I never did make it up to the Granite on Saturday afternoon but I eventually did manage to get my hands on a Toronto Beer Week tshirt. My arm was “twisted” and I agreed head into Allen’s for a pint after submitting an order for a Black IPA and a Double Chocolate Stout at Fermentations on the Danforth. After this I headed to Bar Volo (I seem to be going there a lot lately…) for the Dieu Du Ciel tasting feature. Beyond knowing they had DDC on tap, and enough choices to push the list to double digits, I didn’t know what I was in store for.
This event was towards the end of the DDC feature week presented by HMH Negotiants. Starting earlier in the week a beer dinner was held at Chancey Smith’s, a beer lunch was held at Caplanskys and a pub crawl staggered it’s way across the city enduring more than 12 hours. Tonight was the feature event at Volo and the next day was a DDC brunch at beerbistro hosted by Stephen Beaumont. All of this, and Toronto Beer Week had not even officially kicked off!
Getting back to the DDC feature, I was privileged to sample three fine DDC beers. I could not go without tasting the mighty Aphrodite. (Normally I refer to it by its not LCBO-bastardized name but the rhyme there was so appealing.) This top rated stout boasts big hits of cocoa and vanilla with the perfect bitterness. Always smooth and velvety this is a top choice that I cannot ever resist. The two choices new to me were Chaman, an Imperial Pale Ale, and Grande Noirceur, an Imperial Stout. I found the Grande Noiceur very similar (in taste and excellence) to the Peche Mortel, with the notable difference being the absence of an overt coffee profile. Very easy to drink and could see the dangers in making this an inadvertent and unlikely session beer. The Chaman, copper colour and quite cloudy, was dominated by hops but had a large enough malt profile bring about a decent balance. I don’t think I could session this one even if I tried! Lastly I tried the much hyped Caustic Commencement Saison – the much hyped and highly anticipated collaboration effort from Biergotter and Volo. Saisons are fairly new to me but what I have learned so far is that there is much diversity under the saison label. On initally inhaling the nose I thought I smelled a fruity bathroom cleaner. Perplexed at what I was smelling I had my confusion eased when Chris told me “mangoes”. Once I had identified the mango aspect things fell into place. The mango flavour was competing with a strong hop aroma as well as notes of other tropical fruits. It was a treat to drink and was not out of place with DDC, as the caliber was top notch. Definitely setting the bar high for all future products coming from Volo’s brewery.
It’s fantastic to see that one of Canada’s best breweries is now available in my backyard, both in pubs and the LCBO. Hopefully they are blazing the trail for many others to follow! Cheers to Volo, HMH Negotiants and DDC for creating such great opportunities for beer drinkers in Ontario
Beer With Me 