Phillips Amnesiac Double IPA

It's been a weekend of laboring on our new house, cleaning and painting.  Thanks to all that lent a hand with the revolting work of scrubbing years of nicotine from the walls and ceiling.  Hard work deserves a quality brew, lets hope this specimen stands up.

I was lucky to recently have one of my best friends move back to Edmonton from BC along with his wonderful family, and to make it even better he brought me a bottle of Phillips Amnesiac Double IPA to sample.  It sounds like Phillips Brewing Company out of Victoria BC has been producing some extremely good beer.  The Hop Circle IPA has been getting some great reviews, and my buddy Dan of small beer had the chance to tour and sample some of Matt Phillips newer brews with great words to say.  The brewery was started by one man, with a passion for quality beer and a stack of maxed out credit cards.  For the full story please refer to Dan's wonderfully written 3 part story, as he's done a substantial amount of work and research into the history and future of the brewery.  I vaguely remember trying some Phillips products while I lived in Victoria, but I do remember the absolute dedication people in the city hold for this brewery and their craft.

Phillips Amnesiac DIPA pours a hazy copper orange with an impressive frothy head which lazily fades away leaving heavy lacing.  Bright citrus and piney hops with sweet apricot and pineapple notes.  The flavor is pleasantly creamy, smooth and drinkable.  Sweet caramel malt base followed by citrusy floral hops with a surprisingly mild bitter aftertaste.  For an 8.5% ABV brew the alcohol content is hidden well until it's to late.  A little on the thin side though, for what it is.  The flavors are great, but they don't stick around very long.

A nice beer, mild but delicious.  I'd be happy to revisit a bottle of Amnesiac sooner than later.  I wish I had payed more attention to Phillips beer during my time in Victoria.  That being said, I wish I had payed more attention to all of the quality breweries in Victoria, or British Columbia for that matter.  Slowly they make appearances here in Alberta, unfortunately too slow for my liking.

Sherbrooke Neapolean Stout

This bottle has been sitting in my fridge for a good month now waiting patiently for me to drink it.  My brother in law gave it to me in hopes I would write about it and I didn't want to disappoint him.  In the few months of my blogs short life I have purchased/received many different varieties of beer with the intention of writing about them, but I've developed a terrible habit of drinking and not taking the time to write about it while the flavors and nuances are still within reach of my very short, short memory. Meanwhile I've made a point to drink as much beer as I could, and so far I've managed to drink a ton of beer.  A real achievement, my Mother will be so proud.  The writing.....not so good.  Fortunately for you, I will not give up.  But anyways, the beer.

Brewed by Alley Kat for Sherbrooke Liquor store,  this stout is a take on the ice cream flavor neapolitan.  Sherbrooke and Alley Kat have produced a number of beers with a wide range of unusual flavors created by local Edmonton home brewers.  The only other one that I've tried other than this was a red curry flavored beer, unfortunately that one didn't really do it for me or anyone else at the bar that got a sample.  I suppose they can't all be hits.  The Neapolean is a rich stout with the added flavors of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry.  It pours black and viscous with a thick mocha brown head.  The foam fades fairly quickly leaving small dimples of lacing behind.  From what I've read about flavored beers, adding oils to the brew virtually destroys any chance of achieving a decent head.  I was pleasantly surprised to see this beer developed a substantial head despite being artificially flavored.  It smells sweet and heavy with fruity notes of vanilla and coffee.  You can definitely taste the chocolate and vanilla with a bitter coffee like aftertaste, unfortunately the strawberry doesn't really come through at all.  The carbonation is extremely low and the hops are barely present, adding only a mild bitter touch at the end.  Overall an interesting beer, a little to sweet for my taste, but tasty nonetheless.  It didn't conjure up any old memories of devouring bowls of ice cream as a child, and for that I am disappointed, but it wouldn't deter me from recommending it to someone willing to try it out.