Donovan and Tristan are two friends from humble beginnings in London, Ontario. Off and on roommates and general guys who like beer, the following article follows them through a journey into the sometimes overcrowded world of craft beer where they will try to find the best that Ontario has to offer.
First up, this issue is Fire In the Rye, a roasted rye pale ale from Double Trouble Brewing Company in Guelph. We ended up choosing this beer due to the label, which has a bright, fiery and eye-catching design. This ale has a very nice bitter taste to it, similar to a typical craft brewed IPA but with a much smoother taste. The beer has a nice light taste to it, which likely adds to the watery feel of it. Although it feels a little diluted, it is not overbearing like many of the pale ales we’ve had. Donovan felt that this beer had a little heat to it, similar to straight liquor. Overall, we give this brew a four out of five and strongly recommend it.
Next up is Trooper, a British ale from Robinsons Brewery in England. This is the beer that I’ve been the most excited about reviewing since we started this column, because it is an Iron Maiden brand beer. Even though it comes in a bottle instead of a can, it’s the most metal beer that we’ve had. If I’m being completely honest, we paused Netflix to listen to the Trooper by Maiden and order a pizza while drinking this beer. It’s a light and smooth beer, with hints of malts and a tinge of citrus. We disagreed on the rating for this beer, but settled on a four.
Last up is the Frankenstout from Block 3 brewing company in St Jacob’s. I was actually able to go out to the brewery for the first time since we started our column. Usually, we grab one or two bottles or cans of beer, but it was decided that we were going to get a whole growler of this one. For those of you who don’t know, a growler is much more than a bottle. As the name suggests, we have a stout on our hands. A nice, smooth taste complements the classic stout flavouring. Bitter and light, this is a stout that we feel all beer drinkers would enjoy. We also disagreed on the ranking of this one; Tristan is not a fan of stouts, but settled on three and a half out of five.
We had a really solid group this week. It seems to tend that good label lead to good beers. We may have been slightly swayed towards Trooper due to its origin. The purchase of Frankenstout was also kind of cheating, as we were able to taste test all of the beers from Block 3 before buying. I’d recommend trying out any of the beers from this week, as well as any you can find from Block 3, which – coincidentally – you can take the bus to out in St. Jacob’s. Have a great time trying out your craft brews, and please remember to enjoy responsibly.
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