The Best of 2018 - The Mild (But Still Wild)

The year 2018 started on an odd note. My main man and Durham's Top
Carpenter of the Year Josh Beaven sent me a Care Package from Brock
 Street Brewing with some of their finest beers plus a proper pilsner
glass back in January. What he didn't tell me was that the glass was
pregnant and very soon, it gave birth to a litter of eight taster glasses. 

Well, 2018 started and ended pretty much the same as every year - lots of weird stuff, a healthy smattering of feel-good stuff and tons of volatile political stuff, which, of course, I avoid like the plague.

However, there was one political story that pulled me in hard. A robot ran for political office in Japan. I kid you not. A robot named Michihito Matsuka ran for Mayor in Tokyo's Tama City. In the end, the robot lost to the human incumbent but still got 4,000 votes. I feel certain that's the most votes a robot has ever received in a political election. Now I'm of two minds on this one.

First on deck is Muddy York Brewing's Gaslight
Helles Lager, taking the honours in the Best
Pale/Blonde Lager category. This one was a treat.

On one side, I can't help but feel I'd prefer a robot to most of the humans that get elected, especially the orange ones. On the other hand, isn't this kinda how the robots take over humanity? I mean, come on, people, we've all seen Terminator. Does Skynet not ring any bells? Wake up!

Anyway, this is about about beer - top-flight craft beer, to be exact and my look at what I thought were the best the Province had to offer in 2018. The rules are simple. No beers I've previously chosen from the 2013-2017 Best-Of lists are eligible. They had their damn moment. This is about discovering new beers. And of course, Ontario beers only. There's many good beers across the country and in the US but somebody else can write about them. I drink beer from HERE! So that's what I wanna celebrate. Here's to Ontario craft beers! And here's to robots! Wait... wut?

So anyway, that's what I consider an introduction. Robots, Ontario, no previous winners... pretty much how everyone's Best Of list begins, I'm sure. Let's do this shit.

I can tell I took this picture at my sister Carly's house
because of the Carlsberg glass. One of her kids, who I
won't name (Thomas), stole it from a bar, which, of
course, I would never do. No sir, not this guy. Nope...

Best Pale/Blonde Lager: Believe it or not, for a style I seldom drink, this was a tougher choice than you could imagine. I wrote two blogs about Ontario craft lagers in the Summer and discovered, "Holy shit, there's some really good ones!" In the end, I'm giving the nod to Muddy York Brewing's (Toronto) Gaslight Helles Lager. They use Bohemian Pilsner malts in this 5.4% thirst-quencher which is grassy on the nose and smooth, light citrus on the tongue. One of my now-favourite Summer beers. (Previous winners: Amsterdam's Pale Rider, Cameron's 12 Mile IPL, Hogback's Vintage Lager.)

Best Dunkel/Dark Lager: This can also be a tough category because I do so loves me some dirty, dark lagers. There were a few solid contenders for this one but in the end, I went with The Napanee Beer Company's Blacklist Black German Lager. At 5.3%, the coffee was prominent in this one. It was smooth and richly-flavoured, deep, dark, delicious. An excellent example of a beer done right.

While Brock St Brewing won a gold, silver
and bronze at the 2018 Ontario Brewing
Awards, I'm pointing to that gold for their
Bohemian Pilsner. And there's a story to it.

(Previous winners: Four Father's Shevchenko 9 Ukrainian Dunkel Euro Dark Lager, Lake Wilcox Mad Quacker Amber Lager, King Brewing Dark Lager, Mill St 100th Meridian Amber Lager)

Best Pilsner: Okay, this one comes with a story. I attended the Ontario Brewing Awards back in September with Drunk Polkaroo and the lovely Lady Polkaroo. Ran into the craft cartel better known as The Brock St Brewing Bad Boys and spent a good deal of the night chatting with them. I noticed their Bohemian Pilsner was one of the many offerings at the tables in the place. I happened to get one and as I was wandering over to the pack, the announcer was reading off the winners in the Pilsner category. When he announced that Brock St had taken the gold, someone videoing the Brock group caught me yelling, "Holy shit, that's what I'm drinking right now! Get 'er in ya!" For once, I was right place, right time, instead of my usual "wrong place, never the time, just shut up, Donny." The 5.5% pilsner follows the dictates of the uber-strict Bavaria Purity Law (yadda, yadda yadda), using Magnum and Saaz hops to add a pinch of spice to the floral sweetness. A gold with the OBA, a gold with me in 2018. (Previous winners: GLB's Improperly Hopped American Dry-Hopped Pilsner, Steam Whistle Pilsner, Steamworks Pilsner, Black Oak Epiphany No 2 Pilsner, Rainhard Unfiltered Pilsner)

Robin LeBlanc (that'd be her in the middle) poses with Erin
and John from Whitby's Little Beasts Brewing. Robin was
joined by her friend Ren Navarro at the brewery to create
the Really Good Friends Saison. Big night for Erin and
John as they not only won two OBAs but also took the
Best New Brewery title after less than a year in business. 

Best Saison: Released in July, Little Beasts Brewing's (Whitby) Really Good Friends Saison had some solid name recognition behind it as Toronto beer author Robin LeBlanc and equality-inclusion speaker Ren Navarro collaborated with the brewers Erin and John on it. Brought to me by Beer Bro Uncle Glenn, the 5.5% saison is jacked with Nelson Sauvin hops, has some dry white wine characteristics, a tasty orange back-end with a perfect touch of spice. That alone made it a winner. But this also helped. Proceeds from the beer went to PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) Durham Region. And, as Ren would sagely tell us, the craft beer community should be all about inclusion. So that's pretty cool. Nice job, Erin and John. (Previous winners: Little Beasts (how bow dat?) La Saison D'ete, Nickel Brook-Sawdust City 11-05 Saison, Four Winds' Saison, Collingwood Brewing Saison Farmhouse Ale)

Best Belgian Style Wit: This one was a beer that was little more than an innocuous grab at the LCBO while I was no doubt stocking up on IPAs. In the end, I discovered I was quite surprised by it. It happens. Call me Dora The Craft Beer Explorer. (Actually... don't.)

Another gift from Beer Bro Uncle Glenn, this was a
collaboration between Chronicle Brewing and Wave
Maker Brewing. Hasheeshian Hop Hefeweizen had
all the right stuff for Best German Wheat this year.

Anyway, the beer was Amsterdam Brewing's (Toronto) Spotted Cow White Wheat. So white wheat... a German weizen, right? And once again, going back to the OBAs, I'm watching the presentation for the Belgian Witbiers... and Spotted Cow takes gold. My first thought? They entered it into the wrong category. Wow, egg on someone's face, for sure. Until I tried it a few days later... and proceeded to scrape the egg off my own face. (I'm a sloppy eater.) It is, indeed, a Belgian Witbier. And a pretty damn good one. While you get the orange on both styles, the spices from the yeast make the Belgian version somewhat different. Coriander, a little pepper, a little bit sour and in this case, very tasty. (Previous winners: Black Bellow's White Witbier With Elderflower, Railway City's The Witty Traveler Pint.)

Best German-Style Wheat: I tell ya, when Beer Bro Uncle Glenn comes for a visit, you can count on a few things. He will always bring some excellent craft beer. He will yell at the kids to "get off the damn lawn!" And he'll want dinner at 4 pm so it has a solid three hours to digest before he nods off for the night.

Oh man, I drank tons of Muskoka's Summerweiss
Tropical Wheat in the Summer this year. Why?
Because it's gotta be the funkiest wheat beer ever.

But here's the thing. He does bring me dynamite beers. On a recent Oakville sojourn, he landed here with a Chronicle Brewing (Bowmanville) and Wave Maker Craft Brewing and Distillery (Cambridge) collaboration on a German wheat called Hasheeshian Hop Hefeweizen, Bless his ancient soul because, geezuz, this was a really great German wheat. Well, okay, a great wheat mashed together with a nicely-hopped pale ale would be more accurate, I suppose. Let's just call it a west coat wheat, okay? At 4.5%, some solid citrus and grapefruit notes but the wheat end of the bargain, likely through the malts, is still prominently there. Regardless, the best wheat I had this year, thanks to Uncle Glenn, who's a little bit of alright for an old codger. (Previous winners: Big Rig's Big Boot Hefeweizen, Side Launch Wheat, All or Nothing Hopfenweisse, Creemore Hoppy Hefeweizen, Howe Sound King Heffy Imperial Wheat.)

Best Specialty Wheat: Okay, this should have won Best German-Style Wheat hands-down... except for one thing. If you blindfolded me, handed me Muskoka Brewing's (Bracebridge) new this year Summerweiss Tropical Wheat and then asked me what style this summer treat was, there is zero chance I would get it right.

You will never see me jump up and down, yelling, "Awesome, it's
a new Kolsch!!" It's a great macro-to-micro crossover style but I
seldom dip my toes into the Kolsch pond. That said, when one is
exceptional, I will give it praise. This was a really great Kolsch.

Like the previous beer, I probably would have said a pale ale or maybe straight-up mango fruit ale. At 5.3%, it was hazy (as all wheats are) with big hits of mango and passionfruit. How good was this? It was one of three beers that I strongly considered for the Beer of the Year and the other two are hop-laden smokeshows. One or two at a time, I drank many trays of this throughout the Summer. In fact, when Summer seemed hesitant to arrive at first, both Drunk Polkaroo and I started posting pics of this beer, hoping it would hasten the warmer days. The good news? It worked. Just a fantastic beer!! (Previous winners: Beyond The Pale's Pink Fuzz Grapefruit Wheat, Junction Craft Brewing's Olympia Looping Red Wheat.)

The Beau's Lug-Tread Honourary Best Kolsch: This award is named as such because it took me a few years of doing this to even pick a best Kolsch (I seldom drink them) so I named it after the Grandpappy of solid Ontario lagered-ales. But because I started so late, Lug-Tread has actually never won here.

This photo comes courtesy of Drunk Polkaroo after
I lost a bunch of pics, due to a corrupt file on my
laptop. I have no idea what a corrupt file is but I
now hate them even more than corrupt politicians.

This was a late contender that I didn't even try until December. But, of course, a story here. When we did our Barrie Craft Brewery Invasion in early December, I somehow ended up buying four of these. Why? Well, many prior beers at two breweries plus then several more at this one were involved. Not gonna lie. I didn't even know it was a Kolsch. Once I landed at home and sorted through my beers, I saw I bought four cans of Sawdust City Brewing's (Gravenhurst) Adaptation Vic Secret Dry-Hopped Kolsch and thought, "Well, aren't you a moron?" But it turns out on this one particular count, anyway, I wasn't and if anyone can put a pretty party dress on a Kolsch, it's the gang at Sawdust City. I got pineapple and pine in this 5% offering, taking a traditionally thin style and giving it some wheels. This, my friends, was a damn good Kolsch. And that is something you will seldom hear me say. (Previous winners: Beau's Haters Gonna Hate Imperial Kolsch, Cowbell's Absent Landlord Country Kolsch, Old Tomorrow Track 85 Lagered ale.)

Best Session/Light Beer: Well, here's a surprise. There's a story with this one, too. You see, way back in February, Beer Bro Uncle Glenn came to visit me in Oakville and we did a Hamilton brewery tour. One small problem, Glenn was as sick as a dog. Really bad.

Much like Kolsches, it's tough for a Blonde Ale to
impress me. But this one certainly did, adding a
pretty solid punch to a very mild style of beer.

I mean, the guy's eyes were watering, his nose was dripping like a faucet. He was a mess. Regardless of his pain and suffering, I still managed to soldier on bravely through our brewery tour. I know, right? Kudos to me for hanging tough with such a sick person. My personal sacrifice aside, one of the breweries we visited was new to us but mostly because it was new period. That would be Grain & Grit Small Batch Beers in west Hamilton. We were served by none other by co-owner Joe Mrav (with wife Lindsey - more on them coming). One of the beers I enjoyed that night was their Light Ray Session IPA and, well, even back in February, I knew nothing was gonna beat this for Best Session Beer. And nothing did. At 4.5% and a mind-blowing 80 IBUs, this was hazy, orange and citrus. I walked out with six and returned many times for more. Being as they're just down the highway, I am always thrilled when I see this on their availability list. Just fantastic. (Previous winners: Muskoka Detour, Great Lakes' Sunnyside Session, Flying Monkeys' Genius of Suburbia, Great Lakes' Citradiction Extra Pale Ale)

Maybe the best Brown Ale I've ever had, this Redline
Brewhouse Leather Interior Brown Ale takes the usual
recipe and turns it on its head with the addition of subtle
vanilla and almonds. Holy crap, this was so damn tasty.

Best Blonde Ale: Honestly, you'll never hear for clamouring for a new blonde ale release. Also a great crossover style, they are, by and large, far too light for my taste. Doesn't mean there aren't really good ones or that I would ever turn one down. Just not my first choice. I'm particular that way. But, like other years, there's always those one or two that catch my attention and this year, well, let's go right back to west Hamilton and my favourite couple at Grain & Grit Small Batch Beer for their Bee's Knees Blonde Ale. To be honest, I'm not even certain they make this anymore (simply because I haven't seen it in a while) but Joe and Lindsey, if you don't, that's a mistake. This is absolutely a stand-out for this particular style. A little sweet (maybe honey?), the 5% blonde ale just some really nice citrus notes and was a great Summer ale. Call me a Blonde Ale fan when it comes to this one. (Previous winners: Nickel Brook's Cause & Effect, Lake of Bays' Summer Session Ale)

Started this one with my favourite carpenter-drinking
buddy Josh so I'll finish it with us too. This is us at the
2018 Barrie Craft Brewery Invasion up at Muskoka
Brewing in Bracebridge about a month ago. As you
can see, he and I take our craft beer very seriously!!
And yes, my Movember is blue. It's a weird story...

Best Amber-Dark Ale: Hey, here's something new! A beer with a story. So, anyhoo, there we were, seven of us, at Redline Brewhouse (Barrie) during our little five-brewery excursion on December 8th and doesn't everyone's favourite craft beer person, Kaitlyn K, have a special taster table set up for us in the back. Because she's that kind of terrific. She's got like eight different sample beers for us. This place makes fantastic hop-heavy brews. So what do I have? Their Leather Interior Brown Ale. Why? Because I make no sense where copious amounts of beers are concerned and my intake was exactly copious at that point. And I went back for more. And then, once again. Why? Because this might be the best Brown Ale I've ever had in my life. Smoky and rich, the 5.4% auburn beauty has the usual peaty qualities but adds a beautiful vanilla and nutty flavour to the mix. Holy crap, so good. (Previous winners: Cameron's Dark & Sticky, Mill St's Tankhouse, Parallel 49's Gypsy Ruby Tears, Wellington Terrestrial India Brown Ale, Cowbell's Doc Purdue Bobcat West Coast Ale.)

Well, Scooby Doo Gang, that's Part One. I apologize for the delay but I've had my lad, David, from Boxing Day until today and I'm a easily-distracted Daddy. But the rest coming up very quickly, I assure you. Up next - Let's Go To The Hops! But that's it, that's all and I am outta here. Until next time, I remain...