It is the beginning of summer, and time for breweries to toss out their summer seasonals and new releases. So there is a lot going on in the next few weeks. Here is a run-down on the latest beer releases on the prairies (that I have been told about)
Neapolean Stout: The latest seasonal release from Sherbrooke Liquor in Edmonton. A neapolitan stout – made with vanilla, cocoa and strawberry. Wow! Actually it is a commercial interpretation of homebrewer Ernie Boffa’s gold medal winning beer at last year’s Aurora Brewing Challenge. I am told some bottles are being released to select stores in Calgary as well. Haven’t tried it yet, but it is on my to-do list.
Paddock Wood Double Double: Last year Saskatoon’s craft brewer released Double Double in conjunction with the local Shakespeare festival, and it was a big enough hit that they are doing it again! It is a Belgian Abbey-style Dubbel, which fits the Shakespearean frame of mind. Mostly available in Saskatoon but some bottles will hit Alberta store shelves.
Half Pints Phil’s Pils & WeizenHeimer: The little Manitoba brewery that could is on the shoulder of two seasonals. Their Weizenheimer, a classic German wheat beer, is on shelves now and will be replaced in the next couple of weeks by the return of Phil’s Pils, their hybrid pilsner – part German Pils, part Bohemian Pils.
Big Rock Gopher Lager: As reported here a few weeks ago, Big Rock’s latest lager is now officially out. It is on tap now and will be in liquor stores in another week or so. Talk on the street is that it might mark a return to some traditional brewing from the big boys of the Prairie’s craft scene. It reportedly is an all-barley beer with Saaz hops to give it more hop character than most pale lagers.
Taste 25: The beer that rocked the Taste of Edmonton Festival is back to steam up your taste buds once again! (Okay maybe that was a bit much…) At any rate, it is true that the Taste of Edmonton has requested a return engagement for the Steam Beer produced last year by Alley Kat, from a recipe by me (I also helped brew it up last year). So, needless to say I am quite the fan of this beer. As an added twist, I am also doing up the same recipe on my homebrew system in the coming days, so it might be fun to do a side-by-side tasting at some point.
I imagine more new beer releases will be announced in the near future, for it is the season… Stayed tuned!
June 4, 2010 at 6:47 PM
neApolean
June 7, 2010 at 11:53 AM
The Double Double is not a Belgian Dubbel, unless they drastically changed the recipe this year. Last year’s version was very similar to Rogue Double Dead Guy (fairly light malt character for a huge beer, with some fresh tropical hops, though the hop character is not huge either). Looking forward to trying the new batch and comparing to last year.
June 7, 2010 at 1:36 PM
Hi Mark,
Thanks for the note. I personally had not tried the Double Double, and so I think I was just repeating what I heard about it. Now that I dig a little more, what may have created the confusion was its attempt to be a “historical” English strong, which maybe let to some unfamiliar tastes.
Thanks for the correction.
Jason
June 7, 2010 at 1:47 PM
Yes, the Double Double name is confusing. At one point, the Paddock Wood website specifically said this beer is not a Belgian Dubbel. And then the whole historical, english “double mash” process, plus the shakespeare tie-in led one to believe that this beer was going to be some sort of malty, complex old ale/barleywine.
But it is really just a fairly tasty, though somewhat light tasting, “American Strong Ale,” at least that is the best description I can come up with. Like I say, it completely reminds me of Rogue Double Dead Guy (not saying it is a clone or better/worse, just similar in style).