Christina VarvisKGB Brewing
With monikers like “Barley Legal,” “Pil Collins” and “Radacted Black Ale,” it’s clear that the duo that run Kaz and Grant Brewing (KGB) know how to name a beer.
A nanobrewery operating out of one of the purveyor’s houses, KGB is operated by Kaz Haykowsky and Grant Braidwood, who are not only friends, but also students at the U of A.
Their latest creation, back by popular demand, is the “Solstice Stout.” Hailed as “an elixir for the longest night,” the 22-litre batch is bottled and given away to friends.
As essentially a home brewery, volumes are small, but Haykowsky says that this allows them to experiment with a variety of flavors.
“We’ve probably produced 12 or 13 batches, all with different additives and flavours,” Haykowsky says.
With their newest creation featuring the addition of toasted chocolate malts and oak chips used in wine fermenting, Haykowsky says the standard stout kit they used as a base has taken on an entirely different flavor profile.
“It’s really chocolatey,” says Haykowsky, “with hints of licorice and some burnt flavors off the oak and toasted malts.”
Possessing neither the heavy body nor creamy texture of a stout, Haykowsky draws the closest comparison between his brew and a Baltic-style porter. Another special element are the labels, created specially for the larger batches by Haykowksy’s sister Mika.
“She doesn’t often do labels, but we hit her up to make these and I think she did a great job,” says Haykowsky.
As they’ve been brewing since 2012, KGB’s supporters can look forward to new concoctions around once per month.
Solstice Stout Panel
A stout with a porter sensibility. Heavy notes of dark chocolate followed by smaller hints of licorice and oaky coffee. With very little carbonation, it doesn’t dance around your mouth like many beers, this one wallows on the tongue. I’m perfectly okay with that, as it tastes really good, with afternotes of bitter coffee and scotch. Despite this, it varies significantly from bottle to bottle, changing from sour to bitter and back again. — Mitch Sorensen
It pours like church wine and flops down the throat. Describing the taste isn’t easy: it’s not quite “wet cigar,” and it’s earthy but not so earthy that it’s “like the soil in which a reliable family member decomposes.” After a few sips I understood it a little better: it’s beer that tastes like Glenfiddich. It’s loud and obnoxious and loveable as your little cousin’s punk band playing at The Pawnshop. So I drank more. — Josh Greschner
This beer pours smoothly, low carbonation and little head, there’s a strong aroma of coffee on the nose. Upon first sip there’s strong flavor of coffee, dark chocolate. Yet it is not very rich, it carries more of a charred oak, sour taste to it. The low carbonation level makes the flavors more overt and abrasive, yet it is warming and enjoyable. — Alyssa Demers
Solstice Stout is puzzling, I mean it’s brewed in an apartment, so I’m instantly charmed. There’s earthy tones of chocolate and coffee for sure and it’s acidic as all hell. There’s this episode of The Simpsons, Homer attempts to grow tomatoes, but accidentally splices them with tobacco seeds, thus creating “Tomacco.” I wouldn’t go as far as to say this stout tastes like cigarette butts, but this isn’t the holy grail of stouts. Regardless, I finished the bottle and can’t help but want more. — Jon Zilinski
