Cross one off the Bucket List

When Sudbury Danny got his Bucket List IPA from his
Lake of Bays Brewing rep, he decided to have a little fun
with it, taking Hamilton artist-cartoonist David Buist's
famous interpretation of the classic Donny Phantoming
moment from that Brew Day and super-imposing it onto
the can(s) we all received. It was so realistic looking, top,
that people were asking Danny where he got it. Perfect!

Way back in April, when the ice was still locked firmly into most Muskoka lakes, a hearty band of us - we were a Lucky 13 in total - came from all points in the Province and landed in Huntsville.

For the bucolic and oh-so-Canadian cottage setting? No, Ma'am, still Winter up there at that time of year. To ice-fish? Nuh-huh, Charlie, I can think of better ways to perish. To hunt? Good gawd, no. I'd be more likely to aim a rifle at a empty beer can on a post than an animal. Unless we're talking about pigeons or seagulls. I could totally see myself aiming at sky-rats. Well, maybe in their vicinity to scare them off, anyway.

No, we were at the Huntville Brewhouse, owned by Lake of Bays Brewing, out of Baysville, to brew a beer. And with the guidance of Brewer Andrew, not just any old beer. A good old-fashioned West Coast IPA.

Now Andrew's involvement varies, depending on which of us is telling the tale. A few suggest he was off in the distance, reading a book and yelling out, "You're doing great, guys!" from time to time. Others say his involvement was minimal to moderate and any point in between. But the hard truth is he told us when to pour in the malts, when to later pour in some hops while all of us wined-and-dined the afternoon away in luxurious style, befitting royalty. So yeah, he could say he was key to the operation.

When the brewery's social media pros, Jackie and Emma, threw it at us to come up with a name for this beer, the eventual winner was Bucket List IPA, suggested by Hamilton Craft Beer Couple, Paul and Kristal. Since no one in the group had ever brewed a beer in a brewery environment (I had once but also a few home-brewers in our little collective, though), that name resonated with all of us.

Knowing there was no way of beating Danny's Bucket List photo, up top,
I went the goofball route, using a bucket (in this case, citronella, both in
honour of the Citra hops used and also mosquito reasons), a list (I would
like to tell you I misspelled Schindler because of copyright reasons but
that would be a lie) and my own label covering the can of Broken Axe
Pale Ale that the brewery eventually canned some of the batch in for us.

So anyway, that Brew Day was back in mid-April. Eventually, the question was asked: "Whatever happened to Bucket List?" At first, it was asked in Twitter back-stage forum called Messages, which lends itself to a degree of privacy between Tweet friends and apparently, Russian and Chinese hackers. (Good morning, comrades! Do svidaniya! Well, actually, that means "goodbye." Guess I'm telling 'em, eh?)

Finally, Ottawa Matty spoke up and asked the brewery directly. Well, it turns out those wheels were already in motion as within the day, Bucket List started turning up in our mailboxes. (Maybe Matty's a wizard? We don't know him that well.)

When Lake of Bays rep Tim landed at Casa Donny, he came bearing
some pretty sweet swag. As you can see, I scored one of those phone
thingeys that's used for whachamacallit, a frisbee because I am very
well known for my athletic prowess... (*sparks up a smoke*) and, of
course, three Bucket List IPAs in Broken Axe cans, two Peach Paradise
Milkshake IPAs and one Red Sky at Night Peach Cranberry Radlers.

On my end, my Lake of Bays rep Tim texted me to ask if I was at work as he would be in the neighbourhood shortly. No, I was finished for the day, I texted back, but I only lived three minutes away from work if he wanted to come to my place. (Which answers the question: Would you invite a craft beer rep to your home? Duh, of course I would! Hell, bring enough beer and he or she are welcome to crash for a few days.)

Tim showed up at about 7 pm and in retrospect, it was kinda funny. I was wearing Batman Pajama Pants, a craft brewery T-shirt and an open Hawaiian shirt at the time. (*Looks down*) And apparently, still am. Tim shows up in a pair of gym shorts and an old faded T-shirt. If a neighbour had taken a picture, they could have entitled it, "Two Older Guys Who Clearly Have Zero F**ks Left To Give." Guys are, well, slobs. We don't care.

Me leaving Lake of Bays Brewing after Bucket
List IPA was kegged. Beats me why none of the
Huntsville Brew Crew got any. Truly, it's a deep
mystery that might never be unraveled. Truth!

So how was Bucket List IPA? Well, not bragging but probably the best beer ever released since the Bavarian Purity Law of 1516. We easily beat over 500 years of beers created through history. It wasn't even close. (Legal Disclaimer: This writer's opinions are usually outright lies seldom objective and should be ignored.)

Loads of grapefruit (all I could smell when I cracked it), citrus, mango, 5.9%... just a really solid west coaster. And Brewer Andrew helped... but again, to what degree is still the topic of hot debate.

I happened upon Rob Walcot, Lake of Bays Director of Sales, not long after the brewery got the cans to each of us and we were, of course, talking about the beer and the actual Brew Day. Despite my loud-ass inclusion in the event, he still remembers the day fondly.

But I had to know how the beer went over at the Huntsville Brewhouse where it would, of course, be on tap. Very well, he noted. So well, in fact, there was talk of making it their regular west coast IPA release.

There was one wrinkle. Brewer Andrew pointed out to the higher-ups that we used so many hops in the brew that it could never be profitable from a cost prospective.

The running joke from Lake of Bays social media pros Jackie and Emma
was these shot-glasses of hops (brought out for us to smell on Brew Day)
was all the hops that were left in Huntsville after our big day. Turns out
that joke might have been closer to the truth than we knew. Hop City!!

I have never been prouder of myself or a group of new-found friends in my life. Again, to be clear... We made an IPA that had so many hops in it, a brewery would lose money brewing and then releasing it. In the end, to me, making the beer wasn't actually the Bucket List ticket at all. Using way too many hops to create it was. That's incredible! I will take that pride to my grave.

But while we each got a few cans of the Bucket IPA, it was also part of the Lake of Bays Tap Take-Over at the Summerhill LCBO one July weekend, which, as a specialty (and architecturally beautiful) LCBO outlet, started pouring growlers a few Summers ago. Turns out I have an older sister living five minutes away from Summerhill. How bow dat?

Yessiree, Buckwheat Zydeco, I managed to score a growler of the now-
famous Bucket List West Coast IPA from Summerhill LCBO in the big
city. I'm sure we'll all be talking about what fantastic brewers we are this
weekend when we crash-slam again in Ottawa for the 613 Craft Brewery
Invasion. I am trying to empty my fridge (by drinking it all) right now! 

So maybe I got a little bit more than the others folks. Luck can simply be a matter of geography. In this case, my sister's actual longitude and latitude, to be precise.

Now that's it for Bucket List but if I may, a bit more Lake of Bays news. In earlier blog, I believe I explained that their Huntsville Brewhouse was basically their base for experimenting with new styles. I'm 99.9% certain that's precisely where they began tweaking the recipe for their now quite stellar Starboard New England IPA. (True confession: I'm a diehard Haze Head.) But while there, we were very easily coerced into tasting, rating and reviewing other samples, including a double IPA of which I also got a growler from Summerhill.

In just a few days, I'll be up in Ottawa to reconnect with
this frightening trio - Ottawa Matty, Nepean Beer Store
Brother Ben and Ottawa Joel when a large number of us
Viking-crash the nation's capitol for the 613 Ottawa Craft
Brewery Invasion. Since I land on Friday afternoon, there
will be an extra round of brewery visits for me. Suh-weet!

Well, it seems the brewery is taking another big step forward. Next Spring/Summer, they will be opening The Bracebridge Barrelhouse in a new 4,200-square-foot facility, making this their third bricks-and-mortar brewery. The Barrelhouse will specialize in sours, Brett-driven, barrel-aged brews which, let's face it, every craft brewery has gotta have these days. Just like the Huntsville Brewhouse, there will be an upscale eatery component - those Trout Tacos were fantastic... and believe me, I'm no foodie. I eat simply to survive so I'm basically a junk food garburator. This will also be the first brewery in the Muskoka region to use foeders, hugely over-sized (and sometimes, ornate) wood barrels that allow the brewers to slowly incorporate oxygen into the vessel. (Bench Brewing in Beamsville is perhaps best known in Ontario for their foeder usage.)

But Scooby Doo Gang, that's it, that's all and I am outta here! Up to Ottawa with a bunch of the Brew Crew for the 613 Ottawa Craft Brewery Invasion this weekend. Expect lots of pictures on Twitter. Perhaps keep your impressionable children at a safe distance while you're at it. Until next time, I remain...