Picked up these today

Amsterdam Tempest Imperial Stout
Muskoka Double Chocolate Cranberry Stout

I agree with the wax likely being for looks mostly. But boy does it look good

I will be buying a few of the Tempests when I see it. I have a feeling it will be abundant.

Over the past few nights:









The Brooklyn BCS was a solid brew, but i was a tad underwhelmed. Nothing to complain about though. very nice

The Yellow Snow was pretty much the same thing. I enjoyed it a lot, and had nothing to complain about. Lots of citrus.

The Chimay White. This may be one of my favourite beers. I've had it quite a few times, and it stands atop when it comes to to the Trappist beer. It's odd because i always say i'm not a big fan of these kinds of beer, but it seems some of my favourites have been of this style as of late. Especially the Three Philosophers. I guess my taste buds are changing.

Got some news that'll please Blasphomet most of all, a brewery feature coming into LCBO next month featuring Nøgne ø! Here's what'll be released:

296871 / Tiger Tripel / 500 / 9.0% / $6.55
296301 / Underlig Jul / 500 / 6.5% / $6.50
296293 / #100 / 500 / 10.0% / $6.65
296285 / Porter / 500 / 7.0% / $6.45
296277 / Two Captains Double IPA / 500 / 8.5% / $6.65


Very good news, and I'm really looking forward to trying all of them. Also, the Flying Monkeys "BNL Imperial Chocolate Stout" is showing up in the inventory, so it should be available shortly.

That is sweet news about the Nogne O stuff. And I didn't even know about the Flying Monkey had an imperial stout, so perhaps this is it's first release. But if the LC website is correct, and it's $13.95 for a 750ml bottle, that is insanely pricey for a domestic.

And i REALLY wish they brought back the imperial stout. It's maybe my favourite beer ever.

This is a great news though, and with Nogne O brewing some of Mikeller's beer for them, maybe we'll get a nice Mikeller release at some point

It's actually a beer designed with the members of "Barenaked Ladies", so not sure if that has anything to do with the insane price. But everything FM puts out seems to be excellent, so I might splurge on this.

Oh that's what BLN stands for

I will buy it for sure, and hope that it's good. I can't find anything on ratebeer about it though.

By the way, where did you hear this news?


And this is what it looks like... I guess at 750ml, and a nice package/presentation, being close to the strength of a wine at 11%, 14 bucks isn't too, too outrageous. I will buy a few of these, and i am excited. I hope it's not a let down.

I LOVE newcastle Ale, but it hates me, the hangovers from just 4 of them are fucking horrible. i get no hangovers from any Guinness, Weheinstephaner, hell any German ale for that matter, most Canadian biers. ALL american beers are hangover guaranteed, i havent dranbk more than 2 american beers in a row in years, they all suck & are horrible( mass produced crap) bud, miller, coors, etc etc. garbage runoff water. american brewers put so many chemicals in their beers

It seems like just yesterday when I posted my original Muskoka - Double Chocolate Cranberry Stout experience. Unfortunately, 3 years later with high expectations this beer has continued to dip further down into the bland direction. I don't know what it is. My first experience was literally, orgasmic. The experience was caught on my review, lol. Two years later and I have still yet to enjoy the same experience. Funny how that works. With most beers, you tend to enjoy more things while your pallet matures. With this beer, the experience has been the complete opposite. That also goes for St. Peter's Winter Ale. Maybe it's a stout thing. I can't explain it. Regardless it's not bad. If anything, I'm happy they've downed the price by about $3 from what it was last year.

Does anybody share the same experience?

I used to love Newcastle back in the day, had one not to long ago. I no longer like them...

Cool bottle opener though.


I just finished one of these. A lovely beer, that is very well crafted. 11 separate hop additions of Cascade but creatively done so the beer is not bitter, I'd assume the bulk of them are added late in the boil for the flavor and aroma.

The Bar Towel discussion forum is where I get all the local beer-related news.

Sweet news! Fuck the bnl though. Fuck them.

I haven't gotten it yet, but I'd like to hear from more people as well on what this years edition tastes like. I remember trying it last year and liking it, but I wasn't going nuts over it.

I'm generally not pleased with these Muskoka seasonal beer and find them way over priced for the quality simply because of the bottling, which isn't anything special or unique really. I would much rather they came in normal bottles at 650ml and down the price significantly. I'm glad you say they lowered the price this year, but being is unimpressed as I usually am with these, i may skip this one this year.

Edit: I don't think it's cheaper unless the website is wrong. It shows as $10.95 again for an 8% ABV beer. unfairly priced imo, again as with all their seasonal bottles.

Yup, pretty much the same price. Picked it up the other day. Today however I picked up the 6 Exclusive Belgian Ales (Augustijn, Piraat, Gulden Draak, Leute Bokbier)

Just a heads up there is a few cases of twice as mad tom at the lcbo at the bay atrium.

Lemme know how they are dude. I almost considered getting it today but passed until I hear what they're like.

Ok, I went to the Bayview LCBO in Aurora today (best selection in my area) and got the following:










I'm pretty happy with my haul. I did pass on Le Terrible as it was comparable to wine, and I hate wine, so unless I hear glowing reviews, I'll probably be staying away from it. The beer guy there (who seems to know his stuff) told me that the Double Mad Tom IPA sold out in almost two days and he doesn't know when more is coming in, so you can tell how popular it is already. He also suggested to me the Great Lakes Black IPA, but I didn't wanna pay 10 bucks for it, so I passed, but I'd love to hear how it is. Also I noticed the Church Key Holy Smoke was there, and I haven't heard anything about it yet, but it sounds interesting.

Le Terrible tastes nothing like wine. And it was fantastic.

Let us know what you think of the Golden Draak and Piraat. I didn't try them myself but my ex had picked that up and I remember him having a very strong negative opinion of one of those two

I didn't post that I also picked up Mill Street's Cobblestone Stout. I didn't realize it was a nitro beer, so when I opened it it kinda foamed over a bit, but I managed to do a decent enough pour. And wow, this has already beat out Guinness as far as their draught beer goes. Very nicely done and a great stout.

One of the most ignorant things I've ever read on this forum, and there have been some doozies. Try again once you've had any REAL beer from an American brewery, not the piss water that everybody who is not a frat boy or redneck knows is bad.

It's the new stout man. Its fucking amazing! Everyone seems to love it

Agreed...

Some beer lessons for our young friend.

Sanitation: Depending on the size of the brewery they will use food grade chemicals to sanitize their equipment, which are highly diluted in water and evaporate before the brewing process starts. Because the larger breweries work in such closed loops they probably use steam to sanitize everything.

Water: Most breweries will use their local municipal water to brew with. Homebrewers will actually add burton salts to the water to get their local or filtered water to match the water in say Dublin or Munich etc.. Again the lager breweries will not add this to their beers.

Brewing regardless of where its brewed is still grains (including rice), hops water, and yeast. Some breweries may use hop extracts which still provide the alpha and beta acids. Microbreweries will add adjuncts (anything you can imagine pumkin, juniper berries, cherries, candy sugar etc..) This is purely based on the style of beer that is being made.

Fining agents, this is what helps clear the beer, Irish Moss is used (kelp) and Isinglass (dried fish bladders). I use Irish Moss in my beer if I'm making anything other than a stout.

Thats pretty much whats in beer.

The macro beers like Miller, Bud, Molsen, Heineken etc.. are all simple lagers or pilsners, these are the basic most ingredients in a beer. When you have a micro brew they're mostly better styles of beers ales, wheat, stouts, etc.. These are beers that usually sway from the bland lagers and pils and use more flavorful yeasts, more flavorful hops, and specialty grains to add color and body.

Has nothing to do with chemicals its the style of beer my friend that you dont like.