Inveralmond Brewery Santa's Swallie

Should you leave this for Santa instead of cookies and milk?

Beer : Santa’s Swallie

Brewery : Inveralmond Brewery Ltd

Brewed In : United Kingdom

Style : Scottish Ale

ABV : 4.3%

Price : No idea it was a gift!

Notes : Brewed for winter sale.

Story : This was a Christmas gift last year.  It was nicely placed in my stocking from Santa himself!

Appearance : The beer pours a amber colour, with a bit of red too.  A two finger head that sticks around is quite fluffy.

Smell : A beer that I don’t like the smell of….it smells astringent and too yeasty.

Taste : The taste is a bit better, cinnamon and a bit of nutmeg.  Not really much else to it.

Mouthfeel : Medium bodied with a low level of carbonation.

Drinkability : It is a very simple beer, not much flavour to it.  I am not sure if Santa would appreciate this too much but instead of milk at every house he just might enjoy it more then I did.

Half Pints Demeter's Harvest

The sweet nectar of a goddess!

Beer : Demeter’s Harvest

Brewery : Half Pints Brewery

Brewed In : Winnipeg, Manitoba

Style : Wheatwine

ABV : 11.5%

Price : $9.26 for a 750ml

Notes : A Christmas time release for the next 5 years I am guessing?

Story : This is the Half Pints replacement beer for their Burlywine, which shall forever be known as Dementor’s Harvest since I clearly don’t know how to read and called it that for weeks as it was being released. Daniella or Adrian corrected me the night before the release as we drank many beers in preparation for the morning festivities at Half Pints and brunch later.  So what did I think of the Half Pints Harry Potter inspired (not really) beer?

Appearance : Poured a small head that left some lacing but overall it dissolved rather quickly.  Was a hazy dark amber with a bit of copper.

Smell : The hops are very prevalent but a bit of sweetness comes across as well.

Taste : As soon as Demeter’s Harvest hits your tongue you taste the honey and a rush of hops comes out right after. The finish is sweet and a mixture of the honey and hops, which gives it just a little bit of a bite to it.

Mouthfeel : Not much carbonation and it is on the high end of a medium body.

Drinkability : Well I really enjoyed the Burlywine from Half Pints and have one bottle left I think I may prefer this better.  Maybe one night I will open both and see what I really prefer but honestly they are both fantastic beers.

The Great Burger Hunt - Unburger

A place I had high expectations for!

A few friends of mine have been to Unburger and have wanted me to do a review for some time as they all think it is quite delicious.  So with my expectations high, and my stomach hungry, Adrian and I ventured down to Unburger on a snowy Friday night.

I took a quick peek at the menu during my History of Film class – as I was bored – so I already had an idea on what I was going to order.  After being scolded by Adrian for saying Aussie incorrectly I ordered a Drunken Aussie still saying it incorrectly to piss him off.  This just lead to a conversation at the till about how Adrian does a good British accent – which is really his actually accent.  Adrian orders his burger and we ordered some Shareables (potato fries and yam fries with dipping sauces!!!).  He may have got his burger “Arnold” sized – adding a second patty – but I can’t remember if he did or just talked about getting it because he wanted to say Arnold to the guy working the till.

We were then handed a small Super Mario figure to take with us to our table.  I noticed a Goku figure at the table next to us and a Yoshi figure further down the line.  These are a great change from just handing customers a number!

The menu at Unburger is awesome too.  They have 5 different beef burgers, 5 different chicken burgers, and a couple veggie burgers.  A few of the beef and chicken burgers are interchangeable so you really have more options.  Plus you can add any toppings onto your burger, add a second patty, or change a beef burger to a bison burger for another $2.75.

For a burger place they have a decent selection of sides too.  Edamommy (which I assume is edamame) or fries (yam or potato) can be tossed in sea salt of sweet curry salt.  They also have Caesar salad, Asian slaw, and a Hal Johnson and Joanne McCleod 8-grain energy salad.  I totally want to try the energy salad next time.

We did not wait long for our food to come out.  I don’t even think I was half done my beer.

The Drunken Aussie sounded too interesting for me to pass up.  I love egg on my burgers so it really wasn’t a choice.  The idea of pineapple and beets was intriguing but I was a little unsure.  I mean, I love pineapple and beets – but on a burger?  Well I can say this burger was delicious.  It came with golden pineapple, a sunny side up Omega-3 egg, beets, double smoked bacon, Bothwell cheddar, green leaf, and herb mayo.  Plus I was given the choice of a white or multigrain bun!  I went with multigrain.

The only negative to this burger was that the beets were very overpowering.  Not really surprised by that but maybe less beets would have balanced the flavour better.  The pineapple was great and I plan on putting this on more homemade burgers next summer!

As Adrian bit into his Opah! burger he said it, “tasted like Greek salad in burger form.”  The Opah! burger came with olive tapenade, creamy feta, cucumber, green leaf, tomato, and lemon oregano yogurt.

The Shareables were also very tasty.  I prefer the yam fries myself over the potato fries but both were excellent.  These fries were not on the crispy side, and I like my fries crispy, but they were still damn good.  You also have a choice of dips: ultimate chili ailo, rosemary garlic aioli, chipotle aioli, sweet chipotle, or honey dill.  We both wanted the ultimate chili.  We both made the correct choice.  Since I am not the biggest ketchup guy dipping sauces always draw me into a place for fries!

Even though the food was excellent it is kind of on the pricey side.  The cheapest burger is $7.25.  It is totally worth the price but Unburger is not a place you, or at least I can’t, afford to eat at all the time.

What it got : Drunken Aussie burger and Shareables (potato and yam fries) - $16.50 plus tax.

Burger Taste : 4/5

Fries Taste : 5/5 (yam and potato)

Price Value : 3/5

Menu Selection : 4/5

Overall : 4/5

Unburger

472 Stradbrook Ave

Winnipeg, MB R3L 0J9

204-888-1001