Trafalagar Brewery is well-known for three things: garish packaging, prodigious output and beer that often has a short shelf life.
Having never been out to see them (they’re in Oakville, I don’t have a car and I hate the GO train) I have no idea if their beers taste better on-site but when picking them up at the LCBO, you’re definitely better off if you don’t let them sit there too long.
With that in mind, it was with some trepidation that I opened up my bottle of their Oak-Aged Rye (5% ABV, 650 mL). I’ve always enjoyed Innis & Gunn ( I like the boozy, warming quality… that suggestion of whiskey that lingers on your tongue) but I couldn’t imagine a brewery with the track record of Trafalgar besting that of Belhaven.
Still, I’d thrown a DVD of Milk on and there were wasabi peas to munch on so, with almost no expectations, I was prepared to spend a fairly pleasant evening.
It poured with almost no head which wasn’t a great start but the aroma was a bit better, if still rather faint, with malty notes of rye and caramel. Flavour-wise, it’s quite sweet with a bit of spice and some wood but it’s definitely too thin and watery for my liking. As expected, bitterness features predominantly and there’s very little carbonation. Thankfully, it wasn’t too stale but I still prefer Innis & Gunn’s version.
I wasn’t that impressed and I wouldn’t buy it again but this is the best beer I’ve ever tried from them and if this is any indication of where they’re going, I look forward to seeing a product from them in the near future that I’d actually buy more than once.
Next, I cracked open their Cedar Cream Ale (5% ABV, 341 mL). Similiarly to the first beer, it poured with practically no head at all; I would’ve really had to toss it in there to achieve anything. Grainy malt and a bit of toffee feature predomainantly in the aroma but no hint of the cedar. Malt also is the main element in the flavour with just a hint of cedar; swallow and you might miss it.It’s also got a very light mouthfeel and with almost no carbonation, it thankfully leaves just quickly as it came with a short, rather bitter finish.
Although both of these beers are better efforts than previous outings by Trafalgar, they both fall short of the efforts released by better breweries.
At least I had the peas.
