Collective Arts Imperial Porter, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Date:  December 6, 2018

The Story— We stay in Canada from another day.   We don’t know the Canadian scene as well as we’d like to.   We had better connections in the early 90s when Maurice Coja of the Brickskeller was bringing in breweries and brewers for our tasting series there.   As we pointed out yesterday, Canada was a part of the forefront of the craft movement in the early 90s, and while we don’t see the energy of, say Italy, it’s still the home of some very good breweries.

Collective Arts intends itself to be as much of an arts promoter as craft brewer and, from our far-from-Canada perspective is doing quite well in both.  They have some of the most creative can label art since the Swedes put images of the great master painters on their cans in the 1980s.     A big difference is that the Swedish beer was yellow and, while almost OK, really ordinary mass market lager.   Collective Arts matches the art on their labels and the music in their taprooms with remarkable creativity in their beers.

The Beer—  This 8.6 Imperial Porter could have a twin brother of a black or brown IPA.  Creamy with some patent malt while chocolate walks along the whole way.  Rich, but the hops are there under it all all the time.

Value —  Good.  This came in a tall can, which saves the big bottle expense.

 About these posts:  We taste and evaluate over a thousand beers every year.  The beers posted here rank in the top quarter of those tastings.   Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

This week we feature HIGHLIGHTS OF EUROPE–  Some of the great beers we’ve found in our European travels. Some of these are the specific beers readers of Drinking In the Culture wanted us to include in that book.   A few may be some of the surprisingly good beer we’ve found in “bad beer cities”  as we researched our next book – a guide to great beer in European tourist cities. (Planned publication 2019.)

Next week we’ll return to the US and highlight some great American craft beers, some of which we’ve found in researching out first US Beer publication: Brews and Snooze-– Breweries you can visit and walk back to a fine place to spend the night.  Look for it in 2019.

COMING LATER IN DECEMBER:   THE TEN BEST OF THE LAST FIVE YEARS.  We count down to the New Year by thinking back on some of the greatest beers we’ve found in the last five years of hunting.   These beers are in our top 0.2% of the beers we’ve tasted in those five years. 

Unibroue De L’Enfer 25 Blonde, Chambly, Quebec Canada

Date:  December 5, 2018

The Story— Unibroue burst upon the scene during the first wave of craft beers, brewing its first beer in 1992.  It claims to be the first brewery in the Americas to brew a Trappist style ale– and it may be, though New Belgium was brewing Belgian styles a year earlier.   It’s now owned by the Japanese Saporro, but the Chambly brewery still sends out great beers.

This prize was created in 2017 to recognize the 25th anniversary of the brewery and it’s been a seasonal release ever since.   It’s a riff on a strong golden Belgian ale.  You know the theme:  Duvel (Devil) and this “Unibroue from Hell.”  If you could actually find this beer in hell, I’d seriously have to consider misbehaving more consistently.

The Beer—  It’s a cloudy pale gold that contrasts with Duvel’s clarity.   A creamy rich malt base shows early with ripe fruit and some sugars.  Stays rich and chewy.  At the end — in a late finish -a boozy cinnamon-like heat pushes to the fore.  Ellie got more spices than I did — presumably from the yeast since the beer only hits 14 IBUs.

Value — Good.   This 75 cl big bottle isn’t cheap, but you’d pay as much for an interesting strong gold from Belgium and probably not do as well.

 About these posts:  We taste and evaluate over a thousand beers every year.  The beers posted here rank in the top quarter of those tastings.   Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

This week we feature HIGHLIGHTS OF EUROPE–  Some of the great beers we’ve found in our European travels. Some of these are the specific beers readers of Drinking In the Culture wanted us to include in that book.   A few may be some of the surprisingly good beer we’ve found in “bad beer cities”  as we researched our next book – a guide to great beer in European tourist cities. (Planned publication 2019.)

Next week we’ll return to the US and highlight some great American craft beers, some of which we’ve found in researching out first US Beer publication: Brews and Snooze-– Breweries you can visit and walk back to a fine place to spend the night.  Look for it in 2019.

COMING LATER IN DECEMBER:   THE TEN BEST OF THE LAST FIVE YEARS.  We count down to the New Year by thinking back on some of the greatest beers we’ve found in the last five years of hunting.   These beers are in our top 0.2% of the beers we’ve tasted in those five years. 

Elav Techno Double IPA Comun Nuovo, Italy, at Il Santo Bevitore, Venice

Date:  December 3, 2018

The Story—  We’ve said about all we know about Elav yesterday and on October 5, but a few more words on Il Santo Bevitore are in order.   Venice has a good beer scene.  We’ve refined our chapter on Venice in our book about supposed “bad beer cities” with each visit as new ventures slowly turn a wine culture into something more diverse.   We were told at a restaurant that “people in Venice don’t dink beer.”   We wonder whether the management ever sets foot outside their doors since a brewery outlet is only steps away.

Not only is there good beer in Venice, but with just a bit of effort you can put together a romantic and unforgettable pub crawl.   Start along Fondamenta dei Ormesini in Cannaregio; there are several pubs, some of them well above average and some excellent food choices as well.  But save time for

The Beer—  OK but heavy handed IPA overkill.  Clean big malt with hops to spare, but the load turns to sucrose and wanders in and out of fruited yogurt.

Value —  Good.   At nearly nine bucks for a US 14 ounce “pint,” it’s not a bargain.   But if you’re drinking beer in Venice there aren’t any real bargains– the best you can hope for is to be served a beer that’s worth the “too many Euros” you’ve forked over for it.   This one is

 About these posts:  We taste and evaluate over a thousand beers every year.  The beers posted here rank in the top quarter of those tastings.   Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

This week we feature HIGHLIGHTS OF EUROPE–  Some of the great beers we’ve found in our European travels. Some of these are the specific beers readers of Drinking In the Culture wanted us to include in that book.   A few may be some of the surprisingly good beer we’ve found in “bad beer cities”  as we researched our next book – a guide to great beer in European tourist cities. (Planned publication 2019.)

Next week we’ll return to the US and highlight some great American craft beers, some of which we’ve found in researching out first US Beer publication: Brews and Snooze-– Breweries you can visit and walk back to a fine place to spend the night.  Look for it in 2019.

COMING LATER IN DECEMBER:   THE TEN BEST OF THE LAST FIVE YEARS.  We count down to the New Year by thinking back on some of the greatest beers we’ve found in the last five years of hunting.   These beers are in our top 0.2% of the beers we’ve tasted in those five years. 

Elav X 114, Comun Nuovo , Italy at Il Santo Bevitore, Venice

Date:  December 2, 2018

The Story—  We reviewed Elav’s Punks Do It Bitter on October 5, and you can find a few more details about Elav and Il Santo Bevetore there, but in case you missed it, here’s the background for an extraordinary trio of beers.   We’ll start this week with the two we did not feature earlier.

In reviewing our notes for these posts we discovered we had tasted scores of good beers in Venice, but only eight that really rose above the “good” level of craft beer these days.  We found fully five of those in three visits over two years at Il Santo Bevetore.   It’s a cute, waterside (which isn’t that rare in Venice) beer specialty pub.   The number of taps isn’t that unusual these days, although the dozen and a half made them unique a few years ago.  The selection and quality of the beers, however, puts this bar into an elite group of superior Italian beer bars.   They usually have a featured brewery — we’d call it a tap takeover– and those beers are brewery fresh and carefully tended.

The brewery of the moment on our trip this summer was Elav, a small brewery in Comun Nuovo, a village not far from Bergamo, which is northwest of Milan.   The brewery started with a tiny system less than 10 years ago – bigger than Sam Calagione’s soup pots at the original Dogfish Head, but not by much.   A few years ago they leaped to a commercial sized brewery — more or less 20 barrels — that allows them to distribute as far as Venice.

The Beer— A bit clumsy but it touches all the bases, if kind of awkwardly and belatedly. Somewhat creamy with a more than a dash of wort early but that graininess blends pretty well later on.  Ellie was impressed with the professionalism of the brewers.    I could drink this 5.2% beer for a long time.

Value — Good.  It cost us $8.75 for a 14 ounce “pint.”  This would be outrageous in upstate Pennsylvania, but good beer is very expensive in Italy where small craft brewers actually pay more per barrel in taxes than the big brewers.  The winners?  big brewers.  The losers?  You and me.

 About these posts:  We taste and evaluate over a thousand beers every year.  The beers posted here rank in the top quarter of those tastings.   Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

This week we feature HIGHLIGHTS OF EUROPE–  Some of the great beers we’ve found in our European travels. Some of these are the specific beers readers of Drinking In the Culture wanted us to include in that book.   A few may be some of the surprisingly good beer we’ve found in “bad beer cities”  as we researched our next book – a guide to great beer in European tourist cities. (Planned publication 2019.)

Next week we’ll return to the US and highlight some great American craft beers, some of which we’ve found in researching out first US Beer publication: Brews and Snooze-– Breweries you can visit and walk back to a fine place to spend the night.  Look for it in 2019.

COMING LATER IN DECEMBER:   THE TEN BEST OF THE LAST FIVE YEARS.  We count down to the New Year by thinking back on some of the greatest beers we’ve found in the last five years of hunting.   These beers are in our top 0.2% of the beers we’ve tasted in those five years.