of Bays Brewing Company

 

Great looking beer, from initial presentation to the hockey art portrayed. The taste is characterized by a full body hop which leads to a great tasting beer. Overall very satisfying

750 mL bottle picked up at the LCBO; bottled Sept 26 2014. Served slightly chilled.

Pours a deep-hued, somewhat murky amber-brown colour, topped off with just over one finger of dense, creamy, light beige-coloured head. Retention is superb; it recedes very gradually over the next ten minutes or so, leaving behind a lumpy cap and gobs of sticky lace. The aroma is sweet and malty, unsurprisingly - caramel and doughy, nutty malts are detectable, along with fruity notes of candy apple and plum.

This is a yummy, well-balanced, strong malt-forward lager. Grainy, doughy malt sweetness and toasted biscuits come through initially, with toffee, prune, apple skin and a suggestion of banana bread. Noble hops wrap things up in the end, offering up some grassy, lightly spicy bitterness that blends nicely with the ethanol, giving this beer a warming, almost rummy-sweet aftertaste. Medium-full in body, with a smooth, creamy mouthfeel aided by the relatively subtle carbonation levels. It's a strong beer, but none of its individual elements overpower anything else - this balance allows it to achieve an unusually high level of drinkability for its strength.

Final Grade: 4.04, an A-. Stitches Oktoberfest Lager is not a traditional example of this German amber lager style, but it's a well-brewed one nonetheless. Like the other beers in Lake of Bays' Masked Men series, this is a tasty brew without any major flaws, although the price point is likely to be a sore spot for many consumers. Having been born after Cheevers was admitted to the Hockey Hall of Fame (not to mention the fact that I hate the Bruins with a burning passion), I am probably not the target audience for this stuff - but I can think of at least one generation that might have some disposable income to spare, particularly when it comes to things with (suavely-implemented) nostalgic appeal...

 

 

 

 

750ml bottle, the fourth iteration in this brewery's 'Masked Men' NHL Alumni series, this time honouring Boston Bruin great Gerry Cheevers, he of the gnarly old-school mask, and tendency to forget that he was a goaltender. Oh, and why I am suddenly feeling the urge to break out that well-aged Chixdiggit! CD right now? Oh, right.

This beer pours a clear, bright red-brick amber colour, with two stacked pads of puffy, densely foamy, and mildly squirrelly pale tan head, which leaves some decent invading mothership lace around the glass as things slowly move off.

It smells of bready, crackery, and somewhat biscuity caramel malt, stewed red apples, and leafy, fresh hay-like hops. The taste is more biscuity, almost ESB-like, in its sturdy caramel malt renderings, with a further warm drupe side dish sort of fruitiness, a touch of black pepper, subtle spicy yeast esters, earthy, dead leafy hops, and a mildly bristling booze warmth.

The bubbles are mostly just supportive in their merely plain frothiness, the body a stocky medium weight, and generally smooth, a hollow creaminess arising as it warms. It finishes well off-dry, the complex caramel malt carrying on and on, just a duly promised, a bit of lingering side-saddle alcohol exposing a wee five-hole weakness.

A pretty tasty, and pleasantly-wrought Oktoberfest lager, one of the Imperial leaning, of course, but with enough stiff upper lip to keep the masses from knowing the true secret of their warming bellies - sweet, sweet alcohol. Anyways, enjoyable to drink, and to reminisce about trading hockey cards when the players weren't all that removed from the Hall of Famers being celebrated here.