Toronto Beer Blog | With your host, Chris Schryer

Lava – Ölvisholt Brugghús – 2010 and 2011 Vertical Tasting

By chris | Published: February 13, 2012

For those of you following along, you will know I am a big fan of Ölvisholt Brugghús, from Iceland. A young brewery in a country with a young brewing heritage (they had prohibition on beer until 1989. Yeah. I know….) these guys are making at least two really incredible beers. Lava, their smoked Imperial Stout, and Skjálfti, their pale ale have both been available at the LCBO. Lava was available in both this past year’s Winter Warmer’s, as well as the year previous. I had review it as well as Skjálfti in the past. A very friendly fellow from their importing agency, Kevin, got in touch with me this year to let me know Lava was coming back, and asked, if I would like to review the 2011. I told him I would be more than happy, and I would also do a radio beer break with Fred on the Edge about it. You can hear that here: http://www.edge.ca/Blogs/FearlessFred/Home.aspx?BlogID=1001092&Date=12/16/11, we were joined by The Pack AD, who both were very surprised by the beer, and quite enjoyed it. As it turned out, Kevin had a few bottles of the 2010 still, and offered me one, so that I could do a vertical tasting (which is to say, comparing two or more of the same beer, from different vintages). At 9.4%, Lava is a beer that ages well (upright, not sideways like wine, and in a dark cool place). Generally, big beers “round-out” as they age, loosing some of their more brash flavours, and finding more depth and often dry/bitter notes. Needless to say, I’m stoked to be doing this. I’ve actually been trying to find the time to sit down and do this properly since mid-December, and it’s finally happened. So here we go!

Lava – Ölvisholt Brugghús Vertical Tasting 2010 and 2011

Irish Red – Cheshire Valley Brewing

By chris | Published: January 16, 2012

Know what I like? Beer. I think that goes without saying. I am particularly fond of Cheshire Valley, the “virtual brewery” of Paul Dickey (his words). Paul makes some of my favourite beers in Toronto. His mild might well be my desert-island beer now. It’s that good. His Robust Porter (which will be arriving at your local bar this week, if your local bar doesn’t suck) is just amazing. I could go on. So when I started planning the beer selection for my mother’s 64th birthday (which she had decided would be her “big” birthday, as opposed to 60 or 65, “Will you still need me? Will you still feed me? When I’m 64″.) an immediate thought was “I wonder if I can get a cask of Cheshire Valley?” So after an email conversation with Paul, it was all settled. One 20 litre cask (a Pin, in our vernacular) of Robust Porter. Until Paul emailed me to say he felt like doing a pilot batch (a small batch) and was wondering if there was a style my Mum was fond of. And there was. She loves red ales. Paul said he would see what he could do, and duly emailed a few days later to say it was in the fermenter. So with excitement akin to Christmas morning, I headed out to Black Oak on Saturday to pick up the beer and transport it to the party location. I must admit to having a lot of pints of this last night, and while I certainly took some quality time with it then, I thought I ought to do a review proper today. And here it is!