Sunday Beers - In Praise of Milds, Bitters and Brown Ales

 

 Imagine a lazy Sunday afternoon in a warm and cozy pub, maybe on a patio if the weather is nice, but the main components are still the same. Good friends, good beer and hours with nothing to do but enjoy both at your leisure. For a lot of people, the beer is as much a part of the experience as the folks you spend it with and while we are ways off from just all getting out there and filling the pubs and taprooms, the time is coming round again. While many chase the latest craze in haze or double down on big, boozy stouts, I want to take a few moments and talk about the low ABV offerings, why they are so important to me and why I call them Sunday beers.

Sunday Beers are all about the hours. They imply a leisurely pace to drinking them and a focus on good conversation and interaction with your companions than getting hammered while pounding back 8% pints of something hopped up or barrel aged. It is about the 5% and less English Milds, Brown Ales and the like, which bring a fine sessionability to the table along with great flavour and a complex profile that is also ready for multiple pints. Rounds for the table and enjoying food while imbibing in an unhurried atmosphere are what I feel when I pop the top on a Mild. It lends itself to easy drinking, with the low alcohol allowing more than a couple without falling into drunkenness and as I continue to evolve as a beer drinker and a person, I appreciate that a lot more than I used to.

While I suppose any sub 5% beer would do, a lager or pils perhaps, I think there is something about the flavour of these styles that brings this feeling of communal drinking, no time frame and an easy afternoon with your pals. The base maltiness delivers more than a simple lager can and the toffee or caramel combined with a solid bitterness that isn't overwhelming and actually invites another sip and then another. They are easy going beers in a busy world and my love of this style continues to grow. I wish there were more of them and that they were easily accessible for drinking at home right now, at the pub in the future. The problem, of course, lies in profitability and giving the shiny things to the loudest people. IPAs sell, hazy ones all the better. Big and bold pastry or barrel aged beers stouts bring a big price point and fruited sours still drive the pretty pictures on the internet. But and it's an anecdotal one I know, I think their is a market for the Milds, the Brown Ale or even the English style Pale or ESB. These beers have loads character but their accessibility to the novice craft beer drinker is a big plus to their potential.

  I often wonder what things will feel like when we can gather once again in larger numbers in taprooms and pubs. Will it be different? Will we appreciate it more, the connectedness of us all sharing a few pints on a lazy Sunday afternoon? Will we finally find a peace with enjoying a good beer without chasing the hype? I have been feeling nostalgic for a thing I never had when it comes to these styles, perhaps it is my longing for that kind of friendship again that I had when I was a denzien of a Dive Bar...but with better beer. 

Take the road less travelled and marvel at what you'll find in your glass.

Polk

Trust and Beer - Honesty beyond the label

 

I am a simple man. I like routine and consistency in my life and while I do enjoy trying beer from all over the world and in any style, I expect a few things when it comes to those beers. The easiest one for all of us to get behind is that a beer should be what the label says it is. If a brewery describes their beer as being "X", it had better be just that or we will most assuredly have a problem. Now I'm not talking about our personal likes and dislikes when it comes to flavours or styles, I'm strictly talking about truth in advertising here folks, be what you say you are. 

  The rapid expansion of "craft" beer across this province and the ensuing local pride in having a close by brewery can often blind people to the truth that the word "local" doesn't necessarily mean quality. Wanting to be part of the community is what drives some to ignore the truth that the beer they are drinking is sub par and not up to snuff. Off flavours, pale ales that give a muted performance or watered down stouts with little body or flavour are but a few things I've encountered over the years. I've had beer that tastes like bad home-brew and turned around and seen it being praised because so many can't say the truth because either they lack the knowledge or don't want to rock the boat. I don't write about bad beer very often because I don't want to waste my time or yours' unless it is egregiously poorly made or mislabelled. This year of recording every single beer I drink is giving me some insight into things I would usually just pour out and move on from to be sure.

  For me, it is all about trust and staying true to what is delivered in every pint. I will reference the term 'Trusted Brewery' a lot of the time when I record a video because I really do have a list of places I trust with my beer money implicitly because they have never let me down when it comes to quality, consistency and style. These few are breweries I would gladly purchase a six pack from of a new beer without trying it because they always describe what it is I will be tasting later that day when I get the beer into my glass. They may do strict, to-style beers or they may make crazy fruited up sours or adjunct laden stouts, but they always tell me what I'm getting up front and deliver right to the last sip. In a day and age where more than 300 plus brewers are competing for space in our fridges, bad beer and false advertising should have no place to hide. 

  I never understand when someone will tear down a well made lager because they find it boring or "only drink IPAs". Why bother drinking it at all if you're not going to be truthful? One thing about going back on UnTappd has been the rise in anger I get from reading descriptions of great beers being denigrated because someone doesn't like a flavour or style that is clearly defined on the label. I shake my head as they talk about everything the beer has said it is and then watch them go off because they don't like that particular thing. Just stop. If you don't like dark roasted malt beers, don't drink 'em and especially don't rate or review them because at that point, ignorance triumphs over truth and that is never a good look. Opinions based on facts and style guidelines with an eye to what the beer says it is going to be are fine and dandy, a bad beer is a bad beer, but it's lazy and disingenuous to bring shade on a beer because you have a preference. I've always tried to look at the beer as it is presented and leave my personal flavour biases on the side, I can't stand most dry-hopped sours, but when I have one I always try to see if it is what it says its going to be and relate that truth to the world. 

  This Wednesday finds me leaning into this rant a little more than usual because I care about what people ask me when they want a recommendation about beer. So, I will always fall back on my Trusted Breweries and know that anything I suggest to someone that comes from them is sure to deliver. That isn't something I give easily and after almost 6 years of drinking, learning and writing about beer, I still wish to find more places to give that kind of trust to.  I hope today's little journey through my mind helps someone to examine their relationship with their beer and the breweries they frequent. The choices we have now are almost infinite and our dollars speak volumes about who and what we are.

Polk

Ten of my most trusted breweries, click to order beer from any of them and enjoy!

Great Lakes Brewery

Nickel Brook Brewing

Collective Arts Brewing

Left Field Brewing

Merit Brewing

Silversmith Brewing

Shacklands Brewing

Sawdust City Brewing

Muddy York Brewing

Clifford Brewing

#GLBDay 2021 - A celebration of all things GLB

  Back in 2016, I was pretty new to craft beer, really just learning and exploring every style with eyes wide open and an enthusiasm that had me always searching for the next new beer. Few independent breweries in Ontario had a presence at my local LCBO, most had a core beer or two and maybe the odd seasonal, but when I discovered all the things Great Lakes Brewery was putting out on such a pace, I was hooked. The old school 500ml bottle were like manna from heaven and the IPAs were some of my first true loves when it came to the style, especially my one and only at the beginning, Pompous Ass English Ale. A bready toasted malt body with notes of toffee and tea, slightly bitter and dry with an inviting aroma that hooked me from the first sip. It led to Lake Effect and Octopus Wants to Fight, Canuck and Apocalypse Later and a whole host of styles I had never dreamed existed. To say GLB was there at the beginning is understating it a whole lot. 

  I discovered, by happenstance that year, that their birthday was February 12th and thought to myself that it would be a funny little thing to drink and post nothing but Great Lakes beers on social media that day, taking it off work to make it a right proper holiday and all. They had enough presence in the LCBO that it worked out well for this neophyte and I coined the hashtag #GLBDay because it just rolled so good. It was the beginning of a series of beautiful new friendships for me, opening my eyes to a wider world of beer and from being invited to brew a beer for their 30th anniversary with other beer writers to the countless pints had when I dropped into the taproom to pick up new releases and up to the start of home delivery this year to my area, we have grown together and I've always appreciated the support from the team at GLB. It may be a business, but for a lot of us, it feels like a part of our family.

  This year Great Lakes is really kicking #GLBDay up a notch and I am so glad to be able to see other people sharing in the joy that is good beer. We may all be supporting our local breweries now, especially in these trying times, but for one day, this Friday February 12th, everyone's local brewery can be GLB. They are available all across the province, in grocery stores, Beer Stores, the LCBO and beyond. A 24 of Canuck remains unchallenged as the best deal in Ontario Craft beer at $54 for two dozen tall boys of one of the finest Pale Ales around. Their new brewpub, just announced, will no doubt drive more innovation and creativity and the party to open that second location will be most epic when it can finally happen. From simple lagers to bold barleywines, from session IPAs like Sunnyside to monster Double IPAs like Robohop, they've got you and I covered.

  So, I hope to see everyone, virtually of course this year, as we raise a glass or 4 to our friends at Great Lakes. To this birthday and many more to come, may #GLBDay become an annual holiday we can all celebrate and embrace as a bright spot in the middle of winter.

  Stock up, rinse your glasses and get ready to drink together, apart.

Cheers!

Polk

Great Lakes Brewing website can be found here :  greatlakesbeer.com/

Polk the Truth 2021 - January

 

When I set out at the beginning of 2021 to document every beer I drank for an entire year I knew it wouldn't always be pretty or easy to accept that absolute truth. I am not under any illusions that I enjoy a few more libations than the average person, although I think if some folks out there were as honest with themselves as I am, we would have a whole different conversation right now. But they are not I and this is not that, so onward we go with this 12 month look at the raw and unfiltered data of my beer drinking.

  The month of January opened at midnight on the 1st as I was still on vacation for a few days and we celebrated well into the morning on New Year's Day. So, the first few check-ins on Untappd were all about that party of two and enjoying our night together, a very late one indeed. Headstock from Nickel Brook Brewing was my first beer of 2021 and the reigning pint of the year made 16 more appearances in January as it remained my go-to choice to just relax and enjoy whenever the fancy struck me. This kicked off a very heavy first half of the month and by the 16th I had accumulated 82 total check-ins with 50 distinct beers. That's an average of a little over 5 beers a day and not at all a surprise as that seemed in line with what I had discovered back in 2018 when I had previously tracked my every pour. 

 But something was different this time, I wasn't particularly proud of that number and here we come up against what the Hawthorne Effect or more simply, the theory that by observing something or being watched changes the behaviour of the individual. In this case, I was seeing in real time and real numbers the actual amount of beer I was consuming and this did change how I approached each one that came after that day. Most of you don't know that I have a fascination with numbers, inspired by my love of sports statistics when I was a young man, and when I used the features of Untappd to delve deeper into my patterns, I began to alter what I was doing with a conscious bias toward changing the trajectory of said numbers. I rarely give myself credit for doing anything with a plan, but I started to look at my days with a little more thought and each beer with an eye to why I was drinking it and whether it wouldn't be better to wait till the next day off to have more than one or two in a day. 

  I took a clean approach to whatever I was doing, trying to ignore past failures in keeping myself in control of what I was imbibing and the numbers from the final 15 days of the month certainly bear out my intentions of utilizing this year of truth to try and work on my relationship with myself and alcohol. I made the choice to try and have no more than 2 beers on a work night, which for me was usually Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with a little looser reigns on Wednesday and Saturday because we all deserve a few more pints on our nights off, especially during this pandemically challenged time. What I found with being more aware of the numbers was that I went down to 53 total beers, or 3.5 a day (a 35% drop) and 36 distinct ones. The reduction in consumption was found in the "just drinkin" beers, the pints I didn't write about or make a video with. Those beers are usually consumed well into the evening and often pile on one another in a fashion that a late January snowstorm does upon the trees. Accumulation through ignorance seems to be my easy way out and by taking stock of what was happening and doing a deeper dive into the numbers, I was able to alter my behaviour simply by acknowledging the truth of what was in said numbers.

  While I know I still have a ways to go with really coming round on getting my stuff together, the reasoning behind wanting to document this year is coming more and more into focus. It is about changing my internal conversation and trying to break the patterns that have been hardened over the last year or so of mostly solo drinking. It is easy to fall into a night of 5 or 6 beers without consequences the next day, I have been doing that so long it feels like a comfortable blanket and a warm fire. But the accumulated effects of all those nights doesn't show up all at once, but rather slowly over time and I do this with a look to a future that is hopefully longer than my past would often indicate I would see.  I have tried to stress moderation in the past, I want to believe I am capable of being far more attentive to my own health than I have been in the last couple of years. But I also want to be able to enjoy a few pints once in a while without feeling like I am heading down that dark path I was on not so long ago. It is a delicate balancing act, one I have seen people I know and love fail to be able to control. I am aware of myself a little more this year, taking stock of life while Covid-19 is all around you does that I guess, and I know I want more of what tomorrow may offer than getting hammered every night can give me. 

  So, onward we go into February with this new look at the numbers and an awareness that wasn't there when we started on the first of January. I'm sure the creators of Untappd didn't intend for their app to be used as an esoteric look at my relationship with beer, but damned if it hasn't happened anyway. I'll see you all back here after the calendar turns to March and we shall see together what the next 4 weeks brings to my glass and life.

Cheers!

Polk

More numbers because I am 100% that nerd deep inside.

Beers by the day 

Sunday - 19 (3.80 per day)

Monday - 13 (3,25)

Tuesday - 11 (2.75)

Wednesday - 27 (6.75)

Thursday - 12 (3.00)

Friday - 30 (6.00)

Saturday - 23 (4.60)

Unique Beers - 83/135 (61.4%)

Beers by Brewery

Collective Arts - 9 distinct beers

Nickel Brook - 6

Fairweather - 5

Camerion's, & Great Lakes - 4

5 others tied at 3

Beers

Headstock (Nickel Brook) - 17 check-ins

F**k Dry January (Nickel Brook)- 7

Double Palms (Grain & Grit) - 4

Jurassic IPA (Cameron's)- 4

5 others tied at 3 times each