Bellwether: Gin Barrel-Aged Sour Double Wit – Breakside Brewery

Jul29 by Mike

From Breakside Brewery in Portland Oregon comes their “Bellwether: Gin Barrel-Aged Sour Double Wit”. The beer pours a cloudy orange colour with a white head. The aroma consists of gin, floral hops, citrus and wheat. The flavour is of gin, citrus, floral hops, mild tart, botanicals, herbs, oak, vanilla, wheat and an almost candy finish. The alcohol content comes in at 8.4% with an IBU of 25. While this was an odd beer I enjoyed it to the fullest. Some times weird mixes of flavours just work really well.

Commercial Description: One of our most peculiar and delicious barrel-aged concoctions. This beer harkens back to the days when our barrel-aging program had only a few barrels in it, and one of those beers was a blend of a sour wheat beer with a double wit in a single second-use gin barrel. The result was delicious: tropical, botanical, tart, malty and very refreshing for a barrel-aged beer. We’ve recreated this beer adding some kaffir lime leaves for additional complexity and fun herbal notes.

Juniper Lime Ale – Vancouver Island Brewing

Jul28 by Mike

From Vancouver Island Brewing in Victoria comes their “Juniper Lime Ale”. The beer pours a cloudy dark orange with a white head. The aroma consists of juniper, lime with honey notes. The flavour is of juniper, herbal, honey, lime, caramel malts, mild tartness with some very minor bitterness in the finish. The alcohol content comes in at 7% with an IBU of 13. This beer was fashioned after the gin cocktail Gimlet. I don’t know the cocktail but I did really like this beer.

Commercial Description: Cheerful nights on warm patios. This Juniper Lime Ale has been brewed to imitate the refreshing zest of a Gimlet cocktail, an iconic gin-based summer sipper.

Blueberry Yum Yum – Twin Sails Brewing

May1 by Mike

From Twin Sails Brewing in Port Moody comes their “Blueberry Yum Yum” is a wheat ale brewed with 800lbs or blueberry purée. The beer pours a deep cloudy purple with a purple head. The aroma consists of blueberries, sweetness and some tartness. The flavour is of blueberry, wheat, yeast and mild tartness. The alcohol content comes in at 5%. This is a tasty beer although a little more one dimensional than most of the beers that they release.

Commercial Description: Blueberry Yum Yum is a Tart Wheat Ale that gets its colour from conditioning on 800lbs of blueberry purée, which equates to roughly 2lbs per gallon. We brewed it with a heavy amount of wheat and acidulated malts to add a slight tartness. As far as flavour and aroma go, this one is all about the blueberry and at 5% ABV, this beer will go down way too easy on a patio.

Dark Tart Farmhouse Ale – Trading Post Brewing

Dec16 by Mike

From Trading Post Brewing in Langley comes their “Dark Tart Farmhouse Ale” a beer that is a blend of half a batch of and dark saison and a half batch of unhopped saison with brett and lacto. The beer poured a deep copper colour with a tan head. The aroma consists of mild tartness and a sour cherry, plum, sweetness and some spice. The flavour is of mild tartness, dark cherries, plum, lots of dark fruits, some spice and some bitterness to finish it off. The alcohol content comes in at 6.5% with an IBU of 20. This is an odd beer in some ways but it is a very refreshing take on a wild saison and I would drink this any time.

Commercial Description: Light tartness and rich cherry, plum, and spice flavours come together to create a complex and rustic take on the farmhouse ale. This ale is made by blending two separate beers together in order to establish a balance between the flavours of tart cherry and spiced plum. The final product is a rich mahogany farmhouse ale that provides warm and fruit for the approaching autumn.

Glacial Mammoth Extinction – Storm Brewing (Aged 1 year)

Dec1 by Mike

From the Mad Scientist of beer in British Columbia James of Storm Brewing comes their “Glacial Mammoth Extinction” a beer released on December 5th, 2015 after being aged for 2 years in Oak Barrels. I aged my bottle for a year until late November 2016. The beer pours a very deep brown without head. The aroma consists of toffee, caramel, treacle, sweetness and alcohol. The flavour is of treacle, toffee, caramel, syrup, port wine, dark fruit, cherries, berries, oak with some mild tartness to accentuate the alcohol burn in this beer. The alcohol content comes in at 25% alcohol. While this beer is very extreme in every way it is also very enjoyable by the ounce or two. Any more than that would just be crazy as it is a freeze distilled spirit! I am so happy that I was able to pick some of this up last year and I am glad I have quite a bit left to sip slowly.

Commercial Description: The Glacial Mammoth Extinction is the first beer of it’s kind, and the result of freezing a strong sour beer to -30C in two stages over a one month period. The sweet alcoholic liquid was separated from the extinct ice glacier that was left in the tank, and then aged in French oak barrels for two years until it was ready. The final product is a rich, complex, and viscous 100% malt beverage that resembles Port more than beer. Residual sugar: 80 grams per litre Volume produced: 400 litres.

This was the beer dubbed the most expensive beer in Canada as they had special hand blown 1L growlers made that had a Mammoth Tusk pendent that went for $1000. Read about it here.

Here is my review of this beer when it first surfaced.

When the beer was released on December 5th, 2015 I was there to pick up my beer as were many others. I was able to view the $1000 bottle in person. Here are my photos from that launch!