![]() “Brewed for you, Ontario”. I think anyone that reads this blog knows that slogan. To me; it’s more than a smart marketing slogan. To me it brings fond memories that go back to my early days in discovering craft beer which I’m sure is true for a lot of craft beer fans in the Toronto area. Great Lakes Brewery has been at it for over 30 years now and really are a pioneer of the craft beer industry. They’re not only known for being pioneers in the craft beer industry but for being ahead of the curve when it came to experimenting with recipes. After doing a lot of reading and watching (GLB released a documentary for their 30th anniversary) I’ve decided to put together a little history on GLB for my blog post. GLB began in 1987 as a malt extract brewery in Brampton, Ontario. This is significant because most breweries of the day were all grain. The company was started by Bruce Cornish and 4 other silent partners. Great Lakes brewed 2 beers: Great Lakes Lager and Unicorn Ale which were packaged in 1 litre plastic home brew bottled. After 4 years of production the company had run out of money. Enter Peter Bulut Sr. Bulut Sr purchased the business in 1990, made the change from malt extract brewing to all grain in 1991 and in the early months of 1992 moved the brewery to its current home at 30 Queen Elizabeth Blvd where Cornish continued on as head brewer for a short time. The building, interestingly enough, was a former perfume factory that won an architecture award in 1950. The move to Etobicoke was because Bulut Sr did some construction work (his background was in that industry) and liked the proximity to the QEW, primarily because the building visible from the QEW. Bulut Sr. quickly found success in the 1990s Toronto restaurant scene, selling his beer to the Greek, Serbian and, Italian communities. From what I could find in my research, it was in 1997 when Peter Bulut Jr started getting involved in the business which is what his father had always wanted: for this to be a family business. This is also the period of time when the more experimental recipes were starting to be developed. Any interviews I’ve seen or read with Bulut Jr have him chalking this up to boredom. Out of this “boredom” Golden Horseshoe Lager and Red Leaf Lager were created. In 2000 the on-site retail store opened. Fast forward to 2006. Devil’s Pale Ale 666 is created in June and it became so popular that the brewery introduces it in the LCBO. This beer, which has just made it’s return in the retail store at the time of posting this entry, is the beer that really kicked things off for GLB. The next beer that has a significant story takes place in 2006. The brewery made 1200 bottles of a specialty beer for their holiday party, as a gift for the staff. 600 bottles were given away and they were such a hit that the decision was made to sell the other 600 bottles, which were originally planned to be used in giveaways. Thus, the holiday tradition of GLB’s Winter Ale was born! In 2007 another significant step for the craft beer world came to be. GLB came into contact with a tobacco farmer who’s business was not doing well. He owned a conveyor belt that was designed to dry fruits and vegetables. Bulut Jr and this farmer decided to dry some sorghum, sweet potato, orange peels to try some experimental recipes, before you know it the Orange Peel Ale and Pumpkin Ales appeared. The Winter Ale, Pumpkin Ale and, Orange Peel Ale lead to BLG winning the Golden Tap Editor’s Circle Award for seasonal products in 2007. The GLB story isn’t complete without mentioning Mike Lackey. Bulut Jr and Lackey are lifelong friends, going back to kindergarten and Bulut Jr and Lackey used to stay in the Brampton location to brew the beer while the Etobicoke location was being built. Right behind the Brampton location was a brew your own beer shop and the 2 friends used to experiment there. Fast forward to 2009 project X launched. Project X was a monthly event where brand new beers were created on a pilot system and offered to Project X members. Many of the Tank Ten series of beers were first born at these events but the reason this Project X series came to be was that Lackey self-training himself to brew. Lackey had enough of cleaning the lines and went to Bulut Jr and asked if he could start brewing and testing recipes. That’s how Lackey became the Recipe Development Brewer for GLB. In 2010 Crazy Canuck Pale Ale was introduced in time for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. This was another of the pilot beers that Lackey brewed. This is the beer that really launched BLG into the IPA scene and started to really generate some sales. This beer, which later changed it’s name to Canuck Pale Ale, might just be the closest thing to a “go-to” beer in the Ontario craft beer scene today. Sadly, Peter Bulut Sr. passed away in 2010. Peter Jr then took over the brewery as president. The momentum continued to roll in 2011 as Crazy Canuck launched full time in LCBO and wins it’s 2nd consecutive Gold medal at the Canadian Brewing Awards. ![]() 2012 saw GLB’s 25th anniversary. To celebrate Robust Porter, Vanilla Bean Imperial Espresso Stout, Belgian Saison, Imperial Black IPA and Bourbon Barrel-Aged Russian Imperial Stout were created. GLB was also named Best Brewery for Cask-Conditioned Ale in Ontario at the 10th annual Golden Tap Awards. In 2013 GLB was named the Canadian Brewery of the Year at the 11th annual Canadian Brewing Awards. As well as named Best Brewery for Cask-Conditioned Ale in Ontario at the 11th annual Golden Tap Awards. In 2014 GLB was named the Canadian Brewery of the Year at the 12th annual Canadian Brewing Awards, awarded the Gold, Silver and Bronze medals in the NA India Pale Ale category at the Canadian Brewing Awards for THRUST! an IPA, Karma Citra IPA, My Bitter Wife IPA, named the Best MicroBrewery in Ontario at the 12th annual Golden Tap Awards and, named Best Brewery for Cask-Conditioned Ale in Ontario at the 12th annual Golden Tap Awards. The awards continued in 2015 Canuck Pale Ale - Gold Medal at Ontario Brewing Awards, RoboHop Imperial IPA - Gold Medal at Canadian Brewing Awards and, THRUST! an IPA - Silver Medal at Canadian Brewing Awards. GLB was named the Best Brewery in Ontario at the 13th annual Golden Tap Awards. THRUST! an IPA - Best Seasonal/One-Off in Ontario at the 13th annual Golden Tap Awards. It was in 2015 that GLB opened an outdoor patio to consumers at brewery, a staple that remains today. More awards in 2016 Canuck Pale Ale - Best Regularly Produced Beer in Ontario, Golden Tap Awards. Karma Citra IPA - Best Seasonal or Specialty Beer in Ontario, Golden Tap Awards. Best Brewery in Ontario 2016 - Golden Tap Awards. It was also in 2016 when a new state of the art bottling line was installed. 2017 brought the 30th anniversary (Feb 12) celebrations. In celebration the brewery released a documentary (as mentioned earlier in this post) highlighting the history of GLB. Another part of the 2017 celebrations was welcoming a number of different people from the craft beer world to come and brew special collaboration beers. Bulut Jr also bought the brewery a 30th anniversary gift; a brand new 7bbl copper pilot system and 4 new 15bbl fermenters. These gifts enabled GLB to produce more regular product as well as experiment with new recipes. 2017 also brought an official partnership with the Toronto Rock Lacrosse team. Canuck Pale Ale became the official beer of the Rock. Present day, we see the growth continue. The Wavy Wall Craft Kitchen was added in the summer of 2018. Octopus wants to fight, a very popular seasonal beer became part of the regular lineup and, the retail store had a slight reconfiguration to increase how much beer they could sell from their fridges. So, now that the history of this brewery has been covered: GLB offers $5 pints, flights, the Wavy wall kitchen and, they have plenty of events at the brewery like the upcoming Christmas market. An interesting fact (that I learned from the Toronto Mike’d podcast which GLB sponsors) is that GLB sells 99.9% of their beer in Ontario, hence the slogan “Brewed for you, Ontario” but there is a bar in Halifax, Nova Scotia that has a long standing relationship with GLB that they continue to honour. At time of posting I’ve had 36 different beers from GLB and I’m sure that will change within weeks. So today’s “Jer’s Picks” will be 5 picks. 1 honourable mention, 3 picks and, the “top sauce” pick. The tops sauce idea is an new thing I’m going to do when I have a brewery that gets a long post like this and there’s lots to choose from. Jer’s Picks: Honourable mention – Swamp Juice: This pick get the name “honourable mention” because really, it’s not 1 beer. Stay with me here. Swamp Juice is something GLB does (did? I haven’t seen it in my recent trips) where they take different beers and mix them together in a growler. To date, according to their website, they have had 39 different variations. I love it, it’s fun and I have yet to have had a batch that turned out bad. Lake Effect IPA: Just a solid IPA. Citrusy, not overly hoppy but still that bite you want from an IPA, a hint of pine. Just all around solid. I tend to like American style IPAs and, funny enough, this Canadian brewery makes one of the bests. Audrey Hopburn: A Belgian IPA now. Yes, another IPA. I like IPAs. It’s got that hint of spiciness that you’d expect from a Belgian yeast. Citrusy nose and that bite again. I like getting that bitter bite from a good IPA that has that taste but don’t linger all night after. Grimace’s Tears Strawberry Milkshake IPA: Come on. If you read this blog you know I like Milkshake IPAs. So what you have here is one of my favorite breweries making one of my favorite styles of beer featuring one of my favorite fruits. I mean, this was made for me. It’s so juicy, the lactose makes it a little sweet – almost “yogurty” and of course it’s nice and hazy. It’s just a whole bunch of good. Top Sauce – Octopus Wants to Fight IPA: 8 hops, 8 malts, a little juicy, a great hop bite, hazy. It’s just all kinds of delicious. Over the past summer (keep in mind Octopus Wants to Fight was still a seasonal beer at that time) my Uncle asked me what my favorite beer is. I told him that I really couldn’t answer that. I explained that I don’t go get “my usual” from the beer store and that I always try something new thusly there are a number of beers I really like. That said, gun to head, if I had to choose an everyday drinker this would be that beer.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
April 2019
Categories |