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New beers - September 8, 2016

Posted on September 8, 2016



September is here! I've always loved September in Calgary. Mild weather, amazing fall evenings, and I can slowly start drinking darker and richer beers (who am I kidding... I'll drink them even when it's 30 degrees out). Don't worry though, I'm not going to bombard you with pumpkin spiced beers quite yet, though I'm sure they're coming! In the meantime, we still have all these other amazing brews making their way through the province. The new beers hitting the shelves this week are:

High Level IPA but Alley Kat brewing: A heavily hop bursted IPA from Edmonton's own Alley Kat brewing. A heavy, heavy dosage of hops at the end of the brewing process gives this IPA huge, robust, intense hop aromatics and flavours. El Dorado, Mandarina and Jarrylo hops give notes of tangerine, melon, bananas and pear. ($8.49 for a 650mL bottle)
Imperial Doughnut Break by Evil Twin brewing: The perfect beer for every Homer Simpson out there. Not unlike his Imperial Biscotti Break, this one is still riddled with coffee, nuts, and sweet, sweet malts. Though on top of it, heavy notes of sweet doughnuts! A truly amazing dessert beer! Droool... ($20.49 for a 650mL bottle)
Never Give an Inch by Cider Riot!: Cider Riot! is here to make amazing, flavourful ciders, and to be loud and proud of it! This is a super crisp and fruity cider. Hood river and Yakima apples combined with Oregon blackberries and blueberries make this one delicious cider. ($11.79 for a 500mL bottle)
Opal Farmhouse ale by Firestone Walker: Old meets new with this take on a classic southern Belgian style. Grainy and complex malts, rustic and earthy, with spicy and fruity yeast notes, then dry hopped with north American hops for a huge citrusy, tropical kick! ($13.49 for a 650mL bottle)
Double Jack IIPA by Firestone Walker: This is an amped up version of their Union Jack IPA. An elevated body, higher alcohol, and very liberally dry hopped with Amarillo, Cascade, Centennial, and Simcoe to give all the citrus and pine we'd expect and more! ($13.49 for a 650mL bottle)
And like usual, there are a few things coming back onto the shelf after a brief absence, such as Grapefruit Sculpin from Ballast Point (this time in cans!) and their Pineapple Sculpin as well! Ninkasi's German Helles lager has gone through a re-brand as well, now called Helles Belles, but is still the same amazing lager.
I mentioned last week that our fall tasting schedule is live and they are all filling up fast! I do have space left this Friday (September 9) in our first ever growler party! $30 lets you try the 4 new kegs plus anything else I can scrounge up, snacks, and a 1L growler and a fill of your favourite!
One more thing before I go. It's about that time to start thinking about all the different advent calendars coming out. The Craft Advent Calendar has always been the best of the bunch, and they are at it again this year! This year's theme is "Old w...

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World Class Riesling tasting - August 30, 2016

Posted on September 12, 2016

Riesling is the world’s seventh most-planted white wine grape variety, and it is most definitely a personal favorite of many wine professionals all over the world. Appealing aromatics, finesse, minerality, highly acidic; it is known for its incredible ability to absorb and reflect terroir; and for its impressive versatility with cuisines of all types. Usually made dry in most of Europe and Australia, Riesling is made traditionally sweet or lightly sweet in Germany. This incredible versatility and range of styles make Riesling one of the most fascinating “international” grape varietals.

Three regions rank as the benchmark style of the grape: Mosel-Saar-Ruwer in Germany, Alsace in France, and Eden and Clare Valley in Australia. But many countries, especially in the new world, are doing incredibly well with Riesling and a few different styles start emerging. How interesting it is to do a comparative tasting of all the different regions of production, old and new, and determine which one are the new favorites!

I selected 8 wines, all from different country. With the exception of a sparkling Riesling that I used as a greeting wine and a palate cleanser, all the wines were table wine, either dry or off-dry, and ranging from 2009-2015, the objective of the tasting being to compare similar styles and ages from different regions of the world.



I was very impressed by the quality of the wines and by the result of the votes! Here’s a short description of the wines that we tasted:

2013, Tawse Spark Limestone Ridge Riesling $31.99
Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario, Canada

The second vintage of the Limestone Ridge Vineyard Riesling Spark impresses instantly with its lime flowers and green apple profile, with a light petrol whiff. The dry, crisp palate dances with focus and drive - all high toned and riesling-marked, with pure lime, lemon zest and abundant minerality. Lively and refreshing, positively demands pairing with oysters or fried squid and lemon juice. Champagne quality from an outstanding family-owned Canadian producer, for a fraction of the price of a mineral-driven Blanc de blancs. Cheers!

2015, Pewsey Vale Riesling $23.49
Eden Valley, Australia

High in the hills surrounding the Barossa Valley lies Pewsey Vale, one of the Eden Valley’s pioneer vineyard, is a single vineyard dedicated to the a single variety. It was the first vineyard established in what is now the Eden Valley wine region, and the first to plant Riesling vines in Australia. Pewsey Vale Eden Valley Rieslings are approachable wines renowned for their delicacy, finesse and intense green citrus characteristics with a long, lime peel finish, very typical from the Rieslings from Australia.

2011, Torlesse Riesling $22.99
Waipara, South Island, New-Zealand

Torlesse Wines takes its name from an earl...

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New beers - August 31, 2016

Posted on September 1, 2016

Hello once again fellow beer geeks!

I have another quick update for you all on new beers hitting our shelves! Without much delaying, here they are!



Lug Tread Ale by Beau's Brewing: A light, but complex ale with the crispness of a lager. Flavours of crackers hay and fruit, with just the right amount of hops dancing all around it. All of Beau's beers are crafted with certified organic ingredients and pure spring water! ($6.19 for a 600mL bottle)

Schieve Tabarnak by Le Trou Du Diable: This is a collaboration between Le Trou Du Duable and Brasserie de la Senne. A yeasty, fruity, mildly spicy Belgian style beer brewed with rye, and unique hops. Light, but with excellent malt character, and moderate to generous bitterness.  ($8.39 for a 600mL bottle)



Farmer's Daughter pale by Half Hitch Brewing: A new brewery hailing from Cochrane Alberta, Half Hitch Brewing isn't afraid to show their classic western roots. This pale ale is a light, easy drinking pale ale with just enough hops to quench that bitter thirst, but not too much to turn away hopophobics. ($15.29 for a 6-pack of cans)

Fire N' Fury red by Half Hitch brewing: Their Red ale is a medium bodied, robust and bready ale with a rich malty character and a decent bitterness on the finish. ($15.29 for a 6-pack of cans)

Shotgun Wedding by Half Hitch brewing: This robust, complex brown ale boasts plenty of roasty, bready malts with light hints of smoke and chocolate. A well balanced bitterness wraps the whole thing up in one tasty package. ($15.99 for a 6-pack of cans)

Alongside all of those, we also received the latest batch of Gose from Driftwood Brewing! Last year it was named Gose-uh, this year they changed the name to "Cry me a river Gose" and changed the label to one of their more modern stylized ones. We also received a couple more of the strawberry and apricot Cascade fruit sour vertical packs. If you haven't seen these yet, take a quick look, they are stunning sets of 1, 2, 3 and 4 year old fruit sours.

Finally, our fall tasting schedule has finally been released. Make sure to check out the beer tastings I'm hosting this fall, as they do fill up quick.

That's all for now!

Cheers!

- Shawn...

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The Weirder the Better tasting - August 25th, 2016

Posted on August 30, 2016

I thought for a while about the title that we gave to this tasting, before choosing the wines that I was going to pour. The Weirder the better… But what is weird when it comes to grape varieties? With over 10,000 known grape varieties used in wine-making, it would be much easier to define what a well-known grape variety than what is not. So many indigenous grapes, so many wine producing areas in the world… And what is weird for me could be very familiar to you, depending of your tasting experiences, your trips, your food and wine culture. So I decided to orient my choices with my personal experience selling wine to customer and how people are generally not familiar with these interesting wines that I am about to present. No Chardonnay or Syrah tonight, but tasty, great alternatives that hopefully, are going to expend your horizon when it comes to choose a wine.



2005 Domaine du Haut Bourg, Muscadet Côtes de Granlieu $27.99
Varietal: 100% Melon de Bourgogne
Côtes de Granlieu AOC, Loire, France

Third generation winemakers Luc and Jérôme Choblet are located the Côtes de Grandlieu sub-appellation of Muscadet, and they only release their wines after it has had extended time aging. Great value white wine from France's beautiful Loire Valley Atlantique and one of my favorite grape, perfect to replace the expensive wines from Chablis for your next oyster party! Pretty, with lemon curd, verbena and honeysuckle notes woven together, carried by a creamy, lightly waxy feel through the salted butter finish. And when is the last time that had the chance to try a 2005 white wine for under 30$? Just an amazing and surprising bottle of wine! In my top 5 best white wine in the store this summer.

2015, Lagar de Costa Rías Baixas Albariño $27.99
Varietal: 100 % Albariño
Rías Baixas, Spain

A must. Simply a must, if you love white wine, and especially if you love interesting, beautiful white wines that leave you wanting more. Lagar de Costa is a small winery that produces Albariño from an estate-grown 50-year-old vineyard. Albariño is talked of in the same breath as Viognier and Gewurztraminer, but there is always a fresh sea breeze, acid minerality to match the grapefruit and apple blossom scent and yeasty softness of texture. Albarino is considered to be the most fashionable white grape variety of Spain, but it is still a fairly new trend in Alberta. And yes, it's that delicious! Albarino is definitely on my personal top five favorite white grape varieties and I recommend it as often as I can in the store, with many customers coming back for more!

2013, Manzone Rossese Bianco $32.99
Varietal: 100% Rossese Bianco
Langhe, Piedmont, Italy

One to check out if you're intrigued by indigenous, unusual wines from Italy. There are just three barrels produced of this totally unique whit...

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Taming the wild yeast tasting - August 23, 2016

Posted on August 28, 2016

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm so extremely pleased at how much popularity sour beers have gained in the past 2-3 years. The number of wildly fermented and kettle soured beers on my shelf is always growing, and every time I'm prompted to think of a tasting idea, the first thing that comes to mind is SOURS! Of course, not everyone uses wild yeast to sour. Maybe funk up, or add fruity characters and texture. Either way, the results are something special! So when I planned this tasting, I focused on wild yeast in general and not just sours. It gave my guests and I a chance to see the incredible variation possible with these feral little organisms. Of course no beer tasting is complete without a large platter or three of cheese and meats from Peasant Cheese, so that's just what we had! Along with these amazing beers.






Saison-Brett by Boulevard Brewing: Saison-Brett, based on Boulevard's very popular Tank 7, is assertively dry hopped, then bottle conditioned with various yeasts, including Brettanomyces. A generously malty Saison, that maintains its grassy and lightly spicy character, but with a heavy brett funk and plenty of tropical fruit high tones. ($25.69 for a 750mL bottle)

Whiteout Wit by Anchorage Brewing: It takes a skilled brewer to make a Belgian wit that can turn heads like this one. Aside from the traditional lemon peel, peppercorns and coriander, Anchorage ages this one in French chardonnay barrels with Brett. ($20.79 for a 750mL bottle)

Kettle Sour #4 by Blindman Brewing: Batch #4 of Blindman's kettle sour. Soured in the kettle with lactobacillus, and fermented with Saccharomyces. The beer is dry-hopped with classic west coast hops, Amarillo and Chinook giving generous citrus and pine notes. It is quite tart and light on the palate, but very drinkable. ($13.29 for a 4-pack of cans)

Bersalis Tripel by Oud Beersel: A blond triple with firm character. The full body taste of wheat malt evolves during drinking from a fruity-bitter flavour to a round sweet taste. Its spices leave a nice feeling in the mouth. The Tripel was then aged 16 months in Chateauneuf du pape red wine barrels alongside lambic barrels which resulted in a spontaneous fermentation of the beer. ($27.99 for a 750mL bottle)

Blueberry Sour by Cascade Brewing: This NW style sour ale blends wheat & blond ales that were oak aged in barrels for 6 months, then additionally aged 4 months on fresh blueberries. Huge herbal notes of dense blueberries in the nose give way to hints of oak & a dusty floral note. Rich earthy notes of dark fruit on the palate lead to a tart finish that dries out to a base note of blueberry skins. ($44.19 for a 750mL bottle)

Beatitude three berry Saison by Council Brewing: This Tart Saison is brewed in the Belgian tradition of tart farmhouse ales. The magic happens when Council's house blend of Brettanomyces...

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