Back in the US, whenever we thought of Canadian beer, Labatt and Molson usually were the only things that come to mind. I cannot emphasize how unfortunate this, because of all the places I've been (excluding Vermont and maybe Germany), Canada had some of the most amazing, wonderful, taste-bud-satisfying micro breweries. For me, this became apparent almost instantly when I entered my first Canadian liquor store. Something caught my eye. It was something strange, unique, and mysteriously captivating. It was in the shape of a beer bottle, embroiled with the words Dieu du Ciel, but there was something different about it. It was artistic in such a way that seemed to temp me to drink it right then and there. Each one had a different design, more interesting and intricate than the one prior. It was as if they were calling me to follow to follow into this new, undiscovered world. I chose the vanilla-cocoa porter, appropriately named Aphrodisaque. And by 'chose', I mean to say that I bought six of them.

Later on that evening, opened the bottle and slowly moved it upwards to drink. I took a sip and let it settle for a second. Then it hit me. A whirlwind of flavor swept over me like never before. This was Canadian beer in it's fullest and truest form. How did I spent all those years south of the border and not know of this? I felt as if I was a medieval knight who had spent his entire life looking for the holy grail, only to find out that his neighbor had it all along. My world outlook was forever changed.