Tag Archives: roasty malts

Super Tuff – Tofino Brewing Company

by Mike

From Tofino Brewing out of Tofino on Vancouver Island comes their 5th Anniversary Ale the “Super Tuff” an Imperial take on their Tuff Session Ale. The aroma consists of roasted malts, dark fruits, toffee, brown sugar and some residual sweetness. The flavour is of roasted malts, dark fruits, chocolate, brown sugar, toffee, earth and sherry. The alcohol content comes in at 10%. I don’t have a good reason why I have not had a Tofino Brewing beer in a while but I am glad this was my latest as it has a ton of flavour. If you can find a bottle but it.

Commercial Description:  To celebrate 5 years of brewing beer in Tofino, we bring you the Super Tuff. This is an imperial take on our brewery staple, the Tuff Session Ale. Enjoy right away or cellar this beer and let its character complexify and evolve over time. Cheers.

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Oatmeal Stout – Red Racer Brewing (Dec 6, 2014)

by Mike

Beer Advent Calendar 2014

From Red Racer Brewing (Central City Brewing) out of Surrey BC comes there “Oatmeal Stout”.  The beer pours a deep opaque black colour with a brown head.  The aroma consists of huge roasted malts, burnt coffee, oatmeal and chocolate.  The flavour is of caramel, roasted malts, chocolate, burnt coffee, earthy and a pretty big bitterness.  The alcohol content comes in at 4.2% and an IBU of 55.  Some people may not like how bitter this stout is but I find it refreshing as there is a ton of flavour at a low alcohol point.

Commercial Description: Red Racer Oatmeal Stout is deep, dark, smooth, and creamy. The use of oatmeal in the mashtun adds silkiness to the texture and body of this ale.

Mystery Gift Holiday Countdown 2014

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Holy Smoke Stout – Firehall Brewery

by Mike

From Oliver BC’s Firehall Brewery comes their “Holy Smoke Stout” a smoked stout.  The beer pours an  opaque black colour with a brownish head.  The aroma consists of roasted malts and some smoke.  The flavour was 0f smoke, roasted malts, pete and some hops bitterness.  The alcohol content came in at  4.5% with an IBU of 24.  Being someone that does not enjoy smoked beer I will admit that I was a bit worried about trying this stout.  Luckily when I did try this beer I realized it was just enough smoke to add some flavour.  This was an amazing beer!

Commercial Description:  “Dry Stout” is an off-shoot of the “Porter” beer style. Porter was a mass produced beer style originating a couple hundred years ago in London, England, where the water was suited for dark barley malts, and hop flavour and bitterness was a growing trend. Porter was brewed to give sustenance, strength, and energy to London’s working class. The Porter style brewed in Dublin, Ireland by Arthur Guinness became darker and heartier, and focused less on hop flavour and more on the roasted flavours from the dark barley malts. Soon many breweries were brewing their own stout, and stout became historically prescribed as a healing tonic and health drink, especially for seniors and pregnant women. Our Holy Smoke Stout is stylistically unique: a marriage of the Dry Stout style and the German “rauchbier” style. For thousands of years all beers had a smoky flavour because the only way to dry barley malt was over a fire. Recent industrialization removed the smoke flavour from beer, except for a handful of German malting companies that still smoke their malt over a traditional beech wood fire.

YVRBlackbird-007ood fire.

Shamrocker Potato Stout – Granville Island Brewing

by Mike

Black Note Book Series (Re-brand of Limited Release program)

From Granville Island Brewing out of Vancouver comes their new “Shamrocker Potato Stout” the newest addition of the Black Note Book Series form Granville Island’s Vern Lambourne.  The stout pours a deep opaque black colour with a brown head.  The aroma consists of roasted malts, barley, coffee and an overall sweetness.  The flavour is of roasted malts, barley, coffee, hops bitterness and maybe a hint of potato in the finish.  The alcohol content of this dry Irish stout is 4.8% with an IBU of35.  This would be an amazing beer to add to the standard lineup of Granville Island Brewing as long as it does not change!  This is a great full flavoured stout with a nice hint of potato making it all that more Irish.

Commercial Description:  Get ready to rock out to this dry Irish stout. With amped up tones of roasted coffee, barley and malts, it’s a medley of Celtic proportions.

Food Pairing as per brewery:  Pairs up nicely with fresh oysters or blue cheese.

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Black Ops (aged 1 Year) – Brooklyn Brewery

by Mike

This limited brew does not exist

From Brooklyn New York’s Brooklyn Brewing comes the “Black Ops” a Russian Imperial Stout from 2012 that does not exist. It is a Ninja and you are not reading this!  But if you did believe that this beer did exist this is what you would see.  This beer is aged in Bourbon barrels for 4 months flat and then they re-ferment it with Champagne yeasts.  The imperial stout pours a black opaque colour with a brown head.  The aroma consisted of roasty malts, vanilla, bourbon, fruits, oak, coffee and marshmallows to finish.  The flavour is of dark fruits, roasty malts, vanilla, bourbon, oak, tartness and some marshmallow.  The alcohol content would come in at  10.5% if this was a real beer.  If I actually believed this was a real beer then I would say that it was amazing especially after a full year of aging.

Commercial Description:  Brooklyn Black Ops does not exist. However, if it did exist, it would be a strong stout concocted by the Brooklyn brewing team under cover of secrecy and hidden from everyone else at the brewery. The myth is that this supposed “Black Ops” was then aged for four months in bourbon barrels, bottled flat, and re-fermented with Champagne yeast. Presumably such a beer would raise a rich, fluffy dark brown head and it would combine chocolate and coffee flavors with a rich underpinning of vanilla-like bourbon notes. A beer like that would be mighty nice, but it would be hard to make more than few cases – it could never be sold or released to the public. They say that the brewmaster revealed the beer to a few other people at the brewery only after it had been barreled. The rumor going around is that the brewery plans to drink the beer themselves over the holidays and give some to their family and friends. That’s what they say. But frankly, there’s no evidence for any of this. This beer is obviously a figment of people’s fervent imaginations. People tend to get loopy around the holidays. Everyone go home now – there’s nothing to see here.

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