78/100) Canada's Big Rock Brewing

I have set myself the goal to review three beers or ciders every week for 100 weeks. I will be learning about beer and ciders more as I do this, and if I am successful in this venture, I will have tried about 300 unique drinks. If you're curious how I'm doing, the number in the post's title tells you which week I am in now.

Warthog, Scottish Heave Ale, Abandoned Abbey

I made a trip up to Canada a while back with a friend. We didn't make it to this brewery, but I picked up some of their beers. They seemed to have decent reviews and the bottle/can art looked nice. Yes, I judged a beer by its cover. The whole world of Canadian beers is just too new to me, so I had to come up with some way of not spending three hours just deciding what to bring back. I know. Excuses.. Excuses..

Warthog) An English mild is mild, as one might say. For me, I imagine this beer to be something an old British colonial might reminisce over. Ah, I dare say, this reminds me of the Savannah and warthog sweat. Nasty buggers, you could smell them before you saw them. And they always had the indecency to show right during a meal. Ugh. Or something like that. Really, the taste has nothing to do with warthog stink, but I also don't have enough experience with the style to evaluate whether it is representative or not. There was one background flavor in the finish that I didn't like. It reminded me of the way mildew smells. Otherwise good. ☆☆☆

Scottish Heavy Ale) For me, this is one of Big Rock's winners. The smoothness of this wee heavy remained light without being watery. I got lots of sorghum/molasses in the middle and later on in the linger as well. A bit of fruits, apricot and golden raisin, filled out the finish. I'm sure it baffles you as much as me, but I still don't know exactly why this kind of beer is called a Scottish Heavy Ale. It's not heavy. It's light in color and impact. And I'm not sure what makes it Scottish. Regardless, I love it. ☆☆☆☆☆

Abandoned Abbey) Found deep in a hidden valley shrouded by mist at the Abandoned Abbey, this dark strong ale was enjoyable. Firstly, I'm big on having a good thick mouth feel for Belgian styles, and this one's mouth feel was moderate at best. Also, Belgian style beers tend to have lots of layers of complexity. This one though came across a bit monotone. Negatives aside, the dark fruit flavors smacked of plum and though it was straightforward to me, it might make for a good gateway Belgian for others. ☆☆☆