TORONTO, ON – Henderson Brewing has announced details of the latest in its Ides Series of monthly limited edition beers, with this instalment paying tribute the anniversary of an event that brought together a future Premier of Ontario and a counterculture rock legend.
Bob & Frank’s Not Your Mother’s Witbier (5.5% abv) has the following backstory:
50 years ago Bob Rae hired Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention to play a gig at U of T’s Convocation Hall. The show, called “(B)ABEL: Society as Madness and Myth” was a weeklong ‘happening’ culminating in the Zappa show on the final Sunday night. The Mothers unpacked their unconventional performance against a white backdrop with white balloons filling the room and completed the white theme by “pouring shaving cream in every possible orifice of the huge organ at the front of the hall” so that the cream exploded all over the room at the end of their show. The resulting mess — both literal and figurative — landed in Bob Rae’s lap, and legend has it that much of the following week was spent cleaning it up.
As for the beer it inspired, it’s described as follows:
Starting with a traditional wit background, they have unpacked hops and yeast in a way that delivers a double-whammy of fruity and spicy character to this classic style. The new beer is a hazy, light coloured, fruity, spicy version of an American IPA. And they managed to avoid a similar mess!
The Ides of May: Bob & Frank’s will be released today (Friday May 18th) at the brewery, with a launch party at 6:00 PM featuring free beer samples and complimentary french fries and mayo from 5 Points Chicken. For more details, see the Facebook event listing.