Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

The bottle is shaped like a small club, and when the bottle is full, probably makes a great weapon. I would think that saisons would be a great style for a country like Italy. A cloudy golden pour with lots of foam on top. Aroma is funky and spicy with tons of herbs in the mix. Flavour is spicy with notes of yeast, citrus, and earthy flavours.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

A decent draft beer. Quite a bit of haze on this one. Lots of yeast in the aroma, definitely some spices, possibly clove, and bread malts. It tastes alright with some definite citrus and spices up front. Finish is quite bitter!

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

Got myself a 6-pack from the local liquor store (although my wife would rather I get my 6-packs at the gym). First thing I notice is that this is not as 'black' as the world reknowned stout. The aroma is dark roasted malt, and coffee. Flavour is watered down coffee. Everything about this beer was disappointing.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

The beer pours a coca-cola brown colour with brown edges and a huge bubbly light brown head. Citrus and roasted malt make up most of the aroma but there are hints of coffee, caramel, and yeast. Flavour is very similar to most average rune of the mill Black IPAs with a citrusy roasty flavour. Good, but not great.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 4 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 4

This beer is aptly described as coca-cola black with a thin tan-coloured head. In fact, from a distance, it appears to be coca-cola. The aroma was very very weak. Some malt and coffee tones, but not much else. The mouthfeel was only slightly more viscous than water. The flavour was very weak with some malt hints.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

I was quite impressed with the black lager. While some badly made schwarzbiers lack the roasted feel of a good German schwarzbier, this has it all. Beautiful black pour, decent brown head. Roasted malt and coffee make up most of the aroma, possibly some cherry. Roasted malt dominates the flavour with hints of coffee and chocolate. Hopefully some of these brands make it out of downtown Toronto.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 7

This is a dark reddish-brown beer with an aroma of chocolate, cherries, and malt. The mouthfeel is full-bodied with low carbonation. The flavour is malty with a finish that is lightly bitter.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

This is the finest Canadian brewed scotch ale available regularly in Canada. It pours a dark mahogany colour, almost solid, with a creamy light brown cap. Molasses, vanilla, caramel, and smoked wood provide a nice aroma, and the flavour doesn’t let you down. A nice sweet scotch ale with the sweet sugar and molasses notes balanced by the smoked wood and hops.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Part of the 2012 LCBO Seasonal offerings. A clear rust coloured pour with a generous head. Definitely more of a Scottish Ale than a Scotch Ale. Malty aroma, some toffee and peat. Flavour is sweet malt, smoke, and caramel.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

It is very hard to go wrong with a well made Scotch ale, and this is a well made Scotch ale. A clear reddish-brown colour, dark, with a creamy tan coloured cap. Aroma is peat, smoky, and fruity with some molasses thrown in for good measure. Flavour is sweet malt, molasses, and the smokiness is noticed on the tongue. This needs to be a regular at the LCBO.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

I've been sitting on this one a few months now and thought I would finally crack 'er open and give her a try. A brown pour with black edges, thin brown head. Nothing remakable. You could tell from the odour that this was going to be a sweet beer. Dark fruit, molasses and butterscotch. A tad sweet on the tongue as well, butterscotch, molasses, and fruit. Not very well balanced but drinkable nonetheless.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Founders has arrived in Ontario with 6 new beers and after trying them all, we need more of these in Ontario. Backwoods Bastard is a barrel aged Dirty Bastard and the result is a great beer. A dark rust colour with a decent sized cap. Aroma is sweet malt, berries, molasses, and bourbon. Flavour is a beautiful mixture of sweet malt/molasses balanced by a hint of alcohol. Great beer.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

The cream of the crop from Michigan has arrived at the LCBO, and this is one of those brews I could drink all day every day until I die. Dark amber, slightly hazed, and a generous off-white cap. Sweet malty aroma with hints of molasses, figs, and smoke. Sweetness in the flavour is nicely balanced with some herbally hoppy bitterness. Great beer.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8

I have always found Scotch Ales to be hit and miss, and I dare say that this one was a hit. A very dark mahogany colour with a light brown cap. Aroma is caramel, molasses, and nuts. The flavour is rich, sweet, and satisfying with notes of molasses, coffee, and plums.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

The beer pours a clear ruby colour with a weak thin tan coloured ring for a head. The aroma is weak caramel, stale grains, and floral hops. The flavour is metallically sweet with a weak bitter finish. For years this was marketed as Highlander Pale Ale, however this is neither a pale ale, nor a Scottish ale. It’s not very good to be honest.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

This is an award winning Scotch Ale, but at the same time, I fail to see how. It’s a nice dark brown pour with a light tan bubbly head. The aroma is molasses and caramel, as well as some yeast notes. The flavour is definitely sweet with lots of caramel flavours, but the salt-kissed balance is missing for me.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 4 | Mouthfeel: 3 | Flavor: 3 | Overall: 3

This is a dark brown beer that has a light brown head. The aroma is dominated by burnt wood, with a little malty hint. The mouthfeel was thin and watery. The flavour was watery as well, nothing dominated the taste buds at all.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

The Raftman is an murky orangy gold colour with a light head. The aroma is that of malt, scotch, and smoked wood. The flavour is weak smoked wood with a little hoppy bitterness to round it out.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Beer and bacon in a glass, with coffee and dark chocolate as part of the mix. While this beer isn’t an outstanding in your face beer, I can’t find anything to fault it either. One of the best things about this beer for me is the subtleness of the smokiness, too many brewers give you an onslaught that turns me off. Not here, the smoked wood bacon flavour marries well with the roasted malt and coffee notes providing a nice flavour balance for me.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Local brewer but their product can be difficult to drink because they are very loose in their interpretation of styles. Light golden colour, slight murkiness, and a weak off-white cap. Aroma is floral and herbal with yeast and sweet malt in the background. Flavour is herbal with some up front malty notes. A nice effort, and certainly something different.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

One of the original beer bars in Ontario, if not the original, was C’est What? In downtown Toronto. They originally brewed their own beers before finding out that if you remove the vessels and contract out the brewing, you have more room for paying patrons. A solid lineup of beers has kept this place going for over 20 years now. The Homegrown Hemp Ale is a light amber coloured beer with a thin white head. The aroma is grains, weak hemp seeds, and weak earthy hops. The flavour is a nice balance between the malt and hops that made this a favourite of mine when visiting Toronto.

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

When I was in University many decades ago, there was a ginger beer available from England that was very good, but over time it disappeared from the shelves. This is not an ideal replacement. The beer pours a cloudy copper colour with a weak light brown head. The aroma is really just ginger and caramel, and anything else is lost in the mix. The flavour is a muddled mess of caramel notes, ginger, and citrus.

Aroma: 4 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

I’m not sure what the brewery was attempting here but they failed. The beer pours a weak gold colour and any cap that I was expecting to see, never materialized. The aroma was weak grains, some acidic notes, a little yeast, and musty hops. The flavour was very macro blonde ale-sih. Grainy, metallic, and a bitter hop finish.

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

I remember when a Centurion was a character from the 1970s Battlestar Galactica, and now it’s a beer. This is described as a Spruce Ale but not much in the way of spruce aroma. Had I not known it was a spruce ale, I would have thought it was just a boring blonde ale because that is what it looks like, smells like, and tastes like. Apparently at one time this was known as Twisted Spruce Ale……who knew?

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 6

If there was ever a contest for the stupidest name of a beer, and the accompanying design, this would be a finalist. The beer behind the name/design isn’t all that bad. It pours a light amber colour with a thin tan ring for a cap. Cinnamon and nutmeg are the first thing to hit the nose and then comes the grains, and unfortunately, some old plain hops. The flavour is weak with the spices dominating the hops and malt. Better than most macro products however.