While the conglomerate-owned Beer Store continues to pull shenanigans like listing Keith’s as an IPA, the LCBO has transformed itself into the default retail source of good beer for most Ontarians. The government-owned monopoly deserves a (brief) round of applause for opening its shelves over the past year to envelope-pushing bottles like special-release double IPAs and the province’s first gose.
De Wallen, the most recent LCBO release from Amsterdam Brewery, is a barrel-aged sour based on Amsterdam’s raspberry-loaded Framboise. After lactobacillus, brettanomyces and pediococcus (all three are the Latin names for yeasts and bacteria that make food and drink deliciously funky) are introduced to the proto-beer, it is aged for a year in barrels that were used by Niagara’s Flat Rock Winery for its award-winning Pinot Noir.
Given the mahogany-red colour, naming such a racy beer after the world’s most famous red-light district seems like a natural choice.
A light raspberry flower aroma is layered on top of a base of sweet-and-sour complexity with just a touch of barnyard funk and a hint of red wine vinegar. Ripe raspberry fruit is the brass section for a marching band of flavour that is kept in time by a calm sourness, and there are also spicy notes from the wine barrels.
At 330 mL, this bottle doesn’t need to be split into two servings, but you’ll want to in order to appreciate everything that the complex aroma has to offer. A halfway pour (like you would for wine) will leave enough headspace for the volatile aroma compounds to collect and concentrate in the top half the glass. If you don’t have a tulip glass or a beer snifter, a good-sized wineglass will stand in just fine.
Maverick and Gose — Amsterdam’s collaboration with Great Lakes Brewery — is running low at all LCBO locations. I don’t see any reason why De Wallen will stick around any longer, so if you’d like to try a sour beer, I would grab a few bottles while they’re still on shelves.
Amsterdam Brewery’s De Wallen, $5.95 for a 330 mL bottle, LCBO #357897
In addition to covering beer, new restaurants and food trucks for Post City, David Ort writes about food and drink for several Toronto publications including his own site, Food With Legs. He is also the author of the upcoming Canadian Craft Beer Cookbook. For more of his thoughts on food, beer and life in general, follow him on Twitter or get in touch at info@foodwithlegs.com.