A close call on that New England Octopus

This Thursday, October 8 photo was posted on Twitter by Steve, one of
Southern Ontario Beer Boys (@SOBeerBoys). It was the day that Great
Lake Brewing in Etobicoke released this year's batch of Thrust! An IPA.
The beer had just been kegged that morning so yeah, Steve, was singing
its praises. Understandably so. But there was an ominous mention at the
end about a "mystery release" the next day and I was tagged on it. Hmm

I get tagged on a lot of Twitter posts when it comes to Ontario craft beer and breweries, just as I tag a great many others. It's all part of the social media game. If you learn about something great or even something not so great happening, you share that info with your friends.

So when Steve of Southern Ontario Beer Boys (@SOBeerBoys) tagged me on an October 8th post, I naturally took a look. It was a picture of Thrust! An IPA, which had just been released by Etobicoke's Great Lakes Brewing.

That, in and of itself, is solid intel to a guy like me. The beer comes out once a year, I love it and I don't wanna miss it. So honestly, I thought, "Good on ya, buddy. Thanks for the heads-up! Much appreciated."

I was going to wait until Sunday to visit Great Lakes Brewing with this
young fellow named David. But I was warned by Steve that their new
release, New England Style Octopus Wants to Fight IPA would not make
it to Sunday, despite its Friday release. He was right. Gone by Saturday!

You see, Steve and I, as well as Charles, my inside sales rep from Nickel Brook Brewing, all share a kinship. We're all dangerously addicted to the Oak Park LCBO at Dundas and Trafalgar in Oakville. Both Charles and I live five minutes away. Steve passes it every night on his way home from work. And why is that so dangerous, you may wonder? Well, here's the thing. The man in the store in charge of ordering beer goes by the name of Josh. Because that's his name. So he says. He could be in the Witness Relocation Program. We don't know. But Josh brings in some of the best Ontario craft beer into that store. Last week, I walked in to buy my Mom a bottle of wine for a lunch she was going to.

This photo of Hollywood director-producer-actor Kevin Smith
was posted on Twitter by Toronto arcade/bar Tilt Toronto in
early November when Smith was in the city. Sandwiched in
between the taps for Canuck Pale Ale and Octopus Wants To
Fight IPA is Great Lakes Brewing's Tilt Brau Blonde Lager. 

I walked out $65 lighter from the briefest of pit-stops in their craft beer section. Dammit, Josh, you're making a shambles of our bank accounts! (Also, God bless you. You spoil us. Keep doing that.)

Okay, back to Steve's Twitter post. As well as digging the Thrust because it was "Fresh AF!", he added, "Loved this beer and chatting with Cole behind the taps. Psst... he shared a secret about a mystery release tomorrow. You are going to want this! No, really! Especially you @BeerStoreDude. #wow."

So anyway, on Twitter, I'm Beer Store Dude and of course, I wanna know what the mystery beer is. Steve knows my tastes run from hoppy to hoppier all the way up to hoppiest. Turn that Hop Dial up to 11. I'm a simple man. Ridiculously simple, in fact. Moronic, some might say. So, anyway, I ask, any hints?

Well, this is where GLB jumps onto the thread. And by GLB, I mean Troy Burtch, their manager of communications and marketing. So he's their Twitter guy, too.

THIS was the super-secret big deal. GLB
made a batch of their Octopus Wants To
Fight IPA with Vermont yeast, rather than
California yeast, giving it an east coast spin.

Now, Troy, though speaking only for GLB, was an outstanding spokesperson for the entire Ontario craft beer industry on TV during that whole Doug Ford buck-a-beer fiasco. Seriously, he killed it, pointing out how inane it was, though in far more diplomatic words. I would have been all "Does this guy have a metal plate in his head?"

So Troy (as GLB) jumped on the thread and says, "Thrust! An IPA." So his hint was the beer I was looking at in Steve's picture. Helluva hint there, big guy.

I try again, saying, yes, I know Thrust is out. I can see that. About that mystery beer, though? His answer: "Frust! An IPA." Okay, at this point I'm thinking Troy's now just making up words, probably the end result of too many Canuck Pale Ales. (He actually wasn't - we'll get to that in a minute. Although the "too many Canucks" guess is as likely as not.)

The mystery beer is still unknown so I decide to go to sleep. I'll find out in the morning like everyone else. And I did. When I woke up, I clicked on GLB's Twitter and there it was - the mystery release. New England Style Octopus Wants To Fight IPA. Three words. Ho. Lee. Shit. The Etobicoke brewery canned up 2,400 of them (100 cases) for a limited special release. It's the basic Octopus, one of Ontario's most popular IPAs, with Vermont yeast, rather than the California yeast.

Okay, I was under the impression when I landed first in line on Saturday
morning that there were only 10 trays of this left. So I just bought 12 and
frankly, I felt guilty about that. I thought, "I'm wiping out 5% of their
remaining stock!!" Then I saw guys grabbing trays of it behind me and
realized I was being far too "polite Canadian" about it. Happy to get it!

Of course, I don't have to tell Ontario craft beer lovers this was a must-have beer. So I messaged Steve and said I would grab him a couple as I knew he couldn't make it back to the brewery last weekend.

Well, when GLB opened Friday morning, the crafties descended like locusts. Still, I thought, hey, I'm picking up my son, David, after work Saturday and we love a good father-son brewery trip. We'll go Sunday and grab some. By Friday night, Steve alerted me to some urgency on the matter.

Based on what he read on Instagram and Twitter, the New England Style Octopus Wants To Fight IPA was damn near cleaned out by Friday close. He figured from what he had seen that maybe 10 cases or so remained.

Okay, then, change of plans. I didn't work until Saturday afternoon so at 9:30 am, I took my coffee traveler and hit the QEW. GLB opened at 10 am and at 9:55 am, I was first in line. So I was good. I just grabbed a dozen, plus a few other goodies, including Troy's not-made-up-at-all Frust, An IPA and, as I said, Thrust! had just come out so, of course...

So there we go. Scored some of those New England Octos and sitting pretty, am I right?

Okay, what I thought was addled babbling by GLB communications
manager Troy Burtch was an actual thing. That would be Frust! An IPA
in the 1L howler, surrounded by fresh-AF Thrust! An IPA which was
just released on Thursday. Frust is a Thrust hybrid with passionfruit
added along the way. Different colour, different flavour but damn good!

Well, yes and no. I mean, now I have to divvy them up. I had promised Steve a pair. So down to 10. Of course, I have to give Drunk Polkaroo a couple. That's down to eight. Hmmm, I had to think of friends far enough away, that they had NO chance of getting their hands on this so I figured Dan in Sudbury, Beer Bro Glenn in Oshawa, Barrie Beer Bro Hago and hey, of course, Nepean Beer Store Brother Ben.

That left me with four. I'm good with that. I don't need 12. Later, I would find out there was more than 10 trays left. Probably closer to 30. But you know what? It was still gone just past noon on Saturday. So I'm glad that Steve sent me the SOS. Better safe than sorry.

Thrust! An IPA, meet Triple-A Angus striploin steaks!
I thought this would be my last snow-free BBQ of the
 year. Today is still mild enough that another snow-free
BBQ is on the docket. Which GLB beer will be there?
Well, I'm not sure yet. We'll see when it's time to cook!

Now it's interesting because when Polk had his New England Octopus, he posted a video about it, singing its praises. But he also singled me out for getting it to him because he couldn't get there, also praising my wont to share these beers. And that's cool hearing kudos being aimed in your direction... not gonna lie. But the thing is there's a whole core of us that have been doing this for a while. As well as Polk, Beer Bro Glenn goes without saying. He has brought me tons of great Ontario beer, as well as American beers from Stone and others. Stuff from Manantler, Little Beasts and others in his neck of the woods that I would have missed. Barrie Beer Bro Hago is likewise with Redline Brewing, a big favourite of mine in Barrie and oddly enough, 5 Paddles Brewing in Whitby. I think he passes through often for the exclusive purpose of visiting them. And Nepean Beer Store Brother Ben? Holy shit, from Ben, I've received the best Ottawa craft brewers have to offer, including some mind-boggling beers from Dominion City Brewing, a brewery I now believe might be one of Canada's best.

So yeah, I'll include Polk's video at the end because he describes the New England Style Drunk Octopus Wants To Fight IPA beautifully.

I can't believe I've never had a GLB Miami Weiss White Pale Ale
before this past Summer. I mean, I've been at this for over five years
and somehow this has eluded me. But damn, what a great combo of
a great German wheat and a west coast pale ale. Please bring it back!

But when you watch it, remember, every time he says my name, he could be saying his own... or Glenn's... or Ben's... or Hago's. Sharing hard-to-find beers is what we've always done. I think it never dawned on any of us to do anything but that. Not to sound lame but why enjoy a great, hard-to-get beer by yourself when your friends could also be enjoying it, too?

Okay, before I end this, time to let you in on a little secret. Octopus Wants To Fight IPA is not the only established GLB beer that's gonna get the New England Style funky yeast treatment. I know which of their beers is next. And, folks, it's a doozy. You'll be gobsmacked! But I cannot tell you. Okay, for $2.7 million, I will tell you but you have to keep it secret. No cheques. Also don't ask Troy unless you wanna hear the word "Frust" over and over. Anyway, here's Polk's review of the New England Octo called: Sharing Is Caring. But Scooby Doo Gang, that's it, that's all and I am outta here! Share your beers and hey, later, skaters...