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Grey Matter Brewing Co.

Appearance: The body is a very dark brown that reveals lighter, silhouette viewable look when held to the light. There's quite a bit of sandy looking particulate, but a steady strong stream of carbonation rising from the center of the glass becomes clear. Poured with a thumb's worth of head that laces a bit and retained exceptionally well.

Smell: Mostly absent here, and needed quite a bit of warming to achieve potency, where plain toffee, fig and mild butterscotch notes appear. It's nice, but it took a while to get there and isn't anything that's going to knock your socks off.

Taste: Toffee, shortbread, fig and maybe a hint of nuttiness that ends with a to a mild bittersweet chocolate, earth and caramel note. It does a great job of just stopping short of being a full malt overboard experience.

Mouthfeel: Transitioning is good, but the beer's evolution is very short. The sudsy carbonation, that the beer does a great job of straddling the line between a flatter but more flavorful scotch ale but still manages to come across as lighter is a welcome treat. Aftertaste is a well balanced mix of all the beer's aspects that never clings or gets out of control.

Drinkability: Medium bodied, which is kind of surprising given it's 80 shilling, but it works out well. Remarkably easy to drink that settles well and is a true pleasure to quaff. For a style that's a bit more of a flavorful but heavier experience, this offering is quite refreshing as well pleasing my love for malt.

Final Thoughts: Save for the most sweltering of summer days, this is a beer for all seasons. Ample flavor, refreshing, and be savored or enjoyed quickly and a welcome beacon in this stormy sea known as life. Just an all around great beer from a criminally under brewed style in Ontario.