St. John's Wort

Beery Musings And Amusing Beers

Reviews

Ginger beer seems to be having a moment in Ontario. Well, not “Ginger beer” so much as beer with ginger as an ingredient. If you’re from here you’ll find that odd. If you’re from South London you’ll find it ginger beer. Ginger is a pervasive flavour. It’s the kind of […]

Reviews: Ontario Ginger Beers

June 4, 2015 in Reviews by admin

I don’t have a sense for how long people have been following the blog, but if you started reading back in 2010, you’ll know that I had pretty strong opinions about Trafalgar. At that point, we were living in a 40 brewery Ontario and Trafalgar was down amongst the bottom […]

Revisit: Trafalgar Ales & Meads

May 27, 2015 in Reviews by admin

The Background I go back and forth on Moosehead. Here’s the thing. Since the BA in the States changed the definition of “Craft Beer” to include Yuengling, it stands to reason that Moosehead is now a “Craft Brewer.” At the very least, they’re an independent company that has existed for […]

Review and Market Recon: Moosehead Radler

May 12, 2015 in Reviews tagged Moosehead by admin

Lab Report #1 By Jordan St. John – Grade 7 (held back) Question: Given the tendency of beer brewed with a significant quantity of hops to undergo changes to its chemical nature in direct sunlight, there has recently been introduced to the market a line of glassware that claims […]

Bru-V: Science and Sam Adams

May 6, 2015 in Reviews / Uncategorized tagged Brown Glassware / Bru-V / Rebel IPA / Sam Adams by admin

The Background St.Ambroise sold a couple of years back to Brasseurs RJ and the quality has kept up. Originally helmed by Peter McAuslan and Ellen Bounsall, the beers have been and continue to be largely English in their influence. While we tend to see a lot of Belgian influence in […]

Review and Food Pairing: St.Ambroise Erable

May 4, 2015 in Beer and Food / Reviews tagged Fenugreek / Maple Beer / Sotolon / St.Ambroise by admin

“You know, Andy, when I was your age…” was the way that I’d started the sentence, and I immediately wished that I hadn’t. There’s nothing to make you feel old like having to explain your context to your younger brother. Before Andy was born, I was given my first cellphone […]

Review: Local Leaside

May 3, 2015 in Beer and Food / Reviews tagged Craft Beer / Leaside / Local Leaside by admin

The Background Grand River started brewing in Ontario in 2007, but the site that they’re on in Galt has actually been producing alcohol for something like 200 years. Absalom Shade had mills there and eventually managed to vertically integrate the whole community. He sold seed and milled grain and made […]

Review: Grand River Olde Defiant

April 24, 2015 in Reviews / Uncategorized tagged Bob Hannenberg / Grand River / Olde Defiant by admin

The Background When I came back to Ontario from university out east, there were basically two Ontario beers at the LCBO that I could be sure were going to be quality. This was before “Craft Beer,” a term which emerged around 2007, so it was just beer. Those beers were […]

Barn Door Brewing Company Winter Porter

April 22, 2015 in Reviews by admin

“You’re number two” says the greying Asian man to the bartender as he’s walking in the door of Habits Gastropub. I’m confused temporarily and take it as either a set up for a punchline or a low normal motivational chant. It’s quickly explained to me by co-owner Michelle Genttner that […]

Habits Gastropub House Saison

April 6, 2015 in Reviews tagged Chris Conway / Christina Coady / Doug Allen / Habits Gastropub / Saison by admin

The first thing that I noticed walking into Left Field’s brewery on Monday was how much calmer and happier everyone seemed to be now that the place is finally opened. There has been rejoicing on social media about the fact that it is now possible to buy their beer in […]

Root For the Home Team

April 1, 2015 in Reviews / Shameless Plugs / Uncategorized by admin