This past Monday was better than most as the fun people from Innis & Gunn in Scotland held a special beer dinner at Fynn’s Temple Bar in Toronto.

I had the event on my radar for some time but had totally forgotten about it until Nic Rennie, the rep for Innis & Gunn Canada sent a tweet that reminded me. There were two things I was looking forward to about the event – first was trying five different beers of theirs and second was trying Innis & Gunn on tap for the first time (they’ve only begun setting up bars with kegs of their beers the last couple of months).

Having been to a beer event at Fynn’s in the past I also knew that chef Patrick Narain would deliver some tasty creations to match the beers.

If you haven’t had any Innis & Gunn beers yet, they’re known for a sweet, buttery flavour profile which comes from maturing the beers in oak barrels. At first it might sound somewhat one-dimensional, but after sampling five different beers of theirs on Monday I can say each one had its own characteristics to make it stand out from the others.

Innis & Gunn Original Oak Aged Beer (pint)

This beer is so smooth it is dangerous, yet it isn’t a light weight beer at 6.6%. The sweetness of this golden-glow beer is more subdued on tap, with a less caramel-y taste. It is a fun mix of toffee sweetness, vanilla and slight whisky hints. You do have to be in the right mood for a beer that has such a sweet profile, but on tap it is wonderful and I can see this becoming a common sight at more bars in the near future. It was so good, I had to order an extra pint before the actual event started.

Innis & Gunn Rum Cask Oak Aged Beer

I’ve had this beer before and expected to favour it over the original, but when sampling one after the other, I still preferred the original. This is a darker beer with a slightly rum-raisin taste to it. Still fairly sweet with the characteristically butter finish that the original has.

Very nice beer that was served with a tasty mulligatawny soup to start the dinner part of the night.

Innis & Gunn Spiced Rum Finish

A new beer from the Scottish brewery and probably the most unique flavour profile. A dark amber colour, it had plenty of vanilla and toffee taste, but the spiciness cut through quick enough so that you weren’t left with a lingering sweetness. The dark chocolate chicken wings that it came with had a great taste and complemented the sweet and spicy beer profile.

Mind you, by this time our table had a few extra glasses of Innis & Gunn beers floating around so the ‘which beer goes with which food’ concept began to deteriorate.

Innis & Gunn Highland Cask

While it may not be the popular choice, the Highland Cask remains my personal favourite Innis & Gunn brew. It is a dark amber beer that has a whisky vanilla taste to it. At over 7% it drinks way to easy for a beer of it’s strength! I thought it had a sweeter profile than the spiced rum, yet the alcohol was enough to punch through any potential caramel sweet overdose. I really enjoyed the finish of this beer, not too sweet with some surprising bitterness.

This beer came with a tasty lamb and vegetable stew, which was well received by everyone at our table.

Innis & Gunn Winter Beer 2011

Another new brew that I hadn’t had previously. There was a good amount of oak and alcohol in this one, perhaps the oakiest of their beers. I felt it was a bolder beer than the rest of the offerings and I caught some hints of fruit and earthiness in this one to go along with the usual Innis & Gunn profile.

Meal-wise we finished things off with a cranberry bread pudding, which was fantastic.

I went into this event looking forward to some sweet and oak-y beers and that is what I got. I’ve been a fan of the Innis & Gunn beers for some time now and featured their special Canada Day beer during the 95 Beers of Summer Series. Unlike many brewers who try to create a beer to fit every taste, Innis & Gunn has found a niche that works well for them. Sure, the joke is that they stumbled upon their butter beer style by accident…but it works. While they are all different, there is a definite commonality between all the Innis & Gunn beers, which means if you like one of them, you’ll likely enjoy them all.

If you live in Ontario, look for a great Innis & Gunn holiday gift pack at the LCBO so you can sample a few of their beers yourself. They’ve recently announced they are brewing a stout too, which I am really looking forward to! From what Nic Rennie said we should expect it here in February. Can’t wait.