Is it love? Or is it bitter Karma?

My love/hate relationship with GLB's Mike Lackey 

Mike Lackey can be a really cruel man.

I've never met him and I'm sure he's a sweet guy, but anyone who can make a beer as spectacular as Octopus Wants to Fight and then just stop making it - like it was NO BIG DEAL - has definitely got a bit of a mean streak.

Octopus has been a smash hit with hopheads since it was first unleashed on the craft beer world last year by Mike and his team of brewers at Toronto's Great Lakes Brewery. It's part of their Tank Ten series of IPAs, which means it gets only a limited run of about three months before the recipe is put back in the vault for the next year.

That's the cruel part.

Octopus Wants to Fight is as close to a Perfect IPA as I've ever had. It smells divine - mango, pineapple and pine tickle the nostrils, with plenty of juicy citrus and delicious bitterness to excite the tongue. Maybe the best smelling beer ever. 

Octopus Wants to Fight IPA

I bought it whenever I saw it in the LCBO or in local bars and I drank it whenever I saw it in front of me, even if it wasn't mine. I drank it here and there and I drank it anywhere. I even drank it with green eggs and ham. And if I ever met a Sam-I-Am, I would drink it with him, too.

And now it's gone.

You are a cruel, cruel man Mike Lackey.

I know Mike tried to make it up to me by releasing My Bitter Wife to take its place in Tank Ten and that was more than a token gesture. One of my favourite releases of the last two years - it was my Mid-Summer Beer of the Year in 2014 - and a beer I had been pining for since Mike unceremoniously yanked it off the canning line last year, though it was more of a grapefruit/mango heaven-type beer than an evergreen experience. It was - and is (I'm drinking one as I write this) bright and bitter at the same time. Fantastic.


But Mike wasn't going to make it easy to love him. "No LCBO release for you Spunk Monkey," he probably said, forcing me to make the long trek from Oshawa to south Etobicoke and the brewery's retail store to get my Wife.

I was ready for his tricks though. I've been a good son lately and I've been driving in to Toronto every weekend to cut my folk's grass and do other projects around the house. They're in the north end, but it's five minutes to the top of Royal York Road from there and then a clear run south to the brewery, so every Saturday night I'm back at the third floor loft in the Shwa with some delicious My Bitter Wife IPA.

GLB Brewmaster Mike Lackey

Meanwhile Great Lakes had been teasing the return of Karma Citra, a truly awesome IPA  that received a limited release last year.

This was the chief drawing card (for me) at the Great Lakes Tap Takeover at Buster Rhino’s in Oshawa in early 2015 and this Citra-hopped (naturally) IPA was all grapefruit and tropical fruit with lots of lingering bitterness.

And when fellow beer writer and Facebook pal Robert (Drunk Polkaroo) raved about it only a few short days ago I decided I wasn't going to be mad any longer. It's called Karma Citra for a reason: it's all about the love.

Yesterday I was back on my hands and knees in Mom and Dad's basement, bonding with Pops while I scraped old tile away in preparation for a new floor he's putting down and thinking about Karma Citra, love and Mike Lackey.

It could have been all the asbestos I was inhaling but my inner self said just go with it.

So when the job was finished me and the J Man (my helper on this day) headed down the familiar route to the brewery.

Karma Citra - sold out in two days

I walked in, said hi to the two lovely young ladies at the check-out counter (I think I did; I  was kind of focused at the time) and headed straight to the fridge where I saw ...  NO Karma Citras. "We're sold out," said one of the ladies, seeing the look on my face. "No, seriously," I countered, not quite believing what I was hearing. "You're making more, right? Tell Mike to make more!"

It was announced on a Tuesday, released on a Thursday and sold out on Saturday, probably five minutes before I got there, knowing my luck. An entire year's supply gone. In two days.

I think I hate you Mike Lackey.

"Would you like a pint? We still have it on tap."

So I stood at the bar, my ten My Bitter Wife and two Sunnyside Session IPAs at my feet (I'm drinking a Sunnyside as I finish this blog - it is morning after all), and nursed a (free) pint of Karma Citra while Jake waited in the truck, wondering what the hell dear ol' Dad was up to.

So delicious and so bitter, just like my mood as I contemplated my feelings towards GLB's brewmaster, Mike Lackey.

What the hell. I love you man. But make more.

Beer Fest season hits Durham Region

It's summer, so that means beer festival season is upon us.

This year, my finances being what they are, I'm limiting myself to just two and they're both local.

The third annual Durham Craft Beer Festival is this Saturday on Ontario Street and at Buster Rhino's in downtown Oshawa and the lineup is stellar, to say the least. Great Lakes will be there (Will they bring a stashed keg of Karma Citra? I'm not betting the farm on it, but My Bitter Wife will do nicely) and Muskoka, another legendary Ontario brewer, will be there as well.

Local brewers will be well represented, with Manantler (much love to these guys) making an appearance after a one year absence. Former People's Choice winners Old Flame and 5 Paddles will be pouring, as will Brock Street, named Newcomer of the Year at this year's Ontario Brewing Awards.

Second Wedge, a newcomer from Uxbridge who I have been hearing great things about, will be there for the first time and will definitely get a token or two from me.

Fifteen breweries in all will be in Oshawa, with VIPs getting in early at 11 am and the rest of us regular folks arriving at 12:30.

One month or so later I'll be at another local beer festival when the Clarington Beer Fest kicks off August 20 with what I hope becomes a long standing tradition.

Hosted by Manantler, this festival will have great music, good food and most excellent beer. See you there!