Stratford Pilsner from the Stratford Brewing Company

I've been down in Southwestern Ontario for a bit of a vacation (is it technically a vacation if you stay in your parents' guest room?) and my dad had the beer fridge well stocked with Beau's Lug Tread, Sleeman Original Draft and a big bottle of Innis & Gun Original. I also partook in my fair share of ice cold Bud Light from a cooler on my aunt & uncle's deck on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon.

But it only seemed right that my official attempt at tasting should be a homegrown brew: Stratford Pilsner, from the Stratford Brewing Company. It's their signature (and generally only) offering, an all natural, traditionally brewed Czech-style pilsner. I absolutely must quote their website, which claims the beer "is as smooth and graceful as the swans floating down the Avon River."

I was just going to add a standard tourist bureau shot of Stratford swans floating down the Avon,
smooth and graceful as beer, but then Google showed me this. Undercover Swan for the win! 

The first six pack disappeared before I had a chance to sit down for a proper tasting, so right off the bat I can tell you it goes down easy while reading or watching someone else barbecue.

It's totally at home outdoors, right?

After a second trip to the liquor store, I sat down for what I explained to my mother was a Work Beer, as opposed to earlier recreational beers. This is serious business.

Stratford Pilsner is a lovely golden colour, with malt dominating its aroma. It's crisp and heavily carbonated; I think I tasted lemon and floral undertones, but that may be because I read a review that pointed them out beforehand. There's a rather grassy-tasting hop finish. Overall? Pretty good.

I promise to improve these reviews. I'll get a beer tasting book out of the library, okay?

Right now, I'm on the hunt for Sunny & Share, a saison from Creemore - we got a sample at the Boar's Head one night. If you like Muskoka's Oddity, you'll like this, too. If you're the three people I was with Monday night, you won't.




The freebies have already started rolling in: after my friends told her
about my blog, the waitress let me keep this empty bottle. Score!

 

It isn't even on Creemore's website! The LCBO doesn't seem to carry it, but the Beer Store's fickle site seems to indicate that it does? Once I find it, y'all will be the first to know.

Cheers!
Emily


Stratford Pilsner
Stratford Brewing Company in Stratford, Ontario
Available year-round in Ontario at select LCBO stores
4.9% alc./vol.
341 ml bottles
6 bottles $11.75

Kellerbier from Creemore Springs

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! If you liked having your Facebook feed clogged with beautiful iPhone 3S pictures of beer, you're going to love Hey, Look What I Drank: The Blog!

I'm launching on Father's Day because it, rather brilliantly, marks the first day of Ontario Craft Beer Week. There are a slew of dad-themed beer events (or "beervents") going on today - if it weren't so miserable out, I'd be begging someone to accompany me to Beau's Father's Day barbecue in Vankleek Hill where they're launching their 2013 Pan Ontario beer, a collaboration with Amsterdam, Flying Monkeys, Great Lakes and Wellington breweries. There are lots of things going on all week - for example, basically every restaurant, everywhere, ever is hosting at least one Mill Street Beer & Sampler Paddle tasting event. Check out ocbweek.ca for a full list of who's doing what, where & when.

Beer drinking with my own father will be done later this week, when I head to Southwestern Ontario. Though generally a Blue drinker while I was growing up, there was a period when Dad took to buying whatever the person ahead of him in line at the Beer Store was getting. One of my uncles (a Bud/Canadian/Coors Light kind of guy) was thoroughly traumatized by one such purchase, and will bring it up at any family dinner where the beer selection is suspiciously eclectic.

It seemed fitting to follow my dad's lead for a maiden post on Father's Day. My local Beer Store is one of the new-fangled, go-ahead-and-touch-the-product kind of places, so I needed to finesse his technique a little - I decided I would buy the first beer I saw someone carrying. I can't tell you how relieved I am that the sad soul with two cases of President's Choice Light was the second person to cross my path.

Luckily, fate smiled and there is now a glass of Creemore Spring's Kellerbier before me.

I got all artistic with a plaid shirt in honour of my dad.

Lacking the traditional earthenware mug, I'm making do with my standard lager glass (and, no, I didn't know off the top of my head that an earthenware mug was recommended. I looked that up to be all edumacational for you.) I'll shamelessly quote a description from the packaging, rather than attempt to trickily rephrase what I learned there:

"Kellerbier is an unfiltered medieval German lager known for its naturally cloudy appearance. Served straight from the brewmaster's cellar, it was a true honour for special guests visiting a brewery to be offered a taste."

It's a beautiful red-amber colour. I'm told (yes, again by the can) to expect citrus and spice flavours from the German hops. Those notes are there, but I'm especially tasting a pine needle quality, particularly in the dry finish. It's crisp and delightful, a great patio session sort of beer (she says wistfully, tugging at her cardigan as torrential rain pours beyond the window) especially since its ABV is 5%. My baby carrot food pairing probably isn't especially ideal, but I'm not going to get ahead of myself. Once I'm actually any good at tastings we'll start worrying about the supporting cast.

Cheers!
Emily


Kellerbier
Creemore Springs Brewery Ltd. in Creemore, Ontario
Available year-round in Ontario at the LCBO and Beer Store
5.0% alc./vol.
473 ml cans
1 Can $2.80, 8 Cans $21.80, 24 Cans $59.40