Toronto, ON (June 10, 2014) - Two of Toronto’s oldest independently owned and operated craft breweries, Great Lakes Brewery (2013 & 2014 Canadian Brewery of the Year) and Amsterdam Brewery, are set to release the second beer in their ongoing collaboration series this week – EZRA: Cider Barrel-Aged Farmhouse Ale.
This beer was brewed in collaboration with Toronto’s Amsterdam Brewing Co. and has been barrel-aged in cider barrels from Caledon’s Spirit Tree Cidery. Ezra died on the day we brewed with the folks from Amsterdam. He was a good dog. This beer’s for him.
The name Ezra refers to Great Lakes’ Brew Master Mike Lackey’s late dog Ezra, who unfortunately passed away the day that the Farmhouse Ale was first brewed.
Four Spirit Tree cider barrels were filled with the Farmhouse Ale at different times throughout 2013 and 2014 and aged from anywhere from 3 months up to 1 year. Those beers were then blended to create a lovely funky aroma of barrel, sour mashed apple, barnyard notes and some spicy yeast characteristics. The taste yields much of the same complexities as displayed in the aroma. A soft mouthfeel, medium bodied and very refreshing, the cider barrel comes through quite nicely as it warms to offer the drinker a pleasant tartness that lingers nicely before finishing dry. Ezra, with its cider barrel-aging, is a wonderfully unique take on the Belgian Farmhouse Ale style.
“Back in 2012 I received a cider barrel from our friends at Spirit Tree Cidery in Caledon,” said Lackey. “I talked with Iain McOustra, Amsterdam’s Brew Master, to work together to create a Farmhouse Ale recipe to put into the barrel. The end result was great so we decided we’d do it again on a larger scale.”
“When Tom at Spirit Tree came through with more barrels we knew it was an opportunity for a bigger release based on the same idea,”said Amsterdam’s McOustra. “We took several different aged batches of the same recipe and blended them together for this release. The blending was a lot of fun, trying to get the right barrel character with a touch of cider and brett.”
This is the second collaboration beer between the two Toronto breweries to hit the LCBO. In the spring of 2013, both breweries brewed a Leipziger Gose and called it Maverick & Gose, which was a huge hit with craft beer drinkers across Ontario.
“It’s been great working with MaCoustra and the Amsterdam brewing team,” says Lackey. “Both of us like to experiment with new styles, flavours, and I think our creativity comes through quite nicely in Ezra.”
McOustra followed with, “It’s always great brewing with Lackey, and this beer stacks up against any of our collaborations. Great Lakes and Lackey are at the forefront of brewing in Canada and it’s an honour to release this beer with them.”
The beer will retail for $7.95 at select LCBO retail stores in 650ml bottles and limited in quantity. The retail store at Great Lakes will also have a limited number of bottles for sale later in the week.
Ezra says, “Drink this beer fresh…WOOF!”
