Brews News | London Free Press

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How’s this for openers? In a beer world where 473 ml cans hold sway, the iconic green 341 ml bottles hold swag.

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Steam Whistle, the iconic Toronto brewer, is back with a new, functional and collectible bottle opener included in specially-marked six-packs of its popular pilsner.

The retro openers are a tradition started in 2005, with each year offering a distinctive design. Past years have featured ordinary-looking church keys to a collaboration with Hudson’s Bay to mark the department store’s 150th birthday. The best was the 2020 opener shaped like a steam whistle.

This year’s has been available for a few weeks. It’s a utilitarian Scandinavian design that has “Steam Whistle,  Canada’s premium beer” printed on the sides and “3FG” printed on the bottom. Fans of Steam Whistle who know their craft beer history will recognize it as “three fired guys” referring to founders Greg Taylor, Cam Heaps and Cam Cromwell who had been sacked by Upper Canada Brewing. Taylor and Heaps stayed with it, while friend Cromwell moved to Australia.

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As beer swag goes, no one comes close to Steam Whistle. Branded puzzles, dog toys, pool floaties, vintage vehicle pins, hockey pucks and golf balls, they run an imaginative gamut.

And the beer? That’s good too and a sure bet to please dad on Father’s Day.

SMITHY AND A NEUSTADT

Fix up a local blacksmith and a village brewery and what do you get? The most unique twist on Father’s Day and a beer.

Forty Hills Forge, a 10-minute drive along a hilly concession from the brewery, is guiding folks in the art of making their own beer bottle opener as a Father’s Day craft more memorable than most. Bash and Brews, being offered in sessions on Father’s Day weekend, includes a voucher for a flight of beers in the Neustadt taproom after the rookie class in anvils, hammer handling and fire.

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The flight selection might include the new Emphasis 3, a New England IPA brewed with lots of wheat and oats, then double dry-hopped with both Idaho 7 and Ekuanot hops. Brace for flavours of papaya, lemon-lime, tangerine and pine.

NEW AND NOTED

The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys launches its induction weekend on June 15 at Left Field Brewery, 36 Wagstaff Rd., in Toronto. No autographs at the ticketed event, but lots of great beer including Eephus Oatmeal Brown Ale or the new Bird Watcher American Lager. Left Field is opening a second location in the city’s Liberty Village, taking over what once was a billiard table factory on Hannah Avenue.

Trail Loop is back at Collective Arts. The sessionable honey lager is a fundraiser for a restoration project at Balsam Lake Provincial Park near Coboconk.

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A summer lager returns at Beerlab London. Through the Clouds, brewed with Saaz hops and Beerlab’s house lager yeast strain, is a summer breezy 4.5 per cent alcohol.

Inclusion, a community beer, is a new collaboration between Trestle Brewing of Parry Sound and Sawdust City of Gravenhurst. The hazy IPA celebrates community members with developmental disabilities. Says Trestle in a social media post, “Good things happen when everyone is included in community life. We stand together in the belief that everyone belongs.”

Block Three in St. Jacobs has a new twist on a lager. NZ Pils was brewed with warm climate New Zealand hops – Riwaka and Nelson Sauvin – for a citrus aroma and clean taste.

Congratulations to Refined Fool of Sarnia for winning an LCBO Elsie award in the category of partner of the year, small supplier. Meanwhile, Refined Fool is selling its sixth edition of its popular IPA fun box containing Florida Stole My Parents, the Creamsicle-ish Where are We Going, Fat Baby, Zane Lost His Avocado Bag, the Simcoe-heavy Van Full of Weirdos and Castronaut, a sessionable hazy IPA.

Wayne Newton is a freelance journalist based in London.

wayne.newton@bell.net

Twitter.com/WayneWriteOn