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.