Tag Archives: yukon brewing

Ice Fog IPA – Yukon Brewing

by Mike

From Yukon Brewing in Whitehorse of the Yukon Territories comes the “Ice Fog IPA” and English India Pale Ale.  The beer pours an orange colour with a white head.  The aroma consists of biscuit malts, fruit and and floral hops.  The flavour is of biscut malts, caramel, fruit and very mild bitterness almost more grassy.  The alcohol content comes in at 6%.  While I question this being even considered at English IPA as the bitterness is just to low it is still a tasty beer and worth picking up. Just do not expect to taste bitterness.

Commercial Description:  When it’s quitting time around the brewery the team can often be caught snagging a pint of this British style malt forward IPA. We call it Fog-O’clock and it’s becoming a bit of a Yukon trend! Unlike the hundreds of other IPA’s out there, we’re not going for the “hip and hop” award with this brew, going over the top with bitterness. It’s a session beer for folks who appreciate an IPA with balance.

IMG_20151123_180400

Yukon Red Amber Ale – Yukon Brewing

by Mike

From Yukon Brewing inWhitehorse of the Yukon Territories comes the “Yukon Red Amber Ale”.  The beer pours a red/amber colour with a tan head.  The aroma consists of roasty malts, dark fruits, and floral hops.  The flavour is of earth, roasted malts, coffee, dark fruits, citrus and mild hops bitterness.  The alcohol content comes in at 5.5%.  I found this to be a really tasty Amber Ale.

Commercial Description:  The drink starts with by displaying a deep bronze colour, but the beer is crystal clear. The head is an abundant fine mousse (pronounced ‘moose’ for the cabin crowd), cream coloured and just spilling over the rim of the glass (if you got the good waitress, Yukon trained and all). As you raise the mug, your senses catch the fine aromas permeating from the glass, clean malty sweetness touched by spicy hop esters.  The first draw of the ale cools the parched lips and moistens the cheeks. Full malt body takes over the palate; not sweet, but bold, fruity and persistent. A snap of clean hop bitter grabs the back of the tongue and springs into the sinus cavity, blending with the caramel flavours that have wafted back with the nectar that is this ale. But the swallow goes down clean, almost dry, and leaves only a slight lingering presence of the abundant flavours that were just there, and now gone!

IMG_20150809_150446

Deadman Creek, Cranberry Wheat Ale – Yukon Brewing

by Mike

From Yukon Brewing in Whitehorse in the Yukon Territories comes the “Deadman Creek, Cranberry Wheat Ale”.  The beer pours a cloudy orange colour with a white head.  The aroma consists of cranberry, yeast, wheat, grassy and some sweetness.  The flavour is of cranberries, wheat, yeast, grassy hops and a semi sweet finish.  The alcohol content comes in at  4.7%.  Taking a fruit like cranberries that are not overly sweet really goes well with a wheat ale that is far to often made to sweet.  This is a great summer ale.

Commercial Description: This beer is different. Long before the big boys added lime flavours to their lagers, we were making a wheat ale which combined natural cranberries with the tangy goodness of yeast, since the beer is unfiltered. We started as a seasonal beer, using only Yukon berries. Demand soon outstripped the supply, however, and we (now) only supplement with local berries when they are available. Of course, we only use pure natural cranberries, with no artificial flavours.  You’re not going to be overwhelmed by the cranberries, they lurk in the shadows of this ale with their tart flavour complementing the yeast perfectly.  A  cloudy pour shouldn’t scare you off, as an unfiltered beer, it’s supposed to look like that – just relax and enjoy (just make sure to keep a second close by).

IMG_20150705_204814

 

Midnight Sun (Espresso Stout) – Yukon Brewing

by Mike

From Yukon Brewing in Whitehorse in the Yukon Territories (Northern Canada 2,400km North of Vancouver BC) comes the “Midnight Sun (Espresso Stout)”.  The beer pours a very deep brown colour with a brown head.  The aroma consists of espresso, creamy and some roastiness.  The flavour is of burnt malts, espresso, milk chocolate, earth and bitterness.  The alcohol content comes in at 6.2%.  This would be a very good beer to drink on a nice freezing cold winter night in the Yukon or even on a rainy winter night in Vancouver (or any other time you feel like it).

Commercial Description:  In the fall of 2003, Midnight Sun Coffee Roasters, a local Whitehorse coffee company that roasts their coffee fresh here in the north, approached us with an idea. Zola Dore (the Yukon Bean Queen) was enjoying a home brewed espresso stout she was producing at a local U-brew when inspiration struck, “Let’s work together to produce this beer in bigger volumes”. Sometimes brilliance can be confused with insanity and espresso stout beer certainly lends itself to insanity, but several awards and hundreds of enthusiastic reviews later and it’s clear this creation is a winner.  To say that our brew team outdid themselves is perhaps not going far enough. By the time they finished creating, we had a beer with eight different malts (that’s right, Alice, eight malts) not to mention oatmeal and, of course, espresso coffee. The result is a beer that is fine as frog’s hair, full bodied yet smooth, rich with coffee aromas and flavours without ever losing sight of the fact that it’s beer.

IMG_20150704_133733

Yukon Holiday Kolsch – Yukon Brewing

by Mike

From Yukon Brewing in Whitehorse in the Yukon Territories (Northern Canada 2,400km North of Vancouver BC) comes the “Yukon Holiday Kolsch”.  The beer pours a golden straw colour with a white head.  The aroma consists of bready malts, grainy, grassy hops and some citrus.  The flavour is of bready malts with some grainy notes, wheat, citrus and some yeast.  The alcohol content comes in at a 5% ABV.  This may not be one of my favourite styles but this is a very good version and if I could get more I would pick up a few for sure!

Commercial Description:  Summer has definitely sprung in the Yukon, with long days, warm afternoons, and a very active community. Biking, paddling, disc golfing…you name it. And, of course, tourists are beginning to arrive. What a perfect time, we thought, for a Yukon Holiday.  Now, you might remember the movie Roman Holiday, with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. And, you might think, ‘That kind of looks like them on the artwork’. And who knows, maybe they are. The person here who created the artwork is currently en route to Haines, Alaska, for the amazingly fun Haines Beerfest. If you have never been, put that one on your bucket list, by the way…  But the reason we have no idea where this artwork came from, is that we have nobody to ask! And, we have no idea what Yukon Holiday has to do with kolsch. And, we definitely have no clue where Gregory Peck or Audrey Hepburn fits into this.  But we do know kolsch…this is a pretty tasty rendition, if we do say so ourselves. The beer style originates in Cologne, Germany, and is pretty much a German version of the British Pale Ale. The word itself is basically an adjective meaning “Cologne-ish”, as in ‘from Cologne’. Seems like the perfect thing to name a beer that is popular in the region.  Traditionally this beer was made with a single pilsner malt. We changed it up a bit by using some Vienna malt, giving a bit of breadiness, and some malted wheat for some citrusy notes. Hopping is light, and done with traditional Czech Saaz hops. And, And, in traditional fashion, while an ale this beer was fermented more like a lager, long and cool. Alcohol content is 5.0% abv, which is pretty much in the middle of the range for the style.

IMG_20150706_183237_edit