Tag Archives: Canada

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

Bellwoods Jelly King Plum Cherry

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Brewery: Bellwoods Brewery
Country: Canada
ABV: 5.6%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: Dry-hopped sour ale w/ fruit

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Jelly King is a juicy dry hopped sour with punchy hop aromatics and tart, tropical, fruity flavours. To this batch we added a healthy dose of plum and cherry for exponential fruit enjoyment.

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

Intro: A 500ml bottle, bottled on 25th February 2021, and poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A cloudy darkish maroon colour with a slight purple tint, and a just over two finger beige pinkish head that had pretty good retention and left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Sweet cough medicine cherry, spritzy ginger ale, and notes of lemon zest.
Taste: Lightly sour, tart, moderately sweet, plum, cherry, with a touch of pink guava and lemon zest.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: I really enjoyed the aroma and this fruity flavour combination worked for me. A good easy drinking variety of Jelly King.

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

Bellwoods Jelly King Raspberry & Blackberry

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Brewery: Bellwoods Brewery
Country: Canada
ABV: 5.6%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: Dry-hopped sour ale w/ fruit

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Jelly King is a juicy dry hopped sour with punchy hop aromatics and tart, tropical, fruity flavours. To this batch we added a healthy dose of raspberry and blackberry for exponential fruit enjoyment.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.19
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 500ml bottle, bottled on 17th February 2021, and poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A cloudy cross between beetroot and merlot reddish purple colour, with a two finger pinkish head that had decent retention, but left only sparse spotty lacing.
Aroma: Jammy fruity mixed berries, especially raspberry, sparkling tangy lemon zest, with light notes of yoghurt and wheat.
Taste: Sour, tart, moderately jammy, mixed dark berries, raspberry, blackberry, lemon zest, with light bready notes in the background.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: I’m not sure how much of the dry hop came through with the jammy fruit representing itself strongly, but this same jammy fruitiness was also what made it thoroughly enjoyable and easy to drink.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Bellwoods Brewery, Canada, Wild Ale

Bellwoods Grandma’s Boy Niagara Shiro Plums

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Brewery: Bellwoods Brewery
Country: Canada
ABV: 5.8%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: 2018 vintage, wild ale blend w/ Niagara Shiro Plums. Barrel aged for 12-18 months

Brewer Description: (from website) The fourth iteration of our beloved Grandma’s Boy, this ‘wild ale’ was barrel aged in oak with various strains of wild yeasts and bacteria, and conditioned on a hefty bed of Niagara Shiro plums prior to bottle conditioning.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.97
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 500ml bottle, 2018 vintage, poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A hazy golden straw yellow colour with a two finger white head that had decent retention while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Tart, stone fruit, plum, apricot, peach, light citrus, lemon zest, oak, honey, and a touch funky.
Taste: Sour, tart, plum, apricot, lemon juice, oak, light funk.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Good aroma and flavour, but the sour and tartness was on the verge of being too much, that it wasn’t entirely comfortable on the palate.

2 - Maybe (likely wouldn't buy, might drink), Beer Reviews, Canada, Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery, Porter - Imperial

Flying Monkeys Acadian Groove

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Brewery: Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery
Country: Canada
ABV: 10%
Style: American Imperial Porter
Other Notes: Canadian Maple Porter

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Sugar Season – Acadian Groove emerges from the changing tempo of Spring in rural Ontario. Here, we go with the flow of 3000 tapped trees and jam with the full-flavored dark syrup that Breedon’s Maple Farm sweetly pulls from the soul of that sappy stream. That syrup lends our Imperial Maple Porter its caramelized sweet taste that’s unique to the land of the Flying Monkeys.

Imperial Maple Porter – Tantalizing aromas of maple and sweet roasted malts are more than Canadian kitsch in our maple beer: they are a remembrance of the rural rhythms our lives in Ontario. Layered with the plump, creamy flavour and aroma of split vanilla pods with undercurrents of light coffee and chocolate, the warmth of this 10% ABV beer embraces the promise of spring.

My rating: 2
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.33
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.2

Intro: A 750ml bottle with the bottled on date smudged out, but I’m pretty sure it’s more than two years. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: A dark amber brown colour with a slightly less than one finger beige head that dissipated fairly quickly, but left some nice spotty lacing.
Aroma: Sweet dark malt, doughy, chocolate, caramel, toffee, maple, brown sugar.
Taste: Sweet dark malt, maple syrup, doughy, caramel, toffee, brown sugar, chocolate, slight bitterness, with notes of nuts.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: On the whole it was too sweet and doughy for my liking. It wasn’t as balanced as it could have been and I was hoping for more roast, chocolate and bitterness.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Bellwoods Brewery, Canada, Farmhouse Saison

Bellwoods White Picket Fence Batch 3

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– aka Bellwoods White Picket Fence Foeder Blended Saison OR White Picket Fence Peach? (ratebeer)

Brewery: Bellwoods Brewery
Country: Canada
ABV: 6.1%
Style: Belgian Saison
Other Notes: Batch 3, Blended Foeder Saison. (although the bottle says that this is batch 3, there is not much else to go on, and it seems there are some contradicting information online, and to be honest, I cannot really tell if this is the regular White Picket Fence, or a variant with peach added to it. As there isn’t really anything to indicate ‘peach’ on the bottle, for Ratebeer, I went with the White Picket Fence Foeder Blended Saison)

Brewer Description: (from website) A symbol synonymous with Bellwoods Brewery; our White Picket Fence has undergone a complete overhaul and its re-envisioned form much better reflects the direction of our brewery. This foeder fermented saison is the result of a unique blending regimen, before being gently dry-hopped and bottle conditioned. Labour intensive in process, but rewarding in result. What it smells and tastes like: A complex, layered beer with perfect champagne-like carbonation to carry the lemon meringue aromatics, bright hop character, and rich brett notes. Refined and balanced acidity with lots of complimentary citrus.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.43
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.3

Intro: A 500ml bottle, Batch 3. Poured into a Holy Mountain tulip glass.
Appearance: A hazy golden straw yellow colour with a big four finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly and left only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Juicy, lightly tart, funky, brett, peach, apricot, mango, citrusy, lemon peel and lemon.
Taste: Sour, tart, funky, brett, light leather, fruity, peach, apricot, mango, lemon peel, lemon, oak and a hint of pepper.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to high carbonation.
Overall: Very enjoyable with a good balance between the sour, tartness and funk. Fruitiness was also strong, with a nice mix of tropical stone fruit and citrus. I could easily drink more of this.