Barley Days Sacred Mule

This is the last, and most interesting, beer that Kevin brought back from the brewery while his wife ran a marathon. Tough life.

I was skeptical about this beer. It’s made with sparkling wine yeast, so expect it to be, wait for it, effervescent. It poured out a medium orange colour and it smelled “farmy” like a saison or a Belgian ale. It tasted the same way too. It didn’t fizz up or look overly bubbly like I thought it would.

It tasted like a farmhouse too, but without the haziness. It was fresh and had a little kick to it that was nice. It reminded me a little of 1812, full of flavour without being heavy. And, at only 4.7%, I could see myself drinking plenty of this and enjoying it.

Country of Origin:  Canada
Alcohol Content:  4.7%
Sequence:  First
Finished:  Yes
Vessel:  Glass by way of bottle

 

P Za Pie Light

I’ve been to P Za Pie a number of times, and every time I do, I get a pint of Peroni. This time, I got their own beer, P Za Pie lite. I ordered my pizza and salad combo (I only ate one slice of za. Stoopid diet making me not hungry!). When the waitress returned with our beers, I asked her “Who makes this?” She responded “we do”. A little more digging and asking questions and I could tell she had no clue. The worst part of it was she said “It’s a secret, but we are looking at making it in-house in the next few months”. In-house as in nano-brewery, that’s cool.

In the glass, in the dimly lit dining room, the beer was a clear yellow with no head. It smelled like, well, just like beer. Nothing special. It tasted like a Bud Light; it was crisp and had a lager weight and a little malty spice in the end.

Overall, it was not bad, it just bothers me that they wouldn’t tell me who makes it. I even went to the Twitters and asked and got no response.

Are you just pouring Bud Light and pawning it off as your own?

Country of Origin:  Canada?
Alcohol Content:  ???
Sequence:  First
Finished:  Yes
Vessel:  Draught

 

Dogfish Head Immort Ale

I have been holding onto this beer for a while. It’s 11 freaking percent! That’s a big beer in a little bottle! I know I can’t have this as beer number anything but 1, so I had to wait for a I-fee-like-one-beer night (they don’t happen too often).

When one finally arrived, I grabbed it quickly, before I changed my mind, and poured it out. It was amber in colour and had no head. Then, out of nowhere, it started to fizz up from the bottle, like I dropped a few Alka Seltzers in there. After that, the head was probably about half an inch. It smelled sweet and a little woody, as if it was aged in a barrel.

It tasted the same way it smelled, with a vanilla flavoured sweetness and an oak flavour that just sat there in your mouth. For 11%, it was super light. If I didn’t know, I never would have guessed it was that high (until I drank the third one).

The whole experience (sight, smell, taste) was almost as if I was drinking a porter with none of the weight.

Country of Origin:  United States
Alcohol Content:  11%
Sequence:  First
Finished:  Yes
Vessel:  Glass by way of bottle

 

Les Trois Mousquetaires Weizenbock Grande Cuvée

This beer is beyond cold! It has been in the fridge since before I left for vacation to Florida….in MARCH!

The day we drank it was a long one. Mark and I, with the help of Original Ray, had to bust out a 70 year old concrete window well, take out the old window, put in the new one and dig out and put in a new window well, all so that #1 could move his room to the basement so that #4 could have his own room. It was hard, smelly work.

When it was all done, we had some lunch, drank a Heineken and a Detour and started thinking about what new beer we could drink. When I went down to look, I figured we might as well just get this over with.

It poured our dark purple-brown and had a few floaties in it. It smelled like plum and we already knew it was going to suck. It tasted wheaty, sour and tart. It wasn’t as bad as Liefmans, but it was pretty damn close.

We thought that maybe if we let it warm up, it would taste a little better.

It did not.

Country of Origin:  Canada
Alcohol Content:  10.5%
Sequence:  Third
Finished:  Yes
Vessel:  Glass by way of bottle