2016 Beer in Review

Hopefully that's just based off the few beers that actually get distro'd to ON.

 

Not at all Based primarily on the many beers being traded across Canada with BC on the label.

 

Still not year end so I've got to make an edit: I just tried Four Winds Brewing's Blodberg (Nordic saison) and it's definitely in my Top 3 Beers for my province (BC). It's tough to stay on top but Four Winds continues to impress.

 

FAVORITE BREWERY - YOUR PROVINCE
Troubled Monk - it's close to home, the service is great, and they are always trying new things

FAVORITE BREWERY - CANADA
Bellwoods

TOP 3 FAVORITE BEERS - YOUR PROVINCE
- Troubled Monk - Pesky Pig
- Blindman - Kettle Sour series
- Bench Creek - White Raven

HM: Ribstone - Great White Combine

TOP 3 FAVORITE BEERS - CANADA
- Driftwood - Raised by Wolves
- Great Lakes - Octopus Wants to Fight
- Collective Arts - Ransack the Universe

HM: Bellwoods - Barn Owl series

NEW DISCOVERY - YOUR PROVINCE
Situation Brewing - great name, great location in Edmonton
Hell's Basement - Medicine Hat

NEW DISCOVERY - CANADA
Yakima IPA - Microbrasserie Le Castor

NOTABLE BEER-CHIEVEMENT
I've been fortunate to try many new beers from many new places. The CANBIF trades have been a wonderful opportunity to try lots of new things - thanks @Phyl21ca

BREWERY TO WATCH - YOUR PROVINCE
Bench Creek, Blindman - they are doing some seriously creative things and lots of collaboration brews.

BREWERY TO WATCH - CANADA
Four Winds

BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED - YOUR PROVINCE
I'm not sure if Wild Rose is keeping pace - their "limited" series have been rather unremarkable or ridiculously expensive.

BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED - CANADA
Our province's tax system has seriously increased the price and restricted the availability of beer from outside Alberta. I simply won't pay $20 for a six pack of beer - it's ridiculous!

MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO TRYING (OR HOPE TO TRY!)
- Twin Sails - I should be able to pick some of this up on my next trip to B.C.
- As many small, local breweries as possible!

 

This was fun last year, so giving it another go this year. I don't get out of Ontario much so I'll leave it at the provincial level. Cheers!

FAVORITE BREWERY - YOUR PROVINCE
- Bellwoods

FAVORITE BREWERY - CANADA

TOP 3 FAVORITE BEERS - YOUR PROVINCE
- Bellwoods Bring Out Your Dead
- Bellwoods Hellwoods
- Block Three Guy on a Buffalo Robust Coffee Porter

TOP 3 FAVORITE BEERS - CANADA

NEW DISCOVERY - YOUR PROVINCE
- Barncat Artisan Ales

NEW DISCOVERY - CANADA

NOTABLE BEER-CHIEVEMENT
- Started home brewing some quality imperial stouts to go with the solid IPAs.

BREWERY TO WATCH - YOUR PROVINCE
- Barncat Artisan Ales

BREWERY TO WATCH - CANADA

BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED - YOUR PROVINCE
- Forked River Brewing Company

BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED - CANADA

MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO TRYING (OR HOPE TO TRY!)
- More imperial stouts from Great Lakes!

Basically been really impressed with Bellwoods so far and Great Lakes rocked it out with their last bunch of imperial stouts I was able to try (thanks again hopsolutely). Really good. Am looking forward so seeing what Barncat is all about and was sadly disappointed with every bottled beer from Forked River.

Cheers to 2017!
Jeff

 

FAVORITE BREWERY - YOUR PROVINCE
Half Hours on Earth

FAVORITE BREWERY - CANADA
Driftwood

TOP 3 FAVORITE BEERS - YOUR PROVINCE
Half Hours on Earth - Yalla Yalla (Nelson Sauvin) - Barrel Fermented
Bellwoods - Farmageddon - Niagara Montmorency Cherry
Great Lakes - Lake Effect (perfect at the cottage)

TOP 3 FAVORITE BEERS - CANADA
Driftwood - Raised by Wolves
Moon Under Water - Tempus Corvi
Four Winds - Nectarous

NEW DISCOVERY - YOUR PROVINCE
Stone City Ales

NEW DISCOVERY - CANADA
Unfiltered Brewing - Halifax

NOTABLE BEER-CHIEVEMENT
Bit of a toss up here, had my 1000th unique beer on BA this year, but I would have to say enjoying a pint of Guinness in Dublin with the locals at a tiny hole in the wall pub was the winner.

BREWERY TO WATCH - YOUR PROVINCE
Tooth and Nail (Ottawa)

BREWERY TO WATCH - CANADA
Auval seems to be the hot one out of QC, and I would keep an eye on Unfiltered in NS.

BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED - YOUR PROVINCE
Echoing @byronic I would have to say that for the most part that Ottawa's local scene has been a let down recently. Tooth and Nail has has some high points, but more established brewers seem to be more focused on staying the course and not doing much to change.

BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED - CANADA
Flaked Oat ... sort of kidding, sort of not.

MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO TRYING (OR HOPE TO TRY!)
I would love to get more beer from the West.

 

FAVORITE BREWERY - YOUR PROVINCE
Driftwood , Four Winds , Hoyne
FAVORITE BREWERY - CANADA
Driftwood , DDC , Four Winds
TOP 3 FAVORITE BEERS - YOUR PROVINCE
Sartori Harvest IPA , Raised by Wolves IPA , Side Cut NE IPA
TOP 3 FAVORITE BEERS - CANADA
Singularity , Old Cellar Dweller , Fat Tug IPA
NEW DISCOVERY - YOUR PROVINCE
Twin Sails , Riot , Torchlight , Highway 97
NEW DISCOVERY - CANADA
Tool Shed
NOTABLE BEER-CHIEVEMENT
1000'th had , volunteer for both Victoria BEER Week & Great Canadian BEERFest
BREWERY TO WATCH - YOUR PROVINCE
Strange Fellows , Four Winds , Axe & Barrel
BREWERY TO WATCH - CANADA
Four Winds
BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED - YOUR PROVINCE
Vancouver Is. & Victoria Caledonian(Twa Dogs)
BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED - CANADA
Kettle Sours
MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO TRYING (OR HOPE TO TRY!)
Thor's Hammer Barley Wine non Bourbon Barrel Aged version

 

FAVORITE BREWERY - BC
Still give the nod to Four Winds on this one, proximity, quality and amazing cork and cage series (and their DIPA is even better than it was). Happy to see them offering decent session strength beers too, just need them canned now!

FAVORITE BREWERY - CANADA
Same as above, although a nod to DDC out in Quebec. If we got more sent our way it might win.

TOP 4 FAVORITE BEERS IN NO ORDER- YOUR PROVINCE
Twin Sails - Space Armadillo
Four Winds - Operis
Steamworks - Flagship IPA
Yellow Dog - Alpha Dog

TOP 4 FAVORITE BEERS - CANADA
Four Winds - Operis, ages well and tastes great fresh too
Dieu Du Ciel - Peche Mortel, best price to quality ratio for the style too
Dieu Du Ciel - Barrel Aged Equinoxe Du Printemps - BA Scotch Ale, Quebec makes awesome Scotch Ales
Yellow Dog - Alpha Dog, still the best BC Fresh Hop beer (doesn't use BC Hops though)

NEW DISCOVERY - YOUR PROVINCE
I'll go out on a limb here and call out Central City Pils and Trading Post Helles Lager, both very well made craft lagers that I keep in stock. Lots of great IPA's to go around, but a good craft lager is hard to come by. I never make it out to Callister, but love the idea.

NEW DISCOVERY - CANADA
Quebec Scotch Ales, got a bunch of shelfers in a trade and really enjoyed every single one of them. It's a rare style here in BC, and often poorly made.

NOTABLE BEER-CHIEVEMENT
Bought, installed and filled one of these in my house


BREWERY TO WATCH - YOUR PROVINCE
Twin Sails & Superflux, I haven't loved their new releases as much as everyone else but I do look forward to them improving those releases over time. If anything they are keeping it interesting. Very good direction to go and a missing component in BC Beer. Steamworks too, seeing just some nice changes and quality brews coming out of there compared to before. Don't watch Four Winds, please just leave them alone so I can buy all the beer for myself ok

BREWERY TO WATCH - CANADA
Unsure

BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED - YOUR PROVINCE
Almost every attempt to make a hazy IPA in a 4 pack of 16 oz cans was treated like it was 5/5, most left me wanting more in the (3-4) range with a couple hitting the mark nicely. It should be noted that I prefer a bit of bitterness in an IPA so some of that is stylistically challenged.

Also paying $16 for 4 cans of a 355ml IPA is a bit much and I'm not overly keen on the hype model this is building too, but I think this will go away soon as more beers are made. Lack of aforementioned beers on tap, mostly can only releases with the odd keg. Some breweries didn't even keg some for themselves. Prefer to try before I buy.

A lot of meh kettle sours too, those were short lived in my books!

BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED - CANADA
DDC Moralite, lack of distro from Ontario brewers to BC.

MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO TRYING (OR HOPE TO TRY!)
Beer in my cellar, lots of BIF material from the East that I haven't even tried yet. Would love to see more of it sent this way too.

 

Nice cellar! Any details would be appreciated.

 

Check out KoolR - they are an Ontario company, but I bought this through a cellar company because KoolR sucks at answering email from people.

 

I have a friend who knows the people at Farnham and says they're actually aiming to be mass-market (ie bland), so I guess it's all by design. I don't drink a lot of their stuff, but I think their IPA (64) is decent...as an English bitter. Their double IPA is acceptable if you're in the kind of place where you can't find better - if nothing else, they have great distribution!

 

I've never heard of let alone tasted anything from Riot, Torchlight or Highway 97. Any particular beers from them that you'd recommend?

 

Riot (from Chemanius)-everyday Junk Punch IPA , Lipslide Lager , Life's Partners Pale Ale ,
seasonal Working Class Hero Dark Mild & Sorry We Took So Long Saison

Torchlight (from Nelson)-Eleventy One Imperial Stout , Stowaway Oatmeal Stout , Blondes In Stereo , Hoptimus Prime Pale Ale

Highway 97 (from Penticton)-Amber Ale , IPA , Scotch Ale

highlighted the ones I've tried , prost

 

I've been having a hard time finding the time to do this, this time round. My cellar space, which was also my home office became a full time nursery for twins on December 9th. My beer drinking has gone way down, but my ability to rate and reviwe diapers is rampng up big time!

FAVORITE BREWERY - YOUR PROVINCE
Still Bellwoods

FAVORITE BREWERY - CANADA
Bellwoods, Four Winds, What little I have had from Half Pints makes me want more.

TOP 3 FAVORITE BEERS - YOUR PROVINCE
Bellwoods Lambda
Bellwoods Jelly King
Burdock Brett Lime

according to my ratings

TOP 3 FAVORITE BEERS - CANADA
Four Winds Pomona
MaBrasserie Tribale IPA
Steamworks Flagship IPA

according to my ratings

NEW DISCOVERY - YOUR PROVINCE
Half Hours on Earth

NEW DISCOVERY - CANADA
Auval

NOTABLE BEER-CHIEVEMENT
Twice I was required to give up drinking beer for over one month in 2016 and was happy to notice that it was fairly easy to do, and those first few once back in the saddle were even tastier than expected.

BREWERY TO WATCH - YOUR PROVINCE
Godspeed. Can't wait!


BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED - YOUR PROVINCE
So many mediocre new breweries. I suppose that makes the good ones shine ever brighter!?

BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED - CANADA
Same as above.

 

Congratulations!
Goo to hear you are developing mad skills on other fronts!

 

FAVORITE BREWERY - YOUR PROVINCE

Dunham (

FAVORITE BREWERY - CANADA

Bellwoods

TOP 3 FAVORITE BEERS - YOUR PROVINCE

Vox Populi Anna
Dunham Petite mort whisky
Auval Nordet IPA

TOP 3 FAVORITE BEERS - CANADA

Bellwoods 3 minutes to midnight
GLB Octopus wants to fight
Bellwoods Jelly King

NEW DISCOVERY - YOUR PROVINCE

Gainsbourg

NEW DISCOVERY - CANADA

Nickel Brook

NOTABLE BEER-CHIEVEMENT

Getting into trades

BREWERY TO WATCH - YOUR PROVINCE

Vox Populi ( especially if you're a hophead ) /
Gainsbourg ( solid across the board )

BREWERY TO WATCH - CANADA

Beyond the Pale

BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED - YOUR PROVINCE

Pit Caribou has lost quite a bit of luster

BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED - CANADA

Can't really say


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

Four Winds Nectarous

 

I can't help but agree. Did they lose a lot of their talent when Auval opened?

 

I don't think it has to do with that.Pit Caribou is still good but has been more of a hit or miss lately.At least in my case.I experienced some irregularities with the most recent batch of IPA de la sorcière.La Huit and L'étoile du brasseur did not do it for me also.Not that they're bad.Just not up to par.

 

Not a ton has changed between this year and last. We haven't really seen any new breweries and most of the locals have been kicking out the high quality stuff.

FAVORITE LOCAL BREWERY
Local newcomer 21st Street Brewing.

FAVORITE BREWERY - CANADA
Unfiltered in Halifax. They are amazing.

FAVORITE LOCAL BEER
21st Street Cloud 9 Series ( single hop sort-of NE IPA).
Rebellion Brett Pale. It lasted forever on tap, so we got to see how it changed over time.
Black Bridge UNO IPA

FAVORITE BEER - CANADA
LTM - Porter Baltique Edition Speciale. This still stands as one of my top beers of all time.
Unfiltered - Double Orange Ale

NEW LOCAL DISCOVERY
21st Street Brewing.

NEW DISCOVERY - CANADA
Bench Creek in AB
Unfiltered in NS.

NOTABLE BEER-CHIEVEMENT
A NE IPA showdown in the summer, trying Utopias. Trying Bells Two Hearted.

LOCAL BREWERY TO WATCH
While still reallly tiny, 21st Street is kicking out some really rad beers and experiments as well as classic styles.

BREWERY TO WATCH - CANADA
Blindman and Bench Creek. These guys make some rad beer.

LOCAL BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED BEER
As much as I hate to say it, again, Paddock Wood has been pretty stagnant. That or District pumping out bland lagers. Prairie Sun is still hot garbage after 3 years.

BEER DISAPPOINTMENTS / OVERHYPED
A selection of beer brought back from Germany.

MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO TRYING (OR HOPE TO TRY!)
Nokomis has a wild ale that has been sitting in red wine barrels for over a year. I want it.