Young's Double Chocolate Stout

I hadn't had this in a while but felt like a stout tonight so I picked one up from my local BC liquor store. I forgot how tasty this was. Moderate roasted malts coupled with a nice creamy chocolatey flavour. The texture is great and this is very easy and very tasty drinking. Highly recommended as an every day tasty stout. I will be away for the holidays so I won't be posting here for a while. I will resume the tastings when I return. Happy Holidays!

$3.25 at BCLDB
Very Good

Fuller's Vintage Ale 2007

I generally like Fuller's ales, and so when I saw this limited edition vintage ale at the local BC liquor store I was excited to give it a try. These are bottle fermeted and supposedly age well; however, I found this beer to be overly alcoholic and not balanced very well. Maybe with time the intense alcohol flavour will mellow, but this was very dissapointing and very overpriced.

$6.99 at BCLDB
Fair

Earthquake Petite Sirah 2003

Just yesterday I decided to take part in "Wine Blogging Wednesday" (http://www.winebloggingwednesday.org/) since the theme of the week happened to be petite sirah, which is one of my favourite 'underdog' varietals. I got into petite sirah when I took a trip to Napa last summer and I discovered that many of the smaller wineries were producing an inky, powerful, and yet amazingly structured little wine from a varietal I had only seen used in blending. During my trip I discovered great petite sirahs from Miner, Arroyo, Broken Spur and the grand daddy of them all: David Fulton. After my trip I got so excited about the varietal that, even though I brought back maybe 4 bottles of the stuff, I spent the next several weeks seeking out every petite sirah I could in the city. This bottle is a result of that treck and I have been meaning to try it for some time.

This wine hails from the Lodi Appellation in California and has a wonderfully intense nose that explodes from the glass - having intensity a good 30 cm above the Riedel Cab Sauv glass I used to drink this out of. I would describe the flavours as consisting of chocolate, plum, loads of dark red berry, and slightly burnt caramalized fruit (which I find characteristic of my favourite petite sirahs). This is quite smooth given the high alcohol content (15.5%), but the fruit finishes with a bit of gooseberry, which isn't what I like wines to finish with, as I think the bitterness takes away from the 'upward' development of the wine. Also, I find that the structure is a bit all over the place and the wine could use a lot more balance between the fruit, oak, and tannin. I have read critiques of the petite sirah varietal as being generally unstructured, even if powerful and flavourful. I think, though, that in the hands of a master a petite sirah can be very refined and balanced. I don't know much about wine making, but I imagine that making a superb petite sirah might be a test of a winemaker's skills since so few bottles show the potential of the best I've had.

However, overall this is a well above average petite sirah and a very good example of the varietal, even if there are others out there that take it to another level. A bit expensive in Canada, I think it's a decent price in the US. However, overall this is a bit over-priced for what you get. I still had a lot of fun drinking it, though.

$50 at Kitsilano Wine Cellars
Very Good+

Heatherale Alba Scots Pine Ale

This is the second beer I tried from the Scottish ale sampler I bought from Liberty. This is a nicely coloured amber ale with a really nice pine and cedar fragrance in every sip and is very refreshing. Short, but smooth malty finish. Easy drinking and coming in at a surprising 7.5% alcohol for the lightness of the ale.

Very Good
$6 at Liberty

McEewan's Scotch Ale

On the trend of Scottish ale, this dark and strong ale is made in the malt-liquor style, meaning it is kind of cidery and sweet with a big dose of alcohol (8%). The ale consists of strong apple cider and molasses flavours built over a great deal of heat from the alcohol. It finishes with a slight bitterness that helps to temper the malt flavours. Overall this is pretty nice, although it is too sweet for my tastes. Ultimately I think it is over-priced for what it is and that there are much better beers available for the same price.

$16.99/6-pack at BCLDB
Good

Heatherale Grozet Gooseberry & Wheat Ale

This was part of a pack of 4 beers, all made with a different unique element in place of the hops. This was Scotlands way of thumbing their nose at the English, whose brewing laws demanded that everyone in the UK use hops to brew beer. Ah, those pesky scots. This particular ale uses gooseberry in place of hops.

The beer is very fragrant, floral and, of course, has a strong gooseberry flavour. It gets a little bitter on the aftertaste, but not like hops. Overall it's pretty good but I found it a little too light and lacking in structure. A fun beer that I wouldn't drink that much, and that was way too expensive (basically since it came in a gift pack from liberty). However, I still look forward to trying the other 3 beers as this was certainly a fun and unique experience.

$6 at Liberty
Good+

Beringer Bancroft Ranch Howell Mountain Merlot 1997

Having finished my law exams today I went directly to my cellar and pulled out a special wine I had been saving for just such an occasion. I've always wanted to try the Beringer Howell Mountain Merlot as I had heard from many sources I respect that it was one of the best Merlots in the Napa Valley. While it is hard to decide what is 'best' from amongst a region with tons of absolutely amazing merlots (check out Shafer, Twomey, Pride Mountain, Nickle and Nickle, and Duckhorn), the Beringer is a beauty of a wine that definitely lives up to its reputation.

The wine is a super-dark burgundy colour, even with 10 years age on it. A stunning nose with cassis and cedar wood notes. Upon drinking the wine explodes with super-intense cassis, blackberry, dark current, pine-needles, and cedar smoke. The mid-palate has an intense burst of rich fruit with perfect acidity and subtle oak. It develops into an incredibly evolving and long finish (at least 1-2 minutes). This merlot has an absolutely supple texture and a beautiful struture with perfect balance of fruit, oak, and tannin. It's drinking great right now, but I think it will probably continue to develop for a few more years. Pure hedonism.

$90 at BCLDB for a limited time
Excellent+