Brews News: Here’s a six-pack of suggestions for Father’s Day

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It’s Father’s Day weekend and here’s a six-pack of beer styles that’ll satisfy dad’s thirst for knowledge:

Pale ale. Dad might like a pale ale or might be bored by it. A solution is trying a new one with a backstory. London Brewing has it, both at its brewery and at this weekend’s London Beer Fest downtown at Dundas Place. Public Pale Ale is an ultra pale ale brewed with open-source hops in collaboration with BackRoads Hops Farm of Parkhill. It’s 4.6 per cent alcohol and $3.10 for a 473 ml can.

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Flavoured light lager. Take an American light lager brewed for Palasad Social Bowl and add the flavour of blue cotton candy and you’ve got B’Louie’s Lager. Forked River has it as one of its 11 beers for 11 years series. Forked River is featuring this 4.5 per cent alcohol brew June 15 during its Forked Fest Main Event, a ticketed fete at the brewery, 45 Pacific Court.

Lager. Straightforward and paired with tunes, it’s the new London Music Hall of Fame Lager brewed by Anderson Craft Ales. In spiffy green cans featuring a retro boom box and headphones, London Music Hall of Fame Lager is 4.8 per cent alcohol and packaged in smaller 355 ml cans.

Spicy Draft. Don’t just drop a few beers on his lap and run, invest some time with dad and walk, ride or drive to a neighbourly craft brewery without the hubbub and hot sun of a festival. Storm Stayed on Wharncliffe Road for a draft-only spicy surprise. Keets, the brewery’s lager, is on tap in a pineapple and jalapeno version until the kegs run dry.

Cerveza. Takes on a Mexico-style lager abound at craft breweries, with a pair popular ones in St. Thomas. Railway City Brewing has Playa Cerveza, brewed with lime and sea salt. Caps Off brews Casco de bicicleta (bicycle helmet) and doubles as a fundraiser for a local mountain bicycle trail. Playa is a light 4.5 per cent alcohol. Casco de bicicleta is 5.5 per cent.

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Triple IPA. And now for something completely different. The antithesis of a pale ale and in downtown London around the corner from Dundas Place, Beerlab London has its first. Before Tigers is loaded with Simcoe hops and some Citra. The taste is tangerine. Before Tigers is 10.1 per cent alcohol and sold in four-packs of 473 ml cans for $22.12 at the brewery, 420 Talbot St.

NEW AND NOTED

If you’re looking to punt forward time with dad, there’s the Forest City Brew Night hosted June 20 by Toboggan Brewing on Richmond Row in London. There will be four courses of food, four paired beers, live music and it’s a fundraiser for the Kidney Foundation (tickets at kidney.ca/events).

A barbecue and beer buffet runs Father’s Day weekend, Saturday and Sunday, at 100 Kellogg Lane with Powerhouse beers priced at $5 for those who’ve paid for the $70 buffet and entertainment.

Powerhouse celebrates summer with the return of its tropical sour, Sippin’ on Sunshine (SOS). It’s a pineapple crusher, 4.5 per cent alcohol carrying a premium $5 price for a 473 ml can.

Cowbell in Blyth has Sunsplash, a session IPA. Juicy but light on bitterness, Sunsplash is 4.3 per cent alcohol.

On the shore of Lake Huron in Kincardine, Grey Matter Beer Company has a Belgian IPA — a saison meets an IPA that features Idaho 7 hops and saison yeast. It’s 6.6 per cent alcohol with the brewery’s tasting notes describing flavours of banana, peach and cherry.

Wayne Newton is a freelance journalist based in London.

BrewsNewsTravels@gmail.com

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