Stonch lives in London, where he runs a pub.The kindness of (Canadian) strangers
It was my Blanche DuBois moment. Last week, Matt Blajer, a blog reader from Ontario, was in town. He stopped by at my local, The Jerusalem Tavern, and entrusted the staff with a gift for yours truly. The hand-delivered package contained cans of two of Matt's local craft brews: Great Lakes Devil's Pale Ale and Hockley Stout.
Since then I've carefully taste-tested the pair, my first from Canadian microbreweries. The clear favourite was the devilish pale ale, a 6% abv beauty. Dark amber in the glass, it looks remarkably like Fullers 1845 and has a similar aroma of sweet malt and rich toffee. Burnt and toasted flavours are more evident that hop bitterness, though there's a bite in the finish. This is an indulgent, flavoursome beer that offers an earthy, satisfying experience.
A big thanks to Matt for giving me my first introduction to Canuck craft beer.
Information:
Great Lakes (website) is based in Toronto, and is Ontario's oldest craft brewer. Devil's Pale Ale was introduced in 2006 as a seasonal but is now brewed year-round.
7 comments:
Hey, i'm just surprised you haven't had any quality Canadian beers before! Surely they aren't so rare over in England that you couldn't track any down?
I've got a bottle of Unibroue La Fin Du Monde in the stash. That'll be my next Canadian craft beer. It's Quebecois, but Canadian nonetheless (despite CDG's best efforts).
Not long ago I was dragged to The Maple Leaf in Covent Garden by a Canadian pal (he participates on this blog unde the name "Topdog Andy"). Only Sleemans and Labatts on offer. A disgrace.
You're welcome.
See you in September/October sometime.
now that's the spirit, eh? international beer relations = looking good.
Nice one! I'm ashamed to say I haven't tried either one. FYI - Great Lakes alleges to be Toronto's oldest craft brewer, not Ontario's. They've only been going for 20 years.
That 666 is the one I suspect qualifies as a Burton. The Hockley stout is a good lighter take on the style, too, at 4.2%.
About ten years ago we went over to Montreal for a wedding. By a huge stroke of luck, it was at the same time as their beer festival, then held at Chambly.
They had some lovely beers on - shame they didn't have any decent sized glasses which meant I had to keep asking for more.
Montreal itself had some good pubs with local brews but quite heavily influenced by Belgium.
A great city - well worth a visit...
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