2018 - A Year of Beer in Review

(Part 2)

The toughest thing by far about writing these year-end blogs is choosing the winners in any category involving people.

Picking my favourite beer is no easy task either, but Karma Citra is not going to be butt-hurt if I choose another beer as my favourite over her.

Because Karma Citra is naturally super chill and wouldn't concern herself with feelings of jealousy and ... damn! Did I just assume the gender of a beer? I think I did.

Anyway, people are different than beer, I think that's what I'm trying to say. And breweries are more than just bricks and mortar and shiny things and ... beer. Breweries are made up of people, so when I set about choosing my Brewery of the Year I had a great deal of difficulty in picking a winner.

I was able to pick a few finalists, so that's a start.

Brewery of the Year

Little Beasts, Town, Manantler, Collective Arts, Left Field, Redline

Three local breweries and three other superb Ontario breweries. I talked about how far craft beer has come in Ontario in Part 1 of this blog, and this is a great example of how far it has come right here in Durham Region.

The three local breweries are the ones I frequent far more than any other. They are more convenient, sure, but if the beer wasn't top notch I wouldn't visit, at least not often. And the people? Aces, in my book. Erin and John at Little Beasts, Matt and Corey at Manantler and Tim, Dana and Jeff (to name just a few) at Town. Great people making great beer.

Which is my way of saying I couldn't decide on a winner, so I went local and chose three breweries as my co-winners.

Kaitlyn and Dex from Redline Brewery
in Barrie. Unforgettable hospitality

Winner(s): Little Beasts, Town, Manantler

Best Brewery Experience

I hit up a lot of breweries - near and far - last year, and was treated like gold at damn near every one. Brewery staff always lay out the welcome mat for customers, and when they're welcoming a bunch of bloggers, vloggers, alleged beer 'influencers' and the general ne'er-do-wells I usually associate with, they really go all out.

I enjoy myself whenever I go to a brewery, local or otherwise. I've just always loved the vibe. But when my friends and I hit up a new city to get a taste of the local brew, well, that's just another level.

It's such a blast, and brewery staff go the extra mile to make us feel loved. Me. I would have given us a suspicious glance and counted the sample glasses before the tour started, but brewery people are clearly much more trusting than I am.

Which is a long way of saying this category (this year) is open to breweries from Hamilton, Cambridge, Barrie and the County of Muskoka.

From Cambridge, my favourite was Jackass. Wayne Saunders, who owns the joint with his brother Keith, was behind the bar and it seemed like he was in the mood to party. Naturally, so did we. We really wanted to stay longer. Northland Brewing also got points.

It was difficult to pick a favourite from the Barrie trip because of the incredible people we met at, really, all five breweries we visited. And though Muskoka and Sawdust City made strong cases, Redline's hospitality was seriously on point. From Kaitlyn to Dex to Paul to Joe, even though we were a little (!) drunk by then we were still treated like royalty.

In Hamilton, it was definitely Grain & Grit, with Merit also earning some love. Joe Mrav, who partnered with his wife Lindsey to build this brewery, was on hand to entertain Beer Bro Don and I last February and enlighten us on all things beer, though he wasn't able to cure the bad case of the sniffles (advanced stage) that I was suffering from.

One of his beers - "OMG, I can actually smell this!" - almost did, at least for five minutes.

When you win an award like the
Golden Taps Best Beer Writer
you never let it go, even if it
means cuddling with it
at night. Amirite|?

Winner: Redline. Unforgettable experience.

Best Beer Influencer

I debated the name of this category for a bit - Beer Personality was considered - but settled on 'Influencer' because that's what the people on this list do. They influence people to do good things - Drink Local, Drink Good Beer, Don't Be An Asshole, that sort of thing - and we are all the better for it.

Some people on this list I've met once, others I have yet to meet but talk on social media. Some have quickly become good friends and others - okay, Don - I've known for nearly 40 years. But they all rock my world in some way.

Don Redmond, Ben Johnson, Kathryn Arsenault, Robert Arsenault, Robin LeBlanc, Rene Navarro, Jordan St. John, Dana Jackson, Matt Allott

Winner: Robert Arsenault (Drunk Polkeroo)

The 2018 Best Beer Writer at the Golden Taps Awards, Polk has been a passionate advocate for craft beer for only a few short years, but he is already a star in Ontario's craft beer landscape. Drink Local, Drink Good Beer and Don't Be An Asshole could be his middle names if they weren't so long and wordy.

A worthy winner if there ever was one.

Best Triple Play

This is a category for IPA lovers like myself (it is my blog after all), because it is awarded to the brewery which produces the best IPA/IIPA/APA combination. You know, the classics.

The beer fridge at Town.
Always full of my favourites

This year my finalists came from Bellwood (Ghost Orchid, Cosmic Tiara, Pale Ale - Citra, Mosaic, Eukanot); Left Field (Greenwood, Laser Show, Rally Cap); Collective Arts ( IPA Project #5, Radio the Mothership, Rhyme & Reason); and Town (Brave New World, Planet Caravan, Four Corners).

I gotta visit the folks in Toronto's Leslieville neighbourhood more often.

Winner: Left Field

Best Beer Fridge

When I walk into a brewery I make a beeline for the beer fridge first to see what is coming home with me. I like most of the offerings at most breweries most of the time, but rarely do I like everything I see.

At Bellwoods (Hafis Road) and at Town Brewery, it's rare there is a beer I DON'T like. This also means I drop more of my hard earned dollars whenever I visit, so I guess there's a downside to this too.

Winner(s): Bellwoods (Hafis) and Town

Best Beer Executive

I admit it. I stole this category from my pal Don and his own Year in Beer Review. I think it was Part 3, or maybe Part 6, I'm not sure. Anyway, I have Matt Allott from Manantler; Erin Broadfoot and John Henley (Little Beasts); Spencer McCormack (5 Paddles); Mark Woitzak (Brock Street); and Joe Mrav (Grain & Grit) on my final list.

These are the brewery owners who always make the effort (while doing it effortlessly) to ensure you are made to feel welcome every time you visit; who tell you when they have to clear out the fridge to make room for the next batch and that there are discounts available; and who contact you in advance (so you can raid your piggy bank) to tell you your favourite pale ale is about to return.

Matt Allott. So awesome Santa Claus still
gives him presents

In other words, super awesome people who should be recognized for their awesomeness.

Winner(s): Matt Allott (Manantler) and Erin Broadfoot (Little Beasts)

Best Brewmaster

Always a tough call, especially as I don't always know who's actually making my beer.  But I'm smart enough (just) to recognize brilliance when I taste it, and there are four brewers - three of them local - who I decided to nominate in this category.

Erin Broadfoot (Little Beasts); Tim Ferriman (Town); Corey Fairs (Manantler); and Ryan Morrow (Collective Arts).

All four put out killer beer after killer beer, but no one produced consistent winners like the rock star running the back of the house at Town Brewery in Whitby.

Winner: Tim Ferriman (Town)

Beer of the Year

When I started a list of beers I thought should be nominated for my Best Beer of 2018, I found I had trouble putting my pen down. So many excellent beers were consumed last year I ended up with 31 on my list.

Thirty-one finalists. That's a big number. Besides the usual suspects of IPAs, Imperial IPAs and American Pale Ales, the list includes a Hefeweizen, a Gose, two Saisons, three Sours and even a Dortmund Lager.

There are six finalists from Town Brewery, four each from Collective Arts and Bellwoods and three from Manantler.

Two legendary beers are there as well.  Rochefort Trappiste 10, an Abbey/Quad from Belgium that is consistently among the highest rated beers in the world - it is a beautiful beer - and Heady Topper, a Double IPA from Vermont that I could say was a gift from the gods, except it was a gift from Don.

My Beer of the Year

Meh. Close enough.

Four Corners, Brave New World, Broken Arrow, Planet Caravan and Sticky Finn - all from Town - and So Long and thanks for the IBUs; a Town/Muddy York collaboration. From Collective Arts I have Liquid Arts Fest, Radio the Mothership, IPA Project #5 and Gose with Guava; and from Bellwoods there is Barn Owl #10, Hellwoods, Ghost Orchid and Bring Out Your Dead with cacao nibs and hazelnut. Cascade Lollihop, Death's Tar and Peer Pressure are my three finalists from Manantler.

Little Beasts had a couple of memorable beers last year in Changeling - Peach Apricot and Saison D'ete; and Redline produced two as well: Clutch and Double Clutch. And I could never forget Heady Topper (The Alchemist) and Rochefort Trappiste 10.

Also making the cut was Greenwood (Left Field); Hasheeshian (Chronicle/Wave Maker); Tempest (Amsterdam); Bewitched (Amsterdam); Volt (Signal); Dr. Juice (5 Paddles); Mountain Lager (Side Launch); and Paradise Lost - Spiced Cherry (Blood Brothers).

I never thought I would see the day when my Beer of the Year was a Sour, but here we are. All I had was a shared bottle (three ways!), a glass on tap a couple of days later and then a final bottle (also shared three ways) but it was enough. So tart; so freakin' delicious.

Winner: Peer Pressure (Manantler)

Cheers!

2018 - a Year of Beer in Review

(Part One)

To say 2018 was a great year for beer in this province would not be hyperbole, but instead be a gross understatement. Ontario beer is, quite simply, world class and getting better on the daily.

To quote Ontario Craft Beer Guide authors Robin LeBlanc and Jordan St. John (and not for the first time), "every day that passes is the best day for beer."

I can drink to that.

I got to drink in a lot of different cities and at a lot of new breweries last year, as I opened my heart and mind to the concept of visiting towns and taking over all their breweries. Or as many as we could, anyway.

What an awesome concept.

I got to know Hamilton real well, as I was there at least three times - including once when I was nearly on death's door from a bad case of sniffles - and I was also an enthusiastic participant at brewery takeovers in Cambridge (I miss you Jess!) and Barrie/Muskoka as well.

I also watched my local - Buster Rhino's - close (for two days), then re-open (for two months) before closing again (for a week) before re-opening (under new ownership) as Top Corner, with the core staff (who I love dearly) still slinging suds.

2018 also saw beer lovers across this fine province cast enough votes for my friend Robert Arsenault (Drunk Polkeroo) at the Golden Tap Awards (held in conjunction with the OBAs - the Ontario Brewing Awards) to make Polk the Beer Writer of the Year in Ontario.

The same night in that same venue, Erin Broadfoot and John Henley of Little Beasts Brewing took home the Newcomer of the Year Award at the OBAs. So cool.

So a pretty good year then. And as it is now February, I guess it is also time to do my Best Of 2018 blog, just to see how awesome the beer scene actually was last year.

And yes, I know other, more prolific beer bloggers did their annual reviews a month ago (or more), but I've been busy being me, so here we are.

That and my friend Candice was asking why the hell the year-end blog hadn't been written yet.

Here you go Candice.

As always, the categories are open to beers from every nation and Don's older than I am, so let's get started.

The IPAs and their friends

Most of the beer I drink falls into one of these categories because I drink what I like and I like IPAs and all their pals very, very much.

Eleven 'standard' IPAs made the cut this year.

Wizard Wolf - Mosaic, Ghost Orchid (last year's winner), and Roman Candle, all from Bellwoods; IPA Project #5 (Collective Arts); Dr, Juice (5 Paddles); Brave New World (Town); Greenwood (Left Field); Waheela (Little Beasts); Space Invader (Amsterdam); Sun Kiss (Jackass); and Karma Citra (Great Lakes).

Winner: Greenwood (Left Field). So smooth tasting, with that burst of citrus leaving my mouth feeling happy. A superstar in the making.

There were ten Imperial IPAs on my list of finalists, including two challengers from south of the border. One of those was the legendary Heady Topper from The Alchemist in Vermont (a gift from my pal Don), which more than lived up to its billing. So freakin' good. But did it win?

Radio the Mothership (Collective Arts); Hop Rising (Squatters); Heady Topper (The Alchemist); Cosmic Tiara and Double Dry-Hopped Cat Lady (Bellwoods); Immodest (Nickel Brook); Laser Show (Left Field); Planet Caravan (Town); Double Clutch (Redline); and Beyond the Pail (Falcon).

Winner: Radio the Mothership (Collective Arts). Dangerously delicious. Go Ontario!

American Pale Ales, or Day Beers, as I call them, make up a significant portion of my beer consumption, with the low ABV and the shit-ton of flavour the reasons why. Ten APAs made my final list.

Morning Glory (Fairweather); Cascade Lollihop (Manantler); Four Corners (Town); Clutch (Redline); Borealis Citra (Elora); Pale Ale - Citra, Mosaic, Eukanot (Bellwoods); Pinion (Little Beasts); Naughty Neighbour (Nickel Brook); Rally Cap (Left Field); and Rhyme & Reason (Collective Arts).

Winner(s): Cascade Lollihop (Manantler) and Four Corners (Town). Two of my absolute favourite beers from 2018. Both were just so fantastic I couldn't decide.

More friends ...

Sour Pale Ale: Peer Pressure (Manantler). Brewmaster Corey Fair's first attempt at a Sour. I'd say keep doing what you're doing Corey. Spectacular brew. I want more.
Sour IPA: Skull Pucker (5 Paddles)
Oat IPA: Oat of this World (Manantler). Lots of beers with oats in the mash, but this is the only one with oats in the name, too, so it gets its own category. Plus, I liked it a lot.
Rye IPA: Rainbow in the Dark (Redline)
Belgian IPA: Bewitched (Wellington). Part of a re-branded brewery mixed-six, this was a treasure.
Belgian IIPA: Broken Arrow (Town). A serious Beer-of-the-Year candidate.
Brut IPA: Inner Sunset (5 Paddles)
White IPA: Sundrop Wheat IPA (Fairweather)
Session IPA: Light Ray (Grain & Grit)
Milkshake IPA: Liquid Arts Fest (Collective Arts). The best of this style I've ever enjoyed.
Brett IPA: Barn Owl #10 (Bellwoods). Another Beer-of-the-Year contender. Sour and refreshing at the same time. It was like pineapple meets Sour Key.
Black IPA: Death's Tar (Manantler). Honourable mention goes to The Dominatrix (5 Paddles) and Apocalypse Later (Great Lakes)
Session Black IPA: Hot Wax (Manantler)

Sours became a really big deal for me in 2018. In fact, I'm not ashamed to say I fell madly in love with the style, with a handful of soured beer among my top 30 or so beers last year.

I had a runaway winner in the Gose category, and seven finalists in the contemporary dry-hopped section. I could have easily added more.

There were two versions of Changeling from Little Beasts on the list and two from Bellwoods as well.

Motley Cru 2018 - Black Raspberry and Jelly King - Strawberry Rhubarb (Bellwoods) were both delicious, as was Changeling - Peach Apricot and Changeling - Cherry from Little Beasts. Full marks to Blood Brothers for their Spiced Cherry - I put a good dent in at least two kegs at my local - and to Wellington (Little Current) and Fairweather (Dream Pop).

Winner(s): Changeling - Peach Apricot (Little Beasts) and Paradise Lost - Spiced Cherry (Blood Brothers) 

Gose - Gose with Guava (Collective Arts). The aroma is grapefruit, tartness and childhood memories. Brilliantly made beer.

The dark ales got some love in 2018 too, and I certainly wouldn't forget the Stouts and Imperial Stouts that get so much attention on beer rating sites. Especially now, in this most wintry of seasons that is the best time of the year to be a lover of all things dark.

There were two light Stouts that caught my attention in 2018: Build Women Up, a collaboration beer brewed by Town with TV personality Kate Campbell that helps support women in the trades, and Mystery Beer 'A,' part of a promotion from Nickel Brook that let customers choose the brewery's next beer.

Winner: Build Women Up (Town)

Five worthy (and big and beautiful) Imperial Stouts made my final cut, including two from Bellwoods. There was Bring Out Your Dead - with cacao nibs and hazelnut and Hellwoods from Bellwoods, as well as Petite Mort - Whisky (Dunham); Tempest (Amsterdam) and the legendary Canadian Breakfast Stout - Barrel-Aged from Founders, which was amazing. I'm especially glad I drank it from a bottle that still had a Mountie on it and, more importantly, that it was consumed before I learned about the culture of racism that appears to exist at the Michigan brewery.

Winner: Hellwoods (Bellwoods). Coffee, bitter chocolate and dark, possibly demonic, fruit. Hellishly good.

I'm starting to appreciate a well-made Saison now, and there were four that stood out for me in 2018. Little Beasts had two - the always awesome Sason D'ete and Really Good Friends, a beer brewed by Brewmaster Erin with the aforementioned Robin (The Thirsty Wench), Rene Navarro (Beer Diversity) and PFLAG Durham in support of the local LGBTQ community. Signal made a top notch beer in this style in Volt, and Barn Owl #11 from Bellwoods was pretty damn good as well.

Winner: Saison D'ete (Little Beasts) So simple. So good.

There was also a Sour Saison I really liked, so I put that in its own category.

Winner: Neon Lights (Town)

There were a few other beer styles I enjoyed last year, just less often.

Hefeweizen - Hasheeshian (Chronicle/Wave Maker) - A delicious one-off collaboration between Chronicle and still-not-quite-opened Wave Maker of Cambridge. Which meant my pal Jim Gorry (the former Head Brewer of Chronicle) got together with my other pal Matt Chellew, (now a Brewer at Wave Maker), to make a kick-ass beer.
English Mild - Hero's Handbag (Chronicle)
Brown Ale - Dark & Sticky IBA (Cameron's). Honourable mention to Redline's Leather Interiors.
Hoppy Lager - 12 Mile IPL (Cameron's) Honourable mention to The Cat's Away IPL (Great Lakes).
Abbey/Quad - Rochefort Trappiste 10. Honourable mention to 11.05 (Sawdust City/Collective Arts)
Abbey Dubbel - Chimay Red
Dortmund Lager - Mountain Lager (Side Launch). I finally listened to beer writer Ben Johnson, who has been raving about this beer for years, and tried one. I highly recommend his recommendation.
Kolsch - Absent Landlord (Cowbell)
Belgian Wit - Sticky Fingers (Town). Really tasty brew.
Barley Wine - Madness of Ophelia (5 Paddles). The 2016 version. (I think.)
Porter - Harry Porter (Great Lakes)

The big categories, including Best Brewer, Best Brewery and Best Beer, as well as a few others I will make up after a few more beers tonight, will be published tomorrow.

Or maybe the day after. One of these days, anyway.

Cheers!