Brews News: Good local choices for convenience store shelves

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Small craft breweries are unlikely to see a bump in sales when corner stores in Ontario start selling beer, cider, wine and ready-to-drink cocktails in September.

By beer, Queen’s Park mostly means major brands which will get 80 per cent of shelf space. The province’s 300 or so smaller players are left with just 20 per cent to divvy up. And the lion’s share of that is likely to go to proven winners among independent breweries such as Steam Whistle.

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While brands such as Bud Light and Corona will sell at corner stores by the six-pack, 12-pack or bigger, craft breweries likely will be left to sell one tall boy 473 ml can at a time. Even among craft beers that have been around for 10, even 20, years, there’s still a lot of mix six sampling going on.

What’s a community-minded corner store to do? Hopefully, they get excited about selling beers brewed locally.

What should the local craft section look like in the London area? Here are six to pique the interest of corner stores.

Anderson Cream Ale. Winner of multiple awards including the pale beer category at this year’s World Beer Awards, this is arguably the best-known craft beer brewed in London. Anderson sells it in six-packs of smaller 341 ml cans. It’s a beer with broad appeal.

Railway City Dead Elephant IPA. One of the oldest craft breweries in southern Ontario brews all kinds of styles including other IPAs, but craft beer fans always think of Dead Elephant first when you mention Railway City. While its Crew lager is a taproom champion, Dead Elephant rules at the off-site retailers and would sell briskly at the corner store.

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Forked River Capital Blonde Ale. London’s oldest operating craft brewery, Capital Blonde is its marquee beer. Bolder, more citrusy than you’d expect, Capital Blonde is named in homage to a 1793 plan to make London the capital of Upper Canada.

Powerhouse Homecoming Pale Ale. Sure, the label should be Western University purple, but what better name to set the mood for London’s strong alumni culture than this? Homecoming has a lemon flavour and a nudge of hop bitterness.

4est Lager. Trees, right? The only beer named for the Forest City from a brewery with a soft spot for growing trees, this helles-style lager is exceptional. It’s all in the Hallertauer hops. And the clever young family doc behind the brewing.

Toboggan Holy Roller Lager. London’s legacy as a military city and a tank displayed in Victoria Park get celebrated with a sessionable lager that also helped boost the meticulous restoration of the Holy Roller, an M4A2 Sherman that landed on D-Day.

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NEW AND NOTED

London lager fans, your day is coming. Storm Stayed hosts Lager than Life on Sept. 21, a gathering of seven lager-savvy breweries including Willibald of Ayr, Town of Whitby, Burdock of Toronto and Elora Brewing.

Neighbourly Anderson Craft Ales of London’s Old East Village brewed a beer to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Junction Climbing Centre, the business with which Anderson shares a building. Ten Years and Climbing is New England IPA, 6.2 per cent alcohol.

Co-operating and collaborating are Ontario’s two worker-owned breweries, London Brewing and Together We’re Bitter of Kitchener. They’ve brewed Passionfruit Guava, a sour. It’s at London Brewing priced at $4.86 for a 473 ml can.

The IPA curious should check out the hazy and fruity Tangerine IPA at London Brewing. There’s hop bitterness, but not a scary amount. If pine is your passion in an IPA, Shakespeare Brewing east of Stratford has fresh Grumpy Goat. brewed with Zeus and Chinook hops. If you want an IPA mimicking the taste of strawberry shortcake, Beerlab London has Fantastical, brewed with Mosaic hops.

Wayne Newton is a freelance journalist based in London.

BrewsNewsTravels@gmail.com

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