First up is Stonehammer Dark, from the Stonehammer Brewing Company in Guelph. We’ve both had a Stonehammer beer before, but never the dark ale. Initially the beer has a nice, smoky taste with hoppy undertones. The hops flavour in this beer, unlike many we’ve tried, is not the dominant flavour, which is pretty great. Being a dark beer means that there is going to be some level of bitterness associated with it, but it is also sweet at the same time. It also feels lighter than it looks. Overall a decent beer, we give it a three out of five.
Second at bat is Cause and Effect, an American Blonde Ale from Better Bitters Brewing Company. Unfortunately the name of the company didn’t translate to the beer. Bitter is the prominent taste of cause and effect, and there’s not that much else going on. It is a very, very hoppy beer, like many that we’ve tried already. While not the worst beer that we’ve had, it does nothing to really separate itself from the pack, and earns two stars out of five.
Lastly we tried the Sparkhouse Red Ale, from the Lake of Bays Brewing company in Baysville Ontario. Before we even tried this beer it set itself apart with its beautiful red colour. We were pleasantly surprised when it actually delivered. Sweet, light tasting, and with a hint of malts, the Sparkhouse holds its own among the better beers we’ve tried. A little flavour of toffee even cuts through. We give Sparkhouse four out of five, and definitely recommend it.
Over the term we’ve tried a lot of craft beers, both in and out of this column. We’ve found that many small breweries rely solely on hops flavouring to make a beer, and we don’t like this trend. The better beers that we tried, like the Eureka Cream Ale and the Golden Rail Honey Brown Ale, as well as the Sparkhouse, used other flavours to compliment hops or malts. Hopefully more beers like these come into the market by the next time we taste beer.
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