This week may not last that long. These beers have sort of collected on the stash shelf over time. Usually, I do not go out of my way to find a beer that has been flavoured. The worst thing, in fact, I have been asked in a pub by a bar tender after I said that I would have a beer was "what flavour do you want?" But once in a while there is a surprise. And I want to get this group out of the way before I hit some more weeks of porters, big IPAs and Belgians I have gathered.

In this selection we have five Canadians, a US beer of Belgian decent, a Belgian and a Londoner. I have had a few of these before so know where I might hit a high or a low but will admit if in any of these reviews I resort to a I spit and pour. Do let me know if you disagree, by the way. If there are flavoured beer out there you love, let us know. I know there is that club in England who are all about Fruli strawberry beer - they are out there in the comments:

• Blueberry Ale: by The Pump House Brewery of Moncton, New Brunswick. I am a Maritimer and know well what the blueberry trade means to the eastern states and provinces, especially those who have shoreline on the Bay of Fundy or the Gulf of Maine. It would seem that every brewery in Maine needs a blueberry ale in its selection. This one pours a slightly clouded straw with a big light lace-leaving tan head. On the nose there is plenty of blueberry that is dry and herbal rather than syrupy sweet. The same is true in the mouth and is in line with the best blueberry ales of Maine: true-ish wild blueberry. There are also notes of grass in the underlying beer as well as a bit of white pepper within what is otherwise a fairly basic but honest cream ale. Not a beer I love but certainly worthy of respect. 15% of BAers do not like this one but that is pretty good for a fruit beer. I poured 60% but only as I was moving to the next one...and, sure, I did not care to linger.
• Maple Bush Lager: Heritage Brewing from Ottawa, Ontario. As we are coming to sugaring season, this is likely been in the cellar for most of a year. Wow. I love this beer - which is good as I though their two other efforts for adding flavoured beer were not so wonderful though not bad. It says on the label that it is made with maple sap as opposed to the syrup. Maybe this gives it the very clean and mapley taste with some of the herbal woodsy notes thrown in. Fairly sweet in that moderate maple way, it is otherwise a lush brown ale sort of beer with maybe a hint of smoke in their. Fruit? Maybe you can think there is some light plum and raisin but it really is all part of the maple. If there is graininess or hops in there they are pretty low key. As for looks, it is a lovely medium brilliant caramel ale with bright orange facets under a rich frothy head the colour of whipped hot milk with maple syrup added...which colour is usually called "maple." And at 4.6%, a good candidate for sessioning if you like maple. And its maple flavoured. Did I mention that I love maple? Maple ice cream, maple cookies, maple cream, maple bacon. I even baste legs of lamb festooned and permeated with garlic and rosemary with smoked dark maple syrup. If you are a reader who comes from a part of the world where this making of candy from the blood of trees is unknown, here is a post at my other blog about a nearby sugar shack from two years ago. I am not sending any of this one down the sink. Two of the four BAers who reviewed this liked it. The other two are anti-maple-ists which makes them unCanadian. Pittuie! I will now hunt out this year's model of this seasonal with keen interest.
• Celis Raspberry: from the Michigan Brewing Company. Snow white rocky head that collapses to a fine frothy foam and rim over slightly pinked light amber. Very soft water. A light but not hidden true-ish raspberry taste, including the twiggy bitter aspect - but also with a sort of creamsicle thing - over creamy yet grassy wheat ale. A little warmth in the end. Likeable and certainly not one for a pour down the sink. Far subtler than the Pump House blueberry but perhaps too far - a little weak, a bit of a whimp. One full third of the BAers reject this one.
• Organic Honey Dew: from Fuller's. Deep golden straw with a thin foam and rim. Very active. On the schnoz, honey and bread crust. Not as much honey as this honey beer but that was Honey McHoney of Honeyland. In the mouth, however, something of a disappointment as the bitter and the honey don't mesh as well as I might like. It is a roughish twiggy hop and there is that lemoniness in the honey. Not medicinal, not too much yet not quite right. And watery. I thought as a result that it might be at least a light session sort of beer but at 5% even that is a bit off the mark. 1/10 BAers are not with this one.
• Cranberry Maple Wheat: from Church-Key of Campbellford, Ontario. Darkish straw beer under a fine while foam and rim. This 4.7% seasonal has an amazing sense of balance despite the combination of with three very strong flavours. The cranberry and wheat, however, share a certain dryness - even astringency - and the cranberry and maple both have fruit notes. The grassiness of the wheat is the most prominent with the cranberry next followed by a lingering light but true maple presence. What I like most about it is how the ingredients speak to the geography of the brewery - an eastern Ontario woodlands brew. Six of eight BAers like it.
• Millennium Buzz Hemp Beer: from Cool Brewing of Brampton Ontario. Caramel sweet light chestnut ale with no head retention. Vaguely herbal sensation among a brown sugar sweetness with maybe some plummy figgy notes. Kinda weird but not as bad weird as I have had. I am still pouring about 80% as it is a bit too cloyish for me - though there is some acid brightness to keep it this side of glom. Kind of like a poor Belgian dubble without the interesting yeast. Yet only 17% of 18 BAers give thumbs down.
• Hometown Hemp Ale: made by the Durham Brewing Company of Pickering, Ontario for C'est What, the craft beer bar of Toronto. A much better hemp beer...sorta. A sort of orange-straw ale under a thin white rim head. Thicker body than your average Canadian pale ale with a sort of singular oolong tea thing happening with nice tangerine and passion fruit notes over a baby cookie malt base. A full three percent fewer BAers dislike this one. Not as cloying and more interesting than that Buzz beer above. But I am still dumping. Hey - it's a Monday night.
• Floris Ninkeberry: by Brouwerji Huyghe, makers of the best honey beer ever as well as Delirium Tremens. If you are going to have a fruit beer and especially one that is a low alcohol refreshing summer drink, the Floris line of beers never fail. Ninkebeery is a blend of passion fruit and peach I think. This one is at 3.5%. This one pours a slightly clouded, slightly peachy straw with while lace-leaving rim and foam. On the schnoz, fairly true aroma of ripe peach and other assorted fruits and berries. In the mouth, it is a fruit juice for grown-ups, ripe and full flavoured. Only six BAers review this one but they all like it.