Bellwoods Lambda

Of course, I left the biggest beer for last. This is a Quad…so super strong. It’s also the last of the beers that Bellwoods had available in the month of April (yeah, I drank them all!).

This poured out black. So black, in fact, that the other people at the party were all “Damn! That’s black! Are you really going to drink that? Is it supposed to look like oil?”. Yes, yes and yes! It had a strong alcohol smell to it, but once you got past that, it was raisins and oak. It tasted very malty with a bit of licorice and earthy. It was really good, especially for a big beer, and for that late at night.

Granted, it did take me a while to finish it. Rick, on the other hand, got three sips in and quit. He switched to rye and ginger. Cody (some guy) tried it and almost puked! Keep in mind, this is the same guy who tried my Rebel IPA and called it “elastic beer”.

[note] Mark brought to my attention that I once said “I don’t want to build up the kind of tolerance to enjoy an 8% beer“…..here we are with the highest ABV I’ve ever had at 11%. AND I LIKED IT!

Country of Origin: Canada
Alcohol Content: 11%
Sequence: Fourth
Finished: Yes
Vessel: Glass by way of bottle

Bellwoods Lambda

Of course, I left the biggest beer for last. This is a Quad…so super strong.  It’s also the last of the beers that Bellwoods had available in the month of April (yeah, I drank them all!).

This poured out black. So black, in fact, that the other people at the party were all “Damn! That’s black! Are you really going to drink that? Is it supposed to look like oil?”. Yes, yes and yes!  It had a strong alcohol smell to it, but once you got past that, it was raisins and oak.  It tasted very malty with a bit of licorice and earthy. It was really good, especially for a big beer, and for that late at night.

Granted, it did take me a while to finish it. Rick, on the other hand, got three sips in and quit. He switched to rye and ginger. Cody (some guy) tried it and almost puked! Keep in mind, this is the same guy who tried my Rebel IPA and called it “elastic beer”.

[note] Mark brought to my attention that I once said “I don’t want to build up the kind of tolerance to enjoy an 8% beer“…..here we are with the highest ABV I’ve ever had at 11%. AND I LIKED IT!

Country of Origin:  Canada
Alcohol Content:  11%
Sequence:  Fourth
Finished:  Yes
Vessel:  Glass by way of bottle

 

Bellwoods Cat Lady

The second Bellwoods of the night was Cat Lady, a simcoe hopped IPA. Now, we all know that I’m not a huge fan of the simcoe variety of hop. I find it dry and bitter without a citrus booty. So I had lowered expectations for this beer to begin with.

It poured out a cloudy yellow into my Maple Leaf’s glass. The smell of soap cat piss simcoe hops was very powerful. It tasted, wait for it, pretty good. The smell of simcoe hops was there, but the taste was pretty muted. There wasn’t enough in there, I guess, to dry out the “mouthfeel”. There still wasn’t much of a citrusy booty though.

Meh, good effort. I can’t like them all, right? (Muggelwiesse, I’m looking at you!)

Country of Origin:  Canada
Alcohol Content:  7.2%
Sequence:  Third
Finished:  Yes
Vessel:  Toronto Maple Leafs glass by way of bottle

 

Bellwoods Bounty Hunter

Do you remember Easter, when Kevin brought down three Bellwoods beers? We drank Stay Classy there and I drank Witchshark and Farmhouse Saison at home? Well, there were three other beers they had at the time that he didn’t buy because they didn’t sound like beers that he would drink. Turns out, Rick and Nancy were there the next weekend and Rick bought one of everything they had. AND just so happened that we were going over to their place that Saturday for a gathering. Rick was nice enough to share the three I hadn’t had with me.

First up is Bounty Hunter, a strong porter made with fresh organic vanilla and coconut. I’ve had vanilla porters before, Mill Street’s being the best of the bunch, but coconut? That was new. I’m intrigued….

It poured out dark brown and had a big chocolate brown head on it. It smelled like chocolate and coffee. It tasted like a strong porter with a splash of vanilla, but I couldn’t taste any coconut. I’m sure it was in there somewhere, and it was subtle, but I wanted mouth-full-of-Bounty-chocolate-bar coconut.

Don’t get me wrong, it was a damn fine beer. I guess I was just expecting more coconut. Selfish of me, I know.

Country of Origin:  Canada
Alcohol Content:  10.3%
Sequence:  Second
Finished:  Yes
Vessel:  Toronto Maple Leaf’s glass by way of bottle