Blind Enthusiasm Brewing
Blind Enthusiasm Brewing, Edmonton, Alberta (blindenthusiasm.ca)
I first heard of Blind Enthusiasm back in 2019, when I was preparing to launch a magazine called Original Gravity in Alberta. (Covid put an end to that, and the Toronto-based edition, and the London, UK original.) I visited the brewery intending to tour with head brewer Doug Checknita for about half an hour or 45 minutes and instead wound up staying for the better part of three hours.
Despite the fact they had not as yet produced any beer.
Greg Zeschuk in the barrel room (image courtesy of Blind Enthusiasm)
So you know immediately that there is something special about this brewery and its facility. That initial impression was confirmed to me a couple of years back when I happened across their first fully spontaneous fermentation release, Spontaneous Manifesto. It so impressed me that I shared a bottle with an individual who knows as much about the original spontaneous fermentation beer, Belgian lambic, as does anyone on the planet, my World Atlas of Beer co-author Tim Webb.
He was likewise impressed.
All of which is to say that Blind Enthusiasm is an unexpected gem in the heart of Edmonton, even a little piece of Belgium transported to the Alberta capital. Its facility, known as the Monolith, was purpose-built for mixed and spontaneous fermentation. Its head brewer and blender cut his teeth at no less than the Brussels legend, Brasserie Cantillon. And its owner, Greg Zeschuk, is firmly committed to the mixed and spontaneous segment.
There is more available on the brewery’s well designed and most informative website, but it may be that all you really need to know is contained in the mostly glowing reviews below. When I approached the brewery’s beers, I was cautiously optimistic, but really didn’t know what to expect. Now that I’ve sampled nine of their beers multiple times, I’m confident in saying that Blind Enthusiasm is unquestionably one of the best breweries in Canada.
Homage to the Old Ones (6.9%): A blend of 100% spontaneous fermentation beers aged for four years, this is billed as a mix of barrels of “exemplary quality,” so expectations are naturally high. The base beer is brewed from a mix of 55% malted barley and 45% unmalted wheat and, in the tradition of lambic, hopped exclusively with aged hops.
Thankfully, this deep gold delight does not disappoint. The nose is rich with many of the sort of notes typically found in Belgian gueuze, including tanned leather, tobacco, oak, and horse blanket-ish funk, plus some unanticipated whiffs of sauvignon grapes, both cabernet and blanc, and hints of clove-studded orange peel. What is particularly notable, however, is the malty richness of this aroma, which plays out in tart caramel and fruit salad. While there seems to be a bit less complexity on the palate, I’m still more than satisfied with the mix of tart red apple, hints of fruit vinegar, preserved lemon and other citrus, all set against a backdrop of very dry caramel malt and before a bone dry, earthy finish. An absolute gem of a beer, one that can easily be described as possessed of a degree of gravitas.
94 ($32) CRITIC’S CHOICE
Un Petit Peu (6.2%): The first of the brewery’s Dry Hop Series, this now almost six year old, mixed fermentation beer is a blend of barrels aged for a single year. The French name is no coincidence, as the hops used to dry-hop it are both varieties grown in France, Barbe Rouge and Mistral.
Pouring a slightly orangy light gold, the immediate impact of the aroma is floral, carnations mixed with a few marigolds, followed by notes of cherry, overripe papaya and mango, and navel orange zest. The palate start is quite bright and zesty, with notes of tangerine and key lime leading to a more subdued mid-palate of orange zest, floral grapefruit, and hints of tangy raspberry, all sitting more on the dry and earthy rather than fresh and fruity side of things. The finish is pink grapefruit zest and quenching dryness. Unexpectedly refreshing and a beer that hides extremely well its strength.
89 (sold out)
Spontaneous Manifesto 2023 (6.9%): This is the second vintage of the beer that brought this brewery very much to my attention two years ago. The brewery’s original fully spontaneous fermentation beer, it’s constituent parts are all brewed from 55% malted barley and 45% unmalted wheat, and the blend is of one, two, and three year old beers in equal proportions.
Medium gold in colour with quite lively carbonation, this has an aroma that veritably leaps from the glass with an abundantly floral mix of fruit, from orange to mango, perfumey pineapple to hints of kiwi. Where beers such as this are typically characterized as ‘horse blanket’ or ‘barnyardy,’ this has instead a surprisingly tropical tang that calls to mind a fruit salad that has perhaps been left to sit for a bit too long. The flavour is similarly bold, vibrant, and frankly, tastes in no way even close to its almost 7% strength. Lemon and other citrus show up front, followed by more tropical fruit and even a bit of brown spice, complemented by a bracing but never overly aggressive and very clean acidity, all finishing with tart lemon and lime zest and a smidgen of black pepper.
This is definitely in the gueuze lambic style, but is a beer all unto its own: fuller than a typical Belgian gueuze, fresh, even, and definitely both refreshing and quaffable. Highly impressive.
92 ($30)
Fruitful Pursuits – Apricot 2023 (7%): Following in the footsteps of the great fruit lambics of Belgium, the Fruitful Pursuits line are mixed fermentation beers that are first inoculated with the house mix of microflora, then allowed additional spontaneous fermentation in the brewery’s coolship. For this particular beer, a mix of 2, 3, and 4 your old beers were blended and refermented for two months on 750 kilograms of the organic heritage apricot varieties, Goldstrike and Goldbar.
Medium gold with a slightly orange glint, the aroma offers immediate notes of tart apricot jam accented by a curious salinity and a hint of cinnamon. But don’t come to the glass expecting olfactory echoes of Bonne Maman Apricot Jam; while the apricot is obvious, it is here part of a mix of aromas that includes almond paste and lemon layered over wet hay. The flavour, on the other hand, is more resolutely apricot, with appetizing tartness balancing the sweetness of the fruit, and a drying blanket of tastey almond and forest floor on the finish. There is a touch too much acetic acid here for my taste, but beyond that foible it is a solid effort.
82 ($32)
Fruitful Pursuits – Cherry 2023 (7.5%): If this was brewed in Belgium, it would be called a Kriek Lambic. But because it is brewed instead in Edmonton, it is a spontaneously fermented beer made from a mash of malted barley and unmalted wheat, hopped with aged hops, aged 1 to 3 years and then refermented on BC cherries for two months prior to being bottle conditioned at the brewery for close to a year.
It pours a beautiful ruby red topped with pink foam and bursts from the glass in a rich perfume of whole sour cherries – juice, skin, flesh, and pits. Behind the cherry, there are hints of cinnamon and marzipan, and a touch of sweet orange and preserved lemon. As spectacular and complex as is the aroma, however, the flavour is even more so, with a sour cherry tang up front followed by more cherry, marzipan, vanilla, sweet lemon juice, a touch of oak, and just a bit of mixed brown spice. Simply spectacular.
96 ($32) CRITIC’S CHOICE
Measure of Patience (5.9%): This is the brewery’s first release from the Monolith and has been cellared in the bottle for over five years now. Although I wasn’t made privy to the composition of its mash, I assume it is the house standard of 55% malted barley and 45% unmalted wheat. I do know that it was inoculated with the house mix of micro-organisms, so is a mixed rather than spontaneous fermentation, and aged in barrels for up to two years prior to blending and bottling.
Although the cork comes out soundlessly, there is ample carbonation in this sandy gold beer. On the nose, it offers notes of straw, musty attic, stewed orange peel, and wet oak. The flavour is pleasant enough, but seems to have dulled somewhat through the years so that its complexity is in serious decline. There is some light and floral orange on the front palate, alongside a bright hint of fruitiness that almost calls to mind kumquat, then a tart and musty mid-palate that carries a lot of oakiness and finishes with an odd and woody bitterness. Better as a signpost of how far the brewery has evolved in five-plus years than a testament to its current abilities.
78 (sold out)
Fruitful Pursuits – Quince 2022 (6.7%): Similar to the Apricot in this line, this was brewed from the same 55% malted barley and 45% unmalted wheat as the others and experienced the same inoculation and fermentation, but in this case in a blend of 1, 2, and 3 year old beers has been refermented on “hundreds of kilograms” of fresh quince.
Quince is a fruit that closely resembles a pear, and when cooked tastes like a cross between an apple, a pear, and a lemon. (Eaten raw, it’s singularly unpleasant.) In this medium gold beer, it is evident in the lovely and floral vanilla-pear aroma, accented by a gentle acidity and whiff of preserved lemon. The flavour emulates the seduction of the aroma with a gentle, round, floral, and lightly sweet and quince paste-like entry. On the mid-palate, it is a bit more forceful in its acidity, but still mostly about the floral, fruity character, with pinpricks of brown spice and a slight and rising oakiness adding complexity. A perfectly dry finish completes this truly lovely and unusual fruit beer.
89 ($32)
86 Lager (5.3%): A bit of an outlier for the brewery, this 2020 vintage beer has their normal mash bill of malted barley and unmalted wheat, but is hopped with fresh Saaz before being barrel-fermented by lager years and Brettanomyces, then dry-hopped with Saaz and Strisselspalt. A lactic acid bacteria was unintentionally introduced, adding some acidity to the blend, and after twelve months in red wine barrels it was bottle-conditioned for a further 15 months.
In comparison to the brewery’s other beers, this is rather reticent on the nose and displays only a glimmer of the floral character for which Saaz is well known. Instead, there are more citrus, peach, and apricot notes mixed into a lightly floral and moderately tangy aroma accented by hints of fresh hay. The start offers mostly notes of fresh and dried apricot, leading to a more citrusy mid-palate holding notes of red wine and a slight floral bitterness leading to the fairly quick, dry, and lemony finish. A decent quaffer, but lacking the complexity of Blind Enthusiasm’s other beers.
77 ($22)
Dry Hop Series – Galaxy & Saaz 2023 (7.4%): The first of five Dry Hop Series beers to be fully spontaneously fermented, this is a blend of one to four year old beers dry-hopped with its namesake hops from Australia and the Czech Republic prior to being bottle-conditioned for a year at the brewery.
Definitely the liveliest of the brewery’s beers, the vibrant carbonation of this medium gold beer accentuates its attractive, hop-derived aromatics. The floral notes of the Saaz arrive first, but are quickly joined by the Galaxy’s tropical fruit, with mango showing in particular alongside slightly lesser notes of pineapple and a touch of key lime. The flavour retro-olfactorily reflects its aroma, with bright fruity notes – again, mango and some pineapple, this time with lemon and lime zest and hibiscus-like florals – before a dry and slightly bitter finish. I’m not normally in favour of dry-hopping mixed and spontaneous fermentation beers, but I will most happily make an exception for this flavoursome treat.
90 ($32)
