Eat & Drink
The top 5 new craft beer in Toronto, 2011
As I noted in my previous post, 2011 has been a big year for Toronto craft beer. The task of having to narrow the field to the best five local beers of the year then was no easy one--although the research involved was enjoyable.
Because brewers tend to release their beers in pilot batches and often launch beers at events and festivals before their beer gets wider distribution, some of these beers were available somewhere before 2011; however, because they're getting more widespread attention this year, and because I didn't do one of these lists last year, I've included a few beers here that are technically from 2010 because they're all worth checking out. Plus it's my list so I can do whatever I want.
Miami Weiss by Great Lakes Brewery
At this point, it seems clear that Great Lakes is a local craft brewer that knows how to make a good beer. Their Winter Ale and other seasonals should already be a mainstay in your fridge if you like local beer with exceptional flavour, and the super-hoppy Miami Weiss is no exception. This is a refreshing yet flavourful beer with with some fruity and citrus tastes and a fairly bitter, almost piney aftertaste. Probably best enjoyed on a patio in the summer. I haven't had any problem downing a few when it's cold out as well.
Augusta Ale by Kensington Brewing Company
Augusta is what I'd call the perfect Goldilocks craft beer: it's got enough flavour to please fans of more complex beers, but it avoids the tendency of some craft brewers to make their beers overly hoppy in the quest to add more flavour. Augusta is just a good clean, crisp, American-style pale ale.
Smashbomb Atomic IPA by Flying Monkey Craft Brewery
This is not a beer to drink when you feel like drinking a half dozen. There is a lot going on here--honey notes, heavy fragrance--and it feels like this beer makes weird things happen in your mouth; in a good way. The Flying Monkey website notes that "Smashbomb's olfactory tropical explosion shockwaves your face every time you lift the meringue foam towards you." And as weird as that sentence is, it's actually pretty accurate.
Cheshire Valley English Mild
This is a dark beer for anyone who ever said they don't like dark beers or that dark beers are too heavy. The Cheshire Valley English Mild, like other milds, is sort of like a less intense stout--there's chocolate and roasted malt flavours here, but they're more subtle than with stouts. It's got low hops and little alcohol but lots of flavour and is dangerously smooth.
Mad Tom IPA by Muskoka Brewery
Perhaps it's becoming clear that I favour a crisp, hoppy craft brewing style, but what can I say, I stick with what works. This beer too is aromatic and full-flavoured while still being refreshing. There are some citrus notes and a sort of toasted caramel backbone and with its easy drinkability, it seems best suited of all Muskoka Brewery's beers for enjoying on a dock in the brewery's namesake setting; though it has served me equally well in cramped apartments.
Bonus Beer: Snowman Pail Ale by Snowman Brewery
I really wanted to include this beer, but to be truthful, it fell just short of my five favourites. Don't get me wrong, it's still a tasty beer--it's got some caramel hops flavours and a sort of toasted honey finish--but I'll admit that the "gimmick" of being gluten free is what pushed this beer onto my radar and earned it a mention here. Their previous gluten free brews, Brown Ale and Rambam Quad, won awards for their flavour in competitions with non-gluten free beers, so these guys--intent to offer local, gluten free beers that taste as good as their glutinous counterparts--get a mention simply for bringing the topic of celiac disease and gluten-intolerance to the local craft brewing scene in such a tasty manner.
Honourable Mentions:
- The rotating list of house ales at BarVolo
- Conductor's Craft by Junction Craft Brewing
- Lemon Tea Beer by Mill Street Brewery
- Lone Pine IPA by Saw Dust City
- Golden Beach Pale Wheat by Saw Dust City
- 416 Urban Wheat by Amsterdam Brewery
Writing by Ben Johnson. Photo by Traven Benner.
Discussion
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And for those people that don't like beer because it makes you gassy?
It's hops. Hops make you fart.
If you knew anything about beer you'd know the West coast micro revolution in the states (American IPAs) has been one of the biggest things in micros these in the last few decades--Dogfish, Stone, Lagunitas etc. If you want to play it safe just stick to your lagers.
Hops don't kill flavour, they add to it. Just because something is bitter doesn't make it undrinkable, nor does it lose complexity because a good hoppy beer will still be more than one-dimensional. Are there bad hoppy beers out there? Of course, but that doesn't disqualify the style and more than Labatts Blue disqualifies the *cough* Pilsner style.
There's a reason Italian food was considered exotic in Toronto 30 years ago and you couldn't find an authentic curry to save your life. People grew up with bland palates and thought that was all there was to things. 'Why give your taste buds a work out?' they probably said. And here we go again.
Yes it does.
As for the list, I would say The Mad Tom IPA is pretty good and the Augusta Ale is of course a great taste of Toronto.
I would, however, argue that the Mill Street Lemon Tea Beer should be placed up in the Top 5. I'd say all through the summer the Lemon Tea is one of the most widely-enjoyed beers in the city. Certainly deserving to be in the Top 5.
My bias is that I'm sick of buying a 6 pack of micro beer that you can only drink one or two of them before begging to trade with someone else. Go check with the beer nerds on bartowel.com that are pleading to only buy 1 bottle of a micro from someone, or better yet, trade away most of their six pack that they need to "cellar" since they can't consume it (why? because of the bitter hops!). So you know what? I'm actually fighting for the beer geeks out there - so they'd be happy to consume what they bought. If hops were actually the godlike ingredient that people are making it out to be, then we'd be drinking hop extract now. Hops isn't something we discovered 5 years ago, it's been around since beer has been brewed. Please don't think it's special since you "just" discovered it.
Kensington is EXCELLENT
Miami Weiss has THE WORST PACKAGING DESIGN IN HISTORY except for that horrible 416 beer from Amsterdam
All you dorks complaining that you don't like hoppy beers tell us your top 5 beers - just sh*tting on the list like babies accomplishes nothing and bores us to sleep.
Regarding the cellaring of beer, very bitter beers and beers with high alcohol contents need more aging than other beers (and beers with high amounts of alcohol also need more hops bitterness than other beers). Sour beers also require more aging. None of the beers in the article need cellaring, and frankly the vast majority of craft brews don't need it either.
By the way, the connection between hops and flatulence is probably bullshit. Residual sugars in the beer are a much more likely candidate. Hops tea is actually recommended to combat it.
And speaking of beer farts, google "beer farts wife" and start reading the writing of wannabe brew masters asking for advice since their wives can't stand their stench of the latest super-hop special. Maybe they should crumble some Beano into the batch. Oh wait, that's what macros already do (google beano history plz) - so you can drink their beer and you're wife will be happy too - obviously someone cares about the consumer at least.
It's not a zero sum game; enjoy your mildly hoppy and malty brews and quit assuming those of us who have a wider palate range don't know what we are drinking.
BTW: my wife and I had two new beers last night from Ontario microbreweries that were nowhere near what some people describe as "hop bombs" - Harry Porter from Great Lakes & Ol' Woody Alt from Sawdust City. Throw a Beau's Lugtread (reviving another north German classic style: Kölsch) and you have a nice flight of interesting Ontario craft brew that aren't hop-centric in their flavour profiles.
These guys need to be encouraged to keep up the great work and creativity - drink their beer with pride!
Personally, I'm a fan of both hoppy and malty varieties. The Flying Monkey's Underworld (I.e. dark ale) is a nice balance in my mind, but to each their own.
"caramel hops"?, "toasted honey"?, "toasted caramel"? (btw, all caramel is "toasted", or browned), "heavy fragrance"? (which is going to be my new rap name), "Milds are sort of like less intense stouts"?
WTF?
Did one of my high school students write this with his new thesaurus?
easy now...he's probably an unpaid volunteer who's just learning to write.
One can only hope that you and your students find the rest of my article to your liking. One can also only hope that, given your hesitancy to capitalize words that begin sentences and your use of both "btw" and "wtf," that English isn't one of the subjects you teach.
SLURP!
haha