It's worth the drive (and the wait) for Matron Brewery

It was the morning after the night before and we were all hurting just a bit.

So when we piled into Cal's super-sized GMC Denali for the ride back to Oshawa the consensus - if anybody had asked and no one did - was to point the car west and go home and have a nap.

The adventures in Kingston the day before were memorable: we toured the city in a rented bus and visited six breweries, feasted twice and capped February's KingstonBeerFam2020 at Spearhead Brewing, the home base of our loveable and lion-hearted host, Josh Hayter.

Where it all started for the BrewCrew: at Daft Brewing
at the dawn of the day before. That's Candice & Jamie
top right and  Jeff and Cal top left (behind)

There was also an after-party in April & Chuck's room back at the hotel so the next day we were, as already mentioned, hurting just a bit.

But Cal wanted to go exploring on the way home, and as he was driving none of us argued much. Jeff, who was riding shotgun, didn't care and I, sprawled out in the middle bench, was always up for a beer tour, hungover or not.

There was no response from the back, mostly because Candice was trying to sleep and Jamie (along with the rest of us) did not want to face the consequences of waking her up.

A little tour it is, then, says Cal. Our first stop, on the north side of the highway, turned out to be a dud as we were too early for Signal Brewery. But Cal is a determined man and he pointed the car south to Prince Edward County.

I've lived on the east side of the Big Smoke for nearly 30 years but there has only been one visit to 'The County' (as residents call this 1,000 sq. km vacation hotspot 180 kilometres east of Toronto), and it was so long ago I could barely remember. I knew thousands of people flock there every year for its sandy beaches, artisan vibe and its 30-plus wineries, and I knew they were also coming for the 10 breweries that now call this rural paradise home.

And Cal was hell-bent on finding a couple.

Our Callum

Trouble was, Jeff (as the man in the shotgun seat) was in charge of navigation and he was having trouble staying awake, leaving Cal - who had been to the area once or twice before - to find his way from memory.

He was clearly doing a poor job of it as we started meandering around country roads for a while before finally finding our first brewery, about ten miles east of where Cal wanted to be.

Parsons has that farm-to-glass spirit so common here, and the Yuzu Pale Ale I sampled was delicious. But Cal had his mind set on finding another spot, so we grabbed a couple to go and headed back to the Denali.

Candice, still snuggled in the corner of the back seat, hardly noticed we were gone.

The Denali. I drove Cal to Peterborough
to buy this just two weeks prior

Midtown Brewery was where Cal wanted to be, and you'd think between the five of us - the four who weren't trying to nap, anyway - we'd be able to find it. But the drive to go the hell home was growing stronger each minute, so to quell a budding mutiny Cal conceded we would make just one more stop before calling it a day.

(Meanwhile, a persistent thought rolling around in my alcohol-saturated brain about another brewery in the vicinity I had heard good things about was starting to percolate, but I pushed it back up into the 'I'll deal with it later' part of my frontal lobe. It's a very busy department up there but I have always been able to recall the information in the past, although it's usually three in the morning and several hours after I asked for it.)

So off we went into the breach again, or at least back to the confusing country roads of Prince Edward County. And despite all the navigational expertise at our fingertips, we screwed up one more time and ended up at Gillingham Brewery.

Jeff and Josh enjoying a laugh in Kingston

In Cal's defense (Jeff had given up trying to help at this point), the cops had set up a roadblock along our route, forcing us to go around and throwing our navigational system - already suffering from a crippling lack of confidence - into total chaos. 

But we found Gillingham. It wasn't Midtown. But it was a brewery, and another of those farm-to-glass types, so we stopped in for a drink.

Cool little spot, located on the grounds of a family-owned vineyard (Domaine Darius), and pretty much built by hand by Andrew Gillingham, who is also the brewer and VP of bottle washing, and his wife Christine.

Andrew was on duty when we popped in and as he had just finished installing some new brewing equipment he wasn't actually brewing, but he was bottle-washing.

We bought a mini-flight of the two beers he had on tap and enjoyed a small hair-of-the-dog treatment while Candice continued her nap in the Denali. Dave's ESB (5.9%) was "toast and caramel" and Howlett IPA #2 (6.8%) was "peachy, slightly fruity" and both were very good.

But Cal was looking a bit frustrated about not finding Midtown so I told him to chin up and look on the bright side.

Our Candice

"There's always this summer, Cal. We'll all be back soon, right?"

Yeah, about that ...

And then we realized we were all hungry and very tired, so we joined Candice back in the Denali and Cal drove us back to Oshawa.

Like clockwork, at three a.m. I woke up from a deep sleep and remembered the brewery I had been hearing all those good things about.

"Matron!" I shouted into the darkness.

"Next time," I answered myself, before falling back asleep.

***

It wasn't long before I learned almost all I needed to know about Matron Brewery. I knew the brewer and co-owner Justin da Silva cut his teeth at Stone City in Kingston (which I learned the day before our joy ride through Prince Edward County at KingstonBeerFam2020), and I discovered he opened Matron last year, with the help of a couple of friends who also happen to be industry professionals.

The County

I learned about his dedication to using Ontario-grown ingredients - including hops from nearby Pleasant Valley Farms - and I found out Toronto beer writer Jordan St. John (who once taught the budding brewer at his George Brown College Beer Appreciation class) raved about him.

On top of all that Matron's flagship IPA looked like it was going to tick off all the boxes for me and I had a soft spot for the name of the beer as well. 'Janky' was the word a frustrated Steph Curry used when he tried to describe the unconventional defensive schemes Coach Nick Nurse was using on the Toronto Raptors' road to the 2019 NBA title.

We the North. We the Janky, or something like that.

So, yes, I wanted this beer, Two months later, as we were suffering through the fear and uncertainty of the first wave of the virus and breweries dove head-first into online sales and delivery, I started to reach out to breweries, only to strike out because my 'Debit Visa' card didn't seem to qualify.

One of those failed attempts was April 17 with Matron (though when I messaged them about it they were quick to tell me they could work something out) and it was nearly six months later, having achieved success with my debit/visa ordering brews from Third Moon in Milton, when I tried Matron once more. I may never know if breweries have modified their ordering protocols recently or if I am just a tired, cliched old man who keeps pushing the wrong buttons, but it worked, and five days later 12 shortie cans arrived at my side door.

I will tell you I would never have written all these words and taken so long to get to the damn point of the story if the beers I received from Canada Post and Matron were just decent, or even very good. No, these brews were excellent and all spot-on for style.

Photo courtesy @moonstone brewer

I never would have thought I'd be heaping praise on a Kellerbier or even a Helles Lager, let alone a 'Sour Blackcurrant Saison,' but here we are.

Leisure Landbier was definitely my favourite Landbier/Kellerbier/Zwickelbier EVER (fruity cereal aroma; big flavours of wildflowers, wine grapes, cereal & spices) and Yeasayer, the Helles Lager (unsweetened cereal aroma; balanced & delicious) was even better.

Zuzh, the Sour Blackcurrant Saison, wasn't really tart at all but it was full of red berries with a hint of mint and definitely fell into the 'fun' beer class.

The two IPAs did not disappoint either. Deece Petitie was a four per cent Session IPA that looked fantastic in the glass and had all the flavour of a higher ABV IPA. And Janky, well, let me just say the hype was well deserved. 

Janky was super balanced, slightly juicy with a hint of dankness and smooth AF.

All year I've been debating with myself if Everyday Magic from Sawdust City is good enough to dethrone Valkrye (Little Beasts) for my Beer of the Year.

I think I have a new contender. And as the late, great local hero Gord Downie said in Long Time Running, it was well worth the wait.

Cheers!

For want of a Hug

I didn't grow up a hugger - my generation and my culture didn't encourage it - but I always wanted to be one.

So once I semi-matured in my mid-40s I embraced the hugging lifestyle with wide-open arms.

I was strictly semi-pro: the secret art of the Bro-Hug, for example, took another decade to master. But I had the skills and desire for a long career in the game and I absolutely knew I loved hugging the people I cared about.

So when the Pandemic was declared and social distancing was put in place it was the no-hugging protocols that hurt the most.

I totally get it. I live with my parents, who are both in their late 80s, and my Mom has Alzheimer's. She is also totally immunocompromised, so I am justifiably paranoid about giving her the virus.

So I don't hug my own mother. 

Jake and I in 2014. We used to hug
back in those days. Honest

My family is back in Oshawa and parts east and I haven't seen, let alone hugged, my three older kids (or my grandchildren) since I moved here three weeks before the shutdown. While that sucks, they are all grown up and on their own and I know we can make up for lost hugging time when we are out of this.

The J-Man, though, is another story. I know, he turned 18 in March and is officially an adult, but he's still my little boy and I miss him a lot. But with my own immunocompromised Mom to consider, Jake's Mom and I have erred on the side of caution. And Christian-Ann works in a retirement home so she has to be super careful too.

I've only driven out to Bowmanville to visit Jake three times since the spring and I avoided any physical contact on the first two occasions.

When I visited last month, we ate fried chicken, watched soccer (and an Australian Rugby League game - he's got the total TV package) and when it was time to go I wrapped my arms around my son when I said goodbye.

I'm here to tell you it felt good. Damn good.

A week or so later I invited my pal Don to meet up at Stonehooker Brewery in Mississauga's Port Credit neighbourhood. I hadn't seen Donny since our Kingston Brewery Invasion back on February 22 and as I was already headed down to Great Lakes Brewery in south Etobicoke that day I figured I should give him a call. Stonehooker is about halfway between there and Don's palatial Falgerwood Estate home in Oakville, so I figured it would be a quick trip for him.

Daddy and David

As I knew his son was with him that week, I was especially looking forward to the visit because I knew he would bring David along.

If you know David, you'd know he's loved by everyone who meets him, and you'd also know another important fact about him: he's a hugger.

David is actually a world-class hugger, if there is such a thing, and if I thought I was having it tough in this new non-hugging world, I failed to consider the effect it would be having on him.

So after a couple of pints of fine ale and some lovely tacos on Stonehooker's front lawn 'patio' on a spectacularly beautiful early fall day, I got up to leave and Daddy asked David if he wanted to let me into his 'circle.'

And then we hugged. And it was wonderful.

I'd say you're next Mom, but it might be a while.

Hooked on Stonehooker Brewery

The only time I visited Stonehooker prior to the visit with the Redmond Boys was the Hamilton/Halton/Peel Brewery Invasion last fall.

I remember Brewmaster Adam Cherry being a very gracious host and the beer being very good.

I guess I forgot how very good Stonehooker beer can be.

Stonehooker Brewmaster Adam Cherry and
moi at last year's visit

I enjoyed a pint of Mae West Mango Milkshake IPA in the glorious sunshine and I am happy to report this sweet mango smoothie is my favourite in the style this year.  Maybe a tad too sweet to be best ever, but it had that milkshake consistency that I have found lacking in most Milkshake IPAs released in the past couple of years.

I also enjoyed a Tantrum NEIPA and I was so blown away by this beer I said 'delicious' twice in my RateBeer review.

I sampled a Tripel as well, a style I would not normally seek out as they're usually too malty for this hop head's delicate palate. But this was smooth and surprisingly light for a strong beer.

My take-home pack included a Broadreach NEIPA, a favourite from last year which is still juicy, hazy & super tasty; Jack the RIPA, a Rye IPA that was smooth, rich and well balanced; Lemondrop Float, a 3.9 per cent Lemon Milkshake Sour (what?) that was full of flavour; Chill Pils (grainy, spicy with a little citrus); and Gollywobbler, another 3.9 per cent super sessionable beer that packed plenty of hop character.

And, of course, a whole bunch of Tantrum.

Each and every one a winner.

Before I left Mississauga, and after my hug with David, I went to my car and gifted Don a can of Great Lakes Brewery's jacked up Imperial version of their Thrust! IPA. Seemed only fair as he had picked up the tab for my tacos and our patio beers.

And then I gave my old friend a big hug.