I love barrel aged beers. Contact with the wood mellows harsh flavours and can impose unique flavours upon a beer. Such is the case with this release from Spinnakers, the barrel aged Cerveza. Aged in freshly emptied Mexican tequila barrels, one can immediately pick out the flavours of tequila right away. While I was not keen on the addition of citrus zest and salt, this beer was simple and tasty. Good tequila is sipped, like a fine vodka, rum or whiskey, not shot back with a salt lick and a lemon wedge. But this is just my snootiness coming though.

Spinnakers Cerveza Resposado = 6/10


I should really rethink my rating scale because tasty beers like this never get high scores. The nose does not shock with it's calm gold tequila hints and wood character. Each sip too is one dimensional with golden ale, citrus (both from hop and additions), crackers, tequila and wood tannins. The tequila flavour was subtle and not overpowering. It was a little salty, not gose salty, but just enough to linger on the lips. Overall I liked it and you should too. That is unless you have had a recent bad experience with tequila and are adverse to the flavour flashback. I'm decades out of college, so I was fine.

Taste +3
Aftertaste +1
Alcohol Content 0 5%
Value +1
Appearance +1

Glassware: Whatever is clean. A simple pint glass will do.

Food Pairings: Light fare would be best, perhaps seafood. Something with lemon and salt to resonate with the beer. This just screams fish and chips

Cellar: Nope

I feel like such a failure; there were no notes taken about this beer. Sometimes you must do these sorts of things. Not think too much about a beer. Sit back, crack it open and savour the flavours without trying to pick it apart. SNORT, that was funny. Beer pricks never do that. It is true that no notes were taken about this beer. Luckily the little grey cells are still working.

Shatterbier (Moon Under Water) =8/10


Normally when brewers try to blend beer with coffee, they go the easy route. Stick those beans in with a stout or porter and you can't do wrong. Blending that roasted or brunt flavour with a delicate golden ale had me a little leery. But we must not forget that coffee can be roasted and brewed to be light and fruity; a perfect match for the golden ale. The nose was light and fruity with calm, toasted aromas from the coffee meshing well. An expected heavy handed roasted espresso smack never arrived. Perhaps the flavour was similar to a light roasted pour-over. This combined with the mild peaches, floral and effervescence of the golden ale perfectly. I forget what I paid for this beer, but it was under priced. It does look intimidating and the side writing is hard to read, so it will probably linger in the shelves. This is good news for local beer geeks that appreciated an experiment gone well.

Glassware: Chalice. The massive aroma and carbonation needs somewhere to spread. Other options would be a tulip or snifter.

Food Pairings. This is a tough one. Perhaps something light and mildly roasted. Lightly grilled sea bass with a lemon sauce. Welsh rarebit would be nice.

Taste +4
Aftertaste +1
Alcohol Content +1 9%
Value +1
Appearance +1 (perhaps the second most elegantly packaged beer in Victoria to date. Hoynes Gratitude is still #1)

This is called a Belgian style golden ale. The same family as Duvel, Delerium and Affligem. So I was looking forward to a big fruitness, spices and finishing dry phenolic snap. I guess one out of three ain't bad.

The Beast (Batch 666) at Swan's = 3/10

Things were off to a good start with ample apple fruitness, hint of pears and alcohol nasal warmth. From here things went south. There was no sparking mouthfeel, no alcohol tingle not much at all. It tasted very much like an apple cider with a little pear mixed in. This all just ended a little sticky and sweet. For those who love a good apple cider; this is for you

Taste +1
Aftertaste +1
Alcohol Content +1 9.1%
Value 0
Appearance +1 (nice pub)

Other Belgian Golden Ales
La Chouffe
Delerium Tremens
Pranqster (North Coast)

Still working on my goal of getting all my beer notes written up. Hopefully this session ale thing is not a trend. It is great to have a beer that you can quaff and not stumble around afterwards

Stuart's Natural Session Ale = 6/10

Ratebeer 2.75 30th percentile
Beer Advocate C+

The golden ale is either a love or a loath. There is no where to hide off flavours. This brew had nothing to hide: white bready malts, honey, straw, grass and more citrus than one would expect. Each sip was a good palate cleanser; lots of carbonation got this job done. Extremely refreshing sips of honey, lemons and grass were not diminished by the slight vegetal body. Perhaps sitting on a patio made this beer taste better.

Taste +3
Aftertaste 0
Alcohol Content +1 3.7% Should be -1 but this low ABV and big taste is a plus
Value +1
Appearance +1 STUBBY BOTTLE

Golden Ale Salt Spring Island
Session Premium Lager
Stone Levitation Ale