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Rickard’s Dark Review

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 | Beer | 20 Comments

Chris, the kind man that he is, patiently waited for me to arrive at his house yesterday to try Molson’s latest creation, Rickard’s Dark. I must admit, my expectations were not all that high going in – a major brewer such as Molson has aggressive sales targets and reaching sales targets often translates into brewing bland beer. Sadly most macro-brewed Canadian beer has to appeal to most beer drinking Canadians, and most beer drinking Canadians are  intimidated by a dark flavorful porter. With that said, There is nothing stopping Molson from brewing quality porter and I was hopping for the best.

Chris displaying his pouring skill

Rickards Dark, a self proclaimed “porter”, poured a deep, but nowhere near deep enough, ruby-brown. Of course I was only able to appreciate the colour after removing the supplied blindfold. I would very much love to speak with the marketer who came up with that idea – most brewers are proud of their beer’s appearance.

Blind Taste Test

The aroma was quite mild and I couldn’t much detect any maple syrup. Similar to the color and aroma, the beer was mild and tasted quite similar to other Rickard brews. Faint flavors of roasted malts, chocolate and nuts was detected, key word being faint. For a more in depth tasting review check out Greg Clow’s review at Taste T.O.

The Final Verdict

Rickards Dark is just not a porter, it is much closer to a mild ale or nut brown ale. Porters are dark, rich and flavorful – Rickards Dark was neither of the three. It is certainly not a great beer, but not foul in any way either. My hope is that Rickards Dark will serve as a gateway beer, introducing many beer drinkers to the unknown world of dark beer.

Cheers,

Erik

Tags: Maple Porter, Porter, rickard's dark, Taste T.O

Coming Soon: Rickard’s Dark

Saturday, November 14th, 2009 | Beer | 6 Comments

Erik and I received an email from a PR firm who wanted our address so they could send us a sample of a soon to be launched beer.  I was a bit worried it was someone I’d offended coming to punch me in the face, so I gave them my work address.  Lucky for me, a package arrived on Friday instead of a fist.  I opened the package to find an elaborate wood box labeled Rickard‘s Dark.  The box contained two bottles of Rickard’s Dark, two beer glasses, two coasters, and a blindfold.  I found the inclusion of a blindfold a bit odd, but I suppose it is for doing a blind tasting?  Or maybe for post tasting kinky fun times?  Either or, I doubt I’ll be using it.

Opening the package to find the Rickard's Dark box

Contents of the Rickard's Dark Box

I haven’t tasted the beer yet.  Erik is coming over on Monday and I figured I’d wait for him.  Rickard’s Dark is supposedly a 4.8% ABV English style porter with added Quebec maple syrup.  I do love me some porter, but I’m not so sure I’ll like Rickard’s Dark.  I used to drink Rickard’s beer in my younger days because I found it to be a breath of fresh air when compared to Molson Canadian.  I’ve since expanded my beer horizons well beyond Molson’s own Rickard’s brand and no longer care for their Red and Honey Brown like I once did.  That being said, I hope that Rickard’s Dark is wonderful and that it might get some non craft beer drinkers into porter and onto other wonderful porters like Black Butte from Deschutes.  Expect to see Rickard’s Dark on the shelves in Rickard’s Taster packs within a few weeks.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: black butte porter, deschutes, english style porter, Maple Syrup, molson, rickard's dark