The first week of the year pulls beer writers to trend predictions like bears to a garbage dump. I don't generally see the value in this endeavour, but I will say this: I think 2014 will see a greater focus on beer ingredients from Ontario. Brad Clifford and Mike Duggan are leading this trend with their Ontario Beer Company and the 100 Mile Ale and Lager they released in late 2013.
Beer is an engineered product whose quality, very roughly speaking, depends on the brewmaster's skill for combining ingredients selected from a catalogue. Consider how that compares to wine made from grapes that are grown on the same estate as the equipment that will be used for pressing, fermentation, and aging.
Even with the widespread resurgence of small-scale craft brewing, North American production for specialized hops is concentrated in the US Pacific Northwest. The barley tends to come from the Prairies.
The 100 Mile Ale (our focus today) is an amber ale that uses only Ontario-grown Cascade and Chinook hops, malted barley, local water, and a strain of yeast with a long-standing connection to Ontario. Poured into a nonic pint glass, the 100 Mile Ale is a clear and bright copper under a (barely) off-white head.
Malty biscuit and pine resin from the hops combine to create a just-right earthy aroma. This is an apt introduction for the lively combination of caramel sweetness, floral and spicy notes, and a balancing touch of hop bitterness.
At one point, amber ales were the au courant craft beer style, emphasizing a malt flavour, highlighted and balanced by hops to avoid cloying sweetness. In some ways, that makes them the ying to the yang of hoppy pale ales whose bitterness is held in check by malt.
Ontario will probably never return to a state where the province's farms grow all the hops and barley needed to produce the beer we drink, but as craft breweries continue to move towards becoming neighbourhood businesses, it makes sense that some of their beer will originate from local ingredients.
Ontario Beer Company's 100 Mile Ale, $2.95 for a 473 ml can, LCBO #372227
In addition to covering beer, new restaurants and food trucks for Post City, David Ort writes about food and drink for several Toronto publications including his own site, Food With Legs. He is the author of the Canadian Craft Beer Cookbook; now in stores and available for ordering online. For more of his thoughts on food, beer and life in general, follow him on Twitter or get in touch at info@foodwithlegs.com.
