FanPost

"Beer of the Series" Series #28 - Toronto Blue Jays, July 1-4, Rogers Centre

Welcome to Canada! The Tigers make their annual trip north of the border to face a hot-hitting team on their national holiday while missing their own national holiday. Somebody had to take the bullet, but luckily poutine and moose sausage taste almost as good as brats and potato salad. Almost.

The Blue Jays have been constructed with one thing in mind this season: hit the ever-loving crap out of the ball. Unfortunately, it took a little while for the bats and the solid pitching to get in sync, but the Tigers will be facing them right after they got back near the .500 mark. Needless to say, both teams have fallen a little short of expectations, but there's still half a season of baseball to play. Hopefully tomorrow marks the start of a second half surge for only one of those teams. I vote it's the team in the road grays. Who's with me?

In writing this post, I vowed two things: use a beer actually crafted in Ontario (preferably Toronto), and don't use the obvious choice (Labatt). I've had two other Canadian beers aside from the proverbial "big three," and one is far and away better than the other, but the other one was actually made in Toronto and is still quite good: Bellwoods Wizard Wolf Session Ale.

*While writing this post, the photo function was crapping out on me, so click here to see the beer porn.

Session Ales come in all shapes and sizes (technically, any beer less than 5% ABV qualifies as session beer), but the ones you want are light, crisp, and flavorful without being overwhelming (as much as an oatmeal stout is tasty, it bogs you down after two). The two traditional British drinking sessions were between 11am and 3 pm, then again from 7pm to 11pm. Two notes: the session beer would be a beer you could drink for four hours without feeling drunk (in moderation, of course), and second, it IS socially acceptable to drink before noon! The Wizard Wolf is smooth, spicy, and slightly sweet in a good way, with a nice earthy complexion mellowing out the floral hoppiness. The taste starts out with a bit of citrus and pine, but transitions nicely to a malty complexion and a delicate finish. The rich golden color and frothy head are ever present reminders that you're drinking a quality product, and the 4.8% ABV figure allows you keep drinking it.

Bellwoods Brewery is located in Toronto, ON.

A few other great Canadian Beers

*La Fin Du Monde Tripel (one of my favorite beers ever), Unibroue, Chambly, QC

*Moosehead Lager, Moosehead Brewery, Saint John, NB

*Molson Canadian, Molson, Etobicoke, ON

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