Tin Whistle Tuesday Vol 3.

5.6% ABV | 473ml

In addition to bringing home gold from the Canada Beer Cup, this glorious beer also brought home first place in the 2022 British Columbia Beer Awards! This year’s version uses the most local coffee available to us, our newest Cannery Building neighbour, One 14 Coffee Co.

This is a lusciously rich stout, inspired by a hazelnut flat white. Huge coffee notes with a subtle hit of hazelnut. We call this one glorious for a reason! The added lactose delivers a silky, smooth, creamy, slightly sweet finish that is rounded out by the subtle hazelnut flavor.

You’ll remember in our last note we were SO excited to tell you about the gold medals that our Mythical Creatures and Hazelnut Coffee Stout brought home from the Canada Beer Cup. These are two great brews for you to include in a beer-tasting line-up. They are available province-wide. Now, onto the home beer judging tips.

Rule number one - don’t take it too seriously, have fun!

Rule number two - trust your instincts, they’ll almost always be on the mark when it comes to tasting and sensory experiences. These are the only two hard rules. The rest are tips you can pick and choose from to make it an enjoyable, educational experience:

• Choose if you want to do a blind tasting or an open one. If you’re new to this, start with an open tasting so you can learn about the styles and flavour profiles before you guess them blind.
• Decide the theme of your tasting - maybe you want to compare two IPAs, or a line up of different styles. There’s no right or wrong.
• Snacks! It is helpful to cleanse with something other than beer to be able to avoid palate fatigue.
• Onto the tasting - Grab a notebook. When analyzing beer you want to consider the appearance, aroma, taste, mouth feel, finish, balance, and bitterness. Consider the clarity of the beer, describe the foam. You’ll find beer flavour wheels online. These will help identify what you’re tasting. The first sip will coat the mouth and prepare your taste buds. The second sip you’ll start to search for the flavours, mouthfeel, bitterness level, and finish. What hops might have been used? What style do you think it is? Is it all in balance? Or does one aspect stand out more than the others? Note it all down, beer by beer. Take a few minutes with each pour. Pro tip: aim for only a couple of ounces in the glass for tastings. It’s ok to spit if you don’t want to get tipsy.
• Discuss! You can chat as you go, or taste and then chat at the end. Which was the crowd favourite, why? Which ones weren’t balanced, why? What order would you rank them?
• Don’t take yourself too seriously and have fun! No further explanation needed.

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