Dark Lager - Creemore Urbock

 

Mood: First official day of winter break all alone with no plans

Where to buy: LCBO 

Price: $3.30

Beer type: dark lager - strong beer

Ingredients: ???

Region: Creemore, Ontario

%: 6%

ml: 473ml

Appearance: dark brown

Smell: sweet and a bit of spice.  Darker lager (not as strong as a porter)

Taste: malt and chocolate, a rich flavour with sweetness.

Mouthfeel: bubbly, but then turns creamy (success!  Creamore finally tastes creamy!)

Finish: the least bitter from a dark ale, porter etc that I have experienced.  Very pleasant.

Overall: creemore never lets me down, and didn't with this beer either.  Don't get me wrong its pretty "meh" or what some would call "vanilla" in the chocolate vanilla debate, but I would happily buy this for a group if I knew someone liked something a bit richer and darker.

7/10 simple but good, no bad feelings.

Pumpkin Ale - Great Lakes brewery - 3.25

 

Mood: Covid halloween. Excited to try all the pumpkin beers this year.  Not excited to be home at my parents 

Where to buy: LCBO 

Price: $3.25

Beer type: pumpkin ale

Ingredients: Water, malted barley, hops, yeast, pumpkin, spices

Region: Toronto, on 

%: 5.5%

ml: 473ml

Appearance: light yellow

Smell: Smells like spiced ale 

Taste: had a bit of a sour bitter kick. Light on the pumpkin and spices part, more like something I would get at a pub. 

Mouthfeel: bubbly and a little creamy, nothing major. 

Finish: bitter and kinda cheap tasting, slight spice flavour and pumpkin, still can't get over the kinda sharp sour taste. 

Overall: I was surprised how bad it tasted, it was something I might get at a pub. But not worth it for that price. 

6/10 

Watermelon Lager - Granville Island Brewing - $3.00

Mood: So want to try this! yay!

Where to buy: LCBO Kingston

Price: $3.00

Beer type: Lager

Ingredients: ???

Region: Granville Island, BC

%: 5.0%

ml: 473ml

Appearance: light yellow

Smell: Like a juicy lager.  Not watermelon by all means, but juicy-er

Taste: A crappy frat boy beer with a bit of bitter and a hint of juicy.  I dont know where they're getting this watermelon from.  I dont taste any of that.  Its like if a lager had a tablespoon of a gose/sour in it.  

Mouthfeel: bubbly and a little creamy all at the same time.

Finish: the bitter sticks behind. and a bit of juicy.  I tasted a little more watermelon as i kept it in my mouth, but it's a stretch.  

Overall: As per usual granville island dissapoints.  No wonder they ship them to ontario.  No one else wants them (oooo burn)

5/10 never again.

Ale - Good Lot Farmstead Brewing Co.

Mood: Dinner with the parents. yup.

Where to buy:No Frills, Cawthra

Price: $3.00

Beer type: Strong Beer - Ale

Ingredients: ???

Region: Caledon, On

%:6.5

ml: 473ml

Appearance: light yellow

Smell: like an ale, mccinnon brothers perhaps?

Taste: slightly bitter and ale like.

Mouthfeel: bubbly to creamy

Finish: bitter aftertaste, like most ales.  Not my favorite and probably wont buy again.  Only bought because of the cute af can.

Overall: Honestly I would buy it again just for the can design, absolutely love it.  Threw me off, I thought there was lemon or something fresh in it.  It is locally made so always a good choice, but probably not another purchase.

6.5/10 because it gives a decent buzz

Strawberry Cider - Eden's Apple

Eden's Apple - strawberry craft cider

Heritage estate winery and cidery inc 

Mood: at my parents house going on week 4 of covid-19 quarantine. What mood do you think I'm in?

Where to buy: LCBO

Price:

Beer type: Flavoured beer

Ingredients: apples, strawberry juice, sugar

Region: Barrie, On 

%: 6.0

ml: 500ml

Appearance: lovely pink/orange colour. 

Smell: cider with a crisp strawberry (sweeter) smell. 

Taste: a lovely taste but possibly since I haven't had cider in a while. Apple with a hint of sweet fruits. Not necessarily strawberry but enjoyable. A little sweeter than I would have liked but nothing like somersby. Slight apple white wine taste

Mouthfeel: juicy, the bubbles are prickly. 

Finish: lovely. No bitterness and an enjoyable aftertaste. This is where the strawberry really comes in. It's very subtle but lovely. 

Overall: I want to say this is the best cider I've had to date. But I haven't had many and I don't really enjoy ciders. If I'm looking for something sweet that reminds me of wild vines in a can, this is it. I never really get a buzz off of ciders so that might be the reason I don't really like them. What's the point of drinking if not Atleast a minor buzz? And Getting a sugar headache before the hangover? Ew

8/10 for a cider.

Where did I go!?!?

Unfortunately the blogger app on my iPad stopped working after my last post. This is the first time I've tried to fix this issue since then. Covid-19 is in full swing, which means sitting and painting/watching Victorian tv series every night, zoom game nights, and a few drinks on the weekends.

After a little searching I realized there ARE no apps for blogger anymore, which is a bit confusing, but after a little more searching I realized it isn't difficult to just go to the blogger website and post.

This is a good chance for me to update on the situation of my blog. Long gone are the days of trying to post about cheap beer. Back then I was living at my parents house and looking for cheap but tasty beers to take to my friends houses if need be. There was no tax on liquor prices pack then, so many cans were around $2.50-$3.00. I told myself I wanted to try to sample all the beers under $3.00.

Fast forward a few years and taxes started being added to the price. Most cans started jumping to $3.10-$4.00. So I had to drop the low cost rule. I also moved to the land of mountains around that time, and boy what a craft beer selection I found in Vancouver! Not to mention the liquor store was basically next to my building for 2 years. That's where I really started to appreciate good beer, beer with funny names or eye catching labels, ones on special, and ones that were local. Vancouver is where much of myself changed to who I wanted to be in my future. I would say my beer choices also matured.

When I first tasted the beer in Kingston I wanted to run. For some reason all the local beers had a bitter taste. We started making our assumptions about the water quality, soil etc. Until I found McKinnon brothers, and the bitterness was gone. The uniqueness of the brew was immature compared to the west coast drafts, but it was a start. Many of the beers I have been drinking there are not documented because of the loss of the blogger app, and well they just weren't that memorable.

So today's the day folks. I don't know how long it will last, but for now I will be having a few cold ones now that I'm back at my parents house for the time being, where this all started 10 years ago. To fill time, to make something my own.

Hope you enjoy the ride.