Manitoba Social

It looks like I have just enough battery juice to be able to take a small handful of photos in a quick amount of time, so I wasn't going to just review any ol' beer, I needed to review something special and noteworthy, so I chosebycollaborated with Winnipeg's ownBeau's has been teaming up with breweries all across Canada for Canada's 150.. but in reality: Beau's loves to collaborate with everybody! Half Pints was chosen for the Manitoban brewery to collaborate with for the series, so awesome guy/head brewer Chris Young made the trek to Vankleek Hill, Ontario to work on a Manitoba-themed beer, which they settled a Kvass-style beer.What's Kvass ? It's a fermented beverage made with rye bread. The beverage was created by Eastern Europeans during the Middle Ages, and was brought by settlers to the North End of Winnipeg during the turn of the 20th century when the city was going through a population boom. Kvass is generally only reaches 0.5-1.5% ABV so seeing that Killer Kvass reached 2.5% ABV, Beau's is calling this an Imperial Kvass.The kvass pours a golden body with a light amount of cloudiness to it.. you can almost see through it, but not quite. As I'm pouring it, it's definitely got a decent amount of carbonation taking place here, but the head settles almost instantly, leaving only a sprinkle of foam on top.This has a combination of the aroma of a lot of the earthy, herbal beers Beau's creates, with the aroma of visiting Half Pints Brewery for a free Saturday 1PM tour (if you're in Winnipeg, seriously go). The beer is bready, sweet, notes of rye, a whiff of cornmeal, and a hint of visiting a farm grainery. The aroma is reminiscent of well.. Winnipeg rye bread in a liquid form! This is something that seems like it could be theThis is 2.5%? It tastes like it would be more like 4.5% as it's pretty flavourful. The taste is a rich, Winnipeg Rye Bread with a good deal of yeast presence. The kvass is a bit sweet but more like asweet, not asweet... if you understand what I'm saying? There's a hint of lemon, a bit of an herbal presence, and an earthy hop presence that doesn't seem to be discriminating at all.Props to Chris at Half Pints and the folks over at Beau's for this interesting beer. It truly has avibe to it. If you love Winnipeg rye bread and like Beau's (and Half Pints), you'll enjoy this.For those askingEasy: Natural Bakery, that's the only bread my parents buy.