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The 11th Annual
Festival Of Small Breweries

The autumn ritual of our Festival Of Small Breweries was observed by hundreds of the usual suspects, from beer weenies to weekend warriors. As usual we had an outstanding lineup of micro-brewed products. In all, there were over forty-one choices from Amsterdam, Big Rock, Brick, Cameron's, C'est What, Creemore, Durham, F&M, The Granite, Hart, Kawartha Lakes, McAuslan's, Muskoka, Niagara Falls, Robinson, Rodney's, St. Andre's, Sleeman, Unibroue, and Wellington County.

Close analysis of the evening's proceedings have divined the following facts:

  • 2243 samples were served - that's almost five big kegs of beer served over the five hours in wee little cups.
  • A little over half (1248) of the samples served were rated by the 84 festival goers who actually submitted their score sheets (or about 15 samples each)
  • Tied for Best Of The Festival were McAuslan's St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout and C'est What's Coffee Porter both receiving median scores of 40 out of 50. All of the offerings were well regarded with the lowest median scores coming in at 30.
  • The Most Curious award for most tasted beer goes to McAuslan for their Spiced Pumpkin. Other oft-tasted brews include Durham Winter Wheat, McAuslan's Apricot Wheat, and Hart Pumpkin.
  • The Kid In A Candy Store honours for the most diligent taster is shared by two Pauls, Sambla and Sproule, who managed to taste, or at least score, all of the Festival offerings. This is the second year running that Paul Sambla has finished them all, did his parents make him clean his plate too? David Patton and Ian Mitchell managed to come within four samples of the leaders in this category of questionable taste.
  • Eighteen expert beer drinkers chosen from our beer essay contest formed the jury that selected the Critic's Choice top three in a "blind" tasting. Finishing first was Hart Amber Ale, followed by Creemore's extra aged two year old Urbock (which finished third in 1997), and St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout (which is rapidly gaining a reputation as the best stout available in Canada).

Our thanks to our fine local brewers for producing such drinkable fare and to the dilligent beer lovers who make this festival an annual success.

Median scores for beers with at least 20 samples rated in rank order
Looks
Aroma
Flavour
Finish
Likability
Total
Samples Rated

out of 4
out of 6
out of 22
out of 8
out of 10
out of 50

St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout
4.0
4.0
18.0
6.0
8.0
40.0
37

C'est What Coffee Porter
4.0
4.5
18.0
6.0
7.5
40.0
21

Hart Amber Ale
3.0
4.0
18.0
6.0
8.0
39.0
25

Unibroue Quelque Chose
3.0
4.0
17.5
6.0
7.5
38.5
34

Wellington Imperial Stout
4.0
4.0
17.5
6.0
7.0
38.5
28

McAuslan's Apricot Wheat
3.0
5.0
17.0
6.0
7.0
38.0
49

Creemore Urbock Reserve
3.0
4.0
18.0
6.0
7.0
38.0
39

Unibroue Trois Pistoles
4.0
4.0
16.5
6.0
7.0
37.5
38

Granite Peculiar
3.0
4.0
17.0
6.0
7.0
37.0
39

Kawartha Raspberry Wheat
3.0
5.0
17.0
5.0
7.0
37.0
31

St. Ambroise Pale Ale
3.0
4.0
17.0
6.0
7.0
37.0
31

Niagara Apple Ale
3.0
4.0
17.0
6.0
7.0
37.0
24

Amsterdam Framboise
4.0
4.5
16.0
5.0
7.0
36.5
34

McAuslan's Spiced Pumpkin
3.0
4.0
16.5
5.5
7.0
36.0
56

Niagara Olde Jack
3.0
3.0
17.0
5.0
7.0
35.0
23

Rodney's Oyster Stout
4.0
3.0
15.5
6.0
6.0
34.5
43

Kawartha Nut Brown Ale
3.0
3.0
17.0
5.5
6.0
34.5
30

Big Rock Black Amber
3.5
3.0
15.5
5.0
7.0
34.0
32

Robinson's Dunkel
3.0
3.0
16.0
5.5
6.0
33.5
44

C'est What Rye Beer
3.0
3.0
16.0
5.0
6.5
33.5
26

Durham Winter Wheat
3.0
3.0
16.0
5.0
6.0
33.0
54

Amsterdam Dogbolter
3.0
3.0
15.5
5.0
6.5
33.0
32

C'est What Chocolate Ale
3.0
3.0
15.0
5.0
6.0
32.0
45

Big Rock Magpie Rye
3.0
3.0
15.0
5.0
6.0
32.0
40

Ste. André Vienna Lager
3.0
3.0
15.0
5.0
6.0
32.0
34

Cameron's Auburn Ale
3.0
3.0
14.5
5.0
6.0
31.5
36

C'est What Al's Cask Ale
3.0
3.5
13.5
5.0
6.5
31.5
20

Hart Pumpkin Ale
3.0
3.0
14.0
5.0
6.0
31.0
47

F&M Cask Dark Ale
3.0
3.0
14.0
5.0
6.0
31.0
42

C'est What Hemp Ale
3.0
3.0
14.0
5.0
6.0
31.0
32

Brick Andech's
3.0
2.5
15.0
4.5
6.0
31.0
28

Wellington Cask Steam Beer
3.0
3.0
14.0
5.0
5.0
30.0
43
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