Beer of the Weekend #875: Muskoka Cream Ale
It’s Friday and I have some Canadian beers chilling in my fridge, so I thought I would celebrate the pending weekend with a lunchtime brew from the Great White North: Cream Ale, brewed by the Muskoka Brewery of Bracebridge, Ontario.
The color is light caramel amber. Two fingers of beige, bubble-spotted, buttery head dissipates slowly, leaving an even skim and buttery collar.
The aroma is light but malty, fruity, and inviting. The aroma includes light candy caramel, toffee, light but mostly nondescript esters (cherry and apple are what come to mind), and floral hops. There is also a hint of something weird and unnatural, too—it smells like plastic—but it is thankfully fleeting and morphs into sweetness.
The flavor is light but malty with a floral finish. It’s nothing special, but it is crushable. There are flavors of light caramel, toffee, floral hops, berries (it reminds me of raspberries), and metallic bitterness.
Fun facts about Muskoka Cream Ale:
• Style: Despite the beer’s name, the brewery calls it English pale ale—which I think is a spot on classification. It tastes much more like an English pub ale than a cream ale.
• Price: C$3.15 for a 473 ml can at the LCBO on Queen Street West in Toronto.
• Alcohol content: 5 percent ABV.
• Food pairings: The brewery recommends roast chicken, grilled salmon, and Montreal smoked meat.
• IBU: 20.
• Calories: 50 per 100 ml.
• Cream Ale was first brewed in 1996. (Kudos to Muskoka for providing so much info about the beer!)
• I love learning about how things work in other places, so let’s dive into the wacky world of alcohol sales in Ontario. The province is what is known in the U.S. as a control state, where the government monopolizes wholesaling, distributing, and selling alcoholic beverages. The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) controls alcohol sales and distribution for the entire province; per Wikipedia, “LCBO stores are the only retail outlets licensed to sell alcohol in Ontario, with a few notable exceptions....” The Beer Store, a chain jointly owned by 30 breweries in Ontario, is authorized by the LCBO to sell beer, and the board allows limited sales of beer, wine, and cider in a small number of grocery stores and specialty shops. Based on the small amount of research I’ve done online, it looks like Canada’s other provinces have similar, government-run systems.
Because of that conservative, tightly controlled approach, I discovered that it’s not easy getting adult beverages for off-site consumption, especially after dinner. In search of beer and wine, a fellow conference worker and I were only able to locate a Wine Rack, which sells cider and wine, near the hotel. (The nearest LCBO closed at 6 p.m. and The Beer Store near the Wine Rack had closed for the day at 10 p.m.) Unable to buy beer, I settled on cider.
The Quiet Man’s grade: C+.
The color is light caramel amber. Two fingers of beige, bubble-spotted, buttery head dissipates slowly, leaving an even skim and buttery collar.
The aroma is light but malty, fruity, and inviting. The aroma includes light candy caramel, toffee, light but mostly nondescript esters (cherry and apple are what come to mind), and floral hops. There is also a hint of something weird and unnatural, too—it smells like plastic—but it is thankfully fleeting and morphs into sweetness.
The flavor is light but malty with a floral finish. It’s nothing special, but it is crushable. There are flavors of light caramel, toffee, floral hops, berries (it reminds me of raspberries), and metallic bitterness.
Fun facts about Muskoka Cream Ale:
• Style: Despite the beer’s name, the brewery calls it English pale ale—which I think is a spot on classification. It tastes much more like an English pub ale than a cream ale.
• Price: C$3.15 for a 473 ml can at the LCBO on Queen Street West in Toronto.
• Alcohol content: 5 percent ABV.
• Food pairings: The brewery recommends roast chicken, grilled salmon, and Montreal smoked meat.
• IBU: 20.
• Calories: 50 per 100 ml.
• Cream Ale was first brewed in 1996. (Kudos to Muskoka for providing so much info about the beer!)
• I love learning about how things work in other places, so let’s dive into the wacky world of alcohol sales in Ontario. The province is what is known in the U.S. as a control state, where the government monopolizes wholesaling, distributing, and selling alcoholic beverages. The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) controls alcohol sales and distribution for the entire province; per Wikipedia, “LCBO stores are the only retail outlets licensed to sell alcohol in Ontario, with a few notable exceptions....” The Beer Store, a chain jointly owned by 30 breweries in Ontario, is authorized by the LCBO to sell beer, and the board allows limited sales of beer, wine, and cider in a small number of grocery stores and specialty shops. Based on the small amount of research I’ve done online, it looks like Canada’s other provinces have similar, government-run systems.
Because of that conservative, tightly controlled approach, I discovered that it’s not easy getting adult beverages for off-site consumption, especially after dinner. In search of beer and wine, a fellow conference worker and I were only able to locate a Wine Rack, which sells cider and wine, near the hotel. (The nearest LCBO closed at 6 p.m. and The Beer Store near the Wine Rack had closed for the day at 10 p.m.) Unable to buy beer, I settled on cider.
The Quiet Man’s grade: C+.
