Best of 2019: The People, The Places, The Things

Okay these two beers very seriously divided the ranks of the Brew Crew.
With the Muskoka Black Raspberry Thunder Milkshake IPA, there was
a significant number that found it far too sweet. With the Whitewater
Peanut Butter Shake Stout, there were many (myself included) who
thought the peanut extract used left a harsh after-taste. I wondered
if you could take two divisive beers with complementary tastes and
somehow meld them into something good. Turns out you absolutely can.

Okay, last at bat, folks. This is the one that finally wraps up 2019 so I can get on with my damn year.

This is the one that looks at the people who mattered in Ontario Craft Beer. The breweries that mattered. A few styles that do matter but have no real place in the first three year-enders. The misfits, the malcontents, the loners and the strangers. But hey, we drank 'em anyway. No, they're not the latest haze-bomb IPAs or the big barrel-aged Stouts but we drink them because how do you know you won't like something until you've tried it? I think that's how the whole #PolkPoursPilsners movement started. And yes, I just made that up. Also yes, he wishes he had thought of that first.

Okay, in 2019, aside from Flying Monkeys' Sparklepuff Triple IPA, the beers I saw split the Brew Crew divide into Yay and Nay camps very quickly were these two - the Muskoka Brewing Black Raspberry Thunder Milkshake IPA and the Whitewater Brewing Peanut Butter Shake Stout.

Okay, this just may sound stupid to anyone outside the
retail world but bear with me. The LCBO in my mall
completely renovated their inside, creating an actual
beer walk-in fridge. Their craft selection hugely expanded
with the reno's. When I saw Stonehooker's Broad Reach
Nor'easter IPA in there, I was thrilled! But the cans were
kinda facing every which way. That was on a Saturday. It
bothered me so much on the weekend that I went back on
the Monday morning and front-faced every single can in
two trays. Owners Ross and Adam are friends and I want
people to see their beer. Because that's the thing you do.

Some found the Black Thunder Raspberry far too sweet. I was perfectly fine with it. Others found the Peanut Butter Shake with its peanut extract as a base far too harsh. I was far less fine with this one.

But one day, I kinda looked at the two beers, both in my Batcave fridge and realized, "Hey, these actually have complementary tastes. Peanut butter and jam. What if...?" So that night when I got home from work, I poured them into the same glass... 50/50. Then I did the sign of the cross, which is weird because I actually dislike all religion to a very large degree... and, well, down the hatch it went.

And? Sonuvabeech, it actually worked. It was as close to a PB&J sandwich as I guess a beer could be. The sweetness of one canceled the harshness of the other... and vice-versa. It had the taste of youth long forgotten before Peanut Butter became Public Enemy #1 when our kids started going to school. This is the kind of weird shit I do in my life now and the odd thing is I kinda look and go, "Meh, I could waste time in way worse ways, I suppose." We all find fun where we can get it.

Okay, let's wrap this shit up. Y'all know the rules at this point. Rule #1, no repeat winners. You've won here before, hey, good on ya, now bugger off. It's a big Province with lots of beers. Which brings us to Rule #2. Ontario only!

When I pulled up Herald Haus Brewing's info sheet on their Abandoned
At The Altar Raspberry Sour, one of the first things they mention is its
"light body." Uhhhh, no. This is a much much thicker body than you are
used to in a sour. Probably more tart than sour. Yes, there's a difference.

Wasn't always a rule here. Became one about four or five years ago. We have so much good beer here that Saskatchewan can fend for itself. And finally, Rule #3, this is where I'm supposed to say something rude about Premier Doug Ford. Got nothing left in the tank. I'm more pissed at Stephen Lecce these days. Okay, this isn't about politics so let's get this Beer Gong Show going and leave the politics for the lying bastards.

Best Sour: So I'm quietly working away at the Beer Store one day back in September, (Lie: I'm never quiet), just minding my own business (Lie #2) when this dude rolls in with a two-wheel trolley and three cases of beer. I didn't recognize it so I asked, whatchu got for us there? It was the Herald Haus Brewing's Abandoned At The Altar Raspberry Sour. Well, I was 99% sure he was at the wrong store. We're lower volume so we don't get sours. Decent IPA selection, though.

When I posted the Herald Haus Abandoned At The Altar Raspberry
Sour on Twitter, the first thing our home-brewing Brew Crew member
Graeme asked was: "How does it stack up to Nickel Brook's Raspberry
Uber?" Good question. Both Berliner Weisses. While the tastes were
very similar, the Herald Haus Abandoned added a lot more heft to the
body. A little heavier than the Berliner Weisses we are used to. Thick!

There's a self-serve Beer Store (which has a huge selection) 10 klicks west of us on the same street so I figure, oops, wrong store. Happens all the time. He shows me the invoice. Yup, our address. Okay, cool, lemme sign then. I was happy. Mistake or not, we finally had a sour in the store.

And it was damn good. For starters - and you should be able to tell simply by looking at it - this one had some serious body to it. That's something we don't usually see in a sour, which tends to be a much thinner style. The brew is a Berliner Weisse so, you know, a long German tradition and yadda, yadda, yadda. Brewers care more about things like that than we do but as they brew them, we have a tendency to follow up if for no other reason than to see what the fuss is all about.

Most of us have forgotten this now but the weather
in May and June was so cold and rainy throughout
Ontario that it felt like we skipped Spring and went
directly from Winter to Summer in July. In fact, it
was so bad that Drunk Polkaroo drank a Coors Slice
to appease the Sun Gods and beg them to make an
appearance. David Buist captured that moment here.

In the end, yes, we received the beer in error (theirs, not ours). We were supposed to get the Herald Haus H2 Blonde Ale (which we eventually did a few weeks later) but the brewery left the Abandoned in our store... because it was selling. And quite well. By that, I mean being bought by customers and not just me for a change. I'm not surprised. This one came with a lovely whack of raspberry, a light hint of citrus in the background and went down super smoothly.

And, of course, there's a back story to the name. When the Herald Building in Stratford, built in 1890, was renovated more recently to accommodate the brewery, all sorts of past secrets and papers were found in the floorboards and hidden cubbies, including one of a man who, in 1905, was, indeed, abandoned at the altar. Maybe he dodged a bullet, maybe she did, we'll never know. (Previous winners: Bench Citra Grove Dry-Hopped Sour, 5 Paddles Skull Pucker Sour IPA - now just a straight-up sour, Bellwoods' Motley Cru 2016, Bellwoods' Jelly King.)

Best Fruit Beer: I should start by saying this was pretty much a lock on Best Milkshake Beer but when you see the winner there next, you'll know why I shifted this to the Fruit Beer category, instead. Doesn't matter. A winner is a winner is a winner.

A huge Summer-time favourite of Brew Crew's Kimmy
and myself, the Stonehooker Mae West Bodacious
Orange Milkshake IPA actually DID taste exactly like a
 Creamsicle. The addition of lactose lent itself to the
creamy filling inside the popular popsicle. Bang-on!!

I'm virtually certain that Oakville Brew Crew member Kimmy and I both found Stonehooker Brewing's Mae West Bodacious Orange Milkshake IPA at about the same time in the Summer because it kept coming up on our Twitter feeds at the same time. Okay, there's a healthy handful of orange ales and what-have-you that say they taste like a Creamsicle. And they do... IF you're thinking about a Creamsicle while you drink them. Where this was different is as a 6.5% Milkshake IPA, there was the addition of lactose that beautifully reflected the inside of a Creamsicle, the ice cream part. This wasn't close - it was bang-on! Had it on tap during our Stonehooker as part of the Halton-Hamilton Craft Brewery Invasion and while it lacked a little of the creaminess from the Summer batch, it was still damn solid. Guessing this is a tricky recipe to replicate exactly each time. (Previous winners: Little Beasts' Pale Blue Ale,  Lake of the Woods Forgotten Lakes Blueberry Ale, Wellington Rhubarb Saison and Turtle Island's SMASHed Cherry Ale. Is Turtle Island Brewing from the Ottawa area still around? No website and it's been four years since I last heard about them.)

I know, right? This selection as Best Milkshake Beer is probably very
shocking to you all. I mean, I barely mentioned it at all. Ever. And I
certainly didn't drive all the way to a Burlington LCBO just to buy
countless Muskoka's Hopsonic IPA Mixer Packs so I could get more
of this beer! I mean, that would just be crazy, right? And I've been
analyzed by some of the best psychotherapists around and they agree
that I'm not nuts. Society is nuts. I have a piece of paper that says so.

Best Milkshake Beer: In a decision that will shock absolutely no one who follows me on Twitter, this year's Best Milkshake Beer (meaning, of course, the addition of lactose) is Muskoka Brewing's Berry Springer Milkshake IPA. Now I'll be honest. The first couple of times I had a different lactose IPA two Summers back, I was no fan. Weird and foreign milky thickness. But every once in a while, I'd try another... and another. Now I don't know if I just got used to them or the brewers started doing a better job with them better, to be honest. Whatever the case, eventually I was on board. And this one? Holy Frijole, it's a beauty. While I tasted raspberry, Danny tasted strawberry and Curtis tasted ALL the berries. And we all agreed on one thing. It was worth buying the Muskoka Hopsonic IPA Mixer Pack just to get this beer. Granted, that the other five beers were also IPAs? Yeah, not gonna lie. Didn't hurt. (Previous winners: Collective Arts' Liquid Arts Fest IPA, Merit's Neapolitan Milkshake Stout - more Milkshake Stouts, please - so good!)

Is it a cheat letting a Belgian IPA win as this year's Best Belgian
Ale? I say thee nay. This was far more Belgian Ale than it was an
IPA. In fact, blind-folded, IPA would be off your list for styles
this beer is. Belgian Ale would be very much on that list. Ergo...

Best Belgian Style Ale: Okay, when we stopped into Stonehooker Brewing in Port Credit on the first leg of the Halton-Hamilton Craft Brewery Invasion, Drunk Polkaroo leaned over to me and said, "You gotta try the Three Sheets Belgian IPA." To be honest, I heard the word "IPA" and that was more than enough for me. Now I've had my fair share of Belgian IPAs over the year but not one was as close to the straight-up European style as this beer. It was like it was shipped directly across the ocean directly on a boat from Brussels. The only hint to the North American hops was the nice orange in it but the rest was Belgian - lightly spiced and banana essence. It was 7.5% and 54 IBU (another nod to the hops). And the term "three sheets (to the wind)" is also nautical, the brewery's underlying theme. It simply means the ropes holding the three main sails has become unfastened and the sails are flapping like flags, rather than controlling the power of the wind. Thus the ship is in imminent danger of crashing... much like a drunk person. (The more you know... *star slide!!!!*)

The Best Ontario-American Collaboration goes to - yet again - Collective
Arts, who teamed up with the gang at Alvarado Street Brewery down in
 Monterey, California to make this Big Cat Roars Double IPA. Insane!

(Previous winners: Sawdust City-Nickel Brook 11~05 2018 Belgian Quad with Oak and Cherries, Great Lakes' 30th Anniversary Barrel Aged Belgian Quad with Cherries)

Best Ontario-American Collaboration: Let's harken back yet again to the Halton-Hamilton Craft Brewery Invasion in November. Collective Arts communications director Toni Shelton had graciously set us up with a tour of the place but as we were going in, they told us a pint was included. We saw a Double IPA up on the board and I think nearly all of us grabbed it. I honestly had no idea what it was and being as this was the fifth brewery stop on the day, I also honestly didn't care. But I didn't even know the name of the DIPA... until later in the week when Drunk Polkaroo posted a video on it.

Want to know how hot the Wellington Raked Over IPA
was? Well, Hamilton cartoonist-artist David Buist kinda
captures that here. There is absolutely nothing about this
beer I should have loved. And yet, I kept going back to it.

Turns out it was the Big Cat Roars Double IPA, a collaboration between Collective Arts and Alvarado Street Brewing in Monterey, California. So I was right back at Collective Arts the following weekend to grab some. Holy snappin' catfish, Agnes, what a beer! As befits a California collaborator, west coast all the way. Big orange, big grapefruit, some back end pine, 8.2% and frikkin' unbelievable! You know, when people wonder if Canada and the US are getting along these days, it's always about Trudeau and Trump's relationship. Screw that. I've got your proof that we're just fine right here! (Previous winners: Redline Brewhouse-Thin Man Brewing [Buffalo] Squeeze Across The Border Hazy IPA, Collective Arts-Thin Man-Sloop Brewing [East Fishkill, NY] Smooth Maneuvers New England Style IPA)

Best Brewery Only One-Off: This is kind of an oddball category that I added last year but I'm pretty glad I did. Sometimes, big, new beers come out, never show up in the LCBO or TBS and you have to go to the brewery directly or hope they do Beer Mail. Now technically, Wellington's Raked Over IPA was available commercially at both the LBCO and TBS as part of one of their Welly Re-Boot Mix-Four Packs.

It burned. It burned. It burned so good. Wellington's
Raked Over IPA with Mango, Pineapple and Habanero
(peppers) was, on the first taste, a tasty IPA, And then, the
heat kicked in. After that, I was screaming in Spanish???

I wanna say it was Volume 6? Can't remember. But this was a crazy offering for one reason. The label billed it as having "Mango, Pineapple and Habanero." Very true. The mango and pineapple were very prominent... up front. But the back-end still came as a surprise, despite the peppery warning. It was hot. Like seriously hot. I can guarantee you that you've never had an IPA quite like this. And there's absolutely nothing I should have loved about that. Except I did. In fact, I became quite fixated on it, first ordering about 10 more cans of it online and then driving an hour out of my way after dropping my son off in London to get another dozen. My homebrewing buddy, Danny, up there in Sudbury, quite agreed. This caused some confusion recently when Danny went on Twitter and said he thought Spearhead Brewery's new Jamaican Fire Porter was "not really my thing" and "I doubt I'll order any." But he actually included the "thank you" card from the brewery congratulating on for being the first home delivery of the beer.

This is Spearhead Brewing co-owner Josh Hayter
in his happy place. Can't you tell? Actually, he is
because he's in Spearhead. But getting this dude
to laugh? F**king near killed me this Summer.

Some, myself included, missed the facetious tone (the internet being the internet) and were actually quite puzzled. Clearly, no IQ Tests are necessary (or mandatory) to be in our Brew Crew. Back to Welly's Raked Over, I nearly made this my Best IPA of 2019 but knew I'd be bumping a beauty and shifted it here, instead. Wellington, more of this please. (Previous winner: Cameron's Brewing Hazy With A Chance Of Hops Pale Ale.)

Best Craft Beer Executive: This one's a bitch. Seriously. So many great craft beer executives contributed to my and the Brew Crew's 2019 beer experience that singling out one is damn near impossible. For me personally, Kyle and Clint at Cameron's, absolutely. For the Brew Crew Craft Brewery Invasions, Celia and Jann at Orleans, Darren at Lake of Bays, Adam at Stonehookers, John at Nickel Brook, Brad (and Barc) at Clifford... this list goes on and on.

And the thing is these people, who are quite important in our eyes, seem just as excited to meet us as we are to meet them. Finestkind, the entire lot, I shit you not. I love this community.

But one guy kinda stood out. That would be Josh Hayter, co-owner of Spearhead Brewing.

Okay, so now we know what it takes to get a smile on Josh's
face. Surprised this didn't occur to us sooner. A little double
sided cheek kissing and look at him. He's one happy camper!

You see, way back in the Spring, my buddy Steve, a co-founder of the Southern Ontario Beer Boys, posted a tweet with Spearhead's Hawaiian Style Pale Ale and said basically, it's pretty solid but could use a little more pineapple. Despite the fact that this was my Best Pale Ale way back when I first started my Year-End's list in 2013, I agreed on Twitter because yeah, true story, you can't have enough pineapple. And off we went to sleep in our happy homes. When we woke up the following morning, there was a video on Twitter, waiting for us. In it, Josh was explaining the purpose of the pineapple juice used in Hawaiian Style - that it was there simply to tone down the bitterness of the hops and not meant to be a prominent or overwhelming flavour. Whoa. A video addressed to us (mostly Steve) personally. From a brewery owner. That, my friends, is customer service at its finest. The Brew Crew was all over it. This was a brewery we all wanted to back because it was a brewery that had our backs. From there, it stepped up a notch when Josh joined us all on the 613 Ottawa Craft Brewery Invasion.

This man, Darren Smith, owns Lake of Bays Brewing up in
Baysville, Ontario. He has for over 10 years now and yes, he
is just now in his early 30s. Started it right out of university.
He also owns the Huntsville Brewhouse, shown here, where
he is serving me a Java The Hutt Stout on nitro. I probably
forgot to tip him because he owns the brewery. Despite being
sick, Darren hung with us all day and was a huge part of our
Huntsville Craft Brewery Invasion. We drank many beers...

He partied with us, ate a stupid amount of hotdogs with us (our group of nine ate ALL the hot dogs at Dominion City Brewing, leaving the balance of their clientele, well, mystery meat-less), And I think maybe even laughed with us. (The jury's still out of whether he actually laughed out loud or wholeheartedly chuckled inward. I say out loud.)

But he had so much fun that he's organized the Kingston Beer Fam 2020 next month. Got us group rates on the hotel, visiting six breweries, food, a bus, the whole nine yards. Worked in tandem with Tourism Kingston and the Kingston Economic Development Committee to pull this together, the dude's not splashing in puddles here. He's proud of Kingston and wants to show it off. I'll include the link at the end if you wanna join us but I'll tell you this for free. We are pumped! Kingston in February? Who could say no? And Josh... you, sir, are truly an Ontario classic. We're glad we know you. (Previous winners: Matt Allott of Manantler Craft Brewing, Mark Woitzik of Brock St Brewing, Garnet Pratt Sidell, formerly of Side Launch Brewing... seriously, don't even get me started. Years later, still pissed about that.) 

Our IPA Brew Day at Huntsville Brewhouse lead to this
classic moment, deftly illustrated by Hamilton cartoonist-
artist David Buist. It is called "Donny Phantomed." That
is David at the top left and moving clockwise, Glenn, Joel,
Danny, Matty and myself as Sleeping (But No) Beauty...

Best Brewery: The story of why The story of why Lake of Bays Brewing is my Brewery of the Year actually goes back to 2014 when I first met the brewery rep, Tim. This was wayyy back before they started with their new rebranding a couple of years ago. For the record, their rebranding could serve as a stellar "How To..." for any craft brewery out there, looking to scrape the barnacles off the boat. Anyway, for years, Tim and I would chat about the State of Craft Beer in Ontario and other like-minded topics. But back in January 2019, he approached me with a different idea. How would a gang of us like to come up to Huntsville and brew a beer? Umm, I said, speaking for others, yes, we would very much like to do that thing. Before long, he would bring his boss, Rob, Lake of Bays director of sales, in to meet me. (Good call - let him know what he's getting into with me.) And then, it was set. I threw the call-to-arms invitation out on Twitter and before long, the Brew Crew was born. You see, we had all talked daily on social media but had never met in person.

Half this table was well-behaved. The front half. But
those rowdies at the back? Geezuz! So this would be,
clockwise from bottom left, Graeme, Curtis, Danny,
David, myself, Joel, Matty, Glenn and Hago. Yikes!

And so, on April 13th, a gang of 13 thugs descended into Huntsville to make what would later be called Bucket List IPA. From the Hammer came artist David and Hamilton Craft Beer Couple Paul (an original Southern Ontario Beer Boy) and Kristal with their friends Pete and Colleen. From King City came homebrewer Graeme while Sudbury homebrewer Danny traveled south for it. Curtis came from Guelph while I traveled in from Oakville. Ottawa nerds Matty and Joel made the trek as did Soldier Boy Hago from Barrie. And finally from Jail came Glenn because apparently, you can't do the things you do playing Grand Theft Auto in real life. And, boy howdy, what a day. We made a beer with brewer Andrew Walsh, we feasted like kings, courtesy of Chef Brian and probably, our favourite part, we taste-tasted and did some market research on samples of new products. It was crazy. The whole time, despite being sick, owner Darren Smith, hung with us. As a group, we have since done the 613 Ottawa Craft Brewery Invasion, as well as the more recent Halton-Hamilton Craft Brewery Invasion. But none of us will ever forget where this started. On a chilly but sun-drenched day in Huntsville. Probably a favourite 2019 moment for all of us. All made possible, courtesy of Lake of Bays Brewing. Fantastic people!

I first had the Muskoka Hazed & Confused Juicy IPA in one of their
Survival Packs back in the Summer of 2018. It was the only way to get
your hands on it. So, remarkably similar to their Berry Springer in the
Hopsonic IPA Mixer Pack. I was pretty thankful when it became part of
their regular rotation this year because a beer this stellar should not be a
once-a-year-in-a-specialty-pack kind of offering. It deserves much more!

And Jackie and Emma, their social media liaisons? Hilarious. They keep us in our place. Well, the best they can, anyway. (Previous winners: Grain & Grit Small Batch Beer, Longslice Brewing, Brock St Brewing and the Barrie Craft Beer Mafia - Redline, Barnstormer and Flying Monkeys.)

Best Beer of the Year (aka The Wingman Award): Well, thankfully, the curtain's about to close on 2019 but hey, it's only... *checks calendar*... January 25? Are you shitting me? Nearly one-twelfth of 2020 has already passed us by? What the hell?

(I've been distracted but you'll see why next blog. This four-part series should have been done within the first week of January. I had all the winners. Just needed some words to go with each.) So anyway, let's continue on with the finale. The Beer of the Year.

According to the wonders of photo "properties," the
first time I had this beer was August 22, 2018. As you
can see, rather than "Juicy IPA," Muskoka called it
an "Unfiltered IPA" back then. But same great taste!

As you may have read above, the first time I had a Muskoka Hazed & Confused Juicy IPA was in the Summer of 2018. It was part of their Survival Pack. And the minute I did, I go on Twitter, raving like a loon about how exceptional this beer was.

That, in turn, lead to Sarah, at the time their social media liaison, quipping back with words to the effect of, "Well, if you love it so much, why don't you just marry it?" She quickly added that the brewery truly loved my love. What can I tell ya? Very love-filled day. Also I checked with Town Hall. In Ontario, you cannot legally marry a beer. What? I was curious.

But when three trays of it landed in my Beer Store back in April, I was ecstatic. And best of all, they just kept coming and continue to do so. One time, when I returned from a Las Vegas trip, a shipment had arrived that morning and my co-worker, Trishan, had jokingly tagged it with a Post-It Note, simply saying, "For Donny! Do not touch!"

This beer is pineapple, mango, orange and 6.5%. I'm not really certain what more a beer lover could ask for? Well, lactose, I suppose but milk sugar can't be in every beer. We'd all instantly be suspicious of Big Dairy's influence.

Sometimes Beer Twitter can be a tad fractious (I read but
avoid it at all costs) and many out there could heed this
 timely reminder. Yes, we are passionate because we love it.
But at the end of the day, let's remember its place in the
grand scheme of things. It's just beer. Great beer, though!

(Previous winners: Nickel Brook's Wicked Awesome, Great Lakes' Canuck Pale Ale, Collective Arts' Ransack The Universe, Muskoka Mad Tom)

So that's a wrap on 2019 but as a parting note, I was curious about one thing so I went back and counted. Of the 31 individual beer categories I covered over the four blogs, 17 of those winners were given to me by friends or in a couple of cases, breweries themselves. Only 14 were ones I purchased on my own. That boils down to one irrefutable reality. I was given more winners than I found on my own. Winners came from all over the province - Guelph, Sudbury and most especially Ottawa. Beers I could have never gotten on my own because as regional-only products, they weren't accessible to me.

Huh. In the end, my friends actually picked more of my winners than I did. I think that's pretty damn cool. Oh and here's the link to Josh's Kingston Beer Fam 2020, cleverly called: Josh's Kingston Beer Fam 2020 But Scooby Doo Gang, that's it, that's all and I am outta here. Until next time, I remain...

Hello? Does anyone ever look way down here? I've always been curious...

The Best of 2019: The Dark and Dirty

Because sometimes good things happen to good people. That
would be OG Brew Crew member Curtis (aka "Newman!")
on the left. The lovely lady on the right goes by Nichole. She
is happily also a member in good-standing with the Brew
Crew. Over the holidays, these two Crewsters got engaged.
Which is pretty much the coolest thing ever. Can we take
any credit for this? Absolutely not! But will we? Absolutely!

Okay, a happy holiday story to start today's look at the darkest, dirtiest, filthiest beers I drank in 2019. (But I say that with the unimaginable love that I have for the richest and swarthiest of brews.)

That said, the story of Curtis and Nichole is of a much more golden hue. Despite the fact we had been Twitter buds for a while, I only first met Curtis during our April Brew Crew expedition to Huntsville to create an IPA with the Lake of Bays Brewing folks. Great guy, salt of the earth, that kind of thing.

Nichole, on the other hand, I only kinda sorta saw but never really met during the Ottawa Craft Brewery Invasion. We formally met at Nickel Brook during Day Two of the Halton-Hamilton Craft Brewery Invasion. I believe her original intent was to hang around for a brewery, maybe two, and then bid adieu. She stayed around much longer. Why? She was having a blast. It truly was a rockin' day so she had no plans to let it pass by quickly, basking in the laughs and the comradery.

But she had come into our lives prior to that. Curtis had taken a really nice "surrounded by nature" picture of a Trestle Brewing (Parry Sound) beer and entered it into their Facebook photo contest. The man has a real talent when it comes to taking the pretty pictures.

So our question has long been this. Is Curtis, in fact, nicer than Tom
Hanks? Ladies and gentlemen, Exhibit A. He found this homeless man
in Huntsville, brought him into the Huntsville Brewhouse, asked Lake of
Bays to feed him and give him some beers. Why? When we asked the
staffers of Lake of Bays, they simply shrugged, "Yeah, the guy looked a
little scruffy but Curtis, well, we couldn't say 'no' to him. I mean, he's
just nicer than... who's really nice... oh, Tom Hanks!" I rest my case.

But Nichole reached out to as many as us as she knew to vote for the picture. I thought that was very sweet so I, in turn, reached out to the Brew Crew, GTA Beer Twitter in general, US and German Beer Twitter and finally, Vegas Twitter. Many responded and voted for the picture.

In the end, Curtis didn't win. He was leading and then someone got an army involved and... it's a whole weird story. But he kinda won. He started following some of the Vegas voters, watching their vlogs and I think Curtis might... really want to go to Vegas. To me, that's a Triple-7 jackpot.

But there's one more story about Nichole I have to tell here. So you see, we're all out on the Halton-Hamilton Craft Brewery Invasion. At this point, we're at Fairweather Brewing in west Hamilton. Everyone's having a great time. I'm standing beside her inside and she's - I kid you not - staring at the wall behind the bar. So I say, "What's up?"

So here's Nichole, sporting a Nickel Brook toque. So I
had my boy, David, put on mine. I then showed him his
picture and Nicole's picture side-by-side and asked him
who looked better. David looked and simply said, "She's
beautiful." So I told Curtis he may have competition for
Nichole's heart. He quickly sealed the deal by proposing.

"I'm wondering what it's like back there," she told me. Meh, I said, concrete floors, bunch of tanks... I mean, every brewery is different but in the back, all pretty much the same to varying degrees of size and capacity. Why? She smiled and said, "Bet it would be a lot of fun to have a wedding reception at a brewery."

Now keep in mind, Curtis had not proposed or anything. This was just an out-loud, offhand "Wouldn't that be kind of a cool thing?" musing. Nickel Brook's shiny newish tap room would be a much better fit, I told her. That's where you'd want a wedding reception. It would rock.

So on New Years Eve, when Curtis messaged me to say they were engaged, I remembered that conversation with Nichole. Now granted, as much fun as it would be to hold a wedding reception at a brewery, the chances are slim to none. As someone who has been twice married, lemme tell you why. Because the families get involved. As well-meaning as the parents and relatives of the bride and groom may be, there is a tendency on their end to take over the day.

And I can guarantee you this. One of them is going to say, "There is NO way we are making Nana Molly and Auntie Theresa sit in a stinky brewery all night! It would kill them!"

Thug's Life: Ottawa Style! Here's the Brew Crew at Waller St Brewing
in Ottawa last Summer. From left, Glenn, Curtis (Him? Again?), Ben,
Joel, Josh, Paul, Matty and Danny. It was here I would find a dark and
delicious beauty that would slay me. Their Black Imperial IPA. Mmmm.

But, Nichole, I will always admire you for simply thinking a brewery reception would be fun. (Because it would!) From all of us in the Brew Crew and beyond, a heart-felt congratulations to you both.

Okay, enough mushy stuff. Onto The Dark and Dirty! You know the rules. #1) No repeat winners. #2) Ontario beers only. And of course #3, my 2007 Ford Focus > Premier Ford. Let's get this party started by remembering the sage wisdom of that ancient Greek philosopher (*checks notes*) Kawhi Leonard who said, "What it do, baby?"

Best Black IPA: Well, I fussed so damn much over this beer on Twitter after Ottawa Matty and Joel bought me one, that there possibly was a Butterfly Effect.

If this were a little more accessible (brewery only)
and available (selective release times), I have little
doubt it would have been my Beer of the Year. Yes,
it is THAT good! The Waller St Black IIPA was an
absolute highlight of my Beer Year. So damn good!!

It only intensified when Paul, the Big Peezy, brought me yet another Waller St Brewing Black Imperial IPA after an Ottawa trip. According to April Thibert, the public face and social media liaison for Waller St, it was her belief that people had seen my comments - the rantings of a beer lunatic, really - and began steadily asking for the swarthy beverage when visiting the brewery. I strongly doubt there's any connection to me. However, when someone compliments or flatters me, such as April did, I become like an old-school vending machine that you're trying to stuff a wrinkly old $1 bill into. I won't accept it. You keep trying. It just gets awkward for everyone.

But I can guarantee this. Most who tried it very likely loved it. I sure did. Still do. Have a couple left. You see, the brewery knew I was visiting them in August and had over a dozen bottles, ready and awaiting my purchase. I more than happily complied. One of the best beers I've enjoyed in my going-on seven years of craft beer consumption. It's chocolate and pine and everything fine in a nifty 8.5% package. Well, hell's bells, I might just have one of these some time today. Let's get 2020 rolling dark-style.

A long-time favourite of Kat's, Lady Polkaroo herself, is this
little beauty of a Porter. No bells, no whistles, just a straight-up
damnly fine-crafted coal black bevey. Just the right stuff here.

(Previous winner: Manantler's Death's Tar: That's No Moon, It's An Imperial Black IPA)

Best Porter: Absolutely my favourite stop of the 905 Halton-Hamilton Craft Beer Invasion was Clifford's Brewing in Hamilton's east end. First of all, the lay-out of the place with its tanks-beside-the-folks strategy. No walls, no windows to peer through. You wanna go hug a vat? Have at it. Secondly, the people, namely owner Brad Clifford and his pops, Barclay. Both finestkind... all the way! Barc's enthusiasm for his son's endeavour is truly inspiring and infectious. And lastly, the product. Yeah, technically, that should come first but this is definitely one of those "the sum of the parts is greater than the whole" dealios. (Yes, I recognize I have that quote back assward but I like it better that way and I'm the one at the keyboard so...) For me, it's tough not to break down this brewery into its key components. But the 'whole' rocks, too.

If ever there was a beer style saved by the emergence of crafts beers in North America, I believe it would be the Porter.

So this one from Bandit Brewing in west Toronto is a
little different. Rather than take a traditional Porter
and add fruits or vanilla, the brewery opted for a
less-traditional course. They brought in the big heat.

Clifford Brewing Porter is a classic that any Brit would be proud to hold high. Licorice, coffee, 5.9% and just plain solid. I would suggest that three golds and two silvers at the Ontario Craft Brewing Awards and Canadian Craft Brewing Awards speaks volumes about this one. (Previous winners: Fairweather's Silky Oat Porter, Forked River's Full City Coffee Porter, Innocente's Charcoal Porter, Highlander's Blacksmith Smoked Porter)

Best Flavoured Porter: A few months back, Brew Crew n'er-do-well Greg messaged me to say he was stopping in at west Toronto's Bandit Brewing and did I want anything? Pulling up their in-retail availability list, I selected a couple of IPAs and a Porter. I'd have to go back in my Twitter posts to remember the names of the IPAs, even though both were very good. The Porter, on the other hand, I can recall all too well. And lemme tell you this free, when I remember a Porter over a couple of top-flight IPAs, well, my friends, that is one very special Porter.

When we did the Halton-Hamilton Craft Brewery Invasion at
the beginning of November, we landed at Collective Arts. Once
there, Drunk Polkaroo urged us strong to get their four-bottle
Origins of Darkness series, each of them being a collaborative
effort with an international brewery. Because Ryan Morrow
is that well-known throughout North America and beyond...

It was called Cake Monster Pastry Porter. Okay, now I know what you're thinking because I was thinking the exact same thing. Pastry Porter. Probably up the vanilla quotient a lot, give it a pastry-like sweet edge to offset the coffee bitterness and add to the chocolate flavour.

Ummm, no. They went a very different route and added habanero. As in the pepper. Now on their website, Bandit told us it added a "subtle kick." You know, a kick in the nuts can be subtle. Still gonna hurt and leave a mark. This one brought the damn heat!

Granted, my extreme-foodie coworker, Trishan, whose family originally hails from Sri Lanka, tells me when it comes to food or beverages, there's real heat and then there's "white folks in the suburbs" heat. I obviously fall into the latter category. Okay, tons of chocolate, 6.5%... and I'm white-boy sorry but hot! And in the end, very, very delicious. (Previous winners: Maclean's Ales' Cherry Porter, Big Rig's Tales From The Pumpkin Patch Porter, Mill St Vanilla Porter - now nitro-charged so give it a fresh try, Nickel Brook's Pissed Off Pete Pumpkin Porter)

I feel like both myself and a number of the Brew Crew
have enjoyed this beer before. Way back in April. Both on
tap and on nitro at the Huntsville Brewhouse. I would say
that Brewer Andrew has replicated the recipe nicely here.

Best Imperial Porter: It happens to me every time I'm about to fly down to Vegas. The night before, I always get very anxious to be there (rather than here) and I have trouble sleeping. Brain churning a mile a minute in anticipation. Thoughts of fun, neon, warmer weather and big American craft beers. That's usually when I turn to some bigger beers with high ABVs to help me settle down and nod off. Fortunately, this past November, I left for Sin City just shortly after our Halton-Hamilton Craft Brewery Invasion. While we were at Collective Arts in Hamilton, Drunk Polkaroo strongly urged us to get the quartet of beers that made up the brewery's Origins of Darkness series. He even suggested the best order to drink the quartet so I dutifully lined them up on the left side of the top shelf. I decided to crack one open and started with the first that he suggested - the Rum Barrel-Aged Baltic Style Porter, a collaboration with Siren Craft Brewing, an outfit out of Berkshire, Great Britain. I'd have to double-check but I'm 99% sure this is the first rum aged beer I've ever had. Plenty of bourbon barrels have played a key role in my darker beers, to be sure, but rum? Not so much.

I think Danny has gifted me to me every time I received one of his
Sudbury Beer Mails and to that, I simply say... keep 'em coming!
Danny really only has access to Stack Brewing up there but
fortunately, they make some dynamite beers. He is well-served.

Now I'm not much of a rum drinker (although the exact same thing could be said of bourbon) so I was a little concerned that the distinct liquor flavour might overpower the beer. Turns out that while the rum melded nicely into the background, this beer was fully powered by the dark fruits used - raisins, dates and prunes. Rich, deep, dark and damn delicious. And yeah, the 9.6% ABV probably did help me nod off. (Previous winner: Collective Arts Imperial Porter)

Best Stout: I think most of the Brew Crew has a sneaking suspicion that we've enjoyed Lake of Bays' Twilight Hour Coffee Stout once before. You see, back in April when we descended upon the Huntsville Brewhouse, they had a beer on tap called Java The Hutt Stout. It was all nitro-ed up and was the only beer that could distract us from the copious amounts of Starboard New England IPA that we were downng. (They actually had to change the Starboard keg when we were there. That was a point of personal pride for us.)

When Brew Crew member Glenn went in to
have his left knee operated on a few days ago,
Hamilton artist-cartoonist David Buist sent
this cartoon to him as a suggestion of other
leg attachments that could be helpful. The
compass is a cheeky nod to Glenn's constant
questioning of where the St Lawrence River
was located while we were in Ottawa (which,
of course, is nowhere near the St Lawrence.)

But every once in a while, someone at my end of the table would mention how fantastic the Java The Hutt was. So, of course, a few beers in, I gave it a shot. They weren't wrong. We asked Brewer Andrew why it wasn't among their regular canned line-up and he simply shrugged. The brewery already had a top-notch stout out there - the Nightwatcher Oatmeal Stout - so he suggested perhaps the higher-ups thought that was enough on the market. He seemed happy enough that it was simply on tap. However, when Lake of Bays released Twilight Hour Coffee Stout in the late Autumn, there was a bunch of us saying, "Wait a minute, could this actually be...?" This is a straight-up, no-nonsense solid stout. Chocolate, coffee and a very reasonable 5.5%. It's become something of a go-to for me as the temperature dips. (Previous winners: Town Brewing's Foreign Extra Stout, Lake of Bays Nightwatcher Oatmeal Stout, Stonehammer's Oatmeal Coffee Stout. Stone City Ales' Ships In The Night Oatmeal Stout.)

Best Flavoured Stout: This category is for the stouts that go a little farther than the traditional chocolate, coffee, oatmeal route and jazz it up with either funky fruits or so much cocoa that it transcends your traditional stout style. Once again, from Sudbury Danny's Beer Mail, another stand-out from Stack Brewing up there. Their Chocolate Cherry Stout is insane (in the membrane.) Aged on French Oak, Stack jacked this up with so much organic cocoa nibs and Montmorency cherries from Michigan that this is practically a 7% Black Forest Cake in a can. Roasty, toasty, chocolate and cherry jammed and even a bit tart. Just stupid good. Once again, Danny, for a guy who has only a small pond to fish from, you always manage to land us all some of the biggest winners. Just keep Stack-ing up your Beer Mails for us!

Beside having one of the cooler labels from 2019, Royal City Brewing
had one of the best Imperial Stouts out last year.  It was dangerous.
It was dirty. Mostly, the Abyss Walker Imperial Stout was delicious.

(Previous winners: Brock St Brewing's Chocolate Milk Stout, Muskoka's Raspbeery Coco Lait)

Best Imperial Stout: Once again from a Beer Mail, this time courtesy of Curtis and Nichole - I believe there might be some brief mention of them at the beginning of this. But this is so damn long that I can no longer remember. So, anyway, prior to the Halton-Hamilton Craft Brewery Invasion, the pair went to various Guelph breweries to grab beers not available to the rest of us. When they went into Royal City Brewing and explained their quest ("We seek the Holy Grail"), according to Curtis, both the staff and customers said one thing. "Get the Abyss Walker Imperial Stout!" As I plucked one out of their trunk (seriously, it would have looked like a drug deal going down to a passing cop), I asked them how it was. Neither knew. They hadn't even tried it themselves, relying totally on word of mouth from the crowd inside the brewery, instead.

So when Sawdust City Brewing looked at the The Blood
Of Cthulhu Imperial Stout, at some point, Brewmaster
Sam wondered, "Hey, I wonder if a bunch of fruit could
make this even better?" Umm, yes, apparently it could.

Well, lemme tell you this for free. They weren't mislead. This was outstanding. I've only had a small handful of Royal City beers, basically whatever has been available in my LCBOs, but this single beer puts them on a whole new plateau. As expected of the style, totally packed with chocolate and coffee, at 9% filled with enough dark warmth that you could hibernate through the Winter with this. And gladly do so. Well done, Royal City. (Previous winners: Wellington's Imperial Russian Stout, Grand River's Russian Gun Imperial Stout, Nickel Brook's Kentucky Bastard, Walkerville's Barrel-Aged Milk Stout, Bellwoods' Hellwoods Imperial Stout)

Best Flavoured Imperial Stout: Yay, the last category. Well, like most Ontario craft Stout lovers, I've had my fair share of Sawdust City Brewing's The Blood of Cthulhu (some kind of mythical squid beast) Imperial Stout. It's pretty much a gimme if you love Imperial Stouts. And this wouldn't be the first time that Brewmaster Sam Corbeil has jacked a traditional Stout of theirs with some fruit.

I will never argue with Calvin because he's
pretty much bang-on here. I think Ontario
craft brewers surprise us daily or weekly by
creating beers that are world-class. The thing
is that we never know until we try them. Like
Calvin says, we discover our destination only
when we arrive and 2019 was great for that. 

Way back in January 2014 at the Steam Whistle Roundhouse Winter Craft Beer Festival, the brewery offered up a raspberry-infused version of their Long Dark Voyage To Uranus Stout. I still remember it because it was both killer and the first time I'd had a seriously fruit-infused stout. Well, Sam has done it again, only this time with their The Blood of Cthulhu Imperial Stout with Cherries, Raspberries and Cranberries. Okay, I'll be frank. I called the OPP for this one. It was so damn good that I was suspicious it was illegal. So anyway, after the OPP instructed me to never call them again under any circumstances, I settled in and enjoyed the hell outta this one. Yeah, sure, chocolate, coffee, 9.5%, the usual suspects. But the fruit? Good golly, Miss Molly, it added so much oomph. Like, I get they're Sawdust City, right? It's always gonna be good. But this good? Just cray cray. (Previous winners: Manantler Brewing-Boshkung Brewing All Shook Up Chocolate Peanut Butter Imperial Milkshake Stout, Highlander Winter Imperial Stout)

Okay, I'll be back very soon (I hope) to wrap up 2019 with the oddities of the year, the Brewery of the Year, the Beer Executive of the Year and, of course, the Beer of the Year! But Scooby Doo Gang, that's it, that's all and I am outta here! Until next time, I remain...

The Best of 2019: Let's Go To The Hops!

This was pretty much the worst that I saw one of my Flying
Monkeys' Sparklepuff Triple IPAs. It had floaties in it. But
that's it. Because I shrug pretty much everything off, that's
what I did with this. Figured "beer protein" and carried on.

Okay, so Part Two of the Best of 2019 - those hoppy bastards that I know, that I love, that I want to be mine forever. (Women: "What do men really want?" Me: "HOPS!!! Dammit, we want hops!" Also me: "And more Vegas, please!")

But I suppose we have to look at the Hop Elephant in the room first, don't we? Well, we don't have to... but I'm gonna because it was pretty much the Ontario Craft Beer story of 2019. Well, okay, after MPP Sam Oosterhoff's inclusion in a craft brewery owners' picture on the worst possible day but we'll deal with that clusterf**k in another one.

No, today we're gonna look at Flying Monkeys Brewing's Sparklepuff Triple IPA, a beer that certainly divided but most decidedly did not conquer. Quite a... what's that word my grandfather used... ah right, kerfuffle over this one.

My run with this beer is well-known. I went 36-for-36 without a bad one. But my buddy, Steve, from Southern Ontario Beer Boys, well, his second was a nuclear waste disaster.

I remember once, about 30 years old, a friend showing me
a picture of his newborn baby. I thought it was the ugliest
thing I have ever seen. I was wrong. This is even uglier.
And the kid got better looking. Also please don't show me
pictures of a just-born kid with that gooey shit on them.

In fact, it was Steve who first hashtagged it #SparkleChunks and believe me, the name stuck. That's Steve's picture to the left. Let's be frank. It looks like something that would splash the sides of the porcelain bowl after a night of bad sushi.

Anyway, the debate raged. Some people were angry that I kept posting pictures of good ones, pointing out (quite correctly) that I was promoting a product that could be a gut-churning disaster for someone else. Very true. I'll own that. I was caught up in my run of good ones and maybe got a little bit carried away having some fun with it. That's just my nature but it wouldn't be the first time it's rubbed people the wrong way. Won't be the last, either. (Cue The Headstones: "I smile and wave.")

My buddy, Drunk Polkaroo, on the other hand, posted two videos about Sparklepuff. The first was when it was just released and he got a couple of beauties. He sang its praises. The second, about a month later, he got a nasty-bad clunker and had little problem posting a video, decrying the inconsistency issues with the beer. His point? If you pay $5 for a beer, it shouldn't be a crap-shoot. Beer is not a lottery ticket. You deserve a good - and guaranteed - pour every time for five beans. A very legitimate point, yes? Welllll, that didn't stop Flying Monkeys fans from dumping all over him for literally months. They may still be. But the world is full of windmills to tilt at for the angry online warriors so... carry on, my wayward son. (Getting kinda musical all up in here.)

Okay, back to the Best of 2019. Y'all know the rules. #1) No repeat winners. #2) Beers from Ontario only because Shop Locally. And #3) Something, something... Doug Ford probably did something horrible. I can't keep track.

So how was Beyond The Pale's Yummy! North East Pale Ale? Duh,
it says it right in the name. I mean, yeah, as marketing goes, that's
a little too on the money but here's the thing. If I pour a beer into a
Vegas glass, it means two things. One. I don't have a glass from the
brewery. And two, it is worthy. It's basically the Mjolnir of glasses.

Okay, let's get this One Trick Pony started with...

Best Pale Ale: After Session Ales, where I had literally 20 worthy contenders for the crown, this was the next toughest category for me this year. I mean, Ontario craft brewers have their Pale Ale Helmets on, baby! Beyond The Pale Brewing in Ottawa is a very cool set-up. This is not a small place. Set up in an old warehouse in the... Old Warehouse District of our nation's capital, this brewery has (I forgot to count) about seven washrooms, all in the same hallway. That'll give you a pretty clear indication of the anticipated numbers. It's justified. When it was Stop #3 of the Saturday during the Ottawa Craft Brewery Invasion, the place was jammed. Every table taken. But, and this will astound me until the day I die, there was no one sitting at the bar. So we took it over, pretty maids all in a row style (third music reference - Eagles song) but without the pretty or the maids. Disheveled beer guzzlers all in a row? Probably a little more accurate.

It's entirely possible that Stack Brewing and my
man, Danny, may take issue with me referring to
this as a British-Style IPA. But the fact is this beer
has an insane malt-forward taste (I mean, look at
the colour) but a pine back-end that'll kick your
ass. I'll tell you this for free, it's a damn good beer!

Now here's the thing. I think it's more than likely that Ottawa Matty and Joel had included a Yummy! North East Pale Ale in one of my Beer Mails before the Brewery Invasion. I don't know for sure. But I'm thinking that's a strong possibility simply because when I got to BTP, once I saw it in the retail fridge, I was somewhat laser-focused on the idea that Yummy! would be my beverage of the day at this brewery. That would indicate previous exposure. And Holy Frijoles, what a beer. Orange, melon, tropical whatever, this is a fantastic pale ale. Pretty much one of the best ever out there or at least, certainly enjoyed by me. One of those "If you could take three beers to a desert island" beers. A job... so very well done. (Previous winners: Dominion City's Paper Salesman APA, Redline's Clutch APA, Spearhead's Hawaiian Style Pale Ale, Cameron's California Sunshine Pale Ale, Sawdust City's Golden Beach APA, Rainhard's Armed 'N' Citra Pale Ale)

Best British-Style IPA: Okay, before I start, lemme tell you a little story about my beer brother, Danny. We were getting ready for the Huntsville Beer Mail Exchange way back in April. I think Danny felt perhaps outgunned. I have access to the best breweries that the GTA and Hamilton have to offer. The Ottawa boys? Don't even get me started. Danny's in Sudbury and really only had access to Stack Brewing. I think he felt kinda badly about that.

This was absolutely a contender for Best Pale Ale of 2019
but I found another category that I could slot it into. The
history behind Patrick Corrigan's label alone makes it a
cool 2019 story. Everyone in the GTA remembers this show.

None of us gave a right-royal shit. We all basically shrugged and said, "So bring us Stack beers." It's not like there's tons of access to them down here. I may see the odd one. And he did. *Kaaa-ching!* Man, this is one sterling Northern Ontario brewery. One of the beers he brought us was their Stack '72 Imperial IPA. This beast has some serious British roots to it. Deep copper colour, very malty up front. It's like you took a dive into a vat of melted toffee. But (and it comes later rather than sooner) a humongous whack of pine on the back-end. To be certain, it's not unusual for anyone's Imperial IPA to have a stronger malt base. You have to just to balance off the higher hop level. To me, a British-style IPA is one that basically smacks you upside the face with malts but throws a North American element in there, like say, pine, to remind you, "I'm an IPA, dammit." Danny, you just keep bringing me those tasty-ass Stack beers and you stay in my will. Glenn already has dibs on the comic book collection. But you get the seriously killer beer fridge... plus the contents. Ka-ching, indeed. (Previous winners:  Market Brewing Bear Hug IPA, Walkerville's Geronimo, Longslice's Hopsta La Vista, Junction Craft's Engineer.)

It was June 25. I had received a message from Kyle Riddell,
Director of Sales at Cameron's Brewing just down the hill
from me, saying, "Are you around? We have something big
here." I had the day off so I scooted down the hill. It was the
new Jurassic IPA, top left in this Drunk Polkaroo video shot
the exact same day. Polk also drove in to grab some himself.

Best Great Lakes IPA: Okay, I think I started this category four years ago because I was concerned that Great Lakes Brewing with Mike Lackey at the brewing helm was just gonna keep winning Best IPA over and over. At the time, it was a pretty legitimate concern. But now, like I said, four years have passed, others have caught up so this is a wrap for this annual category. And I'm going out with a fun one. Their Electric Circus New England Style Tropical Pale Ale. Yup, not an IPA but just as good as one. Now I'm not sure how far City-TV's reach extends throughout Ontario, much less the rest of the country. But Electric Circus was this Toronto-based dance show that highlighted the newest rap and hip-hop back when the musical genre was just starting in the late-80s, early-90s. I'd throw it on the TV while I was playing with my Game Boy. (And... I'm... old...) Fun show, beautiful host named Monika Deol. Great background music for an hour and a half. So anyway, this beer is an homage to the show, which was something of a pop-culture touchstone for that era. And it is a beauty. Huge orange up front, followed by mango and pineapple. Hazy, 5%, just a big-ass tasty bastard.

So I would be just fine at this brewery as I see
plenty of variety here. So I'm actually not sure
what the point of this cartoon is at all. Really?

But the label by Patrick Corrigan took me back, too. You know, women with the big 80s hair. But there was this one guy on the show. He was like their centre-piece. Buff black guy, humongous smile, wore a cowboy hat, really great dancer and seemed thrilled as shit to be there. I always just called him Happy Cowboy. When I posted the picture of the beer, Troy over at Great Lakes replied, "Dancing Cowboy is Kenrick Pompey, father of Dalton Pompey." Uh, wait, until very recently, Dalton Pompey was an Ontario-born pinch hitter-runner for the Toronto Blue Jays. And I just got a little older... again. I used to watch this kid's father dance (as a young man) with the big-haired 80s ladies while I was playing Tetris. Gawd, pass me the Metamucil. (Previous winners: New England Style Octopus Wants To Fight, Meanwhile Down In Moxie, Thrust! An IPA and Octopus Wants To Fight)

Best West Coast IPA: Sorry, I recognize I get a little long-winded doing these (as in that's a hella long explanation for a GLB pale ale) but it seems every winner has some personal memory or event attached to it. My bad. I'll try to stop doing that.

I was 12 shades of happy this past Summer
when after 22 years, Cameron's released
not one, not two but three IPAs over the
span of two weeks. Finally! Thank you,
brewmaster Jason Britton! You saved me!

So, anyway, completely ignoring everything I just said, here's another personal anecdote. On June 25th, Kyle Riddell, director of sales for Cameron's Brewing just down the hill, messages me to see if I'm around. Got something big here, he tells me. I had the day off so I said hold tight, be right there. Three minutes later, I'm walking through their door. Holy shit, it was bigger than I had anticipated!! Not one but two new IPAs in their fridge. After 22 years of no IPAs, brewmaster Jason Britton finally relented and brewed some up. One was their Evil Genius Session IPA by a separate wing, Skeleton Crew Brewing (we'll get to that further along) and the other was Cameron's Jurassic IPA. For their first ever IPA release, the brewers went full west-coast. Grapefruit, a bit of orange on the nose, big-ass pine on the back end. I had it up on Twitter within milliseconds where my buddy Drunk Polkaroo pretty much instantly spotted it. Again, within the minute Kyle was messaging Polk, asking if he was around. Polk messaged back to say stay put, he'd book off early and head over to the brewery himself. And that's how quickly big news travels in Ontario craft beer circles. By that evening, Polk had his video review of Jurassic IPA on You-Tube. So anyway, that's exactly what Kyle and Polk and I were doing on June 25th. How about you? Anything fun? (Previous winners: Anderson Craft Ales IPA, Beau's Full Time IPA, Nickel Brook Headstock IPA, Flying Monkey's now discontinued Smashbomb Atomic, Big Rig's Alpha Bomb Unfiltered.)

When we arrived at Orleans Brewing Company on
the Friday night, the very first beer Matty and Joel
steered me towards was the Juicy McHazy IPA. Holy
shit, it was some kinda fantastic! It's mostly what I
enjoyed at OBC, where we hung well into the night.

Best New England Style IPA: Way back in the middle of August, a number of us descended upon Ottawa where our buddies, Matty, Joel and Ben, had arranged the Ottawa Craft Brewery Invasion. It was a fantastic two-day session, the bulk of which was held on the Saturday. But the guys had a few breweries lined up for Friday to accommodate those of us who arrived early. Josh Hayter, co-owner of Spearhead Brewing in Kingston and I were the first to arrive in the nation's capital. With others slated to arrive much later (Glenn never takes the A-to-B route, opting instead for 17 stops along the way), Matty and Joel spirited us off to Orleans Brewing Company, literally just down the road from Ben, who pulled Daddy Duty on the Friday night. Once there, we were greeted by owners Celia and Jann Lemieux, both friends of Josh's. Jann ended up spending a good portion of the evening with us, later being replaced at the table by head brewer Adam Marsh. But as soon as we arrived, both Matt and Joel, who know my beer tastes pretty damn well, told me simply, "Get the Juicy McHazy New England IPA, Donny."

Awww yes, my long-time Beer Store Bro Paul,
aka The Big Peezy, dropped into my store with
these beauties, most notably Barncat Artisan
Ales Space Juice Double IPA. Quick question:
Does Barncat actually even make a bad beer?

Well, do I look like the kind of guy who would fall prey to that level of peer pressure? Of course I am. (Actually, a friend once told me to never succumb to peer pressure. So I didn't. I realized afterwards that by listening to him, I actually had.) Brewer Adam's first-ever attempt at a NEIPA, this 6% hazer was pineapple and orange on a soft, oat malt body. Frikkin' delicious. I'd tell you that was the only beer I drank all night, as we never ended up leaving, but the simple truth is they also had Sid's Vicious Imperial IPA on tap so you know, I changed it up a little. From one to the other. It's all about variety, right? But man, a lot of Juicy McHazy came home with me. (Previous winners: Dominion City's Sunsplit IPA, Beyond The Pale's Aromatherapy NEIPA - Ottawa's kinda crushing this category.)

Best Imperial IPA: It's always a pleasure getting together with my Newmarket Beer Store Bro Paul, the Big Peezy. He's always game and in attendance for one of our Craft Brewery Invasions but like Glenn, he does not drive in an A-to-B pattern, opting instead to travel the byways and alternate highways. Oh, he always shows up in the end, a little tardy perhaps but you just know he's stopped at a dozen different breweries along the way. The dude is a Craft Beer Explorer of the first order and you gotta admire that in a person. As well, just like myself, he's been to Las Vegas a number of times and found some Murican beauties down there.

As everyone's favourite Canadian Soldier Boy Hago Vanayan wisely
once said, "If it looks like orange juice, well then, you know it's gonna
be good!" Well, this gift from the Big Peezy looks so much like OJ that
I'm kind of surprised it didn't drive its way to me in a white Bronco.

Well, if the result of Peezy's scattershot craft beer purchasing means I land with a beer as outstanding as Barncat Artisan Ales' Space Juice Double IPA, I'll hand him the keys and pack him a lunch any day. I've only been to Barncat once with Steve from Southern Ontario Beer Boys and Ken Pyper, the Ontario Beer Guy, way back in January. But somehow Peezy, who lives twice as far away from the brewery as me, has been there 92 times, despite the brewery's hours, which feels like they are "Open for 27 minutes on Friday and 53 minutes on Saturday." Okay, not quite that bad but it is a limited window, trust me. But the Space Juice is a hefty 8.2%, pineapple and tropical fruits on the nose, thick, rich back-end that must have come from oat malts or flakes and (this is rare for the New England IPA styles, I find) a wee touch of pine. Just crazy good.

Courtesy of my Beer Bro Glenn comes the Little Beasts
Brewing Kraken Triple IPA. When I opened it, outside as
you can see, the ground shook a little. In the distance, I
heard strange growling noises. A howl rang out. Man, I
gotta lay off the edibles. Anyway, this was pretty insane.

(Previous winners: Left Field Laser Show Vermont Style Imperial IPA, Indie Ale House Cockpuncher, Nickel Brook's Immodest, Innocente Brewing Two Night Stand)

Best Triple IPA: Obviously, this category doesn't pop up every year. The reason? Triple IPAs are unicorns. They show up when they show up, which is so-very-rarely that you often find yourself wondering, "Did I just dream that or was it real?" The reason? They are so heavily hopped up the wazoo that you also need to hammer malt them right in the ying-yang just to balance the flavour. (That's official brewers' jargon, just so you know.) As such, they're a costly endeavour, which are then priced accordingly to offset that. So what I'm saying here is they're an every-once-in-a-blue-moon brewers' vanity project. Because it's there. A mountain to climb. Something like that. Anyway, the best thing about owners Erin and John over at Little Beasts Brewing in Whitby is that they do what they want. Whatever, eh? Decided to make a Triple IPA so they did. Gifted to me by Beer Bro Glenn, their Kraken Triple IPA was just stupid huge. Humongous grapefruit and orange, big west coaster at 10% and 85 IBUs. A seriously resinous and piney back-end beyond belief.

Okay, to be very clear, I went from no IPAs at Cameron's
Brewing down the hill from me in Oakville to three IPAs
in the space of two weeks back in June and July. How does
this happen? Well, it's certainly not because I have lead a
pure and chaste life. At times, even sinners get rewarded.

I truly thank Beer Bro Glenn for getting this beast to me. But even more, I thank brewer Erin for sitting down one day, looking around at their many kettles and simply saying, "Meh, f**k it. Let's do a Triple IPA..." (Previous winner: Dominion City's Needless Luxury IPA.)

Best Triple Play: Usually this goes to the brewery with the best Pale Ale-IPA-Imperial IPA combo but like everything else around here in this annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show (Note: Never bet on a Beagle - just trust me on that), it's fluid. Nothing is carved in stone. So, okay, I have explained the significance of June 25th to Cameron's Brewing, myself and Drunk Polkaroo - the day of their first released IPA and Session IPA after 22 years of non-IPA existence. Super huge deal, massive fireworks and repeated singing of "O Canada." But, of course, there's more to the story which, as you should expect from me at this point, there always is.

No one captures Ontario Craft Beer quite like our friend,
Hamilton artist and cartoonist David Buist. Here, he gives
us his rendition of the Skeleton Crew Skull Mobile, which
in actual reality, is a 1966 Cadillac redone as a hearse...

You see, at that exact moment, we realized that Cameron's now had a secondary brewery under the same roof - Skeleton Crew Brewing. As it was explained to me, Skeleton Crew would now brew the less-traditional beers - your various sours, Brett beers, Lambic beers, barrel-aged stuff and, of course, their first-ever New England IPA. (No one actually said the last one - I'm just planting a seed here. I hear they're very popular.) So on June 25th, they released Cameron's Jurassic IPA and Skeleton Crew Evil Genius Session IPA. They weren't done. Two weeks later, Skeleton Crew's Knucklebone IPA was released. From no IPAs to three within a two week span. If that's not a Triple Play worthy of the World Series itself, I don't know what the hell is. (Previous winners: Dominion City's Sunsplit IPA, Fidelis Double IPA and Needless Luxury Triple IPA, Redline's Clutch APA. Air Ride IPA and Double Clutch IIPA, Nickel Brook's Naughty Neighbour APA, Headstock IPA and Immodest IIPA, Collective Arts' State of Mind Session, Rhyme & Reason APA and Ransack The Universe IPA.)

If you didn't think the Muskoka Brewing Hopsonic IPA Mixer Pack was
going to win my favourite mixed-pack of the year, well, you're just a very
special colour of crazy, ain't ya? Six styles of IPA in one single package.
 Does an anvil actually need to drop on your head... like Wile E Coyote?

The Best Mixed Pack: Okay, basically I'm just posting this as a formality because let's face it, anyone who follows me on Twitter could have called this one as the winner a month ago. Basically, it's a Mitch Marner breakaway on an empty net. Rubber's gonna hit the twine.

This is not to say there weren't other great mixers out there. Both Wellington Brewing and Amsterdam Brewing put out some late-year beauties. But the Muskoka Brewing Hopsonic IPA Mixer Pack was a stand-alone stunner. A west coast IPA named Mad Tom, a west-coast Imperial IPA named Twice as Mad Tom, a Brut IPA named Rose Cheeks, a New England IPA named Hazed & Confused, a New England Imperial IPA named Lunar Haze and, undoubtedly, the First Star of the game, a Milkshake IPA named Berry Springer.

"Hey, David, show everyone in the Brew Crew what Daddy was so
excited to buy this year!" That's right, buddy, it's that Muskoka
Hopsonic IPA Mixer Pack. Six IPAs in one pack so no losing here!

Back sometime in the late Summer, I was praising the Hazed & Confused Juicy IPA for being, well, fantastic when my friend, Sarah, at the brewery tweeted that, hop-wise, I hadn't seen anything just yet. She meant this and she was not wrong. Simply phenomenal! (Previous winners: Wellington's Welly Re-Boot Vol 5, Nickel Brook's Mystery Pack, Muskoka Winter Survival Pack 2016, Okanagan Springs' Craft Variety Pack 2015, Muskoka's Hoptorial Mix-Six)

That's a wrap on Part 2 of the Best of 2019 and to be honest, this should have been out days ago. Like last Thursday. The winners were set so I just needed the words to wrap around them. However, a whole big bunch of my Vegas Twitter gang descended on the Golden Nugget late last week for a "group pull" on a single slot machine on Saturday. So from Thursday on, I fell down the Vegas Twitter rabbit-hole of vlogs and tweeting fun provided by a crazy cast of characters. Part 3 and Part 4 will be out very shortly so I can then concentrate on 2020's beers, not to mention 2020's Vegas trips. But Scooby Doo Gang, that's it, that's all and I am outta here. Until next time, I remain...