September 15, 2012

Today was Seasonals Night at C'est What's 24 annual Festival of Craft Breweries.  Beer tickets were a dollar each and three ounce samples were available for one or two tickets, depending.  I found I was quite successful at choosing brews that cost two tickets.  My reget at passing up the painter's palette on Isle D'Orleans has prompted me to slightly alter my criteria.  Three ounces is pretty close to a half pint (especially when you experience a "friendly" pourer) and as I learned today, three ounces is more than enough to form an opinion.

181/581)  C'est What:  Moroccan Brown Ale by Spearhead Brewing of Ontario:  **1/2;  this was the biggest hit for me and my wife, which in itself is noteworthy - we tend to look for differenet things in a beer;  brewed with dates, figs, raisins and cinnamon;  brown sugar notes, more spice to the nose than palate but a great beer;

182/582)  C'est What:  Milk Chocolate Stout by Wellington County Brewery of Ontario: **;  milk chocolate nose and flavours;  oddly bitter finish;  like a hershey bar with a bite of alcohol;

183/583)  C'est What:  Pumpkin Ale by Nickel Brook of Ontario:  **;  another great pumpkin ale - I love Autumn!;  mellow - again this is a case of more spice to the nose than the palate;

184/584)  C'est What:  Lady MacBeth Scotch Ale by Granite Brewery of Ontario:  *1/2;  opens sweet followed by mild notes of chocolate;

185/585)  C'est What:  Grains of Wrath by Church Key of Ontario:  **;  earthy, spicy hoppiness;  bitter after-taste;

186/586)  C'est What:  Beef Jerky Brown Ale by Black Oak of Ontario:  1/2;  I was hoping the beef jerky bit was a reference to the colour;  salty nose;  meaty notes;  tastes like fermented olive brine;  it's hard to imagine how anyone could achieve so much trauma with a mere three ounces;

187/587)  C'est What:  A Train IPA by Junction Craft Brewing of Ontario:  **;  I couldn't finish the night with that last one;  this beer has a piney, hoppy nose with floral, pleasantly bitter notes;

They were handing out sheets to record impressions and I was envious of their rating system.  It went from zero to ten where zero means, "I'd rather drink out of the Don River", one to two is "Might be okay if stuck on a desert island", three to four, "Okay, fair, middling, alright", five to six,, "A decent effort", seven and eight, "Good stuff.  Where can I buy some?" and finally nine to ten signify, "Liquid Heaven.  Please take my car keys!".

The final results of the scoring can be found at this link:  http://www.cestwhat.ca/tasteresult/tbwfestival2012.asp.