Muskoka relasing TWICE AS Mad Tom DIPA

JeffPorter · Post by **JeffPorter** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 7:17 am

midlife crisis wrote:Wasn't Camerons RPA something like $16 a six pack? (and well worth it IMO). Have to expect these big specialty beers to have higher cost for ingredients.

Eventually RPA will make it to the LCBO and I wonder how much it'll be at that point...

chris_schryer · Post by **chris_schryer** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 10:16 am

Hey guys, just wanted to let you all know I put a cask of Twice as Mad on last night at Castro's, and it's really really good. Like, I had 3 glasses, good. We're open from 12-> today, tomorrow and Sunday. Come n' git it.

J343MY · Post by **J343MY** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 1:29 pm

Really looking forward to this. I can't believe its taken this long to have a double or imperial IPA as a year round beer at the LCBO. 8.4% is spot on for a double IPA, and 70 IBUs should be about perfect. It seems like a bit of a trend in ontario to make IPAs overly bitter, so I like this approach.

mintjellie · Post by **mintjellie** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 4:03 pm

J343MY wrote:Really looking forward to this. I can't believe its taken this long to have a double or imperial IPA as a year round beer at the LCBO. 8.4% is spot on for a double IPA, and 70 IBUs should be about perfect. It seems like a bit of a trend in ontario to make IPAs overly bitter, so I like this approach.

And I thought the trend in Ontario was to be a little too light with the hops.

matt7215 · Post by **matt7215** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 4:14 pm

mintjellie wrote:
J343MY wrote:Really looking forward to this. I can't believe its taken this long to have a double or imperial IPA as a year round beer at the LCBO. 8.4% is spot on for a double IPA, and 70 IBUs should be about perfect. It seems like a bit of a trend in ontario to make IPAs overly bitter, so I like this approach.
And I thought the trend in Ontario was to be a little too light with the hops.

it doesnt take a lot of hops to make a beer bitter, but it takes a lot of hops to make a good IPA, good IPAs dont have to be overly bitter

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 11:36 pm

Missed opportunity: they could have named it Mad Max.

chris_schryer · Post by **chris_schryer** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 8:56 pm

Sorry, follow-up: The beer we have on cask is technically Cabin Fever 3 (?, some number, anyways) and it's not identical to the product that will hit the LCBO. It's still damn tasty. Can't wait to try the final iteration.

mintjellie · Post by **mintjellie** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 3:23 pm

matt7215 wrote:
mintjellie wrote:
J343MY wrote:Really looking forward to this. I can't believe its taken this long to have a double or imperial IPA as a year round beer at the LCBO. 8.4% is spot on for a double IPA, and 70 IBUs should be about perfect. It seems like a bit of a trend in ontario to make IPAs overly bitter, so I like this approach.
And I thought the trend in Ontario was to be a little too light with the hops.
it doesnt take a lot of hops to make a beer bitter, but it takes a lot of hops to make a good IPA, good IPAs dont have to be overly bitter

But a good AIPA or DIPA often is very bitter.

heebes · Post by **heebes** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 7:56 pm

why has Muskoka stopped dating their Mad Tom cans?
ive been sticking to bottles but they were out, wish they'd switch to bottled on too...

J343MY · Post by **J343MY** » Tue Oct 16, 2012 12:11 pm

mintjellie wrote:
matt7215 wrote:
mintjellie wrote: And I thought the trend in Ontario was to be a little too light with the hops.
it doesnt take a lot of hops to make a beer bitter, but it takes a lot of hops to make a good IPA, good IPAs dont have to be overly bitter
But a good AIPA or DIPA often is very bitter.

For me I think bitterness needs to be there for balance, but I want hop flavour, not crushing bitterness. Sometimes it can be too much.

midlife crisis · Post by **midlife crisis** » Tue Oct 16, 2012 8:30 pm

This was (is?) on cask at Volo last night. Excellent!

mintjellie · Post by **mintjellie** » Wed Oct 17, 2012 10:30 am

J343MY wrote:
mintjellie wrote:
matt7215 wrote: it doesnt take a lot of hops to make a beer bitter, but it takes a lot of hops to make a good IPA, good IPAs dont have to be overly bitter
But a good AIPA or DIPA often is very bitter.
For me I think bitterness needs to be there for balance, but I want hop flavour, not crushing bitterness. Sometimes it can be too much.

Hop flavour and crushing bitterness aren't mutually exclusive. I would love to have a year-round option that delivers both. Like Ruination.

velovampire · Post by **velovampire** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 1:04 pm

They posted some pics on FB earlier today and confirmed that it should be in the LCBO by Nov. 1.

Muskokan · Post by **Muskokan** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 6:03 pm

Alright, here are some details...we bottled this beer today and the production went really well.

The final lab sample of Twice as Mad Tom was submitted to the LCBO about a week and a half ago (the day we got the labels in) and we've been told it will be 'released' on October 31st, which means we could start shipping on November 1st (fingers crossed).

There is a chance the Beer Boutiques (Liberty Village & Distillery District) could get it as early as end of this week, as the Beer Store doesn't need the same approvals as LCBO.

It is for sale in our retail store as of 3pm today and we've had a constant stream of people dropping in to get it.

Alcohol is 8.4%, but it definitely doesn't drink like an 8.4%. Pretty deceiving.

IBU's are 71. This was more a result of our preference in flavour of Double IPA's rather than playing it safe. We have been drinking as many Double IPA's as we could get our hands on for the past 8 months and the one's we really enjoy are incredibly hop forward, with wicked aroma, but yet still drinkable without puckering your face with bitterness. We're really enjoying how this beer drinks. It's a big beer, with a ton of hops but one that you don't need to work to get through.

At the end of our production today, we had a company wide tasting and celebration of the first run of this beer and we paired it with a very spicy massala dish. It was a great pairing...highly recommend giving it a shot.

Price...it really comes down to the sheer amount of hops and time in tank. This is a super expensive beer to make. Is there profit? You bet. But surprisingly, not as much as you'd think. This beer uses 5 different hops, it uses far more hops than all of our other beers combined, it uses expensive hops, it is dry-hopped twice and sits in tank far longer than any of our other beers. We probably could have cut back on a few of these areas and priced it cheaper, but we opted to make the beer we wanted to make knowing that it wasn't going to be cheap.

All in all...we're pretty stoked about this beer. I don't write on this forum much, but as you can tell I am excited about this beer and I am excited for you all to try it and welcome the feedback good or otherwise.

Lastly...we're launching this year's Harvest Ale at the Drake's 86'd on Monday October 29th. Free to get in, couple free pints of Harvest, free food pairings followed by some food for a fee after. Starts at 7pm. All are welcome and for those who can make it, I look forward to chatting then.

Cheers,

Laba

Bytowner · Post by **Bytowner** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 7:40 pm

Muskokan wrote:Alright, here are some details...

Thanks for the info. You guys have been doing great work, thanks for giving Ontario drinkers something to be proud of. Can't wait to try this.