Ontario – Page 28 – A Good Beer Blog

Belgium: Canaster, De Glazen Toren, Erpe-Mere

can1 Here is a hint when you are traveling. If, after a tiring 600 km drive (to be followed the next day by another 600 km drive) you notice contract street sweeping equipment in the parking lot, get a new hotel. Street sweepers come and go in the night, you see. After idling their massive engines for fifteen minutes or so. It was like sleeping in a public works depot.

My only consolation was the bottle of Canaster I had brought. Labeled as a winterscotch-style ale I had brought it along as a reward for being me. It’s by the same good folk at KleinBrouwerij De Glazen Toren who made that saison I had last Thanksgiving. The beer is basically a Belgian brown with plenty of round brown maltiness, burlappy nutmegged yeast and some black tea and perhaps black malt astringency. It pours a thick sheeting cream head over chestnut ale. In the malt there is date and maybe dark raisin with a bit of a tobacco effect. It could have done with another something something but it was a very pleasant 9.5% brew that came across nothing as big as that. Plenty of BAer approval.

Not needing anything was the bottle of The Lactese Falcon Flanders Sour Brown Ale I picked up at Church-Key on the way home – you know, as a reward for being me. Yum – but I like the tastes of Parmesan cheese and Flemish sour beer and here they are in one brew. Plenty of roasted beef broth notes, vanilla, pear juice, balsamic, Worcestershire and Parmesan. Herself gets only molasses on schnozzal analysis. Somewhat controversial when it first appeared, here is a beer that intends to be itself – and one that may sort the style huggers from the brave and the free. I have another put away for a long sleep. I want to make sauces with it, soak meat in it – make welsh rarebit with it.

Meta-Beer-Blogging…Or Watching Troy Watch Phin And Paul

BeerBistro! after all the people go to bed.I had a great time Friday night. It was fun to meet the Southern Tier guys as well as the very dapper Liliana and Vlado, those great folk behind hosts Roland + Russell (who, by the way, I am starting to think were either two dusty Victorian-era sherry broker gents were secretly offed by L/V on their way up the drinks trade…or are the names of their dogs) but the real fun was being unexpectedly surprised. Greg Clow was kind enough to tell me that by times I am too cranky and – you know what – he’s right. I claim to have an excuse, however, as by times I feel like one of those 19th century astronomers trying to figure out the layout of the canals on Mars. I sort of live in a bubble placed some distance from our beery subject matter. I don’t get to these beer dinners, I don’t have access to a swath of great pubs, can’t just pop out to anywhere for a Rochefort of any degree, my nearest craft brewers are two hours drive away and until Friday I had only met one other person into beer writing face to face. I organize family trips around beer hunting and get sleepy around ten pm, too, so closing down BeerBistro was not what I had expected.

As a result, I build up some presumptions. One was that the beer dinner idea was going to be a bit stiff. You have to understand that I am a BBQ in the back yard in frayed hiking shorts kind of guy. When I walked into the Academy of Spherical Arts in jeans and a ball cap – albeit a lovely Adirondack Brewpub one – and saw folk in Toronto casual (aka eastern Ontario dress-up) I was worried. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The table guests from Southern Tier, The Toronto Star, the LCBO beer and marketing groups and R+R made for great company. And the food and beer matching thing was not as lame uninteresting as I feared. I don’t think I will get too much into obsessing over pairings – as I prefer beer as ingredient than a match – but it was really interesting to see how the chocolate dessert reacted with a raspberry wheat altered the beer drastically, removing the grassiness, highlighting the fruit and making for a palate cleanser. The third course, a variation of what I know as Cambodian “Western Style” yam and chicken curry (my education gleaned from Kingston’s excellent Cambodian joints) was also just dandy with the heat of the ST IPA.

The wall o’whisky and whisky’s friends at The Academy

In the end, the food and beer was just a side show to the gathering over beer. It was really about meeting Troy finally and speaking a bit about his plans for his beer writing whether at his blog or TAPS, the recently revived Canadian beer magazine – that’s him taking a photo of Phin DeMink and Paul Cain; putting a face to the name of Cass, the founder of Bar Towel as well as contributors like Harry; speaking with Sheryl Kirby, partner of Greg over at Taste T.O; talking to Josh in the end for hours about the economic tensions that are affecting where craft brewing is going; reusing my old jokes like the time the grade one teacher asked what Daddy did and was told “my Daddy takes pictures of beer!”

The next day I stopped by Church-Key again, making the 50 km detour to Campbellford to pick up some fine local ales. The day was sunny and warm and, because it was Saturday, there were more cars in the parking lot than I had seen before. People were sitting on the porch drinking samples just enjoying John’s beer. The shop was busy. I grabbed a six each of Northumberland Ale and West Coast IPA and drove on home.

Session 13: Organic And/Or Natural From Beau’s

I am not sure what I think about all things organic. On one hand, I kept an acre vegetable garden from 1999 to 2002 that was an all organic effort and about 40% of our food came from it. On the other, organic / green / sustainable to a significant degree has about as much relevance as “new and improved”. It’s branding and, if you are honest, you know there is nothing as sad as branding. I recommend the Beer Nut’s take on this point in his post Eco-illogical.

Look, I am as left as they come (within reason¹) but when I heard about the plan for this month’s theme, I yawned. Why not “social responsibility and beer”? Why not “photos of tumbling puppies and beer”? Yet, when I met with Steve from Beau’s All Natural Brewing this week, I faced a guy half a generation younger than me whose family had dedicated itself to making great beer with top quality organic malts, local spring water and a dedication in two languages to the community in which they lived. Surely,² there must be some meaning in all this.

I imagine I am one of the few yet to have both style Beau’s makes due to the beer mule work Steve press ganged me into the other night. The bottle is a ceramic flip top and holds 750 ml yet sells for a reasonable $7.45 at the LCBO – and one with a logo that is totally Lik My Traktor circa 1992 yet also something like 1932, too. Heck, with taxes and tip I can share a growler of this stuff down at the newly refurbished Iron Horse on Wellington for under twenty.

But what about the beer? Their work horse Lug Tread ale is a kölsche, a radical idea for a traditional and largely rural market that, when you think of it, makes perfect sense for the eastern Ontario version of the Canadian palate. Using authentic ingredients the beer is somewhat perfumed on the snoot but also malt grainy with a nod to steely German hops macro-pilsner drinkers are so familiar with. It’s like the perfect Canuck combo of classic ale maltiness with lager zip. To my mind, the malt has a bit of stockiness (never a bad move in the land of the loon) with plenty of round rich biscuit and also bread crust. Very little by way of fruit notes. This beer is made of grain – just like the Canadian economy.

Their Bog Water is another beer entirely. Dark mahogany with a fine mocha head, it gives off the reek of the Canadian Shield via that little bit of bog myrtle in the mix. We canoed a bit on the Rideau last summer through lily pad patches and the scent of this beer is very evocative of that damn twiggy loamy experience – sort of parsley stem and rooty. In the malt there is demerara sugar and date as well as cola and a lighter grainy touch than with the Lug Tread. Like it plenty but this one is not going to be any kind of smooth transition for the Molson Canadian crowd. A thinking person’s brown ale that begs to be stored on bug laced rum cask for a while.

Does the organics of all this help? I have no idea. Do I like this beer? Sure do.

¹By which I mean I love the taste of a good rib eye steak, salivate at the idea of slaughtering a lamb and love the crack, crash and smash of the tree I just chain sawed falling to the forest floor.
²Yes, I will stop calling you that.

My Night As A Guest Roadie For Beau’s All Natural Beer

The call came at 7:45 pm. For weeks I had been exchanging emails with Steve about Beau’s All Natural Brewing’s move into the Kingston market and the prospect of another great Ontario made craft beer showing up in my favorite pubs as well as the LCBO. Being the man of mortgage as well as offspring, I have certain restrictions around my beer blogging so I thought this was a perfect opportunity to get to say hello and maybe get a short story. Well, that isn’t how it turned out.

I arranged to meet Steve at the nearest LCBO to get some pictures of the delivery process. 8:00 comes and goes. 8:10. 8:20. Nuttin’. I’d seen this white van go by a few times until it roared into he parking lot at 8:25 pm. After a quick how do you do, I asked whether he was delivering to all the LCBOs and realized he had three stops in 35 minutes and a couple of miles of traveling to do. As a good beer fan, I had a job to do and that was guiding Steve though my city. We jip here and there, zigged and zagged in traffic and before you know it 18 cases of their new swing top bottles of kolsche were delivered just as the last shop was locking its doors. I got to watch Steve hunched over paperwork quite a bit. And chatting up those who were going to sell his brew.

After delivering to the new Iron Duke on Wellington – which carries growlers – humping them down some very challenging stairs followed another chat about beer with the manager, we retired to the Kingston Brew Pub where their beer is on tap for a pint and a good old chin wag. I asked a lot of questions about how they started up, their plans and how they deal with materials. Steve described some of the fluctuations which they have to deal with – I had no idea that spring water is richer in minerals in winter – but mainly we talked about liking beer. One thing I always wonder about is how folks who are expert and committed to brewing put up with the cranks. “Cranks” is a good word for beer nerds as its one of the words that was used in the 1800s for baseball fans before “fanatics” got shortened. Steve was far kinder than me – as all brewers are when the question is asked – pointing out that their job as craft brewers in eastern Ontario was best described by John Graham as missionary work. Interestingly, we moved from a discussion on the pleasures of beer in which I wondered how it is that some could voice so much unhappiness with a chosen hobby when the subject matter itself is a pleasure and on into other things: the provincial trade association, thoughts about Beau’s philosophy of being a great regional brewer in touch with its customers, future plans.

Anyway, my night as a roadie was over before I knew it and Steve and the van were off into the night headed for his next destination. Energy and sleep deprivation and the zest that success brings seemed to be in the tank. I loaded up my growler of Beau’s new seasonal, Bog Water, that I’ll try for tomorrows next episode of The Session hosted over at Beer Activistwhere the theme is organic beer.

Death On Yonge Street

A sad view out of the front window driving up Yonge Street Toronto this noon hour. Is there anything sadder than a big outdoor video screen that has been turned off? That wasn’t in Blade Runner. Maybe the spinning LP neon signs that are either gone or busted. Oh for a barn that had the interior room for a more dignified retirement for one of those flashing 33 rpm beauties.

Mucho Big Doings At Ontario’s Church-Key Brewing

johng I was going to call this post “John Graham – He Cleans Up Pretty” but that might have been the right one had I not been the last to know just about everything going on at Church-Key Brewing in the rolling Northumberland Hills about an hour and a half to my west. See…he cleaned up that pretty ten months ago – though to be fair, I can’t be certain there’s a tie under all that beard.

I dropped in today on my way back from Toronto where I gave a speech this morning. I have been popping in when coming heading home when traveling. Things look good, I think as I turn into the repurposed rural church parking lot. I walk towards the front door of the church when I realize there is a door at the other end of the building with a sign that says “Beer Store”. [This being eastern Ontario, I really think he should put up “In And Out Store” so people would really understand.] I said to the clerk “new store, eh?” to which I received a “yes, sort of…I guess.” I popped back into the brewery to see John and have a chat as he cleaned out a filter and when I mentioned the new shop he just “how long since you were in?” as he handed me a taste of the IPA he was making.

Too long as it turns out. Too long to know that they sell growlers of their excellent beer. [May I have a woot?] Too long to know he is bottling his special Heavy Weight Series in bombers – I picked up three including his Flemish sour. I had though they were all getting casked for the bar trade. Heck, you can buy some swag for yourself at the brewery’s on-line retail shop. And when I got home to look up something I wasn’t paying attention long enough to realize that last April John was nominated to run as a Federal Green Party candidate in the next election:

John provides a working example of how to maintain a healthy balance between environmentalism and entrepreneurship. As founder and President of Church-Key Brewing Company, John walks the talk in both his business and personal life. At Northumberland County’s only craft brewery, John puts his philosophies into action. Technologies such as solar hot water, bio-diesel, radiant floor heating, Bullfrog Power, and heat recovery units not only lower the carbon output of the award-winning brewery, they also improve the bottom line.

Hmmm – a small brewer controlling cost inputs though taking on responsibility for more aspects of their own operation. Who would have thought it was possible? I have got to stop by more often.

Ontario: 666, Devil’s Pale Ale, Great Lakes Brewing, Etobicoke

A very strange thing has been happening lately. I am going out to a store in my own town and buying the same Ontario-made beer week after week. I wrote about Lake Ontario’s (not Lake Erie’s) Great Lake Brewing’s take on a winter ale a few weeks ago. That beer was a bit frustrating as, while I liked it, I had to buy it in a presentation pack for more than a bit too much. This beer, however, if anything is under-priced at $2.50 a tall can. Better than that, 666 has turned out to be a bit of a puzzle to my mind and in the brewer’s description:

Brewed with 6 select malts and 4 premium hops, it has a rich mahogany colour, reminiscent of early English pale ales. The wonderful hoppy aroma is revealed even before your first sip, followed by a hearty malty body, and culminating with a pronounced bitterness. Prepare yourself for a devilishly good time…

Hmm…six percent…hearty malt body…English hops. Is this a Burton, the elusive Georgian and Victorian bad boy of pale ales before the advent of barley wines? My only possible comparator could be Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome, itself a likely pretender, reviewed back here and happily sampled every year. The only thing I think might be against that 666 is claim of final hoppiness but I won’t know until I pop the caps.

As you can see, the Winter Welcome 2007-08 is much lighter, the dark amber orange ale sitting under white foam and rim. By comparison, the 666 is darker – chestnut with a fine rich tan rim and foam. On the nose the 666 speaks of roasty nuts with dark raisin, with a nod to oloroso sherry. The Winter Warmer leans more to orange marmalade but there’s plenty of biscuit in there, too. In the mouth, the two have about the same mouthfeel and, if anything, the Sammy Smith offering is more bitter: fresh green salad herb mixing with twig blended throughout the orange-kumquat biscuit malt. A sip of 666 is more about a rougher bitterness framing the darker dried winter fruits.

Martyn Cornell, the Zythophile himself, recently summarized Burton’s style in a few words – “a recognisably Burton Ale profile: red-brown, bitter-sweet, fruity and full-bodied, with a roast malt aroma.” It’s certainly hard to exclude this Canadian-Satanic joint enterprise of a beer from the categorization even if it were to turn out to be unintentional. It certainly is a lush brew, fruit-ridden with hop and a true roastiness within the grainy malt. Loverly. But is it Burton? Who knows? It fills a similar place in the pantheon but I would likely have to mail Martyn a sample. For now this side by side will have to do.

Stouts: John By Imperial Stout, Scotch Irish Brewing, Ontario

This is a great new stout from the Scotch Irish Brewing branch of Heritage, the eastern Ontario makers of a very good IPA and a solid, if only seasonal, porter. There is much talk about this one over at the Bar Towel, the province’s beer fan forum, with a little discussion of whether a 6.7% beer can be called an Imperial stout.

Does it matter? Not really. The labels and gradations of beer are as fluid as what is in the glass and what is in this glass is a full bore stout with plenty of the hallmarks of the style. The brew is deep and dark with a narrow brown edge showing when held up against the light. The tan head fades to a thin rim. In the mouth there is a mass of Dutch salty licorice over dark chocolate with some toast and prune treacle, if such a thing exists, underneath. It is all infused with the minty hop that opens up in the finish.

I think this is an excellent example how big need not mean skull-splittingly strong and that Imperial stout can mean grand and not just alcohol ridden. Seven BAers give firm support.

I Get To Vote Next Week – What To Do?

This year’s provincial election confirms again that Ontarianada continues to define the nation but still is shy of itself. The issues here are the issues of the land but no one is really talking about them. The laws created here will be copied, the wealth will support schools and hospitals nationwide – with nary a peep of reluctance or, reciprocally, gratitude.

There is a new idea that has barely registered with an acronym that I honestly do not know the meaning of – though I will in about 14 seconds when I go read what brother #1 wrote over the weekend about MMP or “Mixed Member Proportional” voting. He points out some valid concerns but I will likely vote for it as the present concerns are too obvious. Anything to get a new voice or two into the public mindset and, hey, minority legislative assemblies work. In fact if there was a referendum allowing us to cap the seats of the biggest party at a majority or minority of the seats, I know which way I would be voting.

All of which leads me to the fact that I have not apparently written anything on this blog or the beer blog about the PPPP or Polska Partia Przyjaciół Piwathe Polish beer drinkers party of the early 90s that won seats in that country’s legislative assembly in the early elections after the fall of Communism. Sort of their Rhino party or the revived Neorhinos. I had to figure out why the kids in my class kept saying “pa-pa-pa-pa!” – not to mention why they always quoted Scandinavian heavy metal. I am sure I wrote about the PPPP. You know, it’s probably a vestigial memory of the world pre-blog when I actually emailed people I knew before the internet.

But whatever it was, now I say “MMP for the PPPP.”

Porter Season: Black Irish Plain Porter, Scotch Irish, Ontario

Greg beat me to this review but only because he is in the heart of LCBO-land, Toronto, and it takes some beers weeks to make the two hour trip east. The nuttiness of that is compounded by the fact that beer is brewed by Scotch Irish Brewing (now aka Heritage Brewing) of Carleton Place to the east of me – but centralized authority must have it’s way, you know.

This beer is dandy. The kind of beer that I do not expect to be made by Canadians – an accusation which makes depresses when I make it. But this is confident, a good example of a style, honest in that it is what it says it is and tasty. Sister to the excellent if recently slightly subdued Sgt. Major IPA, this beer pours a deep blackened brown with a light mocha rim and foam. On the sniff, there is cream, dry cocoa and espresso. In the mouth there is more dry cocoa, coffee, plum, date and plenty of drying but not astringent hopping on a reasonable soft water background. At 4.5%, it is moreish and sessionable. Two bucks a stubbie at the government store. Good doggie.