(Recommended)

Spinnakers Blue Bridge used to be labelled a Double IPA, but they have renamed it a Double Pale Ale, perhaps because it is not as much a hop explosion as some Double IPAs. It still has a good dose of hoppiness though, but seems to be carefully balanced with the malt, which makes this beer a refreshing change from the wealth of similar double or imperial IPAs on the market.

Spinnakers is one of those breweries that are hard to find outside of its local neighbourhood (Victoria, British Columbia) but are well worth the effort as the line-up includes some great Canadian takes on some classic British Ales.

This is a very enjoyable strong pale ale that hides its alcohol well, has some grainy sweetness and a good herbal hoppy finish. Although this won’t blast your taste buds away, it may well tickle your fancy, especially if you serve it at the correct temperature – too cold and you’ll miss half the flavour!

ABV: 8.2%

Best Served: 10°C

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There were, in total 90 yes that’s 90 ! Including such notables as ” American-Style Strong Pale Ale”(featuring all three medalists calling their brews IPA) “American-Style Sour Ale” including a medalist from Denmark called “Oud Bruin” (surely Belgian style?)  “International Pale Ale” (including two medalists labeled IPA from the US)….. I could go on, but I won’t- or maybe I will. It seems that every style of beer had so many sub sections it was as if they were trying to give out as many medals as humanly possible  (270 medals in all) by inventing categories that 99.9% of beer drinkers and enthusiasts would have trouble understanding the difference between!

Is this because it costs money to enter your beers, and the people running the awards want to entice as many as possible, and give them a good possibility of medalling (always good for promotional purposes).  I am such a cynic!! The winners seem to be overwhelmingly from the USA as well, which does not make this a great representation of the world’s beers. In fact this seems like an American party where a few foreigners enter the odd beer for good measure. Now I’m not saying that it’s the organisers fault – it isn’t, it’s down to the breweries of the world to enter all their beers; but if you’re going to enter your beers for international honours then the World Beer Awards is probably a fairer representation of the global beer scene, and they only have 46 categories – far more manageable and far less skewed towards US breweries and spurious sub styles.

Let’s make craft beer accessible for those we are trying to win over from the mass produced rubbish that passes for lager. 90 categories is too much and smacks of an exercise in promotion than truly rewarding the finest beers in the world!

For a full list of styles at the World Beer Cup:    http://www.worldbeercup.org/beer_styles_menu.html

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(Excellent)

Driftwood Brewery Belle Royale is described as a Strong Belgian Cherry Ale, and seems to be based on a Tripel or strong golden ale  recipe, with “900 pounds of cherries” added. They don’t specify how much beer gets the 900 pounds but we get the idea – there’s  a lot, and they’re real cherries, not cherry flavour or syrup. It has a lovely pink amber colour, a thinnish head, with a spicy, fruity aroma.  The flavour has a hit of sweet spice and sour red cherries that lingers on the palate and develops into a long finish with sweet herbal notes.

Not only do Driftwood excel at making beer, but they design some of the best labels on beer bottles anywhere in the world, and this ode to Toulouse-Lautrec’s Moulin-Rouge paintings is no exception. It’s sexy and sassy – a bit like the Belle Royale  itself!

ABV: 9%

Best Served: 8°C

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I had never heard of a ‘blog agregator’ before but there’s a first time for everything! Beer and Butter Tarts collects all its members’ recent blogs and shows bits from them and a link to their site/blog.  It specialises in beer and food blogs, so if you’re a foodie or a beer lover, this is a great place to scour through a bunch of them in one place without having to find and actually go to the website, so it’s a real energy saver for those tired typing fingers (that’s just two for me!).

Most importantly it will be featuring the musings and reviews of yours truly: The Beer Wrangler. Well actually, as you already read my blog (I assume) it’s a grand way of discovering some of my competitors… er.. I mean friends, colleagues and fellow bloggers. So click on the link – it’ll always be on my blogroll (bottom right of home page) and read some of the best beer and food blogs on offer!

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(Recommended)

Les trois Mousquetaires is a small but dedicated brewery from Quebec, Canada, and it produces a range of European style and seasonal specialties. Sticke Alt is not a common style of beer, least of all outside its home nation of Germany, and is an Altbier on steroids. Many Alts are a well rounded malty beer with a nice hit of herbal hops on the finish, making a good session ale.

A Sticke Alt is a far more serious affair, and this Canadian version is no exception. It has a deep red-amber colour with a creamy head, that leaves plenty of attractive lacing around the glass. The first thing that hits you is the body; this is a very full beer, with a rich maltiness and a viscous feel to it. There are notes of dried fruit and black molasses, but without too much sweetness. It is counter-balanced by a strong herbal bitterness on the finish from a good dose of hops, with some woody touches that sometimes feels a bit drying. Over all this is well worth a go, and would pair well some rich, fatty meats as the bitterness would be a good foil for the fat, and the body can match the strong flavours too!

ABV: 6%

Best Served: 10°C

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But what was I drinking in this land of Macros? Well, SAB make sure Castle Lager is available EVERYWHERE….. They have it brewed in almost every country, either under license or they’ve bought every other brewery up and have it brewed there. The beer of choice in Zambia was Mosi. This was a brew made with sugar and maize, so in effect was a tasteless adjunct lager, but I guess in a hot country, anything ice-cold with alcohol in is welcomed by most. One beer of interest was Castle’s Milk Stout, although not a ‘great’ beer, it was a nice break from cheap lager. It had a good round, sweet, creamy maltiness, and was reasonably appealing.

In a land of chilled lager, there is one company is challenging Castle and is increasing its sales year on year. This is Windhoek (pronounced vindhook) and was set up by German brewers in Namibia in 1920 (Namibia Brewers Ltd). They made a classic German style Pils according to the German Beer Purity Laws, and still are today. It is a pleasant, crisp, well made lager that stands head and shoulders above the competition, and importantly , is widely available throughout the region.

So if you’re going to that part of the world (maybe for the World Cup) let me know if you find some nice craft brews – as I failed miserably

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Wrangler Rating:

(Excellent)

Archiduc is an unassuming beer that doesn’t give too many clues as to what it is on the bottle (the Belgians obviously don’t have the same predilection for categorising as we do in North America). It is in fact a strongish Belgian Amber Ale with bags of flavour. It comes in a 750ml bottle that is corked and the beer has a deposit of yeast from the re-fermentation. It pours a rich amber hue with a medium tight head that slowly disappears. The aromas are spicy, rich and fruity, and the taste doesn’t disappoint after such an inviting whiff. This beer is rounded, balanced and delicious. There are notes of marmalade, allspice, citrus peel with a sweet herbaceous finish. This fantastic Belgian ale is rich in flavour but totally drinkable in every way. This is a real gem that sits silently in the beer store, but definitely is worth shouting about!

ABV: 6.2%

Best Served: 9°C

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*

Just a quick plug for the inaugural Vancouver Craft Beer Week. This should be a great series of events that will do more than wet your whistle! If you’re not a local this will be a great reason to come and visit the city, where British Columbia’s craft breweries will be showing off their wares and brewing prowess.

So if you drink your beer south of the border, come on up to BC and get a warm welcome and some cold beer!

If you are a local (that includes you on the island!) come and support what should be a fun and tasty week.

There will be lots of food and beer pairing events as well as special dinners with brewmasters, a brewpub crawl, a homebrew contest and lots more!

So, hopefully BC will get some more recognition as a great brewing province and craft beer destination along with Washington and Oregon, as one third of the Pacific Northwest threesome, flying the flag for quality craft beer.

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“A black IPA please”  I hear in a crafty taproom.   “A dark  India Pale Ale for me!” …..”hold on, hold on”, said other more sensible folk ” How can you have a dark or black pale ale?” . So the term India Dark Ale was bandied about and the cries of indignation seemed to have been quelled, until some bright spark piped up “What’s this beer got to do with India?”

“er, nothing really, except the hops….”

“Hops?” came the reply, “Well hopping levels actually, the word India on a beer label really just means loads of hops now”

“really?”

Although the logic is clear, this means that we should have India Barley Wines, and maybe an India Russian Imperial Stout…..

“India Weiss Bier anyone?” – hmmm no thanks, let’s stop this now please. So thank goodness this beer, popular with brewers from the Pacific Northwest, AKA Cascadia, has a name we can all agree on. It uses the spicy, citrusy hop varieties grown in these parts (not just Cascade hops) hence the name, it’s dark, and it’s an ale. As the old British advert for a wood treatment product used to say “It does exactly what it says on the tin!” or in this case bottle.  So why oh why -at this moment of consensus did Phillip’s rename their Black Touque India Dark Ale – a Cascadian Brown Ale? Well there’s always someone who wants to be a bit different…..

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Wrangler Rating:

(Recommended)

Russell Black Death Porter is a terrific offering from a brewery that is best known for a rather mediocre cream ale. With their range of 650 ml ‘Brewmaster series’ they have definitely shown that they are more serious about beer than their 6-pack selections, sometimes suggest. This is a really rich and malty porter with a ton of black molasses , and a subtle note of hop, but it plays second fiddle to the delicious sweet, roasted flavours that dominate. The finish isn’t cloying though as there is just enough bitterness to balance it all out. All in all a very nice porter!

ABV: 6.5%

Best Served: 10°C

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