Posted by Greg Clow in beer, beverages on September 11, 2007 at 6:20 pm
As I mentioned in my review of their Orange Peel Ale back in May, Etobicoke's Great Lakes Brewery surprised a lot of folks last year when, after almost two decades in business, they suddenly started releasing a series of seasonal ales that were quite different from the trio of mainstream lagers for which they were most known. These brews, the most recent of which was a strong and mysterious brown ale dubbed Project X, attracted so much attention from local craft beer drinkers that Great Lakes was honoured with one of the inaugural Editor's Circle Awards at the Golden Tap Awards held a few weeks back at beerbistro.
Starting it all was Devil's Pale Ale, a beer initially planned to be a one-off for the 2006 edition of Toronto's Festival of Beer as well as a few selected draught accounts. Reportedly "brewed for 66.6 minutes with 666kg of malt and 6.6kg of hops", and with an alcohol level of 6.6%, the beer was a serious left turn from their usual offerings.
Personally, while I was glad to see Great Lakes trying something so different for them, I was a bit disappointed by the first iteration of this beer. It was flavourful up front, with a robust maltiness in the aroma and off the top of the flavour, but the hops somehow lost their potency during the brewing, causing the finish to be weak and lifeless where I expected some bracing bitterness to wrap things up.
A year after that first batch, Devil's Pale Ale is back as a permanent addition to the Great Lakes line-up with a slightly tweaked recipe (it's now 6% rather than 6.6%) and in a striking new can that's available on the LCBO's general list (LCBO 615880, $2.50/473 mL). Their work on several other ales over the last year seems to have helped Great Lakes work out some kinks, as this new version is improved over the original.
It still has pretty much the same appearance: a dark mahogany-brown that really looks more like a Brown Ale than a Pale one. The aroma is also quite similar: still quite malty, with caramel and dark sugar notes, and slight herbal and woody undertones. But the flavour that seemed to lack focus before has really come together in this new version, with the front-end maltiness moving smoothly into a lingering hoppy finish.
It's always encouraging to see a new Ontario craft beer added to the general list at the LCBO, especially when it's a good quality one such as this. I imagine that the sleek black can emblazoned with a bold "666" logo will cause lots of curious drinkers to give it a shot. And with a new Pumpkin Ale due to join the Devil's Pale Ale on shelves as part of a LCBO Hallowe'en promotion, it's obvious that Great Lakes have every intention to continue creating unique beers while still supporting the flagship lagers that have been their bread and butter for 20 years. It's a model that more Ontario craft breweries will hopefully decide to follow.
