Brews News: Local artists celebrated with their own beer cans

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Can you frame a beer can? We might be tempted to do so with a pair of new releases from London Brewing in the city’s Old East Village as well as Collective Arts of Hamilton.

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The worker-owned London Brewing co-operative has for the second year released a beer that celebrates the city’s artistic talents ahead of a 26-studio self-guided tour being held April 22 to 24.

The cans feature the art of 12 London artists: Arale Vallely, Brian Normandeau, Chris Allaway, Eric Cator, Jamie Jardine, Kelly McNeil, Mandy Forbes, Marylin Lazenby, Michaela Devine Altenburg, Paul Abeleira, Richard Sturgeon and Sarah Cowling.

The beer is a black lager, a batch of which was also brewed last spring in conjunction with a London lender, Modern Mortgage Company.

Its base malt Organic Newdale is grown in Delhi at Dalton White Farms and malted in Guelph by Harvest Hop and Malt. Added to that is debittered black malt that contributes to the lager’s dark colour. The hops are Triple Pearl from BackRoads of Parkhill.

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Visually and in terms of complexity, there’s some common ground with London Brewing’s 4 PM Sunset Oatmeal Stout, the brewer’s Emma Maganja points out. But it has a lighter body and is easy drinking, as expected from a lager with a light 4.7 per cent alcohol

Tall-boy six-pack cans of London Artists’ Tour Black Lager are $19.50 at the brewery and its online store. A tour brochure and list of studios is at londonstudiotour.ca.

It’s a beauty, inside and out.

MIMOSA FOR BRUNCH

Collective Arts, the Hamilton-born brewery that saw its way clear to open another location in Toronto during the pandemic, has the refreshing beer you need to pair with a salad-happy brunch and the warmer, sunnier days ahead. Other brunch pairing ideas include freshly peeled Cara Cara oranges or French toast.

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The beer, called Daily Forecast: Mimosa, uses 30 per cent unfermented and freshly pressed orange juice that was blended with a “slightly” sour beer base to create a break from the heavier beers you might have been enjoying through the winter.

Illustrations featured on the bold orange cans are from artists in England, Texas, Virginia and Hamilton.

Daily Forecast: Mimosa is $3.95 a can through the brewery.

NEW AND NOTED

Niagara College teaching brewery has two beers brewing in support of Ukraine, using recipes shared by Drinkers for Ukraine. Resist – Ukrainian Anti Imperial Stout is scheduled to be available this month. The hope is that brewers worldwide will use the recipe in solidarity with Ukrainian brewers, some of whom have lost their livelihoods and some of whom have seen their breweries destroyed by the Russian troops. In mid-May, Ukrainian Golden Ale is scheduled for release. It uses a recipe from Pravda in Lviv. Sales ($3.75 a can) are through the college’s Wine Visitor and Education Centre in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

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A little dandelion in your beer? Walkerville Brewery and Craft Heads Brew Co. in Windsor incorporates dandelions in two Fine N’ Dandy beers, a fundraiser for the Windsor Cancer Centre Foundation. Walkerville infused a pilsner and Craft Heads used a saison. In beer, dandelions add a floral and bitter taste. In health, dandelions have been used as a herbal remedy.

Thinking of trees, bud? So is London’s young 4Est Brewery, which just gave $444.44 to spring reforestation efforts. 4Est lager is sold at select locations of the Beer Store in London.

Curley Brewing in Hyde Park has a new dry-hopped sour. Citra Sour Smash features a single hop, Citra, so be braced for floral and citrus. It is 5 per cent alcohol and is available on tap and by the bottle at the brewery.

Citra is one of three hop varieties used by Beerlab London to create Isolated from DIPA. The others are Galaxy and the experimental HBC 630. You’ll pick up tastes of raspberries and peaches. Beerlab London is downtown at 420 Talbot St.

Wayne Newton is a freelance journalist based in London.

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Twitter.com/WayneWriteOn