Shiretown - Blonde du Quai

[sdixon]

A friend from Dalhousie brought me a Growler of Blonde du Quai from the new nano-brewery in Dalhousie called Shiretown Brewery.

Appearance- It has a light golden-honey color. It is cloudy, but not too opaque. It has a nice creamy head, albeit small (1/2 finger) and short lived, but a nice lacing.

Smell - I had a difficult time with the smell... very light/faint... very little hops, but it is there, lingering. I think I'm picking up a hint of diacetyl, but not in a bad way, it somehow works nicely with the gentleness of the beer. Small trace of carmel (but that may be part of the diacetyl?) Smell, is pleasant, but very very low key.

Taste - Fist impression was light... then butter, noticeable absence of hops, with light maltiness. The taste was pleasant... something I would like to drink in summer on the beach.

Mouthfeel - First impression was very smooth, light and creamy with maybe a little buttery slipperiness. I have to admit, it's difficult to put a finger on this beer. I like it, but it doesn't jump out at me at all. It does say "light" right on the cap though ;-)

Overall Impression - This is a pleasant beer, but I don't mind a hint of diacetyl. It's light, it's refreshing... I could drink a lot of these in a row ;-) Especially around the pool on a hot sunny day.

I say welcome to Shiretown... a new craft nanobrewery in New Brunswick. We need more entrepreneurs willing to risk a lot to provide people with good beer. It has my recommendation.

[Richard]

Would love to reach out to these guys and get them in on a meeting. Perhaps we can drop them an email and invite them to a meeting to demonstrate their wares, and taste ours.

[sdixon]

I have spoken to Derek Leslie the owner a few times... great guy! I'm planning to see him in Dalhousie within the next few weeks... I'll ask him.

[fakr]

I'm actually going up to visit them on Oct 22nd as I haven't been up yet to see their setup.  I'll see if we can arrange a tour...make a road trip out of it.  Richard and I discussed this at the last meeting at his place.
I'll go check it out next weekend and will try to arrange something for sometime in november on a non meeting weekend.

[Jake]

Niceeee. Count me in! I just got back from Toronto where I did a tour of the steamwhistle brewery. Pretty cool spot.

Their bottled beer sucked I thought, but the samples they had on tap were 10 times maltier, which I enjoyed. The diffference between the bottles and draft were like night and day. I've tried it before and was not impressed, but the draft was enjoyable. If you're ever in TO, I'd suggest doing it. It's right next to the Rogers Center in the downtown. 10 bucks each got us a 45 min tour, bottle opener, and unlimited samples. We got pretty shitfaced for 10 bucks.