A closer look at Old Tomorrow

Ian Macdonald, co-founder of Old Tomorrow Brewing,
hoists up an Old Tomorrow Canadian Pale Ale at last
Summer's Burlington Beer Festival down at Spencer
Smith Park. Back at this time, this was their only beer.

The best thing about going to beer festivals - besides the beer, of course - is that you get to meet the people who work at all these craft breweries, be they employees, sales reps, on rare occasions, the brewer and my favourite of all rare sightings, the actual owners.

And while he certainly had helpers, manning the Old Tomorrow booth when I arrived there daily (for three straight days because, well, why not?) was none other than co-founder Ian Macdonald, who started up the brewery with his mother, Pat, in the fall of 2014. His mom has worked for the Provincial government as well as numerous hospitality companies while Ian came into the craft beer industry as a marketing professor with George Brown College. They are, as far as I know, the only mother-son tandem in Ontario craft brewing. Hell, one of the founders-brewers of Hop City Brewing, Kevin Gray, got into the industry simply because his mother didn't want him to. Ask any parent - children can be so defiant.

Now when I met Ian last Summer, he let me know that the brewery had a couple more beers coming out shortly - the Monty's Golden Ryed Ale and another (style not determined at that point) this Spring. Just two days ago, it came out - their Track 85 Lagered Ale.

Well, does it get more Canadian than this? A single
skater on a frozen pond, taking shots at an empty net
with a couple of Old Tomorrow CPAs chilling in snow

While I had initially planned to write about this last year, I decided to leave the info in my draft folder until the third beer came out so that I would have more to say about this fledgling brewery. But I had a really great chat with Ian when Beer Bro Glenn and I cornered him in his booth on the Sunday of the beer fest. He and his mother both share a deep love for all things Canadian, especially our rich history. That became immediately apparent with the picture of our first Prime Minister Sir John A Macdonald on the can of their inaugural Canadian Pale Ale. (A young co-worker once asked me if that was Pierre Trudeau on the label. Uh, no, that's not Justin's old man.)

But what in tarnation is a Canadian Pale Ale? Frankly, until Old Tomorrow, I had never heard of that style. Well, tell you what. I'll let Ian take it from here. "Our CPA is brewed with six ingredients. What we wanted to do was create something that was uniquely Canadian. (What) we were going for was a flavourful but also very smooth and approachable beer and we think that speaks to the Canadian personality." (That means it's excessively and unfailingly polite, first and foremost.)

There are two memorable and iconic moments from
2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler.
Everyone remembers the Canadian Women's Hockey
Team smoking cigars and drinking Molson Canadian
on the ice after their gold-medal win. This is the other.
Jon Montgomery has just won the gold for the skeleton
and was walking triumphantly through Athletes'
Village when someone handed him a full pitcher of
beer. So what's a Canadian boy to do, knowing the TV
cameras were on him? Well, he just started chugging.

Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt. Carry on, Ian... "And to do that, we combined different ingredients, different styles - an IPA, an American pale ale, an English special bitter beer. So in it you've got Canadian barley and Canadian rye, as well as Cascade hops - there's your American pale ale style and Canadiana in there. And from the old world, you've got your UK pale malt, your (caramel) malt and Slovenian Styrian hops and that's the old world, more British side - a bit more on the bitter side from the IPA style. And together, we think it makes a really flavourful but approachable style of beer that you can enjoy all year round."

And thanks to Beer Bro Stevil St Evil's suggestion of using the voice recorder on my phone to interview beer fest booth workers and do beer reviews on the spot, here is my and Glenn's initial reviews of Old Tomorrow's CPA. Out of courtesy, I have translated it into English from our second Beer Fest language, Slurry As Hell.

Glenn: This is one of those beers - and this is the ultimate compliment - I could drink this all day! (Frankly, it sounded like we already had.)
Don: Nice light taste. Lightly fruity on the tongue. John A Macdonald on the label. They're calling Old Tomorrow a Canadian Pale Ale. Little fruit and hop on the nose but it's really low IBUs. What's the IBUs on this? Okay, it's 18 IBUs.

Okay, I took my own picture of Old Tomorrow's Monty's
Golden Ryed Ale but I like my Facebook buddy, Paul
TheBeerGuy's picture a lot better so I basically just
stole it. Do NOT tell Paul TheBeerGuy, okay? I mean,
this was WAY cooler and more arty than mine so I just
"borrowed" it. Like I said, do NOT tell him. Wait?
What? He's standing right behind me, isn't he? Damn.

Okay, in the sober light of day, here's a little more on the 4.9% Canadian Pale Ale. It leans a little more on the British side, as evidenced by the low IBU (international bitterness units) but some deep musty fruit on the nose and real nice bitterness on the tongue. A solid outing.

But the one I was most looking forward to was their Monty's Golden Ryed Ale for two reasons. Reason 1: It's named after 2010 gold-medalling winning skeleton Olympics competitor Canadian Jon Montgomery, who famously chugged a pitcher of beer after his victory during his walk-through of the Athletes' Village in Whistler, BC. Get it? Golden Ryed? And Reason 2: Yay, it's aged in oak that housed Canadian rye! (Wait, do I even like rye?)

Okay, turns out that no, it's bourbon I like, not rye. (I'm a beer drinker! I don't know my liquors at all.) But that said, the rye (Canadian whiskey) wood adds some interesting depth to this 5.2% ale. I did, in fact, noticed some nice light rye on the nose, as well as the wood it was aged in. On the tongue, this is quite smooth (they used good rye barrels) as the subtlety of the rye blends well with an earthy taste. I've never tasted any beer quite like this, to be honest. Had the rye influence been any stronger, I would have had a hard time with it. But somehow, it's got just the right touch.

Well, it didn't take me long to track down this beer. In
fact, it was one day after its release. The third outing
for the gang at Old Tomorrow is another strong beer

Okay, full disclosure time. If my beer-writin' buddy Drunk Polkaroo and his lovely wife not attended a wine-and-beer fest in Toronto on Saturday night, I would have had no idea that Old Tomorrow's third offering, the Track 85 Lagered Ale, was even released. His Facebook-Twitter-Instagram reports from the night clued me in. (You're being watched, Robert, by me, CSIS, the NSA, Mrs Polkaroo... ♫ Every step you take, every move you make.. ♫) So naturally on Sunday morning, I was all over the LCBO product search, looking for it. Turns out the liquor store on Dundurn in Hamilton (just 20 minutes away) had a big stack. I actually scored a pretty sweet stash from that trip but this is about Track 85, which was the last section of railway track that crossed Canada when the last spike was driven in to secure the track at Craigellachie, BC, in 1885. And when I drove in that final spike, I united Canada from coast-to-coast. (My story. Sticking to it. Pointless to argue.) As lagered ales become more popular, it's not surprising that Old Tomorrow brewer Jamie Mistry went for this style, which top-ferments like an ale but cold-filters like a lager. Using both Canadian and German Noble hops, this 4.5% alt beer has some nice muted fruit on the nose and light-bitter layered malt on the tongue. A strong one.

Side Launch Brewing defines their pale ale as
American but I think it might be another example
of a Canadian Pale Ale. The IBUs are high but
there's something to the malts that's very British

But going back to the notion of a Canadian Pale Ale, I have had another that seemed similar in style to Old Tomorrow's and that was the Side Launch (Collingwood) Pale Ale. Yes, at 40 IBUs, the 5.3% ale absolutely qualifies as an American Pale Ale but there's something about the bready malts in this, combining with the American hoppiness that gives it that Canadian hybrid feel, described by Ian. It smells British style but has that lingering hop sensation on the tongue. Frankly, it's just a great pale ale. We stock their Dark Lager (a very good dunkel) at my Beer Store but damn, I wish we had this and their outstanding wheat, as well.

Okay, kids, that wraps up another edition but I wanted to warn you in advance that from now on, this column will be written in Morgan Freeman's voice. And I expect you to read it that way so you may want to practice now. Start with some passages from the movie, Shawshank Redemption. If that's not working for you, switch to Samuel L Jackson and just swear a lot as you're reading. Sound really pissed off. It'll work. Trust me. Next up, some goodies from my homeys at Lake of Bays Brewing. But guys and dolls, that's it, that's all and I am outta here! Until next time, I remain...