December 4, 2017
Ontario craft brewery Beau’s is announcing the release of Glacial Gruit, a beer brewed with ingredients inspired by the earth’s most recent glacial period. This very unique craft beer was conceived collaboratively with members of the Alliance of Natural History Museums of Canada (ANHMC).
The beer’s recipe draws on the 1993 discovery of the 26,000-year-old remains of a Yukon Horse, frozen and buried underground near Dawson City, Yukon. During the earth’s most recent glacial period, which took place 30,000 to 10,000 years ago, nearly all of Canada was covered by ice. However, most of the Yukon and parts of the Northwest Territories remained ice-free, providing hospitable refuges for plants and animals. This allowed for many now-extinct creatures, such as the Yukon Horse, to roam the barren, cold and iceless plains of the glacier-era Yukon.
Members of the ANHMC were able to analyze the well-preserved horse and identify what plants it had most recently eaten. This discovery, along with the subsequent research conducted by members of the ANHMC, inspired the selection of ingredients that went into Glacial Gruit, including yarrow, fireweed, rosehips, and buckwheat.
Glacial Gruit is hazy and copper-coloured with a white foam. The aroma is floral, sweet and subtly smoky. The flavour is mildly tart and fruity, suggesting citrus. For an added touch of terroir, Glacial Gruit is fined (part of beer-making that helps clarify a beer) with the use of glacial clay collected by members of the ANHMC from a glacial valley on Nunavut’s Axel Heiberg Island.
Glacial Gruit is twelfth and last in a series of beers Beau’s has brewed with friends across the nation to honour Ottawa 2017, a year-long celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday. A portion of sales from Glacial Gruit will benefit the continued work of the members of the ANHMC (www.naturalhistorymuseums.ca).
Glacial Gruit is a coast-to-coast-to-coast celebration of Canadian history and nature, highlighting the work of our key nature museums across the country. It is now available from the tap room at Beau’s Brewery in Vankleek Hill, Ontario, as well as at select craft-friendly restaurants and pubs in the province. For those in the Toronto area wishing to try Glacial Gruit, it will be available for sampling at the Hoppy Holidays craft beer event on December 5 at the Berkeley Church. More information on the Hoppy Holidays event can be found at www.drinkinc.ca/events/19/hoppy-holidays-2017. For those in Ottawa, Glacial Gruit will be available in its natural element at Nature Nocturne, which takes place at the Canadian Museum of Nature on December 29. More information on the Nature Nocturne event can be found at www.nature.ca/en/plan-your-visit/nature-nocturne. Additionally, Glacial Gruit will be available for sampling south of the border at the Extreme Beer Fest in Boston, Massachusetts, which takes place February 2 and 3 at the Seaport World Trade Center. More information on the Extreme Beer Fest in Boston can be found at www.beeradvocate.com/extreme/boston/.
Recommended serving temperature? Ice cold.
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