Oh, Canada!

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/06/2019 (2493 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There’s never been a better time to drink Canadian wine, beer and spirits than right now.

Canadian spirits continue to perform well at national and international competitions, the burgeoning craft-beer scene — especially here in Winnipeg, but generally across the country — is producing better and better brews and many categories of Canadian wines are as good as (or in some categories, better than) our global counterparts.

So this Canada Day weekend, there’s little reason not to toast the country’s birthday with a glass of something made right here.

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On the wine front, Canadian producers continue to shine on the national and international stage.

At the recent Decanter World Wine Awards held in London, England, producers from Canada took home 11 gold medals — seven for Ontario producers and four for B.C. wineries — in Riesling, sparkling wines, icewine and Sauvignon Blanc categories. The competition sees more than 16,000 wines from around the globe entered and tasted/judged by some of the world’s best wine palates.

Here on our soil, WineAlign’s National Wine Awards of Canada wrapped up a week of tasting/judging more than 1,800 Canadian wines made from coast to coast. Held in Ontario’s Prince Edward County, it’s the largest Canadian wine competition of its kind; as one of the judges invited to take part in the competition, it was an incredible opportunity for me to gauge the state of winemaking in Canada, which continues to improve as winemakers focus on the strengths of their climate, geography and more.

While the results of the awards haven’t yet been released, this judge can report that while sparkling wine, Riesling and icewine all continue to excel in Canada, other categories are also now on par with the best in the world. Canadian Syrah, especially from B.C., is better than ever, and reds made from the Gamay and Cabernet Franc grapes consistently impressed. On the white-wine side of things, Chardonnay truly shone, while a number of blends and lesser-known grapes also did quite well. More on the competition once the results are released.

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A couple of local breweries have some special releases to help ring in the Canada Day weekend.

On June 27, Trans Canada Brewing Co. released the limited-run Confederation No. 152, a Canadian pale ale brewed with ingredients sourced from every province and territory in the country, including hops from Quebec, B.C. and Manitoba, P.E.I. honey and water from the northern territories.

The beer will be available on tap at Trans Canada’s tap room (1290 Kenaston Blvd.) and in a handful of pre-filled growlers. If you miss out, you can always grab their Avenger American pale ale, newly available in 473ml cans. They’re available at the brewery and should roll out to Liquor Marts and beer vendors shortly.

The folks at Sookram’s Brewing Co., meanwhile, are rolling out a special trio of sour beers to ring in Canada Day.

In addition a version of their Cosmos dry-hopped sour infused with mango and peach that was launched at Flatlander’s Beer Festival, they’re also bringing two more mouth-watering sour beers: the Coconut Pete’s, a pina colada sour, and the Creature from the Blackberry Lagoon, a blackberry-infused sour.

The mango/peach sour is currently available, while the latter two limited-run brews will be tapped on Canada Day at the brewery (479-B Warsaw Ave.).

 

Drinks of the week

If you’re heading to lake country this weekend, the new Clearwater Lager (Winnipeg — $2.97/473ml cans, Liquor Marts and beer vendors) might be of interest. A joint venture between Alan Gibb of the Wescana Inn in The Pas, entrepreneur Jerome Conaty and Fort Garry Brewing Co., this lager was inspired by Clearwater Lake and brewed “as a way of boosting community morale following some challenging years for The Pas,” according to a press release (50 cents from every can also goes toward the creation of a skate park in the community). The lager is pale gold in colour and clear, and aromatically, brings bread-dough, toasted-nut and rich malty notes. It’s crisp and clean, with the malt and doughy notes dominating on the light-bodied palate. An easygoing, more than serviceable lager for hot days at the lake. ★★1/2

For an incredible aged Canadian Riesling, check out the Thirty Bench 2011 Riesling (Beamsville Bench, Ont. — $24.03, Liquor Marts and private wine stores), a recent discovery found while perusing local Liquor Marts. While the current release from the winery is the 2017 vintage (a platinum award-winner at the 2018 WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada), the 2011 is deep gold in colour, and aromatically, brings spice, ripe-peach, lemon-candy and petrol notes — textbook aged Riesling. On the off-dry, light-plus bodied but incredibly viscous palate, the ripe-peach notes are joined by tropical-fruit notes, hints of toasted nut, spice and lemon zest that are still incredibly vibrant. It’s a great example of a well-priced Canadian Riesling that has evolved beautifully in the bottle (but which is unfortunately in short supply — check the Liquor Marts website for quantities). ★★★★★

The folks at Patent 5 recently tweaked the recipe on their vodka, opting to use two different yeast strains. And while most people may think of vodka as essentially flavourless, the Patent 5 Vodka (Winnipeg — $40.95, distillery and coming soon to Liquor Marts) is anything but. Aromatically, there’s some lovely floral and light fruity notes, while on the palate, it’s quite smooth, with a vanilla and almost nutty note coming through flavour-wise. They’re at 108 Alexander Ave., east of Main St., if you’re looking to grab a bottle (or hang out and try one of their killer cocktails).

There are plenty of Canadian whiskies out there to enjoy this Canada Day weekend, but a new-ish Newfoundland product is certainly worth some attention. The Signal Hill Canadian Whisky (St. John’s, NL — $40.19/750ml bottle, Liquor Marts) is deep gold in colour, and aromatically, brings vanilla-bean, sweet-malt and dried-fruit notes. There’s a hint of sweetness on the palate of this blended whisky, with the dried-fruit and malt notes working well with the vanilla note coming from barrel aging. It’s smooth and approachable, and would be enjoyed by novices and seasoned palates alike.

uncorked@mts.net

Twitter: @bensigurdson