Two years ago this month, the Ontario Craft Brewers - a trade organization that represents and promotes more than two dozen of the provinces small- and medium-sized breweries - launched a unique initiative in the form of the OCB Discovery Pack, a mixed six-pack featuring beers from a half-dozen member breweries including Brick, Mill Street and Walkerville. While pegged by some critics (including me) as being a bit too heavy on the pale lagers, the package was a sell-out success, and a second package followed in November 2008 that offered a bit more stylistic variety, including darker ales from Black Oak and Cameron's, and the unique Nickel Brook Apple Pilsner.
And now, right on schedule, a third Discovery Pack has just hit the shelves (LCBO 137067 - $14.95/6x473 mL), and this time there's a new twist: the beers are in cans.
This decision makes sense given the LCBO's increasing interest in stocking canned beers, especially for single unit products. And since the six in this package - Trafalgar Paddy's Irish Red, Muskoka Cream Ale, Nickel Brook Organic Lager, Great Lakes Devil's Pale Ale, Wellington County Dark Ale and Neustadt Lager - are available as singles at many LCBO outlets, those who find a beer or two that they really enjoy in the set will be able to easily grab a few more on their next trip to the store. Although anyone who especially likes the can of Nickel Brook Organic Lager that they find in this mixed pack may be surprised if they pick up a single, as they'll discover them to be two quite different beers.
Or at least they'll seem that way, even though technically, they're the same beer. What's different in the way they've been prepared for packaging. While the beer in the loose cans has been filtered before canning, Nickel Brook decided to offer an unfiltered version of the lager in the Discovery Pack. This isn't the first time this has been done in Ontario - just a few months ago, Creemore Springs Kellerbier, a fantastic unfiltered lager, was released in limited quantities. But it's still not very common practice, which is too bad, as it often makes for a better beer.
Of course, "better" is based on personal preference. The suspended yeasts and proteins in unfiltered beers cause them to appear quite hazy, which can turn some people off. But those who get past the appearance will often enjoy the slightly fuller body and more complex flavour of the beer. In the case of the Nickel Brook Organic, a beer that is usually tasty and refreshing but somewhat unexciting, the unfiltered version is so unique that in a side-by-side comparison, many would probably peg it as being an entirely different product. The yeast gives the slight murky copper beer a distinctive bready character, and the finish is tart and even a little funky in a way that reminds me (and others) of some Belgian beers. While it may not be practical for them to do it, I'd be quite happy to see Nickel Brook replace their regular Organic Lager with this unfiltered version, or at least offer it as a semi-regular option outside of the Discovery Pack.
Speaking of the Pack, it should be noted that the five other beers that are included have their merits as well. Neustadt Lager and Paddy's Irish Red are clean, crisp and tasty lagers; Muskoka Cream is a smooth and well-balanced golden ale; and Wellington County and Great Lakes Devil's are both darker and fuller-flavoured ales. There's still a valid case to be made that a little more variety would be nice; personally, I would've skipped Muskoka Cream Ale since it already appeared in the first edition, and swapped in their Hefe-Weissbier or Dark Ale. But those quibbles aside, it still offers a nice sampling of Ontario's microbrews, and hopefully it'll win a few more converts for the craft beer cause.
