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

When this came out, it was better than most craft beers available in Ontario, but then, it wasn’t the typical blonde or pale lager all the craft brewers were creating at the time. Hockley Valley Dark pours a clear mahogany colour with a decent sized head. The aroma consists of roasted malt, chocolate, coffee, and caramel notes. The flavour is well balanced between the sweet chocolate notes and the bitter chocolate and roasted notes.

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

The Scotch Irish brown beer. A deep murky mahogany liquid fills the glass topped by a good inch of foaming light brown bubbles. Roasted malt, nuts, and resiny hops fill the nasal cavity with delight while the tastebuds yearn for their sampling of caramel, roasted malt, and a bitter chicory finish. If this is Corporal Punishment, sign me up!

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

I think this was the second Rickard’s product after the Red, and it disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared. The pours is clear, golden-brown in colour, with a weak off-white coloured cap. Aroma is dominated by grains and caramel with weak notes of floral hops. The flavour is sweeter than the aroma would indicate with hints of caramel, and honey.

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

This beer is only available in a 750ml bottle, and that’s too much. In the glass, the beer appears as a transparent reddish-brown colour. The head is an off-white colour, slightly foamy. There is honey present in the aroma, but for the most part it is caramel and some musty hops. The flavour has sweet notes from both the honey and caramel, and finishes with a bitter finish.

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

Another medal winning beer that doesn’t have any apparent medal winning characteristics. A transparent dark brown pour with a weak bubbly off-white cap. Aroma is weak roast, weak caramel, and floral hops. The flavour is a metallic nutty flavour with hints of roasted malt, yeast, and weak hops.

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

This beer underwent a name change a few years ago when Amsterdam, already considered a ‘craft’ brewery’ decided to take the term seriously. However, while the name changed, the flavours stayed the same, which is unfortunate because Amsterdam Nut Brown Ale was a boring brown ale. The beer is closer to being translucent copper in colour than brown. There is usually a thin light tan coloured head. Aroma is caramel malt, some earthy hops, and grains. The flavour has always had that dishwater note to it which is why I try and avoid it…but the name change sucked me in.

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

A beer named after a WWI flying ace is a great idea, but a better beer would have been nice. This is a mild brown ale that pours a translucent orange-brown colour. Aroma is nutty malt, caramel, and some weak citrusy hops…they tried, God knows they tried. Flavour is just as weak with the caramel and nut malts coming through more than the hops, but the weak body leaves this as a watered down mess.

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

Like Amsterdam, Black Oak was there at the beginning of the craft boom in Ontario, but upped there game around 2010 when more entrants started entering the field. Unlike Amsterdam, Black Oak has always made good beer. This is a translucent brown beer with an off-white bubbly head. Roasted malt and coffee make up the aroma and flavour. Hints of chocolate keep it interesting

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

A beer from days of yore, or so it appeared on the menu as such. A mild brown that was flavourful, but not too bitter. The beer was a mahogany coloured beer with a medium sized tan coloured cap. Aroma had some bready notes, some coffee, and some roast to it while the flavour was more akin to sweet dark chocolate with a hint of smokiness.

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

In this case, MBA stands for mild brown ale, but C’est What? Is so close to Toronto’s financial district, you have to wonder if it’s real. The beer pours a solid brown colour with a thin creamy tan coloured head. The aroma is caramel and roasted malt with some floral hops in there as well. Flavour is primarily nutty malt with a weak bitter finish. Doesn’t sound too exciting, but it’s a solid beer.

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

You have to like the honesty with this brew. They tell you up front that they use flaked corn in the brewing process, so it is no surprise that you get some notes of corn in both the aroma and flavour. It’s a dark metallic gold colour, quite clear, and is topped by a small white cap. There is some smokiness in the air along with some citrusy hops, grains, and hints of corn. The flavour brings both the corn and smokiness more to the front. Not bad, but I feel sorry for pre-prohibition drinkers if this was a steady diet of what was around.

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

I clearly did not read the bottle carefully, especially the part where it says 'chipotle'. I admit, I was taken very much by surprise by that. A dark brown pour, a littlen on the thin side with a chocolate brown cap. Coffee and chocolate dominate the aroma. The flavour is dominated by notes of coffee, roasted malt, and nuts...and then comes tyhe chipotle pepper, chugging down your throat like a French bullet train.

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

Again, long ago there was a simple chocolate ale at C’est What that everybody enjoyed. It was a brown ale, dark brown in colour, with a light brown head. The aroma was nutty malt with hints of coffee and dark chocolate. The flavour on the other hand was all chocolate all the time. If you like chocolate and beer, this was your thing!

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

The first time I saw this on the menu (and the Hazelnut Coffee Porter) I was thinking Nutella. Sadly, not a Nutella tasting beer. It is dark brown, with a light brown cap, and smells like roasted malt and dark chocolate. There is a hazelnut flavour in the finish so all is not lost.

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

Recently a few friends and I did a taste test on several Chocolate Stouts, and this was the winner by far. A great beer with some great colour, great aromas of coffee and chocolate, and a huge whallop of flavour to back it up. A perfect level of bitterness.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 7

This was a very bitter beer in a recent chocolate stout taste test a few friends and I had. While the colour was comparable to some of the others, both the aroma and flavour were weaker on the chocolate side than the Youngs

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 9

This was delicious and decadent, but not overpowering. It's a very black pour with huge choclate aroma. The aroma is mimicked by the taste. The cherry flavour was minimal.

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

This was the letdown of the Founders bunch. Nothing complex about this one, just a coffee stout heavy on the coffee and alcohol. That doesn't make for a world beater in my opinion. Had problems giving away my 2 extra bottles.

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

A canned beer and the can feels funny, not sure what they finish it with but the can has an enamel feel. The beer pours a clear copper colour with a generous thick foamy white head. Toffee, sour grains, and light fruit make up the aromatic qualities of this beer. Flavour is metallic caramel with grains

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

If you’ve become a beer drinker in Ontario over the last 25 years, you associate Sleeman’s with the term ‘cream ale’. Cameron’s is the brewer that perfected it. A medium gold pour with a generous white head that lingers a while. Sweet grainy malt, and ample floral hops make up the aroma while the grainy malt dominates the mellow flavour.

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

This is a summer favourite. I've had it on draught and canned and both are good. It's not a heavy beer, but is full flavoured and crisp. Like I said, a great summer beer.

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

One of these days I hope to find a cream ale that is creamy and not a thin bodied wannabee. Like all others, this is a thin bodied wannabee. A clear amber pour with a thin off-white head. Caramel and yeast dominate the aroma with hints of maple and earthy hops there to remind you it’s a beer. Flavour is on the sweet side, not surprisingly, with notes of caramel, maple, and brown sugar. Too sweet to finish.

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

A good interpretation of the style. The pour is a transparent copper colour with a thin rocky tan coloured head. Aroma is grains, yeast, and earthy hops. The flavour is malted grains, some weak spice, and a hop finish. Nothing exciting, just a well done effort by McAuslan.

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

This is not your typical Weihenstephaner brew. It pours a very dark brown, solid in colour, with a creamy light brown head, not the foamy head of the other Weihenstephaner beers. Aroma is also more complex with chocolate tones, dark fruits, and caramel notes being the first onslaught on the senses. The flavour is well balanced between malty sweetness and hop bitterness, with neither the sweet or bitter being overpowering

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 9

This is the original doppelbock, the one by which all others will supposedly be measured. I can see why. The beer pours a transparent cherry red colour with a generous long lasting off-white foaming cap. Dark fruits, caramel, and roasted malt comprise the bulk of the aromatic nature with some yeast present for good measure. The flavour is sweet roasted malt and caramel, with hints of plums and bread. I can see why this is a Lenten staple.