November 2009 Newsletter

What about Beer?

From the summery lime beers that were so popular a few months ago, to the more full bodies winter brews......

The Howe Sound Brewery's Winter Ale has been popular during the colder winter months.

Father John's Winter Ale is a fantastically warming, well spiced brew that comes in a nice 1 litre swing-top bottle. It has a dark amber colour with a loose head, a rich malty aroma with an obvious spiciness. This full-bodied Ale has a very malty profile that is the backbone for all the other seasonal flavours that are added. Ginger, nutmeg, vanilla, and cinnamon are the spices that give this warming beer bags of flavour, but it is kept well in balance, and not one really dominates. There are also definite notes of the other fermentable additions, like molasses, brown sugar and honey; they give the beer a depth which compliments the malt and spices, but cleverly don't add too much sweetness!

Wild Rose Cherry Porter brewed using only the plumpest, ripest whole BC cherries, each glass of Cherry Porter is lush and creamy with a fruity aroma. Rich and sensual, the flavour is reminiscent of Black Forest cake with sweet chocolate notes and a slightly smoky character from the roasted malts.
Originally emerging in the early 1700s, at the height of Britain's Industrial Revolution, the Porter beer style virtually disappeared by the mid-70s. As part of the new generation of brewers, the team at Wild Rose Brewery has created Cherry Porter as a variation on this classic style.

Innis & Gunn Triple Matured The beer has been matured in 150 selected oak barrels and it has been aged for a total of 99 days. It's brewed from Optic malt and chocolate malt made from barley grown in the Scottish borders with Goldings hops from the fields of Kent. At the end of the brewing process, the beer is run into American white oak barrels and left to mature. When it has absorbed sufficient oak character from the wood, it's transferred to a marrying tun and left for further maturation. Beers from different barrels are then blended. The beer has an appealing chestnut colour with a massive nose of oak, chocolate, rich malt and peppery hops. The palate is complex with juicy malt, oak, chocolate, slightly sour fruit and hop resins. The finish bittersweet with oak, honey, spicy hops and sour fruit - the slight hint of sourness will appeal to lovers of Belgian beer while the oak character with naturally please whisky drinkers.

CHEERS!