Jeff's Top 102 Beers - #102

As a way of enticing you all (all - ha!) to come back and visit me more often, and as an easy way for me to feed content into this bloggerific empty webspace, I am going to work my through my top 100 Beers that I have ever tried. I'll provide some background, impressions (hint: I think they are all really good and taste awesome), and even info on where you might be able to find it. This should be fun, I've never really taken a look at my list before like this (all info coming from my ratebeer.com profile.

Oh, and why 102? Well, I had some ties at 100, according to my stats. And 102 seems more interesting than 100 for some reason.




#102
Church Key Riot Act Imperial Stout
Note: That's Church Key Northumberland pictured; I needed an image

Cool! I love this beer! And since it is from Church Key, I have lots of stuff I can write about. Let me explain. Church Key Brewing is a small micro brewer in Eastern Ontario, just outside of Campbellford, ON. I grew up in the Quinte area, and have tons of family back in the area and visit frequently, so when these guys opened their doors in 2000, I was pretty excited. You can read all about them at their site. They produce a number of interesting year round and seasonal brews, and can be found on tap at finer establishment in between Toronto and Ottawa. They do bottle, but you can only get them from the brewery direct or again, at finer beer establishment.

And they are really in an old church. No really. Here's a picture.





If you're ever looking for a diversion between Toronto and Ottawa (like say in the Spring, when they hold an annual open house, which I have been dragging people to for years), check it out, the place just overflows with character. And the owner, John, is a character himself.

Anyway, about this beer. This is not a usual Church Key offering. It made its first appearance at last year's open house (Spring Revival). The story is John basically homebrewed it himself in a very tiny quantity. We drank many plastic glasses of this beauty at the Revival, and again when it popped up in a couple of kegs at Volo in Toronto. And it hasn't been seen since, oooh, makes you want it more now, doesn't it?

So what is it like? Have you ever had an Imperial Stout before? I'm going to assume you have (novices: Imperial Stouts are like Stouts - think Guinness, if you have to - only kicked up way higher in flavour, alcohol, bitterness and everything else- they can be bitter, chocolaty, strong, but most often formidable - you sip a good one, believe me). This one is the finest I have tasted from an Ontario brewer. To summarize my ratebeer notes: it was pitch black, it looked oily and slick. It smelled like chocolate, molasses, and had tons of roast and coffee. These followed in the taste along with a good amount of bitterness. This was complex formidable stuff - a true after dinner treat. If you are ever fortunate enough to find this on tap somewhere, get one. And call me.

I hope you enjoyed the first of my top 102 beers! Feel free to list off some of your top beers, or impressions of this holy Church.

That's a good lad.

Je5