Fire in the Rye - Advent Calendar Day 13

Day 13 and we're into the last half of this year's beer advent calendar. Today we have "Fire in the Rye" Roasted Rye Pale Ale from Double Trouble Brewing Company


6.1% ABV, 60 IBUs


Dark ruby amber with a thin head. Subdued aromas of oats, rye, and cinnamon. The taste is smooth and clean with oats, rye, and pine. Very clean finish with almost no aftertaste. This would pair well with roasted chicken.

Ransack the Universe - Advent Calendar Day 12

Good Day! And Welcome! It's the midpoint of this year's beer advent calendar.

Beer #12 is Collective Arts "Ransack the Universe" Hemisphere IPA

6.8% ABV, 85 IBUs

Yum yum, my current favourite IPA. Light amber with a medium white head. Loads of aroma, with grapefruit, toffee, ginger, orange, pine, and white flowers. The taste is ginger, honey, orange, and pine with great balance and a clean finish. Just a touch of hop bitterness at the end.

This beer goes with everything :)

And just because the artwork is so pretty, here's a photo of the other side of the can.

Innocente Conscience American IPA - Advent Calendar Day 11

For Day 11 of the Beer Advent Calendar we have Innocente Brewing Co Conscience American IPA "Purely Uncorrupted Bitter Ale"

5.7% alcohol, 80 IBU

I've tasted this beer before, as it's right in my wheelhouse, style-wise.  Amber with a medium white head, and aromas of over-ripe mango, grapefruit, pine, and cloves.  The taste is grapefruit and pine with a little caramel. The finish is clean, and despite the 80 IBUs, it's quite balanced.  I'm a big fan of big IPAs, so keep this in mind ....

Perfect for spicy curry, the hops knock back the spice quite nicely.

Collingwood Fireside ESB - Advent Calendar Day 10

Day 10 of the Beer Advent Calendar features The Collingwood Brewery "Fireside ESB" (extra special bitter).

5.8% alcohol, 40 IBU

A hazy dark orange-amber with a thin beige head. The aromas are oatmeal, brioche, caramel, and orange. Nice balanced flavours, leaning towards caramel and orange pith. Clean finish. A great beer for meat sandwiches, especially on light rye bread.

Edited to add (from Sheena): I couldn't find the Fireside ESB on brewery's website. I suspect it has been rebranded to the Kingpost ESB as the labels look remarkably similar, the ABV and IBU ratings are the same and the tasting notes are quite similar to Doug's above. So, if you are looking for this beer at your local purveyor of fine brews, I suggest you look for the Kingpost ESB - same artwork on the can except there's a crown where the flame is on this one.

Bodegas Carrau Reserva Tannat 2013

Deep purple with aromas of blackberry, plum, earth, and a little eucalyptus and dried herbs. Velvety in the mouth, with nice structured tannins and medium-high acidity. The flavours are plum, blackberry, and raspberry, and the finish is medium slightly tannic blackberry.

I'm a fan of fairly tannic wines, and I don't think we see enough Tannats in general. I'd pair this with charcuterie or hard cheeses. Also just a great wine for sipping in front of a fire on a cold winter night.

$15.95 at the LCBO

Forge & Fire Amber Ale - Advent Calendar Day 9

We're well into Week 2 of this year's Beer Advent Calendar. The brew for Day 9 is an Amber Ale from Forge & Fire Brewing Company. 5% ABV, 38 IBUs.

It's a hazy dark orange-amber with a very thin beige head. The aromas are caramel, coffee, oatmeal, rising bread, and orange. It's quite smooth and round with mainly coffee, oatmeal, and orange flavours.

I'm not generally a huge amber ale fan but I like this.

Edited to add (from Sheena): when I was adding the photo and links to Doug's tasting notes I made an interesting discovery. This brew is actually from Collective Arts! And if you've read the previous posts featuring beers from that brewery, you know that Doug is a fan. He didn't know that when he wrote his tasting notes - he doesn't visit the brewer's sites as he doesn't want to influence his own judgement by reading their tasting notes before writing his own.

Rhyme & Reason - Advent Calendar Day 8

The Beer Advent Calendar Day 8 offering is the Collective Arts Rhyme & Reason Extra Pale Ale. It has 5.7% alcohol, 55 IBUs



I think I've mentioned before that Collective Arts makes some of my favourite IPAs, and this one is kind of the mid-point of their lineup, between the "State of Mind" session IPA and the big "Ransack the Universe".


I really love this beer. It's a cloudy medium yellow-orange with a light white head. The aromas are fantastic; white grapefruit, peach, orange, pine, and caramel. I could just smell it all day. The taste is crisp and clean with lots of grapefruit and a touch of pine and orange.

And here's a peek at the artwork on this particular can. This is Label #62 - Faces by Oleg Portnoy. You can see all of the artwork from Series 6 over at the Gallery. One of the cool things about Collective Arts beers is that you can scan the label with the Blippar mobile phone app and hear the music, view the videos and bios of the artists.



Be sure to stop by tomorrow to see what Day 9 has in store.