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

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.

Rickard's Honey Brown -- Three Beers

Like its cousin the White Ale, the Honey Brown is fairly standard. There isn't even any honey to it. I guess they mean that the brown is honey, not that the beer is a brown with honey to it? I always liked JW Dundee's Original Honey Brown, 'cause there was an aftertaste of honey, a little bit of sweetness that didn't overpower the rest of the brown. But nope, not here. Just a tasty, toasty malt, low on carbonation and on hops. There is a mellowness that's honey-like, and for not having a lot of hops it's still fairly balanced. But it's nothing fantastic. Mostly just a good alternative within the Rickard's series.

Sierra Nevada's Celebration Ale -- Five Beers

Mmm, two of my favourite things in the world: a seasonal beer, and a hoppy beer. Some winter seasonals don't know how to do it right, but Sierra Nevada does. It's got a fruit/spicy taste that tastes just like Christmas in a bottle--AND, it's got the bitter tang of a well-hopped ale. Makes me feel like celebrating.

[Label Text:  Special beers made for the winter season have been a brewer's tradition for centuries. To honor this heritage, we present this unique offering, Celebration Ale.]

Pike Seattle Brewing Co.'s Scotch Style Kilt Lifter Ruby Ale -- Three Beers

A pleasant scotch ale. For those who aren't "in the know," a scotch ale is one where the malt used for the beer is the same as that which would be used to make scotch (simple? obvious? tasty? yes). This particular scotchale is medium-bodied, very lightly carbonated, and more importantly, malty but not too malty. And malty like nothing but a scotch ale could be. My favourite part of the maltiness is that it's dark and spicy, without making the beer overly thick or overly malty. No sickly-sweet caramel malts here; just a hearty, well-balanced-yet-unique beer. While it might not be my favourite beer overall, it's a pleasant beer to come home to after the Coors Lights I'd been drinking as a guest in someone else's home. I can't speak to the price, 'cause I'm still a guest in this home (I'm on the road as I write this), but I'll give it some credit for having a funny name. Three it is!

Green Flash Brewing Co.'s Barleywine Style Ale -- Two Beers

I bought this beer, 'cause I wanted to try out a barleywine, and was in my first real beer-selection alcohol store since good old Half Time in Poughkeepsie (Best. Beer. Store. Ever.). It was interesting, and I could... possibly buy it again. I don't think I would though, but only because it's not exactly my type of beer, though I could clearly see someone else enjoying it, if this were their cup of suds. It had a rich but mild hop flavour (not even close to IPA hops, barely a pale ale hop); and a deep, deep malt flavour, like of a stout or porter. It also had an sweet side to it that was almost enjoyable, only it wasn't enough of a fruity sweet, and too much of a caramel sweet, for me. Even though it had the malt flavours of a stout/porter, it didn't have the thickness, which I enjoyed. But, for $4 for 24 oz., the price was a little steep.

Anderson Valley's Boont Amber Ale -- Four Beers

Anderson Valley's one of my favourite breweries, ever. Every beer is packed full of flavour, even if I don't necessarily like all of them. But, I can talk about those in another post. For now, I'm drinking the amber ale. Like I said, I don't always like the flavours. It's not malty or hoppy, just amber. But it's a pleasant amber, feeling full in your mouth without any of the negative side-effects like sweetness or bitterness that others might, though there is some toastiness right at the end that I really like. I'll give it a four, but really it's probably more like a three because it costs the same as the other fantastic Anderson Valleys (not an incredible amount, but still enough), but without all the greatness of the others.

[Cap texts:
- One a day is all we ask
- Because beer is not a spectator sport
- Comfortingly expensive
- Once you hop, you can't stop]