December 21, 2004 -- My hectic schedule and tight deadlines over the past few months have resulted in the posting of far fewer reviews than I'd ever intended, almost none, if the truth be known. So over the holiday season, I'm going to attempt to rectify that, beginning with the following random quartet of brews plucked from my fridge.

I began with the limited edition Sleeman Fine Porter, a 5.5% alcohol effort by the third largest brewery in Canada, and overall I must say that I am quite happy with this ale. Deep purple in colour with a lightly sweetish, raisiny aroma touched by roast and chocolate, it carries a light note of astringency in the nose that mellows the sweetness. The start is sweet and chocolaty, leading into a drier, more roasty and slightly smoky character on a fairly light body and with a hint of the kind of carbon-like bite you'd get from burnt toast, which is totally in line with what I'd expect from a porter crafted in the old English style. The finish has a shade of bitterness to it, but is mostly dry roast with a bit of prune underneath.

From Guelph, Ontario, I turned to Plattsburgh, New York, for the Lake Placid Pub & Brewery's flagship offering, the 7% alcohol Ubu Ale. Slightly lighter and redder in colour than the Sleeman Porter, it puts all thoughts of roasty astringency quickly to rest with a rounded, sweet and plummy aroma. The start offers an almost candied fruit-like fruitiness, with a continued red plum presence, while the body firms up with the addition of soft milk chocolate notes, more fruit, a bit of toasty-roasty malt and some lightly leafy, drying hop, along with a developing alcohol presence. The general character of this beer, along with its off-dry, warming finish, makes me think of it as the ale equivalent of comfort food.

From New York to the Netherlands next, for Capucijn, a 6.5% alcohol abbey-style ale from the Budel brewery. Pouring almost blood red in colour, it has a veritable fruit basket of an aroma, mixing notes of tropical fruit with red grapes, black plum and plump raisins, all over a base of sweet toffee. The start is as round and fruity and robust as the aroma, and the body follows suit with flavour notes that remind me of fresh toffee and brandy-muddled fruit. I suspect that food-friendly only begins to describe this impressive dubbel from one of Holland's last remaining, independent family brewers.

Given the malty theme developing, the fourth and final beer is not the Vermont IPA I had originally pulled, but rather a Siard Falco from the Abbey Brewery Zeliv of the Czech Republic, described (in English) on the brewery's website as a 5.2% alcohol "cherry ale of superior taste." Knowing that the Czechs generally brew lagers and rarely make fruit beers, I was a little daunted by this description but forged gamely ahead nonetheless, fortified somewhat by a further examination of the website (pivovar.zeliv.cz) which revealed that the Zeliv brewery does indeed brew only ales.

The pinkish colour and cherry-ish aroma leave no doubt that the fruit has done its job in this beer, but just in case there are three little cherries bobbing around in the bottle. The nose is not sweet, however, and there are apparent complexities which speak to the presence of whole fruit being for more than just show. The taste begins with a hint of sweetness and an obvious cherry presence, but then the hops in this beer kick in and add a not-altogether-complementary bitterness to the ale. I get some cherry pit notes, background hints of almond, and a hoppiness that threatens to suppress it all. Certainly the oddest beer I've sampled for a while, and one which I may have to finish before I know whether or not I like it.

Postscript: I never could get my palate around the evident contradiction in the flavours of the Siard Falco, but its daring and inventiveness in a land where pale-hued lagers dominate so utterly have me wanting to sample more from this brewery.

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