9 Great Beers Currently Available From K/W Breweries
By: KWMotion, May 11th
After surveying multiple online communities, and receiving feedback from some of our region’s residents on their favorite beers at local breweries, we have compiled a list that reflects some of the community’s opinions on the best tasting, currently available beers.
It’s important to note that not all craft breweries put the focus of all their efforts on their core selection of beers, often focusing on new flavors/techniques instead. As a result this list showcases some tried and true classics, and some flavorful favorites that aren’t main staples. Here’s our picks for the best beers currently available at K/W breweries, by type.
TWB (Together We’re Bitter Co-Operative Brewing)’s Let’s Get Ready to Rumble is an Imperial Pastry Stout with a rich and robust flavor. Pastry Stouts are characterized by a focus on sweet flavors. Let’s Get Ready to Rumble is a great option for an after dinner drink.
(Formerly Red Circle) Stockyards Brewery describes their coffee porter as being “full bodied with notes of mocha, vanilla, and chocolate”. The porter is steeped with fresh, house-roasted Stockyards espresso, imparting robust coffee flavour and aroma. The name “night shift” a reference to their first brewery being home to Dominion Tire in 1957, when the night shift was a crucial part of the business.
Jackass Brewery’s Sun Kiss IPA is rightfully their most popular beer. You can find a video review of Jackass’s hazy Sun Kiss IPA here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjT6q5DrvpE
Waterloo Amber is an popular local favorite. Roasted rye malt and a special distiller’s malt give the Amber its whiskey colour. Hallertau hops and slow-aging with Northern White Oak give it a rich, rewarding flavour that makes the strong beer so drinkable.
The Fickle Mistress is a sour well-known, and well-loved in the region. It features bright citrus and lemony aroma from the overnight souring process and a healthy dose of citra and mosaic hops. With light-bodies with a dry finish, the flavour is tart at first, with a mild bitterness and heavy hop-driven flavours of citrus fruits and melon.
A Barrel Aged Blended Sour Saison, Shortfinger describes Lando OC as being, “a blend consisting of 2 neutral oak barrels on the 3rd and 4th use”. 10% fresh Lando (Shortfinger’s award winning sour) was blended in on a dry hop of “OC” old cascade leaf hops. Shortfinger notes that this is the first time they have used old leaf hop for a dry hop and that it imparts a very unique note to the batch. Notes of orange rind with a lemon tart are in the aroma. This follows through in the taste that mixes with notes of dry cut field grass. An expressive funk note comes through adding depth.
An Amber Ale with Canadian wild Juniper berries, Celebrating Sisters is apart of a country-wide collab with The Indigenous Brew Crew & Do Better. Be Better. to bring awareness to MMIW (Missing and murdered Indigenous women) in Canada. You can visit the website for the national inquiry into MMIW for info on the new public awareness and education campaign launched on social media platforms by the group.
Descendants was the dream of Robin Molloy, an Irish transplant who arrived in Kitchener in 1990. Robin moved to Berlin, Germany with his partner Lee in 2012 to study to become a Certified Brewmaster at the VLB. Descendant’s Golden Wry Ale is an unfiltered pale yellow with a light grainy rye flavour. It has been described as the perfect patio beer due to its crisp dry finish and medium body.
An easy drinking, no-frills lager. This beer pays homage to the hard-working folks of Hespeler Village and represents the community behind each great craft brewery. Light taste, with subtle sweetness and refreshing, crisp finish, “It Takes a Village” is a local favorite that’s available now.
