beernesday

i made it to cask night at the railway last week unprecedented - that's three in a row i think! (won't be making it this week, i have a solstice party to host instead...) the cask was driftwood's blackstone porter three casks of this lively ale were brewed one at camra's winterfest, this one at the railway and the third will be tapped at st. augustine's tonight i hear tell that the initial pour was all thick head, so think a straw wouldn't sink through it (apparently they experimented!) definitely still a very thick head when i got mine the head lingered quite a while and was practically spongey to the touch (yes, i experimented too!) malty, not quite sweet, but something along those lines quite murky the sweetness is nicely balanced by the sour mash they tossed in there lots of yeast at the bottom of the glass i got a chance to talk to ian, the brewer of this fine cask he thinks there was some secondary fermentation he likes that there ...

yesterday's winterfest of ale put on by camra was a great success! fourteen breweries participated, and st. augustine's was packed central city's gary lohin was the afternoon's big winner his "thor's hammer" barleywine took home best barleywine, brewer's best in show and people's choice best in show thor's hammer gary from central city and amanda from camra i enjoyed the thor's hammer definitely spicy with big flavour and a sweet finish i can't drink a barleywine as a sessional, but i sure did enjoy my glass of it! as a matter of fact, besides the howe sound gathering storm, there wasn't a beer at the festival that i could see wanting more than a taster size of not that they weren't good or tasty the opposite in fact its that there was just so much going on in most of them big, big bold flavours just too much to want to have too much of, you know? in the interesting category were a bbq duck beer and a coco...

as i wander my ass off to the camra winterfest of beer, i leave you with some beernesday photos...