TORONTO, ON – Bush Pilot Brewing, a new “gypsy brewery” in Ontario, has announced that its first beer is now available for retail purchase.
Led by the founders of beer, wine and spirits import agency Roland + Russell, Bush Pilot is partnering with established breweries in Ontario to produce its beers, many of which will be created in collaboration with well-known brewers from the international craft brewing scene.
The first offering from this unique project is Stormy Monday, a spiced and barrel-aged barley wine brewed from a recipe developed by Anders Kissmeyer, formerly of Nørrebro Bryghus and now head of his own nomadic brewery, Kissmeyer Beer.
Stormy Monday was brewed using seven different malts, five types of hops, and a large variety of spices and flavourings, including star anise, bitter orange peel, cocoa, cinnamon, dried fruit, vanilla beans, cardamom, juniper berries, maple syrup and more. Two batches were brewed – one at Niagara College Teaching Brewery and the other at Nickel Brook Brewery – and a portion was aged for over seven months in Calvados barrels sourced from Domaine Dupont in France before being blended back with a non-aged version to create the final product.
Bush Pilot Stormy Monday is available now at select LCBO outlets, retailing for $12.75 per 750 ml bottle.
All these impressive ingredients and exhaustive work yet I think the final product lacks balance with an onslaught of spices and is really lacking the body of a real barley wine. I think this creation is mislabeled as it tastes almost nothing like a barley wine. Its way too thin for the style and and too unbalanced, though the spices do a good job of hiding the massive alcohol. $13/bottle is also overpriced for a below average ale. I do not recommend it..