Category Archives: Canada

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Bellwoods Brewery, Canada, Wild Ale

Bellwoods Farmageddon California Zinfandel Grapes

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Brewery: Bellwoods Brewery
Country: Canada
ABV: 8.5%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: 2019 vintage, Barrel aged Wild Ale with California Zinfandel Grapes

Brewer Description: (from website) Farmageddon is our wild farmhouse ale that we’ve been brewing, blending, and aging for almost as many years as we’ve been open. The blending process allows us to maintain a common thread across batches, the aging adds nuanced layers, while the brett and bacteria work hard to create small idiosyncrasies in each release. It’s a refined, effervescent, and delicious beer worthy of special occasions and idle weeknights.

We transferred the beer onto whole Zinfandel grapes from California, letting it age for just over a month before undergoing an extensive bottle conditioning period.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.12
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 500ml bottle, 2019 vintage. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A hazy reddish purple colour with a big three finger pinkish white head that dissipated fairly quickly while leaving some sparse lacing.
Aroma: Light tartness, grape, cherry, lemon and hints of funk.
Taste: Sour, tart, funky, grape, vinous, oak, red wine barrels, cherry and a touch of lemon and pepperiness.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: Nice and enjoyable vinous notes with good fruit and barrel character.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Bellwoods Brewery, Canada, Wild Ale

Bellwoods Farmageddon Niagara Montmorency & Morello Cherries

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Brewery: Bellwoods Brewery
Country: Canada
ABV: 6.3%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: 2019 vintage, barrel aged wild ale with Niagara montmorency & morello cherries

Brewer Description: (from website) Farmageddon is our wild farmhouse ale that we’ve been brewing, blending, and aging for almost as many years as we’ve been open. The blending process allows us to maintain a common thread across batches, the aging adds nuanced layers, while the brett and bacteria work hard to create small idiosyncrasies in each release. It’s a refined, effervescent, and delicious beer worthy of special occasions and idle weeknights.

Our 2019 edition of Cherry Farmageddon is oak aged then conditioned on 2 types of sour cherry varietals — Montmorency and Morello — before being primed and bottle conditioned for maximum spritz factor.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.3
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 500ml bottle, 2019 vintage, poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A hazy ruby red pinkish colour with a one finger pinkish head that dissipated fairly quickly and left only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Tart, light funk, cherries, mixed berries, oak, with hints of lemon and spices.
Taste: What you’d expect from the aroma, sour, tart, light funk, cherries, mixed berries, oak, lemon juice, with hints of spice and cinnamon.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate to high prickly carbonation.
Overall: Very nice and enjoyable with a good fruity cherry mix. Carbonation may have been slightly over prickly for my liking, but I would still keep drinking this.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Canada, Outcast Brewing, Stout

Outcast Last Minute Stout

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Brewery: Outcast Brewing
Country: Canada
ABV: 7.5%
Style: American Stout
Other Notes: Stout with vanilla, hazelnut and chocolate added. Brewed at Coulee Brew Co. for Outcast Brewing

Brewer Description: (from can) We do our best work under stress. So with this brew, we knew we wanted to brew a bold stout but had no idea what we wanted to add to it… until four days after it went into the fermenter. This stout is bold and flavourful, with a nice smooth and roasty character that lets the additives shine. There’s no minute, like the last minute.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.1
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 473ml can, with a canned on date that really isn’t too visible, but I would guess 1st November 2017, ‘nearly didn’t happen’. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: A dark dark brown to black colour with a one finger tanned head that dissipated fairly quickly but left some nice spotty lacing.
Aroma: Vanilla, chocolate, cocoa, hazelnut, cream, honey with light roastiness and a touch of coffee.
Taste: Sweet-ish, light roast, vanilla, creamy coffee, hazelnut, caramel malt, biscuit, coffee and chocolate with a lightly earthy herbal finish.
Mouthfeel: Smooth, medium bodied with moderate to light carbonation.
Overall: Nice and tasty with good vanilla, creamy and nutty flavours.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Bellwoods Brewery, Canada, Wild Ale

Bellwoods Jelly King Guava Mango Passionfruit

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Brewery: Bellwoods Brewery
Country: Canada
ABV: 5.6%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: Dry-Hopped Sour w/ Guava, Mango & Passionfruit

Brewer Description: (from website) He is a ruler, an overlord, a top dog, a crowned head. In the richly varied domain of prokaryotic microorganisms, Jelly King reigns supreme. Rather than choosing between sour or hoppy, we decided to create a beer that would be both at the same time. Showcasing the aromatic benefits of a generous dry hop (Citra, Amarillo, and Cascade), harnessing the pleasing acidity of lactic acid producing bacteria (we use a 5-strain house blend), and coming to a bottle near you without a pesky 2 year slumber in oak, Jelly King is the fermented embodiment of having your cake and eating it too. This limited edition version includes a large dose of three tropical fruits that we hold near and dear to our hearts – adding explosive aromas and flavours of tropical fruit and a deep hazy orange hue.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.32
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 500ml bottle with no bottled on or best before date. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A hazy golden orange colour with a two finger white head that dissipated quickly and left pretty much no lacing.
Aroma: Jello fruits, tart, guava, passionfruit, mango with light grapefruit zest and ginger.
Taste: Sour, tart and juicy. Guava, passionfruit, grass, light grapefruit zest and citrus peel.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Another great Jelly King variant from Bellwoods. I’m loving this dry hopping and addition of fruits to the base Jelly King. Just so refreshing.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), American Double IPA, Beer Reviews, Canada, Outcast Brewing

Outcast Neon Nightmare

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Brewery: Outcast Brewing
Country: Canada
ABV: 7.8%
Style: American Double IPA
Other Notes: 70 IBUs. Double Dry Hopped New England Double IPA

Brewer Description: (from can) Last summer, we released our first canned beer called Neon Dreams. We took that delicious New England style pale ale and turned it up to 11. Aggressively dry hopped twice with citra, mosaic and galaxy hops and fermented with an English yeast strain, this beer is bold but delightfully flavourful. Keep cold and enjoy as fresh as possible!

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.65
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.5

Intro: A 473ml can, with a canned on date of 6th June 2018, ‘what’s up Europe’. Poured into a Lost Abbey teku glass.
Appearance: A very hazy dark orange colour with a two finger white head that had pretty good retention and left some sticky lacing.
Aroma: Orange juice and orange peel with hints of creamy mango smoothie and pine.
Taste: Light to moderate bitterness, orange juice, orange peel, grapefruit rind, lightly herbal with a hint of mango and mango smoothie at the end.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: It was ok. An easy drinking DIPA with great aromas. A bit more bitter than expected for an NEIPA, but not a big problem there.