[brutus503]

It’s hot and muggy here tonight so I figured I’d keep the beer roulette rolling...

This is my first taste of a beer from Fine Balance Brewing. I stopped in last week and picked up 4 different beers to try.

This is a very unique beer. It’s a traditional German style pilsner but they used New Zealand hops in place of the usual German hops. Citrus on the aroma, but then the first sip takes you for a total unexpected loop. At first I was thinking a strong cereal taste like Cheerios but as I drink it that cereal taste has taken on a bit of a buttery popcorn flavour as well. It’s really hard to explain and it sounds a bit off-putting but it’s actually pretty good and an easy drinking pilsner.

 

[MX-Z Man]

Keystone and Coors having some issues with consistency, apparently jell like.

Good reason to stick with craft beers. 😉

Any reason is a good reason to avoid those 2.

Coors is just a bad beer and Keystone is the Coors tank washings.

Person asking: Want a beer?
Me: Sure!
Person asking: Do you want a Coors or a Stoner?
Me: I guess I'll just have a water instead.

 

[brutus503]

This one seemed too Canadian to not give it a try, and it kinda looks a bit like me, so.... 😆

It’s actually a really good lager. Sweet, smooth and full of flavour. Maybe even a touch of honey in there too. I would definitely get this one again. Oh, and that can is definitely going to be joining the cool can art collection in the garage!

 

[brutus503]

Mambo numba 5! Ummm, I mean IPA No 21. 😛

This thing is a carbonation bomb when you open it. Fizzy, pop-like head that dissipates very quickly (I couldn’t even get a photo of it in time). Then it continues to fizz and boil long afterward. Mango is very prominent in taste and the smell is almost peachy, but likely mango as well (I don’t eat mangoes so I can’t really comment on their smell 🤷‍♂️). It is thick and juicy with a mild grapefruit bitterness on the finish.

It’s a decent and fun beer. Not my favourite so far but totally worth trying for the experience and it’s definitely enjoyable.

 

[UnoMas?]

Really enjoyed this one tonight at my son’s house.

 

[Wanna Go for a rip bud ?]

Had coors draught beer yesterday sent them back all vineger tasting. Keg was obviously off. Had a Stella instead . It was great.

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[brutus503]

Really enjoyed this one tonight at my son’s house.
View attachment 2000827
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Looks good!

 

[Wanna Go for a rip bud ?]

Looks good!

What would be your top 6 easy drinking lighter beers from the LCBO. Be ? I'm gonna go and try some different ones and don't want to end up with Brador or guineas types. Thanks in advance.

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[Wanna Go for a rip bud ?]

BTW. Stella , Heineken , and Sapporo etc have all been good. Didn't really enjoy much from publican house brewery. They were a bit weird for me.

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[Wanna Go for a rip bud ?]

So many to choose from. It's intimidating at times lol.

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[brutus503]

Pinched a sciatica nerve late last night (while closing a window, of all things...🙄). I’ve been hobbling around and hurting all day and need some medicine. A 6.9% NEIPA might help. 😛

This one is smooth and citrusy. Hazy with a pillowy head. There’s a hint of the 6.9% but not much. There’s also a slight metallic bitterness on the finish that hits late, but less so once the head eventually dissipates. I find it’s fairly similar to the Sunsplit IPA. Not too shabby. 👍

 

[brutus503]

What would be your top 6 easy drinking lighter beers from the LCBO. Be ? I'm gonna go and try some different ones and don't want to end up with Brador or guineas types. Thanks in advance.

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BTW. Stella , Heineken , and Sapporo etc have all been good. Didn't really enjoy much from publican house brewery. They were a bit weird for me.

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So many to choose from. It's intimidating at times lol.

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Top 6, eh? I’m gonna have to think about that but it’ll probably end up being more than 6...😛

I’ll break it down into lagers vs IPAs/pale ales/session ales. Lagers are more or less the same, give or take a few twists here and there with extra flavouring or whatnot, but usually they’re pretty safe. I may throw in some pilsners in there as well as they’re just a different type of lager and if you ever drink Blue, you’re used to the style. I’ll also break them out as Ontario vs Euro offerings as the styles are a bit different. As for the pale ales and session ales, there are some great light ales that give you a taste of the IPA style without hitting you with the full hop and bitterness experience and are actually very pleasant (it’s how I’ve been getting into IPAs myself).

Domestic/Ontario lagers and pilsners, I’d recommend the following:

• Perth Brewing: Last Duel lager, Euro pilsner
• Muskoka Brewing: Tread Lightly, Craft Lager, Cream Ale
• Post Game Brewing: Locker Room lager
• Beau’s: Lugtread kölsch
• Side Launch: Northbound Lager, Midnight black lager
• Boshkung Brewing: North Country kellerbier, 35 & 118 cream ale
• Red-neck Brewing Co: Red-neck lager
• Kingsville Brewing: Light Eh! lager
• Hop City: Barking Squirrel
• Waterloo Brewing: Amber lager, Craft lager
• Wayne Gretzky Craft Brewing: rye lager, hazy pilsner
• Big Rig Brewing: Premium pilsner
• Ashton Brewing Company: cream ale, blueberry wheat (this one is a wheat beer but is smooth and light like a lager)

Domestic blonde, amber and red ales:

• Manitoulan Island: Swing Bridge blonde ale
• Wayne Gretzky Craft Brewing: No. 99 amber ale
• Mackinnon Brothers: Red Fox ale
• New Belgium: Fat Tire amber/red ale (US beer but brewed here by Steam Whistle)
• Nickelbrook Brewing: Cause & Effect blonde ale
• Left Field Brewery: Ice Cold Beer blonde ale
• New Ontario Brewing: Bear Runner blonde ale
• Hockley: red ale

Domestic pale ales/session ales/IPAs:

• Muskoka: Detour session ale
• Bellwoods Brewery: Jutsu pale ale
• Side Launch Brewing: Any Day Light IPA
• Great Lakes Brewing: Canuck pale ale (aka a “Gordie”!)

Euro beers:

• Robinson Brewing: Iron Maiden Trooper Ale
• Kozel: pilsner
• Innis & Gunn: Craft Lager, Scotch Ale (this one is stronger but if you like beer and whiskey it’s a great beer; smooth and sweet; one of my favourites)
• Gösser: helles lager
• Martens: pilsner

Hope that helps!

 

[Wanna Go for a rip bud ?]

Top 6, eh? I’m gonna have to think about that but it’ll probably end up being more than 6...

I’ll break it down into lagers vs IPAs/pale ales/session ales. Lagers are more or less the same, give or take a few twists here and there with extra flavouring or whatnot, but usually they’re pretty safe. I may throw in some pilsners in there as well as they’re just a different type of lager and if you ever drink Blue, you’re used to the style. I’ll also break them out as Ontario vs Euro offerings as the styles are a bit different. As for the pale ales and session ales, there are some great light ales that give you a taste of the IPA style without hitting you with the full hop and bitterness experience and are actually very pleasant (it’s how I’ve been getting into IPAs myself).

Domestic/Ontario lagers and pilsners, I’d recommend the following:

• Perth Brewing: Last Duel lager, Euro pilsner
• Muskoka Brewing: Tread Lightly, Craft Lager, Cream Ale
• Post Game Brewing: Locker Room lager
• Beau’s: Lugtread kölsch
• Side Launch: Northbound Lager, Midnight black lager
• Boshkung Brewing: North Country kellerbier, 35 & 118 cream ale
• Red-neck Brewing Co: Red-neck lager
• Kingsville Brewing: Light Eh! lager
• Hop City: Barking Squirrel
• Waterloo Brewing: Amber lager, Craft lager
• Wayne Gretzky Craft Brewing: rye lager, hazy pilsner
• Big Rig Brewing: Premium pilsner
• Ashton Brewing Company: cream ale, blueberry wheat (this one is a wheat beer but is smooth and light like a

Domestic blonde, amber and red ales:

• Manitoulan Island: Swing Bridge blonde ale
• Wayne Gretzky Craft Brewing: No. 99 amber ale
• Mackinnon Brothers: Red Fox ale
• New Belgium: Fat Tire amber/red ale (US beer but brewed here by Steam Whistle)
• Nickelbrook Brewing: Cause & Effect blonde ale
• Left Field Brewery: Ice Cold Beer blonde ale
• New Ontario Brewing: Bear Runner blonde ale
• Hockley: red ale

Domestic pale ales/session ales/IPAs:

• Muskoka: Detour session ales
• Bellwoods Brewery: Jutsu pale ale
• Side Launch Brewing: Any Day Light IPA
• Great Lakes Brewing: Canuck pale ale (aka a “Gordie”!)

Euro beers:

• Robinson Brewing: Iron Maiden Trooper Ale
• Kozel: pilsner
• Innis & Gunn: Craft Lager, Scotch Ale (this one is stronger but if you like beer and whiskey it’s a great beer; smooth and sweet; one of my favourites)
• Gösser: helles lager
• Martens: pilsner

Hope that helps!

Awesome. I'll let you know shortly

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[brutus503]

Basically lagers (normal, helles, kellerbier, kölsch), blonde ales, amber ales, red ales and cream ales are fairly “safe” as far as being milder in nature. English pale ales tend to be more like lagers as well with a sweeter and smoother profile.

Session ales are also very mild as they are lower in hoppiness and bitterness but tend to add in a little of that citrus kick.

IPAs are a new sector for me lately but I try to stick with the New England style (aka NEIPA) as they tend to be more juicy/citrusy and less bitter. West coast IPAs are generally the ones that get heavier on the pine and bitterness. Normal pale ales can vary but tend to be more like NEIPAs and session ales in my experience.

I’ve only had a few porters and stouts but have not gotten into them much. Common flavour notes for those are roasted/smoky, coffee, raisin, vanilla and chocolate. A good way to work towards those is to try some black lagers that have similar flavours but are much lighter.

A few tips and tricks to help gauge a beer:

• IBUs = International Bitterness Units, so the higher the IBUs, the harsher and more bitter the beer will be on the finish. Now that said, I’ve had some higher IBU beers that tasted less bitter than other lower rated ones because the sweeter malts used balanced it out. But IBUs is still a good gauge. Stay below 25-35 IBUs when starting out and you should be fine. For comparison, most big name macro lagers and pilsners range from 5-15 IBUs or so.
• S.R.M. refers to the darkness of the beer. The higher the number, the darker the beer.
• The Untappd app is a great resource for looking up the specifics of different beers (styles, IBUs, flavour profiles, ratings).
• Most Euro beers here tend to be pilsners. Czech, Polish and German beers are generally really good and similar to the domestic macro beers.

 

[brutus503]

Awesome. I'll let you know shortly

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Sent you a PM. 👍

 

[brutus503]

After making his way through the high tide earlier, I thought I’d let Eddie carry the flag into battle at Vimy. 😉

This is a nice red ale. Malty, smooth and lots of flavour. Well done.

 

[brutus503]

BTW. Stella , Heineken , and Sapporo etc have all been good. Didn't really enjoy much from publican house brewery. They were a bit weird for me.

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For Publican House Brewery, I really like their Pub House Ale which is a kölsch style lager. I wasn’t a big fan of their Square Nail pale ale as it had heavy bitterness on the finish.

 

[UnoMas?]

For Publican House Brewery, I really like their Pub House Ale which is a kölsch style lager. I wasn’t a big fan of their Square Nail pale ale as it had heavy bitterness on the finish.

You, Sir, are an inspiration! I hope you blog or have a beer show or something! Great descriptions, you’ve got me trying IPA’s… you got a gym plan to go with this weight-gain recipe?😀
I once delivered a Yukon Brewing “Thirst Aid Kit”, a box with four varieties of northern craft, from son in Yukon to other son in Oregon - pretty sweet presentation, great marketing!
Is the “Bad Frog Beer” brewery still going in MI?

 

[brutus503]

You, Sir, are an inspiration! I hope you blog or have a beer show or something! Great descriptions, you’ve got me trying IPA’s… you got a gym plan to go with this weight-gain recipe?😀
I once delivered a Yukon Brewing “Thirst Aid Kit”, a box with four varieties of northern craft, from son in Yukon to other son in Oregon - pretty sweet presentation, great marketing!
Is the “Bad Frog Beer” brewery still going in MI?

Thanks. No, I don’t blog or do a show. I’m part of a group on Facebook (Canadian Craft Beer Society) and I’ve learned a lot through the folks on there, plus we share our finds and experiences back and forth through there. I’m still an amateur compared to most of them but I’m always learning! I just like helping others out when I can.

I was thinking I’ll need to get more active now that I’m diving into these IPAs. I guess I would suggest eating smaller portions and cut back on the junk food so you have room for the beer. 😛😆

I used to be very limited on my beer selections. I didn’t really start liking beer until after university, to be honest. Then about 8 years ago I tried something out of my norm (it was a Creemore lager on tap) and I really enjoyed it. So I started picking up a few different non-mainstream beers here and there. I tried a few IPAs right away back then and hated them. But then I started figuring out what I liked at the time and through the random selections I pushed my limits a few times but ended up liking the new flavours (e.g. citrusy beers). I found that wheat beers were a good way to transition from lagers to pale ales and session ales, and then finally to IPAs. It’s been a journey as my palette has changed over time but it’s fun and now it opens up the options when looking at the beer menus because I can gauge what I might like to try next and/or know what ones are good because I’ve already tried them.

 

[ronsmith409]

Top 6, eh? I’m gonna have to think about that but it’ll probably end up being more than 6...😛

I’ll break it down into lagers vs IPAs/pale ales/session ales. Lagers are more or less the same, give or take a few twists here and there with extra flavouring or whatnot, but usually they’re pretty safe. I may throw in some pilsners in there as well as they’re just a different type of lager and if you ever drink Blue, you’re used to the style. I’ll also break them out as Ontario vs Euro offerings as the styles are a bit different. As for the pale ales and session ales, there are some great light ales that give you a taste of the IPA style without hitting you with the full hop and bitterness experience and are actually very pleasant (it’s how I’ve been getting into IPAs myself).

Domestic/Ontario lagers and pilsners, I’d recommend the following:

• Perth Brewing: Last Duel lager, Euro pilsner
• Muskoka Brewing: Tread Lightly, Craft Lager, Cream Ale
• Post Game Brewing: Locker Room lager
• Beau’s: Lugtread kölsch
• Side Launch: Northbound Lager, Midnight black lager
• Boshkung Brewing: North Country kellerbier, 35 & 118 cream ale
• Red-neck Brewing Co: Red-neck lager
• Kingsville Brewing: Light Eh! lager
• Hop City: Barking Squirrel
• Waterloo Brewing: Amber lager, Craft lager
• Wayne Gretzky Craft Brewing: rye lager, hazy pilsner
• Big Rig Brewing: Premium pilsner
• Ashton Brewing Company: cream ale, blueberry wheat (this one is a wheat beer but is smooth and light like a lager)

Domestic blonde, amber and red ales:

• Manitoulan Island: Swing Bridge blonde ale
• Wayne Gretzky Craft Brewing: No. 99 amber ale
• Mackinnon Brothers: Red Fox ale
• New Belgium: Fat Tire amber/red ale (US beer but brewed here by Steam Whistle)
• Nickelbrook Brewing: Cause & Effect blonde ale
• Left Field Brewery: Ice Cold Beer blonde ale
• New Ontario Brewing: Bear Runner blonde ale
• Hockley: red ale

Domestic pale ales/session ales/IPAs:

• Muskoka: Detour session ale
• Bellwoods Brewery: Jutsu pale ale
• Side Launch Brewing: Any Day Light IPA
• Great Lakes Brewing: Canuck pale ale (aka a “Gordie”!)

Euro beers:

• Robinson Brewing: Iron Maiden Trooper Ale
• Kozel: pilsner
• Innis & Gunn: Craft Lager, Scotch Ale (this one is stronger but if you like beer and whiskey it’s a great beer; smooth and sweet; one of my favourites)
• Gösser: helles lager
• Martens: pilsner

Hope that helps!

Quite the hobby you've got going.😁🍻