Lake of Bays - Spring Maple Belgian Blonde Ale

I started having some respect for the Lake of Bays with their red (Spark House Red).... if you've never had that one, it's a regular of mine at Boo Radleys on Dupont in Toronto. Very nice, malty and interesting beer for doing whatever needs doing while drinking beer.

But this isn't about that lovely brew, this is about the Spring Maple Belgian Blonde Ale. This was a bit of a revelation for me as most of the maple beers that I've had have had a tang of sorts to it, where it just didn't taste right... or it would taste like they've added maple syrup to the beer afterwards and it would just be too sweet... like drinking one of those wine coolers where it's got a syrupy flavour. Whatever. This beer focuses on it being a good Belgian blonde first and foremost. Tasty stuff indeed! If you're looking for it you can get some vanilla and caramel out of it too, but nothing that overwhelms. It's a nicely made brew that combines all that creates it into a well blended whole. I'm buying 6 more tomorrow, I want this to be on call whenever I need it.

http://lakeofbaysbrewing.ca/our-beer/spring-maple-belgian-blonde-ale/

Alexander Keiths Hop Series - Hallertau, Cascade

Full disclosure: I knew going into this that I wasn't the target audience for these beers. I also was a bit confused about who the target audience for these products were. Craft beer people will go for more adventurous offerings from smaller brewers, and  I doubt this will be enough to convert anyone firmly in the "yellow beer in brown bottles" crowd.

There's enough hops in each so that you can tell some of the differences between them, the Hallertau is more spicy (grassy, herbal) and a bit milder bitterness wise. You can get a some citrus and pine out of the Cascade if you're looking for it. Neither of which are particularly hard on the flavour or bitterness profile which is fine if you're looking to get a beer out of the fridge for my mom or dad. A bit different and might make them a bit more aware of what's in their drink given the label but other than that... I think they'd drink it if I poured it for them but I doubt they'd pick it out themselves.

Personally I'm looking for a bit more out of my beer, I appreciate the effort but think it was a bit of a miss. Keiths' biggest mistake in my opinion was in not going harder on the hops and really making the different flavours of the hops pop. As it was, it was sort of meh.

http://keiths.ca/

Dupont - Monk's Stout

The first one of these Dupont beers that I've been disappointed by. Every single one of the other ones that I've tried so far has been fantastic. This is just ok. To me, it tastes like like molasses and dry chocolate along with a some smoke and roasted malt flavours... but something just doesn't taste right.Off somehow, like the bottle went, or it was meant to be a bit tart in the first place. Perhaps this bottle didn't hold up as well as the rest did, or maybe it's really meant to taste this way. Either way it's not quite what I was hoping for.

http://www.brasserie-dupont.com/dupont/

Brasserie des Rocs - Grand Cru

7 types of malt, 3 types of hops, 9%. This is a tasty beer, and another winner. I'm glad the LCBO has no shortage of this sweetie for the time being, since I'll definitely be picking more up. Pours a nice dark red with plenty of malt, caramel and dried fruit to the palate. The scent matches too, I'd say it smells quite a bit like an abbey beer - perhaps that's the point (Abbay. It's a very nice and complex strong Belgian beer... hmm.... now I'm getting a wee bit of chocolate taste in it. Maybe even a bit of molasses, although if that's the case it's way in the back. Why don't we have these in more often LCBO?
http://www.abbaye-des-rocs.com/

It's happening

Ok, one of the things that I alluded to in a previous posting is actually happening now. I'm going to go sort out some of the details today - hopefully this will make things MUCH more stable.

I See You

Not too sure what to say about this one. It's obviously inspired by I'm Scared, and the author claims as much off the bat. It tries a few old tricks and a few different tricks with varying degrees of success. I think that may be partly because I had already played I'm Scared so that when certain things happened I was not too surprised - which may have led to my feeling that it was not as successful as its inspiration. Feel free to give it a shot if you have maybe a half hour to walk through it however, maybe you'll find more to it than I did!


http://gamejolt.com/games/other/i-see-you/13843/

Dupont - Moinette Brune

Just started trying this one, continuing to explore the Dupont offerings at the LCBO as part of their seasonal offerings. This is quite good. It's a strong brown ale but doesn't taste like a brown ale. Tastes of chocolate, dark roasted malt and smokiness aren't really present at all - it reminds me more of a dubbel or a brown abbey style beer where what is noticable is more along the lines of fruitiness. The fruitiness is noticable in the scent as well, it smells like that style of beer as well. A bit floral, a bit caramelly. It's nice, I'd definitely have it again. Not sure that I'd stock up on it, but if it was available at the LCBO on a regular basis I'd pick it up occasionally.

http://www.brasserie-dupont.com/dupont/en/6966-moinette-brune.html

Tree Brewing - Captivator Doppelbock

The first thing that caught me when I opened it was what a wonderful aroma there was. As a homebrewer, if I knew what it was that gave it that awesome smell I would use it every time.

It's a great dopplebock. A bit sweet, tastes like dark fruits, biscuits and bread. The maltiness is just right. Pours dark red-brown. Not nearly as boozy as I expected it to be given the percentage (8%).  I think I'm going to go back to the local LCBO to clean them out. I recommend that you at least give it a shot while it's in stock.

www.treebeer.com

Eyes - the horror game

This is an interesting take on the whole sneak/hide/scare type of game.You aren't capable of much in Eyes, save for walking and running around a house going in and out of rooms, picking up bags of money and a few other trinkets that let you get at more money. It may sound simple enough except for one thing: There's a creepy grey ghost like figure roaming the hallways that will catch you if you aren't careful. To be honest I wouldn't like some strange fella in my house taking my stuff anyways, and the game does introduce itself as a break and enter type of deal. When the ghost gets close to your location, you hear things rattling and voices moaning. If you're in a room when that happens and you stay still and quiet it'll likely pass without much of an event. If you're out in the hallway or running around like an idiot, you'll see the grey misty figure, a bright red warning telling you to run will show up although even if you run you're probably screwed by this point.

There's also these eyes on the walls that you can pick up that'll let you see through the ghost's eyes. This will let you know more or less where the creature is in the house, although if you're not familiar with all the floors this won't do you a whole lot of good.

I could have done without the selectable items sparkling, although it does make the game more accessible for first timers and it does save a lot of time on useless clicking. I would have also liked a bit more of a hunt and chase type of thing with the ghost, where you have to spend more effort trying to find good places to hide and the ghost chases you rather than just ducking into a room when you hear rattling. As it is, it feels like when the ghost gets you it's all over very quickly. The chasing part of it, the "I'm going to get you" aspect, if it was there a bit more somehow I think it would add a lot to the game.

It really is done quite well, especially for a free game (Windows). I bought the iOS version just to support development though I find it far choppier and the controls much less precise and slippery on my iPod touch 3G. Development is ongoing so I'm sure it'll be addressed at some point. It's also available for Mac, Linux and Android.

http://eyesthehorrorgame.com/

Update: Just updated to the 2.0 windows version - holy cow, they've replaced the ghost with a scary flying severed head! More effective for the shock horror they're going for than before, that's for sure! Doesn't really change the game much but it looks scarier

Stuff going on

Apologies for the delay between posts, but there is a lot going on over here both at home and work. I've been focusing on making both of those happen and it is starting to look very good. Updates as they come!

In the meantime, I've found a couple games that have occupied my interest much in the same vein as "I'm Scared". One's called Eyes, another's called Slender - the eight pages (probably the inspiration for many of these, but I haven't gotten to it until recently). Also, another one that seems interesting that I'll likely get to tonight called I See You. Hopefully it will pay off!