Beer in Review 2015

FAVORITE LOCAL BREWERY
Bellwoods. They've had a few missteps this year, but they really can't be touched for sour and barrel aged beers in Ontario, so my vote goes to them. Special shout outs to Sawdust, Boshkung and Haliburton Highlands. None of their beers are mind blowing, but they are all good and on the way to the cottage, so there's an experiential factor there. Picking up a fresh growler and drinking it on the dock can't be beat and a good reminder for myself that beer has many different parts to its enjoyment and it's not always about whalez. .

FAVORITE BREWERY - OTHER
Cantillon. It's always has been and probably always will be Cantillon. Almanac and Crooked Stave are honourable mentions.

FAVORITE LOCAL BEER
Nickel Brook Headstock. When it's good, it's the best IPA in Ontario (it can be quite variable, though). The Double Dry Hopped version was ridiculously good.

FAVORITE BEER - OTHER
Pilsner Urquell Nefiltrovany. Unfiltered, fruity and floral like you wouldn't believe and the only beer I might want to drink every day for the rest of my life. For someone who loves much maligned and overlooked lagers, it really is that good.

NEW LOCAL DISCOVERY
If I had to pick just one, it would be Burdock. Not everything is a winner, but at the minimum they're always trying to work on interesting styles and interpretations and, at their best, knocking a few things out of the park (like their fruit Berliner's).

NEW DISCOVERY - OTHER
Can't pick one, so picking 3. Trillium does everything phenomenally and I would travel to Boston for just that brewery alone. Grimm's hoppy beers are a very close second to Trillium for unbridled hop flavour. Pivovar Matuska in the Czech Republic is my third. They produce a wide variety of beers, from stouts, to American IPA's to traditional Bohemian Pils that are amazing.

NOTABLE BEER-CHIEVEMENT
Travelling to Prague and Plzen, finding a vibrant, growing craft beer culture in the Czech Republic and getting to drink Pilsner Urquell Nefiltrovany in the cold tunnels below the brewery. That was a lifetime "tick" for me.

LOCAL BREWERY TO WATCH
Hopefully both Barncat and Bim's new brewery are up and running in 2016. If so, it will be a very good year in Ontario.

BREWERY TO WATCH - OTHER
Grimm. There was a good year there when they flew under the radar and you could easily get your hands on some. The cat is out of the bag, now they're "behind the counter" with bottle/can limits and there's no sign of it slowing down.

LOCAL BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED BEER
Life Sentence from GLB/Amsterdam was a local that got mad love, was good, but not as amazing as the ratings suggest. Overall, a bigger disappointment was consistency and QC issues across Ontario. A dozen Ontario breweries can now produce a really great IPA, but no one can do it with any consistency. The amount of new and even established breweries that release beers with diacetyl, DMS or other off flavors, and beers with unintentional infections, is staggering.

BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED - OTHER
With a couple exceptions, Hill Farmstead. Good to excellent across the board but not beergasm amazing, IMO.

MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO TRYING (OR HOPE TO TRY!)
I've never had the opportunity to try any Tree House, so that's on my list.

 

FAVORITE LOCAL BREWERY

Dandy

FAVORITE BREWERY - OTHER

Dieu du Ciel

FAVORITE LOCAL BEER

Honestly there is nothing I seek out and try to try everything new.

FAVORITE BEER - OTHER

Dieu du Ciel's Disco Soliel

NEW LOCAL DISCOVERY

Buck a shuck and cheap (er) pints at the Nationals.

NEW DISCOVERY - OTHER

The more things change the more they stay the same. Only really got excited about Sierra Nevada's Oktoberfest while stateside and their Celebration when it was available in Calgary.

NOTABLE BEER-CHIEVEMENT

A continuing fight of the government on beer taxes but the Shelton Brother's Festival in October in Florida was a blast.

LOCAL BREWERY TO WATCH

Dandy

BREWERY TO WATCH - OTHER

Dieu du Ciel (yeah a homer here)

LOCAL BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED BEER

Village

BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED - OTHER

Parallel 49 beers scare me. Under attenuated and the beers seem rushed. Focus less on the cute names, the packaging and just make better beer.

MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO TRYING (OR HOPE TO TRY!)

Hoping to get to Whistler Brew Pub, Derek has always brewed honest beers and haven't had any of his beers since Dix closed years ago.

 

Yeah, you're right. And I agree, super exciting if they start canning stuff this good!

 

FAVORITE LOCAL BREWERY
Dieu du Ciel!

FAVORITE BREWERY - OTHER
Rochefort (does that count?)

FAVORITE LOCAL BEER
Red Sashes (Dunham)

FAVORITE BEER - OTHER
Rodenbach Vintage 2013

NEW LOCAL DISCOVERY
Tooth and Nail

NEW DISCOVERY - OTHER
Boulevard Tank 7 / Cuvée Soeur'ise

NOTABLE BEER-CHIEVEMENT
Started a cellar, getting quite big

LOCAL BREWERY TO WATCH
Tooth and Nail

BREWERY TO WATCH - OTHER
Auval

LOCAL BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED BEER
Beyond the Pale - Peach Fuzz

BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED - OTHER
Thrust IPA

MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO TRYING (OR HOPE TO TRY!)
BA Péché Mortel / Anything from Auval

 

FAVORITE LOCAL BREWERY
Troubled Monk - 10 minutes from home = happiness!

FAVORITE BREWERY - OTHER
Driftwood. Amazing BC brewery!

FAVORITE LOCAL BEER
Pesky Pig - Trouble Monk - this really is a world class brew!

FAVORITE BEER - OTHER
Fat Tug IPA. Absolutely delicious.

NEW LOCAL DISCOVERY
Blindman Brewing - Lacombe. Excellent quality beer!

NEW DISCOVERY - OTHER
Bellwoods. Wow - thanks Coronaeus (your return pack is nearly ready to ship...)
Black Bridge (Swift Current). My Saskatchewan roots are happy when watered by Black Bridge.

NOTABLE BEER-CHIEVEMENT
500 beers rated, I suppose.

LOCAL BREWERY TO WATCH
Ribstone Creek - they keep getting better and better!

BREWERY TO WATCH - OTHER
Wild Rose is doing some really interesting things.

LOCAL BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED BEER
Big Rock continues to make me scratch my head. So disappointing, considering they were craft pioneers...

BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED - OTHER
Happily, none!

MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO TRYING (OR HOPE TO TRY!)
Last Best in Calgary - see you in a few weeks!

 

FAVORITE LOCAL BREWERY
Alley Kat

Localish...
Ribstone Creek

Village Brewing

FAVORITE BREWERY - OTHER
Odell Brewing - Fort Collins, CO

Unibroue

La Trou du Diable


FAVORITE LOCAL BEER
Alley Kat Dragon Series DIPA

Village Brewing Woodsman Norther Red Ale

FAVORITE BEER - OTHER
Driftwood Fat Tug
Driftwood New Growth Pale Ale
La Fin du Monde
Odell IPA

NEW LOCAL DISCOVERY
Two Seargants - Fort Saskatchewan, AB (I really liked their ESB)

NEW DISCOVERY - OTHER
Horse & Dragon Brewery - Fort Collins, CO

NOTABLE BEER-CHIEVMENT
While I was down in Fort Collins for the third time I finally got to try Pliny the Elder.

I also got to try Russiah River Damnation. I think it's the best beer I've ever had.

LOCAL BREWERY TO WATCH
Two Seargants

BREWERY TO WATCH - OTHER
Rebellion - Regina, SK
Black Bridge - Swift Current

LOCAL BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED BEER
Hop Bomb IPA - Something Brewing (maybe it was an off batch - but it was terrible)
I've stopped buying anything from Hog's Head (St. Albert) because of major QC problems.

BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED - OTHER
Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA... I know it likely won't be popular - but I didn't really enjoy it. :-)

I also had my first Minhas beer. I am still recovering. I only write this as part of my therapy. It was one of the worst beers I've ever had. It had some sort of stupid rabbit on the label and it claimed to be a DIPA. Brutal. They should be ashamed of themselves for calling this beer. I'd rather drink a macro. No, I'd rather have water. I had extremely low expectations going in to the Minhas beer and I was still very, very, very, very disappointed. Don't drink Minhas beer. Ever. It tastes like how sadness feels.

MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO TRYING (OR HOPE TO TRY!)
Anything else I can ever find by Russian River Brewing.

 

Hog's Head went bankrupt if you are still finding products it is close to a year old now. As to Something Brewing (that is Drummond) and yes the beers are terrible. Was given some samples the only thing that was drinkable was there Wit.

 

FAVORITE LOCAL BREWERY: Four Winds. You have to go to the tasting room to try all their limited edition beers to really appreciate how good these guys are across so many styles. Special Mention: Brassneck, Moon Under Water, Yellow Dog, Strange Fellows.

FAVORITE BREWERY - OTHER: Almanac ... I've only tried a few but each one has been amazing. Special mention: Gigantic, Hair of the Dog, Rebellion

FAVORITE LOCAL BEER: Four Winds Passionfruit Berliner. It's incredible how delicious they can make a 3.5% beer. For a favourite that I can buy all year in most places I'd probably go with Four Winds' Juxtapose Wild IPA.

FAVORITE BEER - OTHER: Almanac Citrus Sour. Guinness draught.

NEW LOCAL DISCOVERY: the wonderful selection of delicious session beers (<4.5%). Keep it going!

NEW DISCOVERY - OTHER: Holy Mountain Brewing (Seattle)

NOTABLE BEER-CHIEVEMENT: Using my only available 2 hours to venture out into the cold night of Saskatoon to discover some cool bars, cool people, and really good beers. I'm looking forward to a return visit.

LOCAL BREWERY TO WATCH: Category 12 (Saanichton).

BREWERY TO WATCH - OTHER: Rebellion Brewing (Regina)

LOCAL BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED BEER: Central City/Red Racer. All their beers are good but just not as good as I keep expecting them to be. And I keep trying ...

BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED - OTHER: I'm getting pretty tired of the high-alcohol, bigger-is-better beers that dominate the Portland Oregon bar taps. Whatever happened to balance and delicacy?

MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO TRYING (OR HOPE TO TRY!): The bars and beers of Chicago in May 2016

 

First of all, really happy to see this thread again, it was great to follow other Canadian BA's beer journeys throughout the past year.

FAVORITE LOCAL BREWERY
Great Lakes Brewing - Every IPA these guys come out with is pretty damn awesome. Honourable mentions to Nickel Brook and Collective Arts

FAVORITE BREWERY - OTHER
Rodenbach - Had the Grand Cru in the summertime and finally figured out why Belgian Sour beers are so highly regarded. Also tried the Vintage Ale in #149 Barrel, which was as good as the Grand Cru (Didn't review until 2016). Honourable mention to Founders as I explored a few more of their beers with KBS and thier Old Ale being two standouts. As always Rochefort and Weihenstephaner have a permanent spot on this list too.

FAVORITE LOCAL BEER
Great Lakes Brewing Thrust! IPA was a fantastic pleasure during the summer months. Deliciously fruity IPA although in bombers at a price that was quite good all things considered. Nickel Brook's Malevolent (Black DIPA) was also a decidedly wicked treat when you could find on tap.

FAVORITE BEER - OTHER
As mentioned above, the Rodenbach Grand Cru made the top 5 beers I've ever tried although I'd be remiss to not mention DDC Peche Mortel, which i also tried for the first time and pretty much defines coffee stout for me alongside Founders KBS (also a new entry). St. Bernadus Tripel, Ayinger Weizenbock, Tripel Karmeliet and North Coast Old Rasputin are a few other first time faves from 2015.

NEW LOCAL DISCOVERY
Found a new watering hole in Burlington that's not too far away with excellent local bottle selection (a number of Bellwoods offerings were available for a while) and awesome rotating taps from a number of local breweries. Food is excellent especially chicken wings when they're half price (Sunday). Anyone in the Hamilton-Mississauga area, I'd recommend investigating Rib Eye Jack's.

NEW DISCOVERY - OTHER
Found a couple of places in the US that have nice selection and make cross-border shopping easy and a lot of fun. Select Fortinos have rather good craft beer selections too (in a relative sense anyway)

NOTABLE BEER-CHIEVEMENT
Ummm... Got some good beer karma, finished 750 reviews? Won a t-shirt at a friend's backyard beer festival for bringing the best beer. Everyone was fairly new to the craft game so Schlernka Marzen was a huge winner. Had my first KBS and Stone Enjoy By which are a couple of beers I've wanted to try for quite a while.

LOCAL BREWERY TO WATCH
Collective Arts has continued its momentum and not only does it release fine APA's and IPA's, but English Porter has been added to its mainstay lineup. GLB and Nickel Brook are a couple more local breweries who continue to impress with not only their hoppier offerings but with other styles. Waterloo has noticeably stepped their game up with their last couple of seasonals.

BREWERY TO WATCH - OTHER
I don't know, Bellwoods if the distribution radius continues to increase, I had a couple of nice offerings from Forked River out of London and wouldn't mind investigating more, Mill Street if only to better evaluate the impact of big business as they likely try to scoop up additional "mainstream" craft brewers. Would think that Muskoka or Beau's could perhaps be an appealing target for multinationals.

LOCAL BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED BEER
Not that I was expecting any sort of world beater or that it had hype, but I've usually enjoyed a lot of Cameron's offerings, but the Recline Pale Ale for me just wasn't good at all. To a lesser extent Beau's La Formidable was a disappointment, being extremely bitter for the sake of being bitter and the bottle of Wookey Jack from Firestone Walker was less than expected, (although may have been a freshness issue).

BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED - OTHER
To a lesser extent than the Recline Pale Ale, Beau's La Formidable was a disappointment, being extremely bitter for the sake of being bitter and the bottle of Wookey Jack I had from Firestone Walker was less than expected, (although taht may have been a freshness issue).

MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO TRYING (OR HOPE TO TRY!)
Pretty much any beer that's only available wherever my holiday may be this year as well as Nectarous by Four Winds as I think there is maybe a smidgen of hope that I could track that down this year. Also any beer on my want list, especially some of the world renowned IPA's / DIPA's (Heady, Pliny etc.)

 

Damn!
I started drinking "craft" beer earlier this year mainly due to escalating prices in the whisky industry (mainly Scotch, but American whiskey is undergoing the same fate) ... now you tell me the SAME THING is happening in the beer world.
Damn!

anyway ... a quality beer under 10 bucks is still better value than the vast majority of whisky I don't have in my "collection" and/or haven't already tried. So, I think I'll have at least a couple of years worth of new beer under $10 to try before I'm tempted to get into the white whales of the beer world. Maybe by that time the hipsters will have moved on to some other fashionable drink & prices will be more reasonable.

Cheers

 

FAVORITE LOCAL BREWERY
Driftwood , Hoyne , Phillips

FAVORITE BREWERY - OTHER
Samuel Smith , Deschutes , Central City

FAVORITE LOCAL BEER
Driftwood -'Sartori Harvest IPA' , Swans -'Cafe Fantastico DSP' , Phillips -'3rd Blind Mouse'

FAVORITE BEER - OTHER
cellared vintage's of Driftwood 'Old Cellar Dweller(11)' & Deschutes 'The Dissident(12)'

NEW LOCAL DISCOVERY
Axe & Barrel Brewing

NEW DISCOVERY - OTHER
The Growler (Craft Beer Handbook) volumes 01.02-01.04 , missed volume 01.01

NOTABLE BEER-CHIEVEMENT
survived Fresh to Death/Wet Hop on Saturday OCT 10/15 (BC Craft Beer Month#5)

LOCAL BREWERY TO WATCH
Axe & Barrel Brewing

BREWERY TO WATCH - OTHER
Category 12 , Driftwood , Four Winds

LOCAL BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED BEER
Yellow Dog , Black Kettle , Postmark

BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED - OTHER
US Beer prices

MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO TRYING (OR HOPE TO TRY!)
more great local craft beer !!

 

FAVORITE LOCAL BREWERY
Unfiltered, Bad Apple and Big Spruce.

FAVORITE BREWERY - OTHER
Bissell Bros, Upright, De Molen and Cantillon.

FAVORITE LOCAL BEER
Bad Apple Boxcutter.

FAVORITE BEER - OTHER
Lou Pepe Kriek, somehow I have had three of these this past year, each one was a work of art.

NEW LOCAL DISCOVERY
Cask peculiar on at the Henry House.

NEW DISCOVERY - OTHER
Ebenezer's belgian beer fest and the night of great thirst. Holy shit.

NOTABLE BEER-CHIEVEMENT
Night of great thirst/drinking at three floyds.

LOCAL BREWERY TO WATCH
Not really a brewery but I want to see the stillwell people do more collaborations. They make interesting, tasty beer.

BREWERY TO WATCH - OTHER
Spindrift, based on the strength of their unfiltered lager.

LOCAL BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED BEER
The lack of dedicated cask nights.

BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED - OTHER
I dunno, relax its just beer. If you really dislike something I guess you shouldn't drink it..

MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO TRYING
My brett quad...

 

FAVORITE LOCAL BREWERY
Both Dandy Brewery and Last are putting out the best stuff here in Calgary.

FAVORITE BREWERY - OTHER
Bellwoods and Four Winds. From both breweries I haven't had a bad beer and if I had local access to both of them I would buy everything released and probably go broke. Also Cigar City in Florida.

FAVORITE LOCAL BEER
Dandy Brewing Julia wild ale was excellent, first sour beer out of Alberta that I thought was amazing. Also last best's Rum barrel aged porter was quite good.

FAVORITE BEER - OTHER
Four Winds Nectarous, Bellwoods BYOD, Cigar City Hunaphu and Cycle City Rare DOS.

NEW LOCAL DISCOVERY
Dandy Brewing tasting room.

NEW DISCOVERY - OTHER
My addiction to trading beer.

NOTABLE BEER-CHIEVEMENT
Trip down to Florida and doing largest IP trade for a bunch of great American beer.

LOCAL BREWERY TO WATCH
Dandy Brewing, think they are the best brewery in Calgary right now pushing the envelope.

BREWERY TO WATCH - OTHER
Black Bridge in Saskatchewan.

LOCAL BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED BEER
Village Brewery, just not a fan of their beer.

BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED - OTHER
New hiked beer prices in Alberta, combination of US beer with the dollar and the new NDP liquor tax law.

MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO TRYING (OR HOPE TO TRY!)
I'd absolutely love to try some Eastern IPA's, seems like a ton of good stuff seems to be coming out of there. Other than that hoping that the beer scene will blow up here in Alberta and we start to catch up to the spectacular breweries in other provinces.

 

Tried to keep my answers focused on Canada

FAVORITE LOCAL BREWERY
Four Winds Brewery, pretty hard to top their efforts here.

FAVORITE BREWERY - OTHER
Canadian Brewery - DDC

FAVORITE LOCAL BEER
Four Winds Operis Saison Brett & Central City Thor's Hammer

FAVORITE BEER - OTHER
DDC - Equinox de Printemps Barrel Aged

NEW LOCAL DISCOVERY
One20Pub in Delta - close craft and phenomenal fresh sheet food

NEW DISCOVERY - OTHER
CANBIF

NOTABLE BEER-CHIEVEMENT
Brewed a Pale Ale using fresh hops grown in my father's back yard and it was actually pretty good.

LOCAL BREWERY TO WATCH
Steel & Oak - showing lots of great creativity and awesome malt work

BREWERY TO WATCH - OTHER
Half Pints - Winnipeg, mostly all I can do is watch them lol

LOCAL BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED BEER
BC fresh hop season, I was sensitive to some heat stressed induced off flavours from many of the local centennial hops. BC price changes.

BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED - OTHER
Import prices related to CDN $, stale imports, lack of bottle dates

MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO TRYING (OR HOPE TO TRY!)
More beers from my cellar

 

Beer has quickly caught up to the wine world in terms of pricing (well mid level anyway), and I have to say in terms of quality, like wine, you can find a great bottle for a reasonable price. We are entering the era of substitution, where you can find equal quality bottles for a lot less. I like Sahalie, but there's no way I'm paying $58 for that bottle. I'd rather buy 5 x Four Winds Operis Brett Saison. Eclipse is great, but again hard to say if it's worth the $40+ price point when compared to other great BA stouts out there. All of the Trappist beers are amazing and cost way less than many imports. Like wine, you can find great stuff for good prices but it takes a bit of work.

 

To be fair, American breweries price their beers for the American market. It's not really their fault that when it crosses the border it costs 1.5X more. I'm surprised some of them still send beer here to be honest. Be thankful you can get it, and support it if you can

 

What gets me is Sahalie went up in price and Eclipse went down...?