Cascadian Dark Ale - Granville Island Brewery

leaddog

Alberta (Canada)

4.23/5  rDev +6.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Appearance - Pours a dark chocolate brown with a finger width of creamy mocha head.

Smell - Piney hops, citrus fruits, tropical fruits, roasted malts.

Taste - Begins with roasted, toasty malts, followed by moderately bitter hops. Finishes with a light bitterness like cocoa.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Touch of creaminess to the body.

Overall - A good representation of a Cascadian by GIB. I quite enjoyed the unique cocoa twist in the finish. If curious about this style, this bottle is worth the venture.

Serving type: bottle

08-13-2012 00:03:37 | More by leaddog

andrenaline

Ontario (Canada)

4/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A - Pours a dark ruby red, thumb of head with solid retention and nice sheeting lacing.

S - Nice earthy hop notes off the top, solid caramel scents and a hint of espresso.

T - The earthy hops come through off the top with cedar and pine flavours coming through. The dark roasted malts come through on the finish with espresso and hints of cocoa.

M - Medium bodied, smooth and a touch of dry on the finish.

O - A solid example of the style offering up a nicely balanced ale with a solid hop presence and a tasty roasted malt profile. Definitely worth checking out.

Serving type: bottle

08-05-2012 22:16:44 | More by andrenaline

Rutager

British Columbia (Canada)

4.23/5  rDev +6.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Appearance. Pours a deep red-brown with three fingers of light tan head.

Smell. Big piney hops, citrus rinds, a bit of roasty malt and cocoa.

Taste. Big citrus rinds, roasty malts, some pineapple and a little coffee. Nice!

Mouthfeel. Medium body, medium carbonation.

Overall. Very nice representation of the style!

Serving type: bottle

07-31-2012 19:21:43 | More by Rutager

joemcgrath27

Alberta (Canada)

3.98/5  rDev 0%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A - glossy black, thumb of head dissipated slowly and left a fair amount of lacing all around
S - piney and citrus hop notes with malty background of nuts and some toffee
T - the tug of war seems to be won by malts here, big roasty and nutty flavours with milder toffee, hops are slightly less prominent with pine and grapefruit, mild smoky and lingering hop finish
M - medium to lightish body, carbonation is fairly bright and ticklish, finishes dry and slightly chaulky
O - very well balanced big flavours, I prefer to see this style more titled to the hop side, but this beer makes up for it in drinkability, nice to see GIB do something more in line with their microbrew roots

Serving type: bottle

07-25-2012 02:02:46 | More by joemcgrath27

biboergosum

Alberta (Canada)

3.75/5  rDev -5.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

650ml bottle, 2012 limited release. As 'limited' as the Molson distributorship allows, I would imagine.

This beer pours a clear, very dark reddish brown hue, with one skinny finger of cushioned, foamy beige head, which leaves a high tide ring of lace around the glass as it blips away, which eventually turns into some creepy spectral legs.

It smells upfront of roasted, somewhat meaty, caramel malt, singed tropical fruit - pineapple, mango, and papaya, with some mild dark chocolate and earthy coffee notes. The taste is more toasted, bready grain, imbued with a wavering meatiness, some more assertively bitter grapefruit pith and spruce pine hops, and some pleasantly nutty dry chocolate.

The bubbles are playful to the point of bedtime, the body an adequate medium weight, and equally smooth, but in a sort of hollow manner. It finishes as roasted as ever was, ebbing strongly to dryness, the bitter hops awaiting with open arms.

Nice to once again have a brew from Granville Island that is actually made on said island, and they give us a bit of a confounding offering - one where the focus teeters too much towards the vagaries of the malt, with not enough of the expected west coast hops. Enjoyable, I suppose, but still lagging behind the inland BC versions to which I am inwardly comparing this to offline.

Serving type: bottle

07-17-2012 02:20:56 | More by biboergosum

wordemupg

Alberta (Canada)

4.33/5  rDev +8.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

650ml bomber poured into tulip 8/7/12

A looks black until tilted and held to the light where its a darker shade of cola, dark tan two fingers of foam retains for a minute just leaving a little polka dot lacing
Perhaps my glass was a little dirty because the second pour leaves a couple thick rings of lace

S quite tropical, more then expected with some grapefruit, tangerine, and pineapple, some Terry's chocolate orange with some coco powder and cold coffee

T some pine I didn't notice on the nose but everything else is still there, great mix of hops and the dark malts. the roast is a little darker in the mouth with bakers chocolate opposed to the coco powder I could smell

M medium bodied, almost over carbonated but stays on the creamy side of foam, piney rind aftertaste and has a nice bitter bite

O I might have been a little generous with the flavor so I'm going to hold at 4 here, not quite up there with Black Galaxy but its getting there

MUCH better then I was expecting from Granville Island, I thought this was a great beer. If they bottled 6er's of stuff like this I'd drink a lot more Granville Island, solid example of the style

Serving type: bottle

07-09-2012 17:35:30 | More by wordemupg

Derek

British Columbia (Canada)

4.4/5  rDev +10.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

A: Deep chestnut brown with ruby highlights, light tan head has some good retention and leaves some lace.

S: Initial pour is very dank, but it subsides a little to reveal pine and tangerine with a little sponge toffee and cocoa.

T: Great malt profile (nice amount of protein without residual sweetness), quite biscuit, some nuts, hints of cocoa; good hopping: pine, tangerine, gooseberry and a little grass. Pleasant bitterness for balance.

M: Extremely smooth, moderate body with only a hint of acidity. Fairly dry finish.

O: Lots of interesting flavour and very drinkable. I think this is one of the best things to come out of Granville yet!

Serving type: bottle

06-21-2012 02:35:43 | More by Derek