Troubadour
Village Brewery

 

 

Enjoyed a pint at a neighborhood pub that actually manages to bring in some local stuff. Village approaches things from a rather conservative and "safe" standpoint, releasing technically proficient yet mellow and unassuming brews that are seemingly intended to appeal to people who want something better than a Bud but who might nevertheless shy away from catty hops or super astringent smoky malts. This new release fits this mold almost perfectly, delivering some flavor but certainly failing to cause any sort of paradigm shift in the mind of the drinker. A dark reddish bronze hue with maybe an inch of beige head, this brew releases an aroma of fruity esters, darkish nutty malts, and a subtle sweetness, all melding together. The fruit comes across as apple and strawberry to my palate, and there is a mellow milk chocolate and hazelnut backbone coupled with a brown sugar sweetness that carries forward from start to finish. Body is quite thin and the beer is overly carbonated, which quashes the intended British feel to some extent. Little in the way of discernible hops either on the nose or in the mouth, true to style. I do get some faint wintergreen and generic spice in the sweet finish. Pleasingly smooth, near-creamy mouthfeel. There seems to be a reluctance to categorize beers such as this as mild ales on this website (despite the brewer providing such a label), perhaps due to a relative lack of familiarity with this largely English style. If you ask me, this indeed fits the bill, being more caramel sweet and less bitter and nutty than most English brown ales I've sampled. According to Ray Daniels, the original gravity of a mild ranges from 1.030 to 1.036. Village does not include this data on their website. Oh well. If this brew was just a bit more interesting I might be less inclined to split hairs. I will credit Village for conveying the sweet caramel malt and fruity ester notes quite nicely. Come on, guys ... DIPA us. Or even just IPA us. We can handle it.

 

On tap at Wine-Oh's

Village troubadour pours light brown/deep copper with a reasonably dense but fleeting head. No lacing. Excellent clarity, low carbonation.

Dull on the nose, mild caramely/nutty english malts, vague spicy hop character lurking somewhere in the background. Like 70% newcastle with 30% tapwater. Very watery. Could also remind me of a watered down Big Rock Traditional.

Another snorefest from Village, at this point I have given up any hope that these guys will create anything interesting for our local market. Macro compromise masquerading as hip 'craft' for palgary. We can do so much better...

Session beers can and must be satisfying in their own way, but this simply felt like more of the same Big Rock swill watered down and rebranded. Village is run by very smart people - they know their strength lies in their sales force and their penchant for sponsoring EVERY event that takes place in the city. This oftentimes makes Village beers the only brand available at local events. I suggest bourbon, rye, or scotch in these situations.

32oz howler, procured at 5 Vines in downtown Calgary, after the brewery itself was too prissy to fill my duly cleaned and sanitized bottles. Meh - it was actually easier to park at the centrally-located liquor store, than at the brewery in the rather unpleasant environs of the industrial southeast side, go figure.

This beer pours a clear, medium copper amber hue, with three fingers of puffy, foamy, and mildly bubbly ecru head, which leaves some gnarly old-growth tree profile lace around the glass as it slowly ebbs away.

It smells of biscuity, bready caramel malt, an agreeable oily nuttiness, Christmas toffee, a tame muddled fruitiness, and earthy, leafy, and slightly grassy hops. The taste is more of the same, in a very good way - pleasantly soft grainy, biscuity caramel malt, an enveloping toasted breadiness, more robust blended nutty notes, a somewhat minty leafiness, and understated musty, earthy hops.

The carbonation is fairly soft and innocuous, but supportive enough, the body a sturdy medium weight, plainly smooth, and even a touch creamy. It finishes off-dry, the biscuity malt and bittersweet nuttiness carrying on whilst entertaining some lingering wintergreen sharpness and leafy hops.

A rather pleasant English-style brown ale, from the first taste of the sample at 5 Vines, through enjoying this big bottle back home, the freeway seemingly having had no ill effect. The low ABV, combined with the overall laid-back character of this offering could, I suppose, make a case for the English Dark Mild designation, but hey, I'm not in the mood to be splitting hairs, when this is so easy-drinking, and there's yet more of it to be had.

Appearance - Pours a medium copper brown with a finger width of bubbly off-white head.

Smell - Malts, caramel and/or toffee, light nuttiness (almond, hazelnut) and earthy hops.

Taste - Toasted malts, caramel/toffee sweetness, hint of the nuts and light hop bitterness.

Mouthfeel - Light to medium bodied with moderate carbonation - might be a bit bubbly for the style.

Overall - Excellent malt flavour that forms the base of this brew. Nuts, caramel and toffee add just the right amount of sweetness and the earthy hops provide just a subtle reminder that they are there.