Samuel Smith's India Ale -- Four Beers

First of all, let me say that IPAs are my favourite beers.

Then, let me add that "American IPAs" are my favourite IPAs, and that British IPAs, though possibly more true to the genre, aren't as true to the hops. They *are* hoppy, they *are* delicious... but they're softer. A little mellower. A little... waterier. A little more like an ale, and a lot less like hop soup.


This IPA is a quality examplar of the British IPA family. It's got great colour and a delicious, amber-y taste. But it's also got a lot of malt, and almost comes off sweet rather than bitter. I've honestly had reds that are more hoppy than this, and it actually kind of reminds me of one. It's still a quality beer, though.

4 out of 6.

Unibroue's Blance de Chambly -- Three Beers

Another belgian white from Unibroue.  This one, though, is much more purely sweet, when compared with [... whatever the other white Unibroue in this craft pack was].  It's so sweet, in fact, that with the extensive carbonation, it almost tastes a little like root beer.  Makes you wonder what the beer was like back when they invented root beer.

A rapid, thin carbonation reminscent of champagne, plus a cloudy look, a sweet taste that's low on fruit but high on sugar, and almost no hops, add up to a beer that's good, refreshing, and drinkable, but still not one of my fav's.  It might, to some, stand out from other whites--but, just not to me.

Uniboue's Ephemere -- One Beer

It's a fruit-flavoured beer. Some kind of berry. Sweet, highly carbonated, pink... I don't even know if it has malt or hops in it. It could just be fermented berry water.

Good enough to drink, not good enough to want to drink. One out of six.

Unibroue's Maudite -- Five Beers

Of the four kinds of Unibroue that came in the craft-pack I bought recently [EDIT: a long, long time ago, since this text file sat on my Desktop since sometime in the Spring], the Maudite is easily my favourite.  Even though it was that or two whites and a fruit-flavoured beer, it still manages to stand out among other beers, as well.  The thing is, that in greener beer pastures (browner pastures?), I might think this beer almost… not generic, but, pleasantly normal, let's say… Here, it's a gloriously rich beer, full of balance in all possible dimensions of flavour, thickness, carbonation, colour, and downright enjoyability.  You can taste the hops; you can taste the malt; but you aren't overwhelmed by either.  You can feel the beer as a beverage not just some liquid to be swallowed to make you drunk; but it doesn't overwhelm you with a sticky, cloyingly sweet maltiness.  You can feel, see, and even somehow taste the bubbles themselves, but the beer itself isn't made of gas.  Somewhere in there, I stopped describing this beer, and started describing good beer.  It means you should know it's inspirationally good, but also, that I should just stop rambling.

I also have two stories about this beer: [EDIT: Had a long time ago.  Just posting old text files now...]
-Dad and Gill and Erica at BP's
-Emma and beer buying

Unibroue's La Fin Du Monde -- Three Beers

Unfiltered.  So, you know, good.  But unlike most unfiltered beers that just end tasting only like fruit, this managed to maintain the generic fruit taste, on top of a mild yeast-based sweetness, on top of another sweetness.  I'm not sure if it was malt, or somehow more of the yeast taste itself instead of whatever yeast-leavings/fruit-based-additions most other unfiltered beers had, but, it had something else.

The only thing is, it still didn't wow me.  I enjoy an unfiltered, but, I don't find there to be as much range of taste as there is in other genres.  To me, they seem to come off just like light beers that actually taste good, instead of somehow within the panoply of delicious, strong, alt-beers.  Otherwise, it would be a 4.

Also, the head was enjoyably stable (more like an espresso crema than a swath of bubbles), and the body was a little thicker than most of its style.  But still.  A head and a body don't make up for a seeming genericness.

Below are the labels.  I had to edit the back label a bunch to get it even close to readable.  If you can, great.  If you can't... go buy one.
Front label
Back label

Rickard's Red -- 3 Beers

Fairly standard ale taste, and nothing particularly red about it. But, that's because we're in Canada here. You see, in Canada, a "beer" is a light beer, and a "dark beer" is a red, or a Guinness if you happen to be in a bar with chairs. It's a shame that this is the second darkest beer I've found in Canada. 'Course, in my great country's defense, I'm in Saskatchewan, and there's not a whole lot of anything metropolitan here. Quebec does have the Unibroue brewery...



 3 beers--for all my winging about how it's not great, it's not horrible. I'm just annoyed at the context of the beer.