Today's sampling is Johnny's Premium Pale Ale by Neighbourhood Brewing out of Penticton, BC. Johnny's is a crisp and clean Pale Ale that is inspired by our travels and simpler times. It is a highly crushable beer, with a classic copper colour and a modern touch of hops. It's not just a Pale Ale, it's a premium Pale Ale. It's Johnny approved! 4.5% ABV/37 IBU One thing that entices me to pick up a beer by its design is anything that a label reminiscent of 70s-80s "your father's fave beer" kind of designs and this has the kind of look to it. Appearance: Pours a murky, mostly opaque caramel body ..read more

This marks the first time I ever reviewed anything by Sidney, BC's Small Gods Brewing, and it's all thanks to Quality Inn Beer Store in Winnipeg! Today's sampling is Small Gods' The Lion of Flanders, a Fresh-hop Belgian White Ale. From the website: Our Belgian White is a vibrant and aromatic brew, featuring Maple Bay Hop Farm’s Triple Pearl Fresh Hops, which are added to the boil within 60 minutes of harvesting, ensuring maximum freshness and a burst of floral and citrus notes. Complementing this, a generous dry-hop addition of fresh hop pellets enhances the beer’s aroma with earthy, herbal u ..read more

Today's sampling is Dageraad's Antigoon, a Belgian-style Strong Golden Ale. 9.0% ABV. From the can: A giant in a can, Antigoon pours a pale golden colour with a towering head. Herbal hop notes and fruity yeast esters will hit your nose before the dry, crisp and deceptively light beer hits your palate. Antigoon will make you feel like you're just a hand's throw from Antwerp. Appearance: This is a mildly cloudy Blonde Belgian ale that has a lot of carbonation going on. There's a lot off bubbly in the body, as well as a very healthy thickness of off-white head on top. I've given the beer a few ..read more

I had the honour of getting a tour of Four Winds Brewing in Delta, BC just over five years ago thanks to mon ami Chris. I was absolutely overwhelmed by Four Winds' beer selection while I visited because they just did a lot of stuff really, insanely well.  Today, I'm sampling their Juxtapose IPA, a beer I remember raving about way back then, and want to thank Quality Beer Store in Winnipeg for bringing this in so I could go broke quicker to finally review this beer! Love ya!  From the can: At the heart of this distinctive West Coast IPA stands the juxtaposition of ripe tropical frui ..read more

One thing that sucks about going through a pandemic for a couple years - seeing one of your fave breweries transform and evolve but not getting to see it happen in person. The first time I ever reviewed a beer by Bières Jukebox was in 2013 with their Distorsion IPA Américaine. A few years later I met Renaud of Jukebox as well as his brewer partner Shawn from Avant-Garde and they very quickly became some of my favourite brewers in the world! I visited Avant-Garde's space prior to COVID but it was just a shell of a brewery then, but when I visited a few months back, it was a full on massive tapr ..read more

I probably will never tell this story whenever I talk about Dauphin's Obsolete Brewing: I was in Montréal to write about Mondial de la Bière Beer Festival last year and there happened to be a stand dedicated to Canadian beer, and for the first time ever that I know of, they had beer from Manitoba - Dauphin's Obsolete Brewing was being sampled. Being a beer writer right from Western Manitoba, drinking a beer from my neighbourhood only made sense. In the end, Obsolete won an award at Mondial, with almost all the other awards getting scooped up by my buddies over at Avant-Garde (miss you Shawn et ..read more

I'd consider myself an expert on non-alcoholic beer, I've sampled a lot of them over the years - the early days of NA beer was pretty bad but we're now at the point where NA beer is pretty much on par with the regular full alcohol versions, full on flavour without the alcohol. Today's sampling is Corona's Sunbrew 0.0% brewed with natural flavour and Vitamin D. This is the first time I've seen a beer mention any vitamins added to the product. It's 2025 and Corona's Sunbrew is considered to be one of the most popular non-alcoholic beers in the world, so what took me so long to finally review it ..read more

Today's sampling is Quantum Hugs Cold IPA by Flying Monkeys Brewing. From the website: The answer to the question lies within the question. Quantum Hugs COLD IPA Embracing synopsis and creation, the Cold IPA flourishes in the interstices between lager and IPA dimensions where all possibilities exist at once. 6.1% ABV Appearance: Golden body with a slight amount of cloudiness to it, beautiful thick snow-white head on top that gradually diminishes to leave behind a layered lacing on the glass. Good amount of carbonation in the glass.  Aroma: Citrusy, sweet, floral and leafy. Pretty dank ..read more

Today's review is for those looking to Buy Canadian. Many of you will be familiar with the Pop Shoppe Brand out of London, Ontario, the makers of Canada's premium line of soft drinks. I was a very big fan of Pop Shoppe back when they were easy to find at Zellers.. in Stubby bottles nonetheless! I still buy a bottle of Pop Shoppe once in a while but mostly when I'm at a gas station as a treat.  Pop Shoppe branched out to adult versions of their products a number of years ago with vodka-based Cream Soda and Lime Ricky, but being someone who has never enjoyed either flavours, I never bought ..read more

Well, who would have known that Monsieur BeerCrank would happen to write not one, not two, but three MANITOBAN Belgian Tripel reviews all within the same week! The more the merrier as they say.  Today's sampling is Balloon Race Tripel by Obsolete Brewing out of Dauphin, Manitoba, making this the very first Belgian Tripel ever brewed in Western-ish Manitoba - As a fellow Belgian beer geek, I'm proud to see this day finally occur. From the can of Balloon Race: Introducing our Balloon Race Tripel - A Belgian-style beer inspired by the exhilarating hot-air balloon races at the 1900 Olympic ..read more