Style: Robust Porter
ABV: 5.6%
Presentation: 6 packs of 341 ml brown bottles
Brewery: Alley Kat Brewing Co. exclusive for Sherbrooke Liquor
Country: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

KANPAI! w/ Jeff Werstiuk

It’s that time again when Sherbrooke annually releases another recipe by the winner of the Homebrewer of the Year title from the Aurora Brewing Challenge, hosted by the Edmonton Homebrewers Guild. Commercially produced by the talented folks at the Alley Kat Brewery of course.

The winners this year were the local powerhouse homebrewing duo of Ray Duperron and Patrick Doyle, who also brought home the national award of Canadian Homebrewer of the Year, and apparently won by a pretty wide margin.

It will then come as no surprise that Ochsner’s 1905 Alberta Porter, based on one of their recipes, is a phenomenal beer; it’s honestly been a while since a beer has impressed me this much, let alone a Porter. This was brewed as a Robust Porter under the BJCP guidelines. The Beer Judge Certification Program is the governing institution that oversees homebrewing competitions such as the Aurora Brewing Challenge.

Just as a quick refresher, for the past 3 years now Sherbrooke has carried an exclusive batch of beer made by the local Alley Kat Brewery based on a recipe chosen by whoever ends up winning Edmonton’s Homebrewer of the Year award through the ABC competition. It’s a way of providing some recognition and support to amateur brewers, and frankly is a pretty darn good incentive to get homebrewers from across the country to enter this locally organized competition.

This year’s release was timed to coincide with and commemorate the province of Alberta’s 105th anniversary. The surname on the label of this beer is an homage to German immigrant Robert Ochsner and his wife Elizabeth, who opened what could be argued as the first brewery here in Edmonton back in 1894. Although not much is known about the Ochsners, it’s recorded that Robert took care of the business end of operations. It was Elizabeth who did all the brewing as head Brewmistress, the first female brewer in the province, and eventually earned some small local recognition with the designation of the Bohemian Maid. While the brewery changed hands and names over the years it did end up being called The Bohemian Maid in the late 1950’s. Elizabeth is credited with brewing 5 different styles of beer, including a Porter of some repute.

Which brings us back to our Porter in question. It’s my opinion that we don’t have a large enough selection of decent Porters here in Alberta, and as a result it’s an often confused and misunderstood style that tends to get overlooked. Hopefully this Porter will receive enough of a warm reception to be put into regular production after this inaugural batch.

Glassware is pretty much your choice on this one, it’s robust enough to be the one calling the shots regardless of shape or size. So grab your favourite glass. There’s also going to be a lot of flavour present even when it’s just been pulled out of the fridge, so once again I’ll leave the serving temperature up to your personal preference. Of course as it warms new facets within the aroma and flavour will be released. As this isn’t the type of style that you chug down in a few gulps, you’ll most likely get the chance to experience this.

Even though it’s not opaque (yet it certainly gives off that impression), this Porter is still a dense black, and will exhibit a brilliant ruby nimbus around the extremities if held up to direct light. Be prepared for a couple possible attempts to fill up your glass as well, as there is a massive frothy beige head from the pour. Lots of dark aromas will be received on the nose, layers of burnt malt, some toasted malt, wood, slight acidity, and when it warms up starts to reveal some espresso and cocoa. Things continue along these lines within the flavour, starting with some roasted malt with wood and earthy notes, some soft coffee and chocolate in the middle along with bittersweet acidity, then finishing with a sharp dry burnt malt character. As would be expected the mouthfeel is full, with a surprising amount of refined carbonation which scrubs the palate with each sip, keeping the more intense flavours in check between sips. A very well put together beer, credit must be given to Ray and Patrick for coming up with such a solid recipe, along with the crew at Alley Kat for replicating it to a commercial sized batch.

If exploring this Porter works up an appetite in you then grilled dishes would make a large varied option to serve alongside. Be it steak, pork or chicken, the smoke and char will match well. Another good option would be a plate of sausage and sauerkraut, as the acidity in the Porter and the sauerkraut will play off one another nicely. For something a little more exotic the complex flavours within a good mole sauce will accentuate the layers of dark flavour within this beer. And if you’re partial to more gamey meats they’ll be tamed by the robust characteristics that this Porter has to offer.

The next steps in the cooler:

Other Beers From Sherbrooke:
Sherbrooke Shamrock
Bad Hare Day
Aaiieeeeeeeeee Caramba!
Van Helsing’s All Natural Mouthwash
Chocolate Cherry Ostiarius
Neapolean

Other Beers From Alley Kat:
Alley Kat Amber
Alley Kat Aprikat
Full Moon Pale Ale
Charlie Flint’s Original Lager
Pumpkin Pi Spiced Ale
Olde Deuteronomy

In-Style:
Rogue Mocha Porter
Mill St. Coffee Porter
Fuller’s London Porter
Samuel Smith’s Old Taddy Porter
Paddock Wood London Porter

Lateral Steps:
Lost Coast Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout
Samuel Smith’s Imperial Stout
DDC Peche Mortel
St-Ambroise Oatmeal Stout
Half Pints Stir Stick Stout
Yukon Brewing Midnight Sun Espresso Stout
Paddock Wood Bête Noire

Style: Flavoured Porter
ABV: 6.5%
Presentation: 6 packs of 341 ml brown bottles
Brewery: Alley Kat Brewing Co. exclusive for Sherbrooke Liquor
Country: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

KANPAI! w/ Jeff Werstiuk

DI!  ECCE HORA!  UXOR MEA ME NECABIT! Found on the label of this porter, which translates from Latin as “God, look at the time!  My wife will kill me!”  Lucky for you guys out there that this beer comes with its own built-in failsafe measure.  What’s that, you ask?  Well my friend, this happens to be a chocolate cherry Porter, blended and produced so well by the talented folks at the Alley Kat Brewery that this is practically black forest cake in a bottle.  The perfect cure for getting anyone out of the hot seat with their significant other.  Or if required, to help assist in wooing a potential significant other, this is certainly a mood-enhancing libation that’s well worthy of sharing.  For those worthy of sharing with that is…it’s so good you’re going to want to keep it all for yourself otherwise.

For those of you still wondering, “Ostiarius” stand for “Porter” in Latin as well, keeping with the loose theme.  First produced exclusively for Sherbrooke Liquor by Alley Kat in 2007, a third batch is in the works now for early 2010.  Although there isn’t a significant change in the recipes between batches, or “vintages”, Chocolate Cherry Ostiarius is constantly being fine-tuned from year to year, so if you have the intestinal fortitude and self-control to put a bottle or two away for a few years a lateral tasting can be performed to see how each batch has aged and improved from year to year.

Your favourite mug or pint glass will do the trick to serve this savoury Ostiarius, however if you’re sharing and feeling romantic a pair of red wine glasses will help assist setting the mood.  The balanced additions of chocolate and cherry are robust enough that they’ll still be apparent if the bottle is consumed straight out of the fridge and still quite chilled, although be aware that this porter can be consumed even at room temperature without detracting from the experience, so consider yourself informed of your options.  As you know by now the warmer a beer like this gets the more intense and open the inherent flavours become to your nose and your tongue.

Once transferred to your chosen drinking vessel you’ll see a dark black opaque beer, yet when held to light it will illuminate a bright reddish cola-like hue.  The head will be fairly short, beige in colour, that will settle somewhat quickly.  Forget trying to find any distinct aspects of a porter in the aroma, all you’ll get is indulgent rich potent chocolate and cocoa, and the unmistakable smell of cherry extract, although none of it seems artificial in nature.  The flavour is a big hit of milky chocolate, with sweet cherry appearing close to the finish. The finish is actually a dry sweet hit of cocoa, which blends with the cherry again on the aftertaste.  Yet no fork or spoon are required for this porter, the mouthfeel is only a manageable medium body, and on the lighter end of that to boot.  Deceptively quaffable.  Like I said before, almost literally black forest cake in a bottle.

In fact forget pairing Chocolate Cherry Ostiarius with anything, serve it as dessert on its own instead.  Whether in a mug or wine glass, give it a liberal topping of whipped cream, add powdered chocolate or sprinkles, and for flourish top it with a maraschino cherry, except all bets are off how long it lasts there before it settles to the bottom of the glass.   If that sounds like too much effort you can pour it over a scoop or two of ice cream, be it vanilla, chocolate, or some sort of chocolate cherry fudge concoction.  Even the strawberry in Neapolitan will accentuate the cherry.  Options, options!  If you still feel the urge to serve this alongside something, then stick with dessert, it’ll add some healthy companionship to chocolate or berry based sweets, baking and pastries.  If someone is insistent on serving this beer with an entree then make it a chocolate fondue!

The next steps in the cooler:

From This Brewery:
Alley Kat Amber
Alley Kat Aprikat
Full Moon Pale Ale
Charlie Flint’s Original Lager
Pumpkin Pi Spiced Ale
Olde Deuteronomy

Also From Sherbrooke:
Sherbrooke Shamrock
Bad Hare Day
Pi Jiu
Aaiieeeeeeeeee Caramba!
Van Helsing’s All Natural Mouthwash

Other Porters:
Rogue Mocha Porter
Mill St. Coffee Porter
Fuller’s London Porter
Samuel Smith’s Old Taddy Porter

For The Adventurous:
Mort Subite Kriek
Trois Pistoles - Unibroue
Brooklyn Monster Ale

Style: Fruit Porter
ABV: 6.5%
Presentation: 650 ml brown bottle
Brewery: Cannery Brewing Company
Country: Penticton, British Columbia, Canada

KANPAI! w/ Jeff Werstiuk

For some beer purists the thought of serving your beer with a fruit garnish is appalling enough, yet to actually brew with any variety of “nature’s candy” is an absolute abomination.  They should perhaps chill out a bit.  From beyond recorded history humanity has been adding a diversity of ingredients into the fermentation process to provide an extra element to their malty euphoria, and I can think of a long list of less appealing things than fruit, believe you me.

However to play devil’s advocate dancing on the flipside of the coin, many brewers out there today are using fruit in their creations to try and boost what already starts out as a mediocre beer.  The further result can stem from a poor use of extracts where they overdo it, sometimes giving an artificial or overwhelming character that can be more akin to cough syrup than natural fruit, or skimp on the real deal and advertise an extra ingredient that can’t even be recognized in the flavour, least of all the aroma.  I think it’s these types of fruit beers that gives the whole concept of it all a bad name and turns people off, well apart from their initial bias of a fruit addition to begin with.

Of course it would be a bit foolish for any brewery in the heart of the fruit belt of B.C. to not dabble with such a combination and still be able to maintain their credibility.  On top of that Cannery Brewing gets its namesake from setting up shop in an old fruit and vegetable cannery in Penticton.  With their Blackberry Porter they manage to get just the right balance between the roasted malts and the robust juice from the blackberries, mingling, marrying and complimenting one another.  Really, the only prerequisite for checking this porter out is an affinity for dark roasty ales, as this fruit beer is worthy of you.

Grab your favourite mug for this one, or your trusty pint glass.  Let the bottle sit 5-10 minutes out of the fridge to warm up enough to release the malt and fruit characteristics, although a bit of chill on it is still desirable.  Once poured you’ll discover a dark mahogany porter capped by a tight creamy beige head.  Sweet berry notes up front in the aroma, blending with roasted, coffee and cocoa from the malt.  There’s roasted malt in the beginning of the flavour, melding in with reserved amounts of dark juicy blackberry, dry cocoa, finishing with hints of coffee notes.  You’ll notice that the berries, although noticeable and present, take a backseat to the whole experience.  Carrying the whole show is a smooth, creamy dry mouthfeel, on the lighter side of many porters, making it more approachable and quaffable for the uninitiated-no thick molasses or motor oil stereotypes can be applied here with any serious clout.

Grilled red meat is what you’re going to want to pair this Blackberry Porter up with, the sweetness of it will balance out any char put against it.  Smoked meats should be added to the list too for some succinct contrast.  This is also a great ale to accompany your favourite dressed burger.  Then again, if you can hold out or have saved yourself for dessert, this porter will really shine with baked chocolate goods, or along with artisanal chocolates on their own.  The berry sweetness along with the dark malt will also blend impressively with fruit-focused desserts, bringing out the best of all worlds.  Or to help set the mood for a romantic evening keep a stash of this conservatively sweet porter to share with your sweet baby.

The next steps in the cooler:

From This Brewery:
Naramata Nut Brown Ale
Indian Rock IPA
Apricot Wheat Ale
Anarchist Amber Ale
Maple Stout
Wildfire Dark IPA

Other Porters:
Samuel Smith Taddy Porter
Fullers London Porter
Tree Spy Porter
Tree Raspberry Porter
Mill St. Coffee Porter
Rogue Mocha Porter
Okanagan Old English Porter
Paddock Wood London Porter

Lateral Steps:
Stir Stick Stout - Half Pints
St-Ambroise Oatmeal Stout
Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock

For The Adventurous:
Rogue Shakespeare Stout
Aventinus
Brooklyn Monster Ale