Hopworks Urban Brewery - Ace of Spades IPA

Brewery: HUB

Beer: Ace of Spades IPA

ABV: 9.5%

IBUs: 100+

Where: Firefly Fine Wines and Ales

I received this beer as part of a gift.  I have been wanting to try it for sometime so was pleasantly surprised.  Before I get to what's inside the bottle; the bottle itself deserves some credit.  I love cool beer labels.  This one is indeed that.  The beer gets it's name from the band Motorhead's song and album of the same name - Ace of Spades.  Kick-ass label but still very informative as well.  I like when breweries provide details.

So, now to the beer itself.  I personally thought it was great.  It poured into a dark yellow/golden with mild cloudiness.  The head was average in size, yellow-white with a light rocky texture.  Great lacing with this beer.  Aromas of citrus, flowers and herbs balanced by a toffee/butter/woody tone.  The mouthfeel was lively and the texture seemed oily or slick.  It went down quite nicely and faster than I expected.

This beer currently rings in an impressive A- with Beer Advocate for 46 reviews.  It's trophy shelf currently holds the Gold Medal for IPAs at the 2009 Great American Beer Festival.

This is a great beer with a pretty strong hop presence, but still levelled by a nice malt balance.  Only available until late May, so grab them now!

Cheers

Tree Brewing Company - Captivator Doppelbock

Brewer: Tree Brewing Company

Beer: Captivator Doppelbock

Alc%: 8%

Where: Firefly Wines and Ales

Tree Brewing Company currently has three "Occasional Rarities", one of which is their Captivator Doppelbock.  I grabbed it off the shelf not yet having the chance to hear anything about it, let alone knowing what to expect.

The beer poured into a clear dark ruby colour with a very short maple coloured head that diminished fairly quickly.  The head provided very little lacing as well.  The first aromas to hit the nose were caramel, toffee and nuts.  There wasn't much of a hop presence.  If any, it was an underlying note of perfume and herbaceous characters.  The overall nose was sweetness,...more of a baking sweetness than a sugary one.

Upon the first taste, I got a pretty confectioned sweetness, almost bubble gummy.  That quickly led into a deep raisin/fig sweetness accompanied by brown sugar (cooking) and toffee.

The mouthfeel was very slick.  Not quite oily but one step past creamy.  I found the acidity to be lite aside from the 8% alcohol.  The flavour lasted but not notably long.

This beer has wrangled in some titles:

Silver Medal - 2010 North American Brewery Awards

Gold Medalist - 2010 Canadian Brewing Awards

Voted best Beer - Fest of Ale

It currently rings in an A- with Beer Advocate from 21 reviews.

Overall, it's a little more sweeter than I normally like, but I can see this fitting well with some hot summer patio afternoons this summer.

Cheers

Phillips Beer - Surly Blonde Big Belgium Triple

Not yet having developed any sort of craving for Belgium beers after having tried a few different ones, I decided I need to expose myself a little more to them.  Being in a current "stout stage", any strong fruit flavours have taken me off guard.  This week, when grabbing a few Phillips Beer as I often do, their Surly Blonde found it's way into my cart.

I'll start by noting that I am aware the pilsner glass may not be the best glass for tasting this beer.  The beer had a clear and sparkly appearance with an amber hue.  I expected it to be more murky.  The head was not very big, but seemed to last at that level and was off-white and fizzy.  The beer did not produce much lacing.

The first aroma to hit the nose was a bready/grainy note.  The hop scent seemed medium to mild with hints of flowers, perfume and a tart resin note.  It had an underlying sweet yeasty smell.  Secondary notes were of subtle banana, bubble gum and butterscotch.

The body seemed medium with a soft oily texture.  The flavour was long and moderate to heavy in sweetness.  The acidity was higher than I expected as well, but not too heavy and the bitterness was mild.

The 650 ml bottle has an impression 9.1% alc and rings in an overall (B-) on Beer Advocate from 23 reviews.

All in all, I really enjoyed tasting this beer and the result was what I wanted.  I'll definitely be trying to samples more of the Belgium styles and am open for suggestions.

Cheers

R&B Brewing Co. - Dark Star Oatmeal Stout

I'll make this one quick.  I friggin love this beer! R&B Brewing Company hit the nail on the head for me with this one.  I like my heavy knock-down stouts, but it is nice to find one that is a little quicker in the mouth and doesn't have that weigh-you-down feel.

A soothing dark, muddy body that's almost black.  It has an average head that is off-white (latte like) and creamy smooth.  The nose gives a heavy roasted, nutty, coffee and almost straw-like malt note.  The bitterness is strange.  It is definitely there but oddly subtle at the same time; rather herby. The palate gives a woody, charcoal, chocolate and tobacco mix.  The drinking texture is thick and pleasantly oily with a lively and fine carbonation.  The acidity is light and the flavour leaves a minerally/metallic hint which pleasantly last for a while.  I don't usually like using "metallic" as a descriptor as it can turn some people off.  In this case, I mean it in all the good ways,...the good metals!  It rings in at 4.6% alcohol with 18 IBUs.  It brought home a gold in the Canadian Brewing Awards in 2010.  

Did I mention I love this beer!