Continuing from Part 1 of my list, let me finish off telling you about the beers I tried:
The List (Continued)
Four Winds Brewing – Phaedra
So far, I haven’t had a Four Winds beer that I didn’t like, and I’m happy to see that tradition continue. This Rye Wheat IPA didn’t blow my mind like the Juxtapose Brett IPA did, but it certainly didn’t disappoint either. Definitely worth drinking.
Mill Street Brewery – Vanilla Porter
Last time I was in Kitchener, I had a flight of Mill Street beers. I didn’t like a single one. I couldn’t even finish the paddle. So I approached this booth with a bit of trepidation. Fortunately it was totally unfounded because their Vanilla Porter is actually really good! Absolutely worth a try.
Parallel 49 – Tricycle Grapefruit Radler
This is the kind of beer that really benefits from a hot, cloudless day. Here I was, sweating away, skin doing its best “cooked lobster” impression, when bam – a fist called refreshing hit me in the face. It’s hard to say how much, if at all, I would like this on a cool, winter night, but when I drank this with the sun beating down on me, it tasted great.
Steigl – Grapefruit
Compared to the other tasty fruit beers available, this one was decidedly lacking.
Cannery Brewing – Squire Scotch Ale
One of Cannery’s year round releases, the Squire Scotch Ale is one of the better scotch ales I’ve had recently.
Mission Springs – Lemon Ginger Radler
Another fist named refreshing. This was so popular, they ran out with nearly an hour left. With an ABV of 3% and IBU of just 17, it tastes closer to Lemonade than Beer. But that’s okay. For what it is, it’s great.
Bridge Brewing – Wunderbar
Wunderbar is a perfectly decent Kolsch. I admit, I’m not much of a Kolsch drinker, but I think this is a pretty good entry within the style.
Bomber Brewing – ESB
Solid ESB from this new brewery on Adanac Street.
R&B Brewing – Spirit Chaser Sumatra Coffee Porter
This is a porter brewed in collaboration with Salt Spring Island Coffee infused with Indonesian trade coffee. Even with my palate in the midst of being destroyed by the Beer Buffet, I was able to pick out a lot of chocolate and roasted coffee flavours.
Vancouver Island Brewing – Sabotage
An India Session Ale, or ISA. The idea behind India session ales is to take a good beer and kick it down a few notches so you can drink more without worrying about how hard the alcohol hits. In a way, I feel like ISAs are beers that have been deprived of their true potential.
Fortunately for VIB, Sabotage comes across pretty favourably. It doesn’t seem to sacrifice nearly as much as other ISAs I’ve had in the pursuit of sessionability. If I had to choose one to drink, this would be it.
Driftwood Brewery – Pilsner Doehnel
Let me get this out of the way – I love Driftwood. Fat Tug, Singularity, Belle Royale, Old Cellar Dweller, Lustrum, the list goes on, and most of it is amazing.
That said, I couldn’t love this beer. It just came across as rather plain. Maybe my palate was already going by the time I tried this, but I was disappointed. Likely needs to be had on its own to appreciate.
Central City Brewing – Copper Ale
A bit of a disappointment coming from a great brewery like Central City. Could very well be an overloaded palate at this point, but the beer tasted a bit on the plain side. Like the Driftwood Pilsner, probably something I’d have to try on its own to get a proper opinion.
Russel Brewing – White Rabbit Hoppy Hefeweizen
Final beer of the day, this one lived up to its name with a bit of a hop finish to go along with the citrus and spice flavours. A good hefeweizen.
Food
With the crazy amount of beer for sampling, there’s also food available for purchase. Loaded up on the carbs with pretzels and pulled pork sandwiches:
Final Words
This wraps up my list of beers, but check back tomorrow as I hand out some awards to the participating breweries.
VanFoodies.com 