Time does no Damage  to the Diodes (and makes for a pretty awesome IPA)

The shit-eating grin never left his face, still dripping with sweat moments after he left the stage, when I asked James Gorry the question.

"What was cooler?" I wondered, summoning all my years of journalism interviewing experience, "Opening for The Diodes, brewing a beer for The Diodes, or PLAYING with The Diodes?"

Gorry, who is the brewmaster at Manantler Craft Brewing of Bowmanville by day and the singer and guitarist for local punk band Tijuana Jesus by night, was almost at a loss for words. "A little bit of everything," he finally said. "It was all cool."

It was quite a night for Mr. Gorry, for Manantler (Ontario's best new brewery, in my opinion), and for the local punk scene when seminal Toronto punk band The Diodes hit the stage at Manantler's cool little brewpub (in the even cooler Bowmanville Factory brownfield development) on September 12.

The Diodes formed in 1976 and were one of the first local punk acts to make it big, thanks to hits like Tired of Waking Up Tired and Catwalker. The band, along with their manager, Ralph Alfonso, also opened Crash 'N' Burn, Toronto's first punk club, which hosted punk legends from
the Ramones to the Dead Boys.

James Gorry (centre) and Chris Allott of Manantler Brewery help
Paul Robinson, the lead singer of The Diodes, launch Time Damage IPA

The band broke up a half-dozen years later after a short stint in England, and the members went their separate ways until Alfonso, a punk legend in his own right, got most of the original members together in 2010 and 2011 and again this year for a mini tour of Ontario and Quebec.

"We wanted to recreate some of the magic we had at the Crash 'N' Burn," Alfonso said of the tour, which saw the band (with Gordie Lewis of Teenage Head fame and his band at two of the stops) visit the Phoenix concert theatre in Toronto, as well as small venues in Brantford, Hamilton, Bowmanville and Montreal. "And people wanted see The Diodes and Teenage Head playing together."

The Phoenix show, Alfonso added, had some of that magic.

"At the end of the set Gordie came out and sang (Bowie's) Jean Genie with the band and one guy went on Facebook and said 'that's it for my bucket list.'"

But how did Manantler get in on the action, I asked him, and what's the story behind the beer?

"Well," he said, his exhibit of rare photographs, memorabilia and albums from the era at his side, "James (Gorry) knew the bass player (Ian Mackay), he played in a punk band (Tijuana Jesus) and he worked in a brewery. So we  said, let's go make a beer. Craft beer is the new indie rock, you know. The big guys are corporate rock."

Gorry remembers talking to Mackay about Manantler creating a beer for the band.

"They contacted us and asked us if we could do the beer and I said, 'can you do the gig?' The Diodes, man. We're in!"

And Time Damage IPA - named after the band's 1977 album - was born. Gorry could have chosen any style - Mackay mentioned something about being partial to wheat beers - but for an iconic punk rock band like The Diodes, only a hopped up IPA would do, he said.

I loved the beer. One of my favourite Manantler offerings, and I'm a big fan of these guys.."Smells fantastic, with grapefruit and mango most prominent," is what I said when I reviewed it on Rate Beer. "Chinook, Ahtanum, Citra and Simcoe hops - the latter an ode to the "Simcoe Sound" attributed to Toronto-area bands of the 70s and 80s by music producer legend Daniel Lanois - give the beer a big citrus punch with just enough bitterness to satisfy. An outstanding IPA."

John Catto, the lead guitarist/songwriter for The Diodes, agreed. "Delicious!" he declared.

(The Phoenix gig - the first stop on the tour - was supposed to be the launch of Time Damage IPA, but "beer agreements already in place" put the kibosh on that plan and the beer was launched in Bowmanville instead. I think I've heard of these 'beer agreements' before.)

With the beer done, all Gorry had to worry about was getting his band ready to open for a legendary punk band. Shouldn't be that hard for an experienced band with ... one gig to their name?

Gorry on stage with Tijuana Jesus

No worries. Gorry's vocals were strong, his pal Matt was crazy and good on lead guitar and the rhythm section of Hooper (drums) and Luke (bass) was on point. They got the crowd of nearly 100 on their feet (there weren't any chairs anyway) and were the perfect lead-in to the The Diodes' set.

The band opened (appropriately) with Time Damage and closed with Tired of Waking Up Tired before bringing Gorry on stage for the encore, which included Catwalker and Jean Genie.

The crowd loved the set, and so did the band, if Catto's opinion the next day on social media meant anything.

"Last night at Manantler Brewery was a ton o' fun, closer to the Crash 'n' Burn experience than anything I've done in years, blasting away in a white painted concrete basement.," he said. "'A "Cellar Full Of Noise,' as Brian Epstein put it, in all the right ways."

Gorry, with that shit-eating grin probably still on his face when he woke up the next day, would second that emotion.

What's in a name? Belgian IPAs always in style

At the risk of offending legendary beer writer Stephen Beaumont, I love Belgian IPAs.

I love how the spiciness from the Belgian yeast melds so beautifully with the indulgent lashings of West Coast hops to produce something ridiculously delicious. I love how, when done well, Belgian IPAs are hoppy and bitter and yet taste so clean.

It's an IPA but it's not and I love it. But I said that already.

Categorizing this style has been difficult for some, who use the argument that Belgium has so many different types of beer it would be impossible to call one "Belgian-style." Beaumont, who has been called a personal hero and his "favourite Canadian" (with William Shatner) by my second favourite Kiwi, reigning New Zealand Beer Writer of Year Neil Miller, is one of those critics.

Beaumont is quite passionate on the subject, declaring that Belgian beer is beer that is "brewed and fermented in Belgium. Period." In case he wasn't being clear, he added that even calling it Belgian-style is wrong as the phrase is a "largely meaningless and belittling adjective."

I can agree with him on the second point - 'Belgian-style' is over-used and somewhat trite - but the Belgian IPA label is in fact a perfect way to describe them.

The style is fairly new and did originate in Belgium when a few local brewers, inspired by the American India Pale Ale, began brewing hoppy ales for the U.S. market. The Belgian IPA style really took off when American brewers (and Canadian, as well as others) began brewing super hoppy beers using west coast hops and Belgian yeasts.

The result was spectacular awesomness, particularly for the North American iteration, the only examples of the style I've enjoyed so far.

(The complicated and convoluted history of the Belgian IPA breaks down thusly: It is an American (or Canadian) style inspired by Belgian beers, which were inspired by American IPAs, which were in turn inspired by English IPAs. I feel inspired already.)

So what's in a name? I'll give you five, each representing a legendary (or legendary-in-the-making) brewery: La Formidable from Beau's (Ottawa Valley) and Gigantic (Portland, Oregon); Princess Wears Girl Pants from Sawdust City (Gravenhurst); Catherine Wheel from Bellwoods (Toronto); Cali-Belgique from Stone (Escondido, California); and Derniere Volonte from Dieu du Ciel (Montreal).

(Derniere Volonte - which means Last Will in French - is the clear winner for me. It ticks off all the boxes and it is so smooth on the tongue it  tastes like a spicy, seven per cent alcohol creamsicle. A world class beer from a world class brewery that I have enjoyed just twice, and not once this year. Please LCBO, apologize to Dieu du Ciel - or whatever you have to do - and bring this beer back to Ontario.)

Montreal's finest - Derniere Volonte from Dieu du Ciel

Each of my Fab Five beers are called 'Belgian IPAs' at Beer Advocate, a grassroots network of beer enthusiasts based in Boston (Motto: Respect Beer). Belgian IPAs are described as having a "cleaner bitterness" vs. American styles, and a "pronounced dry edge (very Belgian), often akin to an IPA crossed with a Belgian Tripel," with alcohol generally on the high side. "Many examples are quite cloudy, and feature tight lacing, excellent retention, and fantastic billowy heads that mesmerize."

Sounds tasty.

Rate Beer, the world's largest consumer-based beer rating network, takes a different approach. The organization does not classify any beers as Belgian IPAs.

Princess Wears Girl Pants is listed as a Double IPA on Rate Beer, Derniere Volonte as a Belgian Ale and the other three as simply Indian Pale Ales. Score one for Mr. Beaumont.

It's hit or miss with the category at major beer festivals. At the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Belgian IPAs fall under the American Belgo Style category, while there is no mention of the category at all at the Ontario Brewing Awards.

The U.S.-based Beer Judge Certification Program, for what it's worth, describes Belgian IPAs as "an IPA with the fruitiness and spiciness derived from the use of Belgian yeast" and classifies it as  a Speciality IPA.

The aforementioned Mr. Miller, the standard bearer for beer writing on the planet (despite admittedly not being a big fan of Belgian IPAs), once referred to the style as a "USA/Belgium IPA." That works for me as well.

I should point out that I am a huge fan of Mr. Beaumont - one of the world's foremost authorities on beer and the author of numerous books on the subject (including The Pocket Beer Guide, which he co-authored with Tim Webb and is now in its third printing) - and would never want to irritate a man who, in the one and only social media thread we participated in together, sang O Canada (sort of), simply because I challenged him to prove his Canadian status.

Stephen Beaumont: Canadian. Neil Miller: Honorary Canadian

Damn if he didn't come through on the dare, so long as you consider "Da, da, da da...da, da da da da da...Da, da, da da..." to be called 'singing.'

Full points for the effort, though.

No matter how they're classified, Belgian IPAs will always hold a special place in this lover of IPAs and their friends' heart. They are hoppy, they are spicy, they are delicious and I love them.

But I'm sure I said that already.

Cheers!