Oops I suck!

WordPress told me that I haven’t posted anything in 2 months, and wow time has gone fast! Finding the time to sit down and write is hard when it’s gorgeous and sunny everyday but since it’s also scorching hot at night I figure why not use the time I should be sleeping.

These last few months while I haven’t been writing, I have been working, beaching, camping, and of course drinking beer. I don’t have any reviews for you because I wasn’t planning on writing this however I do have my top 5 favourite beers of the summer.

1. Yellow Dog Indian Session Belgium Ale – This is my go-to whenever I’m out. If It’s on tap, I’m drinking it.

2. Parallel 49 Apricotopus sour wheat ale- Apricot beer is my usual summer drink but this one is on another level. I wish they would make this all year round!

3. Phillips Electric Unicorn White IPA- If you’re in the mood for an IPA but you don’t want all the bitterness this is the one to go for. It’s light but still tastes like an IPA.

4. Pyramid Apricot wheat ale- This one is a long time summer favourite. It’s easy to drink and embodies summer perfectly.

5. Elysian Superfuzz- How can you say no to a blood orange IPA? I know I can’t.

Those are my top 5, and they were not easy to choose! there are so many amazing beers out there.

What are your favourite summer beers?

Apple Wheat Beer

They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away, I like to think that holds true with apple beer too. I’m no doctor but I’d say this beer is what the doctor ordered. It’s perfect for summer!

Unibroue – Quebec

  

Ephemere Apple Wheat Ale

Size: 750ml
Price: $7.42
ALC/VOL: 5.5%

I’m not biggest apple person, but for some reason I love apple flavoured things and this beer doesn’t disappoint. From the label I expected this beer to have an insane amount of apple but the flavour was actually very subtle.

This beer is light and refreshing with the perfect hint of apple. The apple comes at the end of your sip, leaving you with a sweet green apple after taste. Lately I’ve been drinking a lot of bitter IPA’s so this is a refreshing change of pace.

I highly recommend this beer to any wheat or fruit beer lovers. If you love the bitter beers than this will not be your favourite. But I think there’s a time and a place for a Wheat beer- and that time is SUMMER.

Brews Brothers — First 4

 Well this took longer than expected, but I am finally going to let you know what some of these beers taste like. For some reason now that school is over I feel like I have less time to write, I’m not sure how that happened.

The first beer I tried was the Table Saison by Dageraad & Parallel 49.

I was very exited to try this one because I hadn’t tried anything by Dageraad before. Overall I was pretty disappointed in it. It definitely wasn’t the best one to start with.

It smells like a Saison- wheat, citrus, and a hint of hops.

It is way too carbonated for my liking. The first few sips were hard to get down because of all the carbonation. Once you get past that, the flavor is nice. It’s not the best Saison I’ve ever had but it’s not the worst either.

Overall this beer is decent but disappointing.

Next I tried the collaboration with Strom Brewery & Parallel 49. This one is a Basil IPA.

I thought this one sounded kind of gross so I figured I would get it out of the way early on. How good could bitter basil be? Much to my surprise this one ended up being one of my favorites. I could drink this all day every day.

It smells how you would expect it to, like basil and hops.

It tastes like sweet basil ending on a bitter note. It reminds me of home made pizza for some reason. Its a unique flavor that I wish more breweries would play with.

The next 2 that I tried were pretty average. They were good but nothing amazing, not like the one above.

Townsite Brewery & Parallel 49 – Black Table Saison

A black saison was new to me so this one was interesting. I am a big saison fan but I had no idea what to expect from this one. The smell surprised me; it smells very malty with a hint of toffee and chocolate.

It tasted pretty similar to a coffee or chocolate beer. It has a slight bitterness balanced by a slight sweetness near the end.

This beer was a little weird for my liking. It’s flavour is nice but if I’m in a saison mood this is not what I would pick up. If I was in a coffee or chocolate beer mood this one would fit better, but I would probably choose an actual espresso beer over this one.

Brassneck Brewery & Parallel 49– Post Classic Pilsner

I’m not a pilsner fan but this one was pretty good. I usually find pilsners kind of bland and boring- maybe I just haven’t tried the right one yet.

This pilsner, like all the others I have tried, smells like beer. I have no other way to describe it.

The flavour is very mild and very smooth. It ends on a nice bitter note. Overall it’s a decent beer but not something that I would look for when I’m shopping for beer.

Hopefully you got our hands on this mixer, if you did let me know which ones you liked the best

Brews Brothers Collaboration Pack

    I tried to get this up as soon as possible so that you could still get this pack, so hopefully I did. This pack is a collaboration between 12 BC brewery and Parallel 49.

As I try each beer I’ll let you know what I think but by the time I do this pack may not be available, so if you want to try it you should buy it ASAP. I’ve tried 2 so far, one was pretty average but the other was incredible so even if you only buy it for that beer it’ll be worth it.

Brassneck – Post- Classic Pilsner
Persephone- N2 Smoked Brown Ale
Storm- Basil IPA

Firehall- Barrel aged Smoked Scotch Ale
Steel & Oak- Kellerbier
Bomber- Red IPA

Yellow Dog- Belgium IPA
Townsite- Black Table Saison
Dageraad- Table Saison

Moon Under Water- Triple Hop Belgium Tripel
Roseland IPA
Powell Street- Imperial IPA

I’ll keep you updated as I drink the beers.

 Let me know if you’ve tried any of them and which ones are your favourite.

Don’t forget the Punch!

I’m a sucker for fruit beer and anything that reminds me of my favorite time, summer. Living in Vancouver, I usually don’t get a very good summer. It’s called Raincouver for a reason. But I crave summer all year round.  From the second I saw this label I knew I had to try it.

Russell Brewery – Surrey, BC

        

Punch Bowl IPA

Size: 650ml
IBU: 65
ALC/VOL: 6.5%
Price: $5.95 – Port Moody Liquor Store

Punch bowl smells like fruit punch which is no surprise. It has lots of different citrus notes with a hint of melon.

The first thing you notice about this beer is that it’s bitter. Under the bitterness is a layer of fruit. It’s really cool because you can actually feel the layers if that makes sense – like that gum.

For me it has the perfect level of bitterness for an IPA. I don’t like a bitterness that attacks me so if you like that than this one might not be bitter enough for you. The fruit balances the bitterness really well, that’s how I like my IPA’s – Bitter and fruity.

Here we have the perfect patio beer, now all we need is some perfect patio weather.

It about time for a Lunch Break

This beer reminds me of spring; the label, smell, and taste all scream spring freshness. If you’re looking for a spring beer this one is worth a try.

Breakside Brewery– Portland Oregon

Lunch break Indian Session Ale

Size: 650ml
Price: $7.50 – Port Moody Liquor Store
ALC/VOL: 4.7%
IBU: 28

The Lunch Break ISA smells citrus fresh, it reminds me a lot of Lush’s Happy Hippy body wash but in a less soapy way.

There is not much I can say about this beer so I’m going to keep it simple. There are two big flavours in this beer, hops and citrus. It tastes a lot like it smells. The flavour sits at the tip of your tongue with a fresh and bitter after taste.

If you’re looking for a good, easy to drink ISA this one is a good buy. I prefer the Howe Sound Super Jupiter but this one is good if you can’t find that one or if your one of those weird grapefruit haters- just kidding! You’re not that weird. Overall I wouldn’t say it’s so amazing that I would drink it every day but it’s definitely on my list of beers to keep buying.

Parallelogram Oatmeal Coffee Porter

Yay! Two of my obsessions combined; coffee and parallel 49- It’s a good day! I can’t describe to you how excited I was when I heard about this one and for a good reason, this gem doesn’t disappoint. This beer is a collaboration between the Parallel 49 brewery and the 49^th Parallel coffee shop.

Parallel 49 – Vancouver BC

  

Parallelogram Oatmeal Coffee Porter

Size: 650ml
Price: $6.50
ALC/VOL: 6%
IBU: 23

This is by far my favourite coffee beer so far. While I love coffee beer it’s not something I crave regularly, probably because I already drink too much of coffee.

The Parallelogram smells like a mocha, much like all of the other coffee beers. It also has a slight oatmeal smell which is no surprise since it is an oatmeal porter.

This beer is very smooth and bold, it tastes like a mocha with more coffee than chocolate like it should be. It has a coffee bitterness, this is awesome because I’ve found that most coffee beers don’t capture the true coffee bitterness. It has a slight sweetness to balance out the bitterness so don’t worry it’s not like drinking a black coffee. This beer is very smooth and rich. It’s the perfect dessert to replace that after dinner mocha- or is that just me?

A Little Sweet Heat

I know it’s been a little while, and I have been drinking beer– I just haven’t had time to write about it. School gets in the way of everything, but here’s a fun one to get back into the swing of things. This is the first beer that I love enough to give a 5/5.

Burnside Brewery– Portland Oregon

   

Sweet Heat

Size: 650ml
IBU: 9
Alc/Vol: 4.9
Price: $7.50 – Port Moody Liquor Store

This beer scared me, I thought it sounded way to weird to be good. I don’t like apricots, but I do like apricot beer for some reason- It  must be the beer part. I also hate spicy things; so this beer sounded like a hot mess to me. Eventually curiosity and a beautiful label got the best of me and I am so glad that it did.

It smell like sweet summer apricots. It tastes like the most fun thing I have ever tried. It starts sweet and transitions to a heat sensation. It’s a fun transition that plays with your senses. It sits at the front of your tongue. The heat of the chili is left in your mouth once the fades leaving your mouth with a slight tingle.

I would highly recommend this beer to everyone, even if you share a bottle, it’s worth a try.

All about the Rogue

Here’s another Rogue beer! I wanted to try this one from the moment I saw it, Rogue packaging always gets me. I’m obsessed with chocolate so a double chocolate stout sounds like heaven to me.

Rogue- Portland OR

Double Chocolate Stout

        

SIZE: 750ml
PRICE: $13.95
ALC/VOL: 9%
IBU: 50

This beer smells exactly how you’d expect it to, chocolate and beer. It is a very think and rich beer. Just looking at it you can tell that its going to be a heavy beer. I made the mistake of drinking this beer after eating dinner and it was hard to finish- but not because it didn’t taste good.

This beer has the perfect balance of sweetness and bitterness. I usually find stouts too sweet, especially at the end but this one was spot on.  It is rich and full-bodied. I was told this beer tastes like a chocolate bomb, and they were very right. If you’re not a chocolate fan I don’t know why you would buy this.

This beer is a rich chocolate dessert in a bottle I would definitely recommend this to all chocolate lovers.

Rogue Brewery & Voodoo Doughnut Collab.

Since I was just in Portland and got addicted to Voodoo Doughnuts I figured I should try this beer. Also- Its pink, and I love anything pink! The one downside to this beer is its price, it retails at about $14.

Rogue -Portland OR

Voodoo Doughnut Pretzel, Raspberry & Chocolate Ale

   

SIZE: 750ml
PRICE: $14.50
ALC/VOL: 5.4%
IBU: 31

This beer smells a lot like the Parallel 49 Jelly doughnut beer; sweet and like raspberries.

It’s taste is a whole lot of something. It’s bitter, sweet, and salty. The primary flavour is chocolate with just a hint of raspberry. I couldn’t really taste the pretzel but it does have a slight salty flavour at the end.

The bottle recommends that you pair this beer with dessert or a doughnut. I tried it with dark chocolate pretzels and it made the beer explode with flavour. If you buy this one I would suggest you pair it with something because it makes a world of difference. Without the pairing I thought this beer was good but not amazing- with the pairing this beer was on a whole other level!