Let us celebrate the glorious amber liquid the gods have delivered in the form of beer. You can check out the back-story here https://steemit.com/ulog/@zekepickleman/4pexqx-zeke-knows-beer but the elevator pitch is, I LOVE BEER and am using the STEEM blockchain to document and educate (IE recruit more drinkin' buddies.) Consider all images as either mine from my iphone, or property of Black Swan Brewing and I am using them under permission from the owner, my buddy Ryan!

This is my review, these are my opinions, and I love Black Swan beer!

http://www.blackswanbrewing.ca/ - This brewery was founded by 2 local high-school teachers as a way to diversify their income, and pursue a passion. The really were in the right place at the right time as there was one other local brewery (http://stratfordbrewing.com/ if you hit that link, you will see there is not much there......kind of appropriate) brewing very regressive and plain beer. They may have put our small town on the beer map, but Black Swan stepped in and turned it into a Craft Beer town.

Black Swan has settled on a few standard favourites to cover many taste preferences and satisfy the market amazingly well with only 4 beers.

English Pale Ale - EPA - ABV: 5% IBU: 30 "A traditional, malt-forward, British-style beer, light copper in colour. Enjoy its moderate hop flavour and light bitterness." Hops: Perle, EKG, Fuggles, Styrian Goldings 4 varieties of malt Zeke's Review - Very drinkable both for the hops averse and the craft beer lover. Not hoppy enough for my jam but it will do in a pinch.

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Black Swan Porter - ABV: 5.3% IBU: 45 "Heavy on dark malt, our well-balanced porter will impart notes of chocolate and coffee to the nose and palate, while offering a satisfying, exceptionally smooth finish."

Hops: Chinook hops, 8 varieties of malt
Zeke's Review - Damn good porter. It is well known that I have gone to the hops side of the force but happily give this a swig if I am in need for a change. Nice to have a Porter with a bit more alky-hall in it too.

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Black Swan Wild Child - ABV: 3.9% IBU: 0 "Berliner Weisse is a German sour beer that employs natural fermentation to produce a tart, citrusy flavour. Additional flavours may vary by batch." KEY INGREDIENTS: Malted Wheat, 4 varieties of malt Zeke's Review - I am not as goo-goo over sours as many of my beer connoisseur friends are. At first, they simply tasted like a batch of beer I had screwed up at home. I have refined my pallet a little and can now appreciate them. This one is good by comparisson, not the best I have had, but a very good base for extra flavours they like to add (which have included Cherry, Apple, Ginger, and another one I have forgotten.) The ladies, they love this one!

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Black Swan India Pale Ale - IPA - ABV: 6.6% IBU: 65 "An American-style IPA with an abundance of late addition hops and dry hopping to emphasize the tropical fruit and light pine aroma." Hops: Chinook, Amarillo, Mosaic with 5 varieties of malt Zeke's Review - NOW THIS IS MY JAM! VERY hoppy but the perfect balance of sweet that makes it one of my top 5 beers over the past 3 years or so. Seriously one of my favourites and likely to stay that way a long time.

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One of the best things about craft breweries is that they get to play and experiment. The regular pattern is a seasonal beer for the quarter to match the weather, or even a one-off experiment to take advantage of a special ingredient made available to the brewery.

• Autumn From talking to the owner, I can reveal the secret that the fall special edition is called Mashing Pumpkins (Billy Corgan fans?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Corgan) where they will actually create the mash in a huge hollowed out pumpkin.

• Winter - My other favourite is obviously the winter Double IPA which is like the IPA except more of everything and kicks my ass if I drink it like a normal beer. There is one called Fireplace Ale which is a little stronger version of the EPA that is damn fine.

• Spring - This year it was the Cherry Wild Child. It is made from their standard sour with just a hint of fresh cherry from a family members tree. I don't hate this!

• Summer

Black Swan Road Trip Ale - ABV: 4.7% IBU: 21

"A deliciously light ale that is crisp and easy to drink on any occasion."
KEY INGREDIENTS: Willamette hops Pilsner and Crystal malts

Zeke's Review - I would often rather grab a bunch of Radlers or Session IPAs for a crushable pint but am a real fan of this one. Slides down nicely, always tastes like another, and is so perfect, you barely remember it tasting overly anything except good.

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Meet the Owner

"Alright I am finally getting around to reviewing your brewery for my blog that is followed by thousands. Say Cheese" This is what you get with Ryan. He is a fantastic guy and I can't think of anyone in this community who would not wholeheartedly agree with me. The bar owners, beer drinkers, business owners, high school kids and basically everyone I know would drink his beer even if it was swill to support him. The great news is the beer is fantastic so it makes it even more rewarding.

Here he is with his new GM planning a road trip to a hops supplier and other worldly brewery stuff.

Hot off the presses:

Black Swan Tijuana Road Trip Ale - ABV: ?% IBU: ?

"Releasing today at 4! Road Trip to Tijuana is our Road Trip Light Ale tanged up with Chipotle and Lime! See you after work!"
KEY INGREDIENTS: Willamette hops Pilsner, Crystal malts, Lime and Chipotle

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Black Swan Royal Ginger IPA "Let’s celebrate this a little early. In honour of the Royal Wedding we’re releasing another one from the The Playground at 1pm today. The last Playground keg was gone in a day, so get here quick for your pint of: ROYAL GINGER IPA with hibiscus. It has a great balance of ginger and hibiscus and is the colour of Harry’s beautiful locks. See you soon." KEY INGREDIENTS: Hops - Chinook, Amarillo, Mosaic with 5 varieties of malt, ginger, hibiscus

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Zeke's review: You are going to have to wait for another post because I haven't had these yet! Buy the time I am done, I will most likely post intoxicated replies to your comments below, and go drunkenly buy a bunch of upvotes for your blog posts! BRING THE KIDS TO GRAMMA'S HOUSE I'M COMIN' HOME LOADED!