Dockside
Bobcaygeon Brewing Company

 

 

 

Look: A mix of auburn and amber red. Clear with a light tawny head with great staying power. The head is 2 fingers on the pour and still a solid 1/4 finger after 5 minutes.

Smell: Bready and doughy. Sharp notes of grain and thistle.

Taste: Light and watery on the front end. An intense doughy malt flavour comes through mid sip, with a earthy citrus hop character and tea bitterness on the back end.

Feel: Crisp and dry. Medium body with a creamy texture.

Finish is both sweet and bitter....perhaps a little too sweet in the end, but a fine drinkable classic red ale. It earns a B.

 

Nice dark red colour, and the smell hints of what is to come. I enjoyed the taste, with an undercurrent of caramel, and a hint of bitterness. A smooth finish, with little aftertaste. At 5% alcohol t his one is not too strong to drink with activities in mind for later.

473 ml can served cold into a chalice. Purchased at Fortinos for $3.20 CDN.

Appearance - Somewhere between honey brown and cola brown, capped with a finger plus of light tan head. Good staying power and some spidery lacing left behind.

Smell - Lots of grain, hints of caramel and maybe even cacao powder. Aromatics moderately intense.

Taste - Lots of grain, surprising hop bitterness, some roasty malts and undercurrent of caramel. Pretty tasty.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied, good drinkability with a drying finish.

Overall - Above average beer all around, would certainly enjoy again. A nice beer to be consumed Dockside during the summer months.

Appearance: Poured with a finger and a half of rocky head that laced quite well but sadly did not stick around for very long. The body is a deep dark red that leans more towards brown that shows decent carbonation.

Smell: Dry sand and a hint of toffee malt, warming brings the malt out of a bit more but it's hamstrung by that sandiness that I'm fairly certain earthy hops are causing. It's not offensive, but I don't find it especially appetising.

Taste: In a word, plain. Starts with some mild toffee malt and turns to muddy hops that have slightly too much measure over this one. It's not a fabulous bouquet, just a plain malt dose with a bit too much of a hop note.

Mouthfeel: The muddy note is the worst part of this beer, but it doesn't cling or get too out of control. I like the carbonation on this one, and the transitioning is smooth up until the end when it goes overboard leaving a slight mixed hop and sandy taste.

Drinkability: Medium bodied and without any issues settling down. The hops are just dry enough to not get out of control and ruin things. Not a lot really to say about this one.

Final Thoughts: It's a perfectly serviceable beer, but it can be best summarised as a beer I wouldn't turn down, but one I wouldn't seek out. I suppose if you wanted something plain but need a bit more of a bitter kick, this is the beer for you, but I found it to be an awkward run of the mill. It's not bad by any means, it's just a simpler beer that made some choices that don't agree with my palate.

Bobcaygeon Brewing Company Dockside Red Ale. 5% alc. 30 IBUs.

This beer pours a bubbly-looking off-white head that lingers.

The beer itself is ruby red to dark brown, depending on the light.

Nice toasty malt smell coming off this beer. Hints of brown bread crust and biscuity notes, too.

The taste is roasted malt. There is a slight bitterness that I guess comes off the hops but it is nicely balanced with the malt.

The beer mouthfeel is medium. The beer is medium bodied, too. The finish is dry and clean.

Red ales are great beers and this is certainly one of them.

A- is the grade, IMO.

 

Pours a deep red brown with a nice fluffy two fingers of head. Break is relatively quick,but leaves some nice lacing.

Smell is led by the malts. I get grainy and some caramel variants. Not much of a hop presence.

Taste is firmly middle of the road. Malty up front, the grainy ones come through most. The backend is bitter and a little weedy.

Feel is on the medium side, with good carbonation. Finish is bitter and coats the mouth.

Dockside is a fair beer, it isn't going to set the world on fire, but it will quench your thirst. I think it is appropriately named, as it would be nice to have one on the dock on a cool summer night.

Amber filtered with no carbonation, topped with 5 fingers of beige head.

Smells of toasted malty notes, cream, and thats about it.

Tastes well toasted with hints of Munich hops reminding me of that style of Dunkel. The toast and the roast increases unto the end, making it quite pleasant.

Medium body, medium to low carbonation. Very tannic finish.

Really good brew. Picked it up in Hamilton, ON, drinking it in New Hamburg, ON, the wee hours of Jan 5, 2018. Just back from my trip to Tree House. Solid brew for Ontario, and its style.

Deep veiled and shady dark copper color with light activity. Slightly creamy beige 2 finger head, lasting around 5 minutes, with average legs and mediocre swirl reaction. Flavors of cinnamon, roasted barley, cherries, raspberries, toffee, nutmeg, and herbal hops. Oily but well rounded full body with just the right amount of carbonation. Moderate to strong strength spicy finish, more sweet fruity with a residual IPA like leafy feel and a pleasant maillard effect. More yeasty than a usual red. Very nice balance and intensity, perfectly roasted and highly drinkable. Overall excellent quality craft.

 

 

Aug 15 2024

Tallboy can from the LCBO; dated Jul 20 2017 and served slightly chilled.

Pours a deep-hued, clear copper-chestnut colour, producing one finger of frothy pale beige-coloured head that sticks around for a good, long while. It becomes denser and creamier as it gradually reduces in volume, eventually being transformed into a 1 cm-thick cap and collar framed by a narrow band of smooth lacing. Fantastic visuals; very enticing to look at. Caramel and toffee sweetness come through on the nose, backed up by some bready, grainy malts and some tenuous suggestions of toasted nuts, grassy hay and maybe a touch of pine resin.

A rather typical Canadian amber ale - somewhat malt-forward, though with a respectable hop backing to ensure that the flavours remain balanced. Toffee sweetness and toasted nuts complement the bready malt flavours of the front end, with grassy, herbal hop flavours becoming more noticeable as you near the finish. Pine resin astringency rounds out the profile nicely, with this resiny bitterness persisting into the aftertaste. Light-bodied, with unobtrusive carbonation of average strength; it gently prickles the surfaces of the palate and provides a mild bite, though I would describe the overall texture as 'smooth' more than anything else. Nothing too exciting, but it still made for a good afternoon tipple.

Final Grade: 3.82, a B+. Bobcaygeon's Dockside Red Ale is a straight-up, down-to-business amber - I don't expect it to blow away many BAs, but it's still a perfectly serviceable beer in and of itself. Like their flagship Common Loon APA, this one is likely to have some degree of mass appeal - the malts and hops are somewhat balanced, though the bitterness of the latter might prove to be a bit too much if you're one of those folks that doesn't care for hops. I don't drink a lot of amber ales, but this is one that I legitimately enjoyed, so I think I'll return to it once in a while.