Before I open the shutters on this beer adventure I am on, I should explain what happened in the past, and properly set up the current chapter/era.

I suppose it all began back in the day when my dad used to keep a 12-pack of Molson Export under the stairs, and ask me to fetch him one every couple days. He wasn't a drinker by any means......I get that from the other side of the family! He might let me have a sip to laugh at my reaction because it tasted like ass. So probably a bit like this if they were left under the stairs in the basement refrigerated.

credit: lavantage.qc.ca

The drinking age in these parts is 19 years and I really didn't drink any beer til maybe about 18, and not too much of it til college. In my hometown, you were either a Leafs fan or a Habs fan (NHL hockey teams,) a chevy or a ford guy, and either drank Molson Canadian, or Labatts Blue. So, I went Habs, Chevy and Canadian. And so it went until stronger cheaper beer hit the market and the college adventures began.

source: molsoncoors.com

If you fast forward to life as a bachelor, I had strayed a little from the Molson swill and adventured slightly into European beers. Ironically, they are no more expensive way across the ocean than the domestic stuff so you can imagine how much profit the Canadian breweries were making not having the shipping charges. My fridge might have looked like this with the addition of Tuborg: http://www.tuborg.com/picks/ Becks http://www.ab-inbev.com/our-brands/becks.html Guinness https://www.guinness.com/en-ca/ Lowenbrau https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/95/280/ and the like.

Source: foodcrypt.com

From there, I also ended up brewing beer with friends regularly over the course of over 10 years and am about to start up the operation again.

source: lawinebaskets.com

Being progressive in musical tastes and adventurous by nature, I discovered the world of craft brewing and Micro Breweries. Back then, that simply mean strange beer that didn't come from 1 of 3 companies. Among the first ones I switched my consumption over to were:

Sleeman Brewery - http://sleeman.ca/en - Their Cream Ale was so nice and smooth and sweet as a starter and was complimented by a good dark ale, and the honey brown ale. Now they are owned by Saporo and I haven't had one in years.

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Creemore Springs Brewery - http://www.creemoresprings.com/en/index - This was the king of lagers, came in these awesome 500 ml bottles, and I couldn't get enough. They are owned by Molson now and I never have it unless there are no craft beers on tap.

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Wellington Brewery - https://www.wellingtonbrewery.ca/ - Good ales, lagers, darks and everything else. I think they have stayed independent and have made the evolution to cover IPAs as well which I will get into.

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Muskoka Brewery - https://muskokabrewery.com/ - good solid ales and lagers back in the day. Now they have awesome IPAs as well and I will have to review Mat Tom and Twice as Mad Tom.

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So I am out of the bigger breweries and supporting the smaller guys and becoming a beer snob of sorts. Then, a friend started bringing these strong as hell IPAs to our LAN parties and the rest is history. Like I mentioned in the last beer post, I still love a nice clean ale or lager, ambers, stouts and sours and everything in between. The telling is what I grab when I fill my fridge and it is usually 90% IPAs.

Source: diamondknotbrewing.com

As I always understood it, the British brewed IPAs initially with a stronger hop so that it could travel to the conquering forces taking over Asia. They have come a long way since that and now, it is usually just used as a platform for sport hopping your beer. IE add as much and as many hops as you can and stop just short of the experience of chugging a pine tree laden with lemons. You should look a little more into it if you are so inclined and perhaps start at the wiki - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_pale_ale

Here are the first few IPAs that stole me away from the tamer, conventional brews.

Flying Monkeys - Smash Bomb IPA - This is the one bsleek brought to the LAN parties that really started it all. Fireworks of hops and flavour in every mouthful that is oddly well represented by the crazy labels. I spoke to the brewer a few weeks ago and he said they had a HELL of a time with liquor store distribution initially who told them Smash was not an appropriate name for a drink they would sell that would encourage people to get smashed. Flying Monkeys told them to stick it, stuck to their guns, and managed to get them to carry it anyhow. Still a favourite along with many of their other IPAs http://www.flyingmonkeys.ca/beers/

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Great Lakes Brewery - Lake Effect IPA - http://www.greatlakesbeer.com/beer/lake-effect-ipa/ You may recognize this from the Beer dinner post a couple weeks back. The next IPA that swept the LAN party and is still in my top 5. My brother works there in production and I will do a complete post dedicated to them soon.

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Muskoka Brewery: Mad Tom IPA - https://muskokabrewery.com/beer/mad-tom-ipa/ This was one of the original IPAs you could get on tap widely and later in tall cans. Hopped forward as hell and not for the faint of taste. Probably the nail in my IPA coffin as we regularly went out to wing night to celebrate a long week at work, or after a trip to the range to shoot firearms at targets. Try having a Harp after a Mad Tom and you do damage to your taste buds.

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So, I MAY be reviewing quite a few IPAs as I love them, and we are blessed with dozens of brands and more coming every day. The fact I have relatives and friends running breweries and restaurants, and am brewing myself soon, I will moist likely get to taste dozens of new ones this year as I did last, and I will review them from time to time

Don't get me wrong, I still love beer in general. Here are my favourite kinds in order:

1. Lots
2. Free
3. IPAs

What is the local brewery of choice in your community?