LCBO Food & Drink Summer 2017

BEER  SMALL-TOWN BREWS

Deep russet-brown in colour, Kilannan Alt ( LCBO 370296, 473 mL, $3.00) has a distinct and appealing earthiness to its aroma, which harkens to the beer style’s origins in north- ern Germany. The parallels continue with a gently sweet and leafy start, appetizing and faintly roasty middle, and quenching off-dry finish.

KILANNAN BREWING | OWEN SOUND

After Spencer Wareham left Owen Sound, Ont., to attend brewing schools in Chicago and Munich, he did something very unusual; he returned to the city where he spent his for- mative teenage years.    “A lot of young people leave Owen Sound to go to school and never come back,” explains Wareham, “So I think it meant a lot that this 23-year-old kid returned to open up a brewery.”    Which is not to say that success was im- mediate for Wareham, since he still had to convince the locals that his German-style beers were worth spending money on. But with the drink-local factor on his side, he says, his neighbours eventually developed enough interest to give his beers a try, and before long found themselves enjoying them.

MACLEAN’S ALES | HANOVER If you have spent any time at all drinking craft beer in Ontario, it is likely that you have tried at least one or two of Charles MacLean’s brews. A co-founder of the pioneering Wellington County Brewery, MacLean was also in on the ground floor at the F&M Brewery, now StoneHammer Brewing, as well as consulting for almost a dozen other brewing op- erations along the way.     In 2009, MacLean retreated to his farm and established a small sole proprietorship but soon realized that demand was greater than what his small brewery could supply. Hanover beckoned, so with loyal customers as investors, MacLean moved his brewing operation to a new community that welcomed the arrival of a hometown beer brand with great enthusiasm.

LOCAL CULTURE MUST-SEE While it might lack the excite- ment of harness racing at the nearby Hanover Raceway, there is a soothing, summery feel to watching a double bill from your car at the Hanover Drive-In . 033277 Grey Rd. 28 (Drive-In Road), Hanover, Ont.

MacLean started brewing his Pale Ale (LCBO 464081, 473 mL, $2.90) in 1993, so it’s hardly surprising that he seems to have got it right. Copper-coloured with a spicy, leafy aroma that stands in contrast to today’s bevy of citrus-hued beers, it has a balanced, toffee-ish body with tannic notes and a bone-dry finish.

Group of Seven devotees won’t want to miss the Tom Thomson Art Gallery , founded in Canada’s centennial year and home to one of the country’s largest collections of Thomson art. 840 First Avenue West, Owen Sound, Ont. LOCAL CULTURE MUST-SEE

MACLEAN’S ALES PHOTO BY KRISTIE WOODS; CANOE LAKE BY TOM THOMSON; PHOTO BY MICHELLE WILSON

122  FOOD & DRI NK SUMMER 2017