A Virtual Ontario Craft Beer Advent Calendar

Jeff Green | Nov 30, 2016

I know little about Advent, except for the calendars with chocolates that kids love to get at this time of year.
But last year I read that one enterprising beer retailer had put together a 24 pack international beer advent 'calendar'. Each beer came from a different brewer, and was meant to be consumed one-a-night in the run up to Christmas.

This seemed to me to be a step up from chocolates, and indeed there are all sorts of advent products available. When I did a little bit of research however, I found that none of these advent products really lives up to the original concept of Advent. Actually, they run counter to it.

According to the Advent entry in Christianity Today,  advent is “a time for Christians to contemplate both Christ’s first coming to the world as baby and his return in glory. It’s also a time to reflect on important foundations of the Christian faith, including the Incarnation and the Virgin Birth.”

It's roots are closer to lent than to a chocolate eating or beer drinking binge.

And as recently as this week, Pope Francis extolled Catholics to take a turn away from the material to contemplate the spiritual this advent season.

Advent is an invitation “to sobriety, to not be dominated by the things of this world, to material reality, but rather to govern them,” Pope Francis said last Sunday in St. Peter's Square.

The only thing I can say in response to this, other than abandoning my quest for the perfect virtual Ontario craft beer advent calendar, is that I am only talking about drinking a single beer each day between now and Christmas Eve. There is an element of restraint there.

My rules for the virtual calendar are that the beer must be brewed in Ontario, the beers need to exemplify different styles, and they must be of high quality.  It is really an excuse to celebrate the culture of brewing that has come a long way in Ontario over the last 10, even 5 years, and a chance to talk about how easy or difficult it is to get some of the best beer in the province. I do not talk about the cost of these beers, however, which can range from $2.50 for a standard bottle to $10 or more for a 650 or 750 ml bottle. While you might say this is a lot of money to spend on a beer, these beers are not meant to be drunk in bulk. One is often enough. And when the prices are compared to the price of wine, the most expensive of them is still as cheap or cheaper than a pretty pedestrian bottle.

Thanks to changes in the way beer is marketed in Ontario, there are now four places to go to find craft beer. The Brewers Retail Stores have started stocking some, the LCBO is doing a better job stocking a wider variety, large grocers, particularly Loblaws are expanding their range of beer all the time, and the best place to get a good taste of a breweries wares is at the breweries themselves, which often include brewpubs.

Beer has come back to its roots as a regional product in this way. Some of the best beer in Ontario is only available by travelling to places such as Toronto or Windsor, or even Kenora.

Of the 25 Ontario beers that have the highest rating on the Ratebeer website, only a few are widely available. Others can be obtained through special order through the LCBO, and others can only be purchased at the brewery where they are produced. Nine beers on the list are brewed by Bellwoods, a Toronto brewery that has two locations, a few blocks apart from each other. As small batch brewers in a big city full of hipster beer drinkers, Bellwoods can barely keep up. In a time when we expect everything we desire to be one click away, it is both frustrating and refreshing. Frustrating because I can’t get the beer unless I drive to Toronto and refreshing because if I ever do get there I will really have worked up a thirst.

So, unless I can get someone to visit from Toronto and bring some, no Bellwoods beers will be on my virtual advent list.

Fortunately there are a couple of dozen Ontario brewers who have invested in larger scale canning and bottling. In the last year or two, many craft breweries have amde some of their most popular beers available in 500 ml cans. These beers are the more commercial offerings by these brewers, but as the market gets more sophisticated, canned beers are tasting better and better.

Here are the Advent beers for the first week, November 27 to December 3 (you may have to go back in time to sync up with the Advent calendar)

Sunday, November 27 – Collective Arts – Ransack the Universe IPA
This beer has been available at the LCBO in Sharbot Lake. It is a relatively strong beer at 6.8% alcohol, so drink only one folks, after all it is  Sunday Night.  I chose it to start with Ransack the Universe because although it is a hoppy beer it has a lot of sweetness and fruitiness and the alcohol gives it body. So for those, and there are many, who taste only the bitter finish when they try an India Pale Ale (IPA) for the first time, keep with this beer to the third or fourth sip before giving up. The depth of flavour and that hazy grapefruit/mango taste will be your reward.

Monday, November 28 NickleBrook Belgian Style Traditional Farm House Ale – no bitter finish to worry about here. It's a Belgian style beer so it has a slighlty sour/sweet nose to it and a frothy lightness, balanced by some heaviness that comes from 5.7% alcohol. A good way to face the fact that another work week is well underway.

Tuesday – We're going to give the traditional Canadian beer drinkers something to drink tonight, and introduce the biggest beer success story in Eastern Ontario with Beau's All Natural Lug Tread. This is a great transition for the Canadian/Ex/Blue drinker looking for a bit more flavour. It's a lagered ale, and while it hits the tongue like a 'canadian golden style ale' it has a hint of extra bitterness and a rounder, maltier flavour. It is the beer that helped launch a brewery that has consistently produce superbly balanced beers, even when they experiment with different flavours and techniques. We’ll get back to Beau’s before we get to Christmas.

Wednesday – Middle of the week, time for an Oatmeal Stout, Stone City Ales of Princess Street in Kingston makes a pretty smooth version, called Ships in the Night. It is available in 32 and 64 ounce growlers, which can be consumed over a few days as long as they are tightly closed each time, and smaller bottles as well. It is black and flavourful, not too heavy at 5.5% alcohol but has a lot more flavour than a canned Guinness or Murphy's  without being overpowering. If you are making beef or lamb stew, use it liberally in the stew and then drink it with the stew.

Thursday – Don't push it, the weekend is not here yet. Wellington Breweries of Guelph are one of the oldest of the Ontario craft breweries. While they make all sorts of unusual beers these days, including a Black Currant Kettle Sour we will talk about later, one of their flagship beers is Arkell Best Bitter, a traditional British Ale, not in the bitter range of an IPA, but a good mix of sweet and hoppy with a mild finish and less than 5% alcohol. You can even drink two of these. they go down easy.

Friday – Time to get a bit more serious. Flying Monkey Brewery out of Barrie make some well known IPA's and Stouts, and have the distinction of briefly being censored by the LCBO for the name of their Smashbomb beer, but I'm going with their Netherworld Cascadian Dark Ale. It is a pretty heavy (6% alcohol), malty, flavourful beer, more sweet than bitter, and well suited to a Friday Night on the couch.

Saturday – Last beer of the week, and the first Imperial Stout on the List. We'll go with one from Cambridge and the Grand River Brewery, the Russian Gun, which is available at LCBO stores in the fall. It is a heavy beer, 8% alcohol, coal black with a tan head. It tastes a bit of coffee and chocolate but mostly malt.  While it is heavy, it is a bit lighter than a lot of other Imperial Stouts. See you next week.