A Flowery Song

Background: Aged on French oak for eight months.

Nose: Cherries and strawberries, earthy hints of mushroom.

Taste: Light red fruit, light hints of oak. Grapefruit pith on the finish.

Overall: Not great. The most disappointing wine I’ve had from St. Julian, particularly a disappointment since the Braganini Reserve are supposed to be their showcase wines. It’s light and drinkable, but lacks the spicy richness of a great Pinot Noir.

Background: When I saw this on sale, I thought to myself, “Self, that kind of makes sense. Mayonnaise is just an emulsion of oil and water with egg, and if you use bacon grease as part of your oil that could be tasty.” Upon arriving home and reading the label more closely, I became a bit apprehensive. This product is both vegetarian and kosher, which are not words normally associated with bacon. Evidently, smoke flavour and a colouring agent are enough to make this “bacon flavoured”. A bit of a letdown, but time to soldier on and actually taste some.

Smells somewhat bacony, but more like those bacon-ish cardboard bits on the salad bar than a panful of sizzling pig. Colour is orange-ish, with unidentified black bits sprinkled througout. Very salty. Main flavour is liquid smoke, with a bit of soybean oil. Nice and creamy.

The acid test for any mayonnaise-like product is, of course, the tuna salad sandwich. Baconnaise performs okay here, since smoke and fish are a good combination-though it’s still a bit on the salty side and the smoke flavour turns slightly acrid in the finish.

Overall: Disappointing. While I wouldn’t kick it out of bed in the morning, it’s not what I was expecting when I purchased it.

Background: Among us degenerate inhabitants of North America, cassava is perhaps most often encountered in its processed starch form of tapioca, but, as the bag tells me, cassava is “consumed by millions around the world” and “provides twice the fiber of the common potato”. It’s also poisonous in its raw unprocessed form, but fortunately Arico has gone ahead and fried these in palm or sunflower or safflower oil. Also available in “Original”, “Sea Salt Mist”, and “Ginger on Fire”.

Slightly thicker than a standard potato chip, more in the realm of kettle chips. Very little evidence of any barbecue flavouring in the appearance, other than an orange tint (perusing the ingredients, the colouring is probably from paprika). Nice crunch on eating, but there really is very little about them that says “barbecue” as opposed to, oh, “salt and sugar”.

Overall: Can’t say I’m in love. I eat chips for flavour, not fiber, and these just don’t deliver.

Background: Stout. Rye. Draw your own conclusions.

Nose: Black coffee, chicory, and toasted bread.

Taste: Mmm, spicy. Nice mix of rye and roasted malt character. A bit of chocolate.

Overall: A bit thin, but other than that quite nice indeed.

Background: Limited availability, brewed in a small batch, and according to the internet evidently very hard to find. None of which I knew when I bought a couple of bottles, since I rarely go out shopping for specific beers. Fortune favours the me. Anyway, it’s a Double IPA and I can’t currently convince Bell’s website to cough up information instead of PHP errors.

Nose: Candied orange peel. Other than lots of hops, the alcohol is very evident.

Taste: Piny resinous hop flavour, pithy grapefruit hop flavour, herbal leafy hop flavour, high hop bitterness, dry hoppy finish. Oh, and there’s probably some malt in there somewhere. The hoppiness does a great job masking the alcohol, as I can’t taste any of the 10+% ABV that was so evident on the nose.

Overall: This beer has never heard of the concept of ‘balance’. It’s interesting to drink in despite of that, but not something that I personally would class as great. If you love hops and don’t mind a beer that’s just hops, you should definitely grab this one if you run across it.

Hops.

Background: Whole Foods’ house brand.

Nose: Lemon-lime soda.

Taste: Lemon-lime soda with the barest hint of quinine.

Overall: Lemon-lime soda. Not what I’m looking for in a tonic water. Also not the worst-tasting one I’ve had, so I suppose that’s a plus. And it’s cheap.

Background: Brewed to celebrate Sierra Nevada’s 29th anniversary, this is a big bold IPA showcasing Cascade, their favourite hop variety.

Nose: Toasty malt and citrusy hops, mainly clementine with a bit of grapefruit.

Taste: Solid, tasty caramel malt, with toast and honey character. Medium hop bitterness, but mainly the Cascades contribute a bunch of citrus flavour, with a bit of herbalness. Slight sweetness to start, then a long hoppy finish.

Overall: Sierra Nevada knows what they’re doing when it comes to IPAs, and this one does not disappoint.

Background: A jelly-like dessert produced by boiling Mesona chinensis, a member of the mint family.

Translucent, black, and slightly firmer than cranberry jelly, with a slightly bitter lavender-like herbal flavour.

Plain, it’s kind of watery and blah. With sugar…well, it’s still no stunner. Might be good in a fruit salad for some added textural contrast.

Background: The first entry in Avery’s Barrel-Aged Series, this sour ale was fermented with two strains of Brettanomyces then aged in Zinfandel barrels for six months. Bottled 10 February 2009.

Nose: Very rich and complex, with earthy barnyard funk and a deep red fruitiness. Cherry, raspberry, pear, and clove influences.

Taste: Very dry, lots of tannic oak influence. Rounded, silky mouthfeel. Notable vinuous red wine influence, with blackcurrant and cherries. Dark malty background with some saddle leather from the brett accompanying.

Overall: An excellent start to what I hope will be a long and fruitful series of beers. Pack in lots of flavour, while remaining somewhat approachable for less seasoned sour beer drinkers.

Background: Barrel-aged stout from New Holland.

Nose: Coffee, dark and white chocolates, and a bit of booze.

Taste: Rich toasted oak, molasses, slight funky sourness, dusty cocoa, and raisins.

Overall: Wonderfully complex and drinkable, deep layers of flavour drawing you into the alcoholic depths.