Seeing that the Gouden Carolus Tripel was part of the LCBO’s spring release was fantastic news for me. After trying the Het Anker Cuvée van de Keizer Blauw and loving it so much, I couldn’t wait to try their tripel, one of my favorite styles of beer.
I hadn’t heard of Cannery Brewing up until their release into the LCBO. They come out of Penticton, BC and have been around for over ten years, which for a microbrewery is a pretty long time.
It pours an opaque black with a café au lait head with minimal lacing left on the glass. There was about a finger of head but it dissipates quickly.
From the nose there is no doubt this is a blackberry beer. There’s a huge, fresh, blackberry scent coming off the top with a slight roasted coffee aroma behind it. It’s also a bit medicinal. The top note is almost like smelling grape Crush but it’s not artificial at all. There are some piney hops hiding in the background.
On the palate, huge malt hit up front followed immediately by a fleeting taste of blackberry jam. I get a roasted coffee note and dark chocolate sweetness. On the finish I get espresso beans and even some pepperiness. Reading through some of the reviews on Ratebeer, I noticed some people getting a sour note but I don’t recall any sourness at all.
The mouthfeel is full-bodied and rich. For me, the level of carbonation is just right.
This review is pretty dated now, and for that I apologize. I’m hoping that the LCBO gets this beer in again in 2013 because I would certainly get it again!
Ratebeer: 92/98
Beer Advocate: 85/NA
I’ve taken so long to post the notes on this beer and I think it’s because I wanted this beer to be epic. I was hoping over a few tastings maybe I would like it a bit more. As someone who loves the La Trappe Tripel and Quad, I was looking for something to absolutely knock my socks off but it just didn’t happen. Although it’s still a fantastic beer, it just didn’t reach the heights of the Quad.
It pours a cloudy copper colour with an off-white two finger head that dissipates to a thin layer with good retention.
On the nose it’s really sweet with aromas of caramel and a boatload of fruits like apricot, plum, and raisins. There’s also a general spiciness to it although cola seem to stand out to me the most. There’s also that classic belgian yeast aroma with banana esters and alcohol.
On the palette there’s this really hard to pin down sweetness. I get notes of caramel, brown sugar, cola, dark berries. There’s also a tinge of hop bitterness in there. The finish is bitter but not dry at all. There’s definitely some sugar in this beer but for me it stops just shy of being cloying, although I know there are many that disagree.
The mouthfeel is light to medium bodied, with soft carbonation that’s tingly on the tongue and slightly resinous. I think the mouthfeel is one of the biggest letdowns in this beer because it just feels too thin. Mouthfeel is an underrated quality and in this case I feel that if there had been a bit more body it would have felt much more satisfying.
Overall I think what the notes are suggesting are that this could be a very good beer, and it is a good beer, but it’s short of being as great as the quad. Somehow it doesn’t feel as complex on the palette as the nose would let on and when you compare it to the quad it just doesn’t stand up.
So even though this wasn’t the best beer I’ve had from La Trappe, it’s still a great drink and how can you argue with a beer that with every bottle helps build a monastary in Uganda?
Ever since the LCBO brought Nøgne Ø Imperial Stout to Ontario, I’ve been wondering what their other offerings are like. I quite enjoyed the stout so when I heard that the LCBO was bringing in Nøgne Ø as a brewery feature, I was very excited.
The first beer from the feature I was able to try is the #100. It was originally created to celebrate their 100th batch of beer and is now produced year-round. Although it’s labelled as a barley wine apparently it was labelled in error and should actually be sold as an IIPA. As far as the taste goes though, I think it’s somewhere inbetween an IIPA and an American barley wine but we’ll let the notes speak for themselves.
It pours a slightly couldy light brown with a quickly dissipating light tan head. It leaves behind some spotty lacing.
The aroma is a wonderful balance of roasted coffee, dark chocolate and sweet stone fruit. There’s obvious hops and belgian-like cotton candy aroma.
On the palette it’s wonderfully complex. The top note is coffee or chocolate and a creaminess. Then there’s a sweetness coming from the malt but also some resinous piney hop qualities. At the end there’s some booziness. The finish has a coffee bitterness to it and is fairly dry.
I don’t think “balanced” in the traditional sense is the right word to describe this beer somehow. There’s a huge whollop of hops on the palette but it’s never over the top as the malt comes in right at the end to temper it. The alcohol is right up front but I don’t mind it here. For my tastes it adds to the whole experience of this beer.
This is a really great beer that I could see a beer geek enjoying. I don’t think it’s necessarily for someone who isn’t used to big booze, hops and sugar. It’s just a big beer all-around but it’s never brash.
Brouwerij Bosteels produces Kwak, one of the first craft beers I tried thanks to its gimmicky, but fun, glass and stand. They also make Deus, a fantastic Belgian strong ale made with champagne yeast. Now I finally get to try the third beer in their collection, the Tripel Karmeliet. I enjoyed Bosteels’ other two offerings, and I love tripels, so I was excited to be able to try their tripel.
The Tripel pours a hazy straw yellow with massive head that settles to a 1cm level with good retention. It leaves some lacing on the glass as well.
The aroma is huge on this beer. I can literally nose it from two feet away! I get some esters right off the top, followed by tropical fruit, some banana, mango, vanilla and that classic belgian yeast. Overall it’s sweet, citrusy and alcohol-y.
On the palette it’s really citrusy up front quickly transitioning to caramel malt. The finish is grapefruit hop balanced with really sweet caramel malt. The aftertaste is malty with alcohol bordering on medicinal. It’s really quite lovely with the same citrus notes found on the nose appearing on the palette. I keep describing alcohol in the aroma and flavour but it’s not boozy at all. It’s really well balanced.
The mouthfeel is medium bodied, slightly oily. The carbonation and alcohol leave the tongue tingly and overall it’s fairly dry.
This beer is a beer for al seasons; refreshing and sweet yet warming at the same time. I could see myself drinking one of these somewhere nice and warm away from the wind and snow, or I could just as easily be drinking one of these on a patio.
I would say run out and buy this beer now but it looks like there’s very few left in the LCBO’s inventory. If you manage to find one, grab whatever is left now because you’ll need a couple for the summer as well.
This doppelbock pours a clear very dark amber or a clear light brown with a head that builds and then settles quite quickly. Very little lacing. I think I might chalk this up to a glass with some soap residue though.
On the nose the aroma is amazing. Sweet, like stone fruit, but not cloying. Pine is there as well. There’s an overall aroma of roasted malt and cereal hanging around in the background.
On the palette the first hit is a big biscuit flavour with some mild sweetness. It keeps bouncing back and forth between malty and pithy hop notes. Alcohol is hidden right till the end when you get a bit on the finish and a building warming as you go through the bottle.
Mouthfeel is light-bodied and low on carbonation. It’s not my favorite but it’s not unpleasant either. It’s near flat in the glass and the finish is quite dry so it’s not what you would call typical for a bottled beer.
Usually I’m not a huge fan of beers that are low in carbonation and light-bodied but this is an exception. This is an exceptionally tasty beer! The blance between the malts and hops is perfect and it’s also emminently drinkable. I probably wouldn’t recommend it to a non-beer drinker but anyone who likes their brews malty would love to have some of this I’m sure.
Weinstephaner has been around a long, long time. It claims to be the oldest continuoulsly operated brewery in the world, bringing us beer since 1040 AD. They haven’t wasted all this time in business either by producing some of the best wheat beers in the world. I’ve been a big fan of their Hefe Weissbier and Kristall Weissbier so I had really high hopes for the Vitus. Continue reading
