Sunday 8 November 2009

Beer of The Week - Nov 8 - Muskoka Dark Ale

473 mL can
Price: $ 2.60
5.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : 3
Made in: Ontario, Canada
By: Lakes Of Muskoka Cottage Brewery

This week I dropped into the LCBO on Brock Street to search for my Beer of the Week and found my search over early. I have heard good things about Muskoka Cottage Brewery and the first thing I spotted in the beer section was their Muskoka Dark Ale sitting on the shelf.

Search over!

The brewery, located in Bracebridge, Ontario, has been open since 1996 and currently has a staff of 18. The regularly brew four different beers ... a Cream Ale, an unfiltered Hefe-Weissbier, a lager and, of course, the Dark Ale which I am trying today.

Muskoka Dark Ale recently won a Gold medal at the 2009 Ontario Brewing Awards in the Dark Ale category. Knowing this, I was anxious to give it a try.

The beer, which is described on the back of the can as a "Southern English Brown Ale", pours a very dark brownish colour. There is no seeing through this beer. It pours with a nice head and, as I was changing batteries in my camera, noticed the nice lacings left by the head. (Note to self: always check camera batteries before cracking open the beer.)

The beer has a full flavour, not heavy, just full in taste. I found it almost stout like. My taste buds are not great in identifying flavours in a beer or wine but I was reminded of carmel or chocolate in this one. There is no hoppiness detected but I gather hops are used to balance the malt in this case.

And well-done too.

This is a very nice, enjoyable brown ale and I can see why it won gold. This is not the last time I will be having this one. When I'm in a mood for a brown ale, I will be picking this one up again.

Cottage country has many good reasons to visit it. This brewery is another.

1 comment:

Mike said...

We appreciate your post on our Dark Ale and we're glad you enjoyed it.

If you ever find yourself in Bracebridge, please do not hesitate to drop into the brewery, we'd be more than happy to share a pint with you.

Cheers,

Mike