Spring is here, beer is in the air

Hops hops hops goes the rabbit

So, it's spring. And with it comes optimism and short shorts.

This post will concern itself with the former.

I'm an optimistic guy to begin with. In fact, this whole blog is built around highlighting things I like (rather than slagging any things I don't). But my optimism is at a high this spring, because I really do get the sense that Ontario's craft beer scene is blossoming. There's so much going on that I'm psyched about that I can't mention it all in one post. But just to name a few:

Great Lakes in Toronto is celebrating their 25th anniversary this year and, to celebrate, they're releasing 4 new beers to the LCBO. The first, to be released pretty soon, will be a Robust Porter (Porter is a brown/black English ale - not sure what the "robust" means.") The folks at Great Lakes know how to brew good beer, and they know how to brew funky beer (good funky, like "cool," not bad funky, like "sweat socks," though that's sometimes desirable.) so this series will for sure be worth a shot.

Black Oak in Etobicoke (which rhymes if you mispronounce Etobicoke) is cooking up another batch of their rare Imperial India Pale Ale (so, a pale ale (hops) + India (more hops) + Imperial (even more hops)) called 10 Bitter Years. Most excitingly, there are whispers that it will be at the lcbo.

Muskoka Brewery in Bracebridge is releasing their Spring Oddity, a new Spring seasonal that they describe as a "dry hopped strong ale with unique flavours a plenty." I've heard rumblings of juniper berries, though that's unconfirmed. It will be available pretty soon. Will be worth a try, for sure, if their other seasonals - Harvest Ale and Winter Beard - are anything to go by.

It's a great time to be a craft beer lover in Ontario. I'll do my best to report back on these beers, when and if I find them-if I like them. And I'm optimistic I will.

Let me know what you think of them too (tweet me @PierreLachaine).

ABOUT A BEER: Muskoka Mad Tom IPA

Wherever you go, Mad Tom goes with it.


ABOUT A BEER: Mad Tom IPA

WHAT IS IT? An American India Pale Ale (IPA) with 6.4% alcohol.

WHO MAKES IT? Muskoka Brewery, in Bracebridge, Ontario.

WHERE CAN I FIND IT? That’s the beauty of Mad Tom, it’s a top notch IPA that you can find pretty much anywhere in Ontario: The lcbo, the Beer Store, beer geek bars, and even some of your bars-with-less-good-beer selections (to put it nicely). I can’t tell you how many times a waiter has been eye rolling their way through an underwhelming tap list 50 beers long when I’ve exclaimed: “STOP! THAT! MAD TOM! MAD TOM! STOP! MAD TOM!” And the reason I’m posting this now (despite the fact that I’ve written about Mad Tom already), is that it’s now available in cans. I know beer in cans has a certain stigma, but drop that stigma for this style: If you’ve never cracked open a can of IPA and had that citrusy aroma snap into the room, you’re missing out. It’s something special.

WHAT DOES IT TASTE LIKE? Last post, I spoke a bit about American Pale Ales (APA), an American adaptation of the English pale ale using American hops. India Pale Ales are essentially more aggressive APAs. Same hops, but more of it. Plus, more malts (And hence more alcohol, generally around 6.5%) to match the aggressive hoppiness. These ales are all about the balance between the citrus, pininess and bitterness of the hops, and the bready, caramelly malt backbone. And Mad Tom is one tight little package. All hops, no malts, can make for a pretty one dimensional beer. Mad Tom is a great citrusy-without-being-too-bitter IPA we can call our own. And we can find it most anywhere. Plus, it’s called Mad Tom, and that’s pretty cool too.

WHEN SHOULD I DRINK THIS? This is a great spring/summer/fall beer. It’s not SO aggressive that you can’t drink a few on a warm sunny day, but it has enough bite and personality to keep you interested during the cooler nights around the camp fire. In fact, Mad Tom is part of my regular rotation of beers – A year round, Ontario made craft beer that we can be proud to drink.

WHAT ELSE?

-India Pale Ale is so called because the English used to ship a modified version of their pale ales to their troops in India. But for it to survive the voyage, extra hops were added (hops act as a preservative in beer). One day, I guess, the good folks in England broke into a case of the IPA, and yelled “HOPS!” in unison. The style, due to its aggressiveness, is very popular with craft brewers.

-One last note. If you tried Mad Tom last year, and thought it was a good and decent IPA, but haven't tried it since, you really should give it a try. Something about Mad Tom had improved dramatically since then. Not quite sure what, but over the last few months it's been elevated in my books from decent to great.

ABOUT A BEER: Crazy Canuck by Great Lakes

In an effort to focus this blog a bit more, and bring it back to its roots of sharing what I'm learning about beer in Ontario, I bring you this new feature. "About a Beer" focuses on a beer that has marked my oddyssey in beer, and that I really like. These beers are often found in my fridge, and I heartily endorse them. I hope this feature helps you to separate the wheat from the chaff when you're faced with the lcbo/beer store walls of beer, or those chalkboards at the pubs.

WHAT IS IT? Crazy Canuck, a west coast style american pale ale (APA) with 5.2% alcohol.


WHO MAKES IT? Great Lakes Brewing Company. Toronto's oldest craft brewery.


WHERE CAN I FIND IT? It's at most lcbos and beer stores I've ever been to. Great on draft, but also keep an eye out for Great Lakes Canucklehead, which you can also find sometime on draft - it's a doubly hopped (MORE HOPS!) version of Crazy Canuck.



WHAT DOES IT TASTE LIKE? APAs are generally pretty hoppy ales that use american hop varieties. These hops, such as cascade, generally give some good bitterness and a citrus flavour, like grapefruit. Crazy Canuck is great because it has the mouth puckering grapefruity-ness of an ipa (a hopped up apa), but without the higher alcohol content that usually comes with it. For me, the dominant flavours are grapefruity hops, and a bread-like malt backbone. What I find particularly interesting with this beer, other than the hops (HOPSHOPSHOPSHOPS!!!), is that you can really taste the water. Not in a bad way, at all, but in a refreshing, tonic water kind of way. It's really interesting.

WHEN SHOULD I DRINK THIS?

This is a great anytime beer, but particularly excels when it's real hot out (because of the refreshing water taste, and the relatively low alcohol) or at BBQs (for the same reasons, plus the kitschy can).


TELL ME A STORY ABOUT CRAZY CANUCK:

With pleasure.

I was just getting into beer. It was boiling outside. I was going to a Canada day BBQ with people I didn't know, as you tend to do a lot of when you're a new dad. I was faced with the dreaded "wall of beer" at the lcbo, and wasn't sure, at all, what to get. The Crazy Canuck tallboy can was kitchsy, and the name screamed "Canada Day." Plus, I'd heard it was good. But the kitschy-dork can had me doubting what I'd heard. With hesitation, I tucked a few of those bad boys into the diaper bag (after I'd paid for them), like any classy parent does, and we headed to the BBQ.


I was hip. I was cool. I schmoozed. I cracked open the can, poured it into a plastic cup (because even at a BBQ beer deserves to be drunk in a glass), and I tried it. I did not like it. My tastebuds were attacked by bitter. They didn't know what was happening. Neither did I. This did not taste like Keith's. My mouth puckered. But I didn't show it. No, I was cool, hip dad drinking his cool, hip beer. Though my mouth was puckering on the outside, I was making cool lips on the outside. All the other dads wanted to chill with me. Hang, like the kids say. Inside: bleugh. When we left, my wife asked me what I thought of the beer. "It was great," I lied, as I strutted away.


And that was that. Or so I thought. That night, hops came to me while I was in bed and whispered "hops," as it stroked my ear. "hops?" I replied. "hops," hops replied. And so, the next day, I tried it again. And it was good. Better, at least. And I was well on my way to acquiring my taste for hops. It took awhile, but once hops really took, it was like the first time I had sushi, I couldn't get enough of it. I still can't. Crazy Canuck baptized me as a hop head. And now no hops is too much hops. Particularly those west coast, grapefruity hops that are so prominent in the Crazy Canuck.

On my knees...

Ok, enough of the negativity. I started this thing as a celebration of good beer, not a suggestion box.

I'm not a religious man, but last night, a new arrival at the lcbo had me on my knees: Charlevoix's Dominus Vobiscum Lupulus. It's from Quebec. It's more than 10$ for 750ml (the size of a wine bottle), and it is absolutely fantastic. I'm particularly happy about this beer because it rivals anything I've had from the great beer countries, even Belgium. In fact (and I realize I've said this before), I proclaim it the best beer I've had in my life. Or, should I say, my favourite beer-I'm no judge of "best," but I am a pretty good judge of "favourite."

The style is a Belgian IPA. SO, if you like the bright spiciness of Belgian-style Tripels, like Delerium Tremens or Fin du Monde, and the mouth puckering hop-blasts of IPAs, then this is your style. It sure is mine. This feels like the kind of style designed for me, and my taste buds. My first exerience with the style was a Belgian beer called Houblon Chouffe. It was good. Lupulus is fantastic.

A note: supply may be limited at the lcbo, and the bottle is a non-descript green, so it may be hard to find (both in the sense that it's not there, and that it's there but you can't see it.)

The Lupulus is part of the lcbo's spring beer releases. Other standouts from the release for me: Schloss Eggenberg Dunkel Doppelbock (a dark, boozy, spicy german style lager) and Panil (an Italian flanders red ale, which almost tastes more like a sour red wine than a beer. worth a taste for sure, though it's expensive. They don't call the style "The Burgundy of Belgium for nothing.")

But the Lupulus is the real star here for me. Here were my tasting notes from yesterday, after I was able to put my glass down and had said a little prayer:

Lupulus:
10%, Charlevoix, Quebec

Beer (poured into a tulip glass) nearly jumped out of the bottle AND the glass. HUGE soapy head. Cloudy pale, like a tripel. beautiful beer. Aroma: JAm, hops, nuts? perfume, flowers. but not in a cloying way.
taste: flowers, bitterness, sweetness, perfume-all in a smooth, tight package. heavenly. peach. nectarine. pepper. a slight bite, but VERY well put together. 10% ABV not noticeable. head lasts forever. This is one of the best beers I've ever tasted. I could drink this forever. Best. beer. ever. Some french canadian in Charlevoix has seamlessly stitched together the tripel and the IPA, and I love him (or her).