Brewsing 9/22/16

So here I am, checking in with some of the beers we’ve recently tried. It’s so hard to go back and remember ALL of them, so this will be some highlights. Going forward, I’ll make sure to be on top of my game 😉 Of course, you could also follow me on Untappd and check out my latest drinks, ratings, and check-ins!

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^Ribstone Creek Great White Combine. This is my hands down FAVORITE white IPA. It is so delicious and a great beer to have with or without food. Ugh, now I want one- it’s that tasty! If you’re not an IPA person (and I’m not, although I’m trying to get into them) this is a great place to start.

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^Banded Peak Cherry Saison & Chinook Saison. This is a rather new brewery that I actually checked out when they first opened (you can read about it here). I was excited to head back to their brewery to test out the cherry saison but was bummed to find that the cherry is more of a coloring in the brew rather than in flavor. I could be wrong, but even my husband had a hard time detecting it. I will still support them because they’re new and local, but still not my favorite saisons.

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^Trolley 5 tasting flight. I have stopped in to Trolley 5 a few times now for a quick drink and am still dying to actually stay for the food. But their beer is some of my new local favorite and the atmosphere is pretty great, too. I think for this flight I had a mix of all of their main stays. The white IPA is very tasty, the pale ale is nice and light, and surprisingly the porter is a very easy drinker. *I highly recommend checking this place out!

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^Wood Buffalo Blueberry Vanilla Ale (at National Westhills) I originally tasted this at a beer fest a few years back and couldn’t find it since. I was excited to see it on the menu when we went to National a few weeks ago and it was just as good as I remembered. Perfect patio beer although I would still totally drink this in the winter.

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^Cold Garden One Summer in Saskatoon Saison. This was a special seasonal brew that I tasted at the 100L dash at Craft and it was absolutely delicious. The perfect saison with a subtle hint of berries. In fact, it was so nice I had it twice. Cold Garden has started to pop in in various establishments around the city and I am still eagerly awaiting their tap house to open! Check out their website for a list of the fun beers they offer!

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^Blindman Brewing Saison Lacombe Été, Ribstone Creek Great White Combine (as mentioned above), Gigantic Vivid Imperial IPA, Nickel Brook Raspberry Uber, and Troubled Monk American Brown Ale.

Thoughts on these: Get your hands on the Blindman Saison if you can. It’s one of the best ‘basic’ saisons I’ve had. The Gigantic IPA was a bit much for me since it’s an Imperial IPA; the Raspberry Uber was a recommendation by the sales associate where I bought it and it was the bomb dot com. Apparently it’s an award winner and has a nice sour taste with a strong raspberry flavor. Best part? No lingering aftertaste! Plus, it’s a low alcohol beer. So to the ladies who don’t like beer: get this one. Lastly, the Troubled Monk was a great brown ale. It was slow for us to get through since we’re not really brown ale people, but it had the most delicious chocolate/coffee aroma that kept me coming back.

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^Sierra Nevada Otra Vez–> It was a pretty penny to get a six pack of these here in Canada, but so worth it. It’s a perfect summer beer that is super light and thirst quenching. Plus, it has the unique prickly pear cactus/grapefruit flavor. Try it, it’s worth the $$.

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^ Russell Kettle Sour/Happy Jack Pumpkin Ale. The kettle sour was pretty tasty- a nice, basic sour if you’ve never had one. Aka: no funky flavors. The pumpkin ale was SO tasty. Well, *I* loved it and Tyler hated it. I was sipping on it while snacking on an apple w/peanut butter so the flavors might have been altered a bit. At least it worked in my favor!

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^Stone Cali-Belgique IPA. Another post-shift beer with my nighttime snack. This one was a whim purchase and I’m super happy about it. There is a definite sweeter IPA flavor with a bubblegum aftertaste. I loved how light (for an IPA) this tasted and was shocked that it was 6.9%! This is another IPA I’d recommend if you’re trying to ease into IPAs. But again, it’s pricier for us Canadians. Totally worth it.

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Clown Shoes Clementine White Ale. I love white ales, and this one fit the bill. It was a very easy drinker with a dynamic flavor of clementine, orange peel and coriander. Plus, it’s from Ipswich MA so…winning!

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^Blindman Session Ale. This is just your basic everyday drinking beer. Nothing too special about it in the flavor department.

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Bowen Island Freestone Summer Ale, Dandy Ales Grisette, Big Rock Hollow Tree Red Ale, Anderson Valley Briney Melon Gose.

The summer ale was pretty tasty- it definitely EXPLODED with stone fruit and peach flavors. So don’t get it unless you LOVE stone fruit. I crushed one of these so fast, I almost felt like I just had a healthy snack. The Grisette is a low alcohol easy drinker- so another I’d recommend to non-beer drinkers. Very tasty!

Tyler picked up the red ale and I was just meh about it. I am not a red ale person and this one was just a bit too aggressive for me to enjoy. Lastly, the Gose. A briney melon goes at that! So flipping delicious that I want one everyday. Go get it. But leave some for me. Or send me some. Thanks.

The sad part of this story is that there are a TON of beers that I didn’t include in this post. I’ll save those for a later day. You know, to keep you coming back.

So that’s all for now! Tell me what brews you’ve tried recently..

Five on Friday

Oh hey there, Internet. I thought I’d check in real quick and give you a little one-sided chat before starting the day. So yes, I’m sitting on Wes’s playmat in the barely-breaking morning light without yet having made coffee and typing this up. I must be insane.

So still not too much to chat about here- summer months are just full of outdoor time and soaking up the good weather that it’s hard to sit at a computer and word vomit about it. Or maybe that’s just me. I can’t even remember what I’ve shared with you last, and I’m not about to look back, so here are some things of interest:

  1. Tyler and I have been enjoying lots of craft beer (per usual).

Lunch at National, Growlers from Banded Peak, Brewfoot Blueberry Ale, Tasting flight at Big Rock after Brewga, Tasting flight at Trolley 5

2. In an attempt to make a healthy dessert, I whipped up a batch of Flourless Chocolate Chip Chickpea Blondies. They were so tasty, but in no way come close to chocolate chip cookies. Or anything unhealthy (and DELICIOUS) for that matter. I would definitely make them again though.

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3. Wes has been an exploring fiend and I love it. Well, most of the time I love it.

His Oxfords are from VI&JAX and they are the cutest, hipster-est little shoes ever. I love them.

4. I switched from my usual morning waffles to morning smoothie bowls and I just can’t get enough of them! My favorite combo as of late is: frozen cherries, cocoa, pb, spinach, greek yogurt, maple syrup, vanilla, almond milk. Topped with chia seeds and whatever other fun crunchy things I have around.

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5. This view:

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Spirit Of Alberta Tasting Tour

Happy Wednesday everyone! I’ve decided to do away with the Winesday Wednesday series….but only the title. I’ll still be posting about craft beer, spirits and wine on Wednesdays (when I have material), but I just didn’t want to sound too … Continue reading

Winesday Wednesday

It’s here again! Winesday Wednesday. Hooray, this is me dancing about it

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Short post this week, sorry! (I really just want to nap)

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Cool new beer to share! So Big Rock Brewery is one of my favorite local breweries and they came out with an Alchemist’s Edition called Freyla’s Field. It’s a mead braggot, aka: 1/2 mead, 1/2 beer. The flavor wasn’t too different- at least for what I was expecting. It was a good, crisp beer though and had some interesting lingering flavors.

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We also picked up a case of their Swinger Pack- one of which included:

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Another good Summer drinking beer!

Keith sent over the following beauty, writing: Here’s an oldie from 2008! It’s a Meglioli Pinot Grigio. There are only a few left. I was trying to put it up against the light to show the amazing deep amber colour it has. It tastes like liquid gold. I somehow don’t think it will last much longer…

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That looks delicious! And it makes me anxious to be able to drink the pinot grigio we made 🙂

For your entertainment:

See ya  next week! (If YOU have something to share, email me to be included in a future post!)