Last week, A&B Liquor Store received two cases of a special release from Half Pints Brewing Co. out of Winnipeg. It’s called Black Galaxy and it comes in a 650ml bottle ($5.95). An American Black Ale with Australian Galaxy hops, this beer is not for the faint-of-heart. My hubby and I shared a bottle and it was dark and strong and hoppy, and really quite delicious! (I should disclose that I love everything from this brewery! Check out their 12-bottle Taster’s Pack for $24.50 at A&B.)
This beer was released at the brewery on St. Paddy’s day and immediately sold out. The Half Pints blog explains how Black Galaxy made its way to Alberta:
We will be shipping cases of this beer to Alberta, cause we figure we owed it to our friend Kyle from Lethbridge who drove all the way to Winnipeg a couple weeks back only to find we hadn’t bottled the beer yet. However, he did get to taste the beer from the tank before I did! Look for it popping into the AGLC system and then the stores a couple of weeks or so after St. Paddy’s Day.
Thanks Kyle!
Half Pints Black Galaxy
The big news in beer right now is the introduction of Coors Light Iced T – Coors Light beer with a hint of tea. At A&B Liquor Store, we received our first shipment on Wednesday. Right now we have 6 bottles ($13.40) and 12 bottles ($26.30), with 12 cans coming soon. Annnd, it’s only available in Canada!
Be warned that this does not taste like sweet iced tea. It is mainly beer with a hint of tea. In the Toronto Sun, Jordan St. John had this to say:
Understand this: as a beer critic, I really want to hate Coors Light Iced T. It would be fun to savage the thing on principle, because it’s not a beer so much as it is a beverage. It’s pretty much designed to appeal to people who don’t like beer, and that’s not something that I can pretend to like.
On the other hand, I have to admit that as a beverage, it’s refreshing and I can certainly see the appeal of drinking one if it were really hot out and you were playing golf or trying to cool down in the shade on a summer day. It is thirst quenching, and if that’s what you need at the time, it will do the job admirably. It is better than it has any right to be.
Coors Light Iced T
Here at A&B Liquor Store, we have a plethora of flavoured vodkas. Flavours such as chocolate, caramel, whipped cream, orange, vanilla, mango… the list goes on. But today we added to our collection with an original: Bakon Vodka - the bacon-flavoured vodka!
Bakon Vodka ($37.95) is distilled in Idaho from potatoes and infused with the flavour of bacon. Mmmmmm, bacon. It’s supposed to make a great Bloody Mary (a Caesar with tomato juice instead of Clamato) and at bakonvodka.com there are many other recipes to try.
As my friend Lindsey says, “Everything tastes better with bacon!” BLT Martini, anyone?
Bacon-flavoured Vodka
That’s right – it’s Tequila and it’s in a can! La Gavilana ($9.95) is new at A&B Liquor Store and comes in a 230ml aluminum can, which is the equivalent of five shots. I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that this isn’t a sipping Tequila, but it’s a great size for mixing a few margaritas and the price is pretty sweet too!
La Gavilana Tequila in a Can
Christmas is over but we’re still officially in the holiday season, and if you’ve been cooped up at home with family, you might be suffering from Cabin Fever. The ultimate cure for such malaise has to be Cabin Fever Maple Flavored Whisky! Made with 100% Vermont maple, Cabin Fever is now available at A&B Liquor Store in two sizes: 50ml ($3.95) and 750ml ($43.95).
In order to write something about this little number, I decided to do an impromptu staff tasting. Okay, there were only three of us and it was before noon, but we all really liked it! I could really smell butterscotch, but the maple flavour came through when I tasted it. And at 40% alcohol, I was amazed that it didn’t burn on the way down.
This would be great on the rocks, or maybe with a bit of ginger ale, but I think it would be too sweet with cola. Maybe, maybe not. The Cabin Fever website has some interesting recipes to try and some of them sound delicious!
For a detailed review of Cabin Fever, check out the Whiskey Nose site.
Cabin Fever Maple Flavored Whisky
