Welcome to the Muskoka Brewery

On our trip up north 2 weeks ago, we finally stopped at the Muskoka Brewery.  After a summer of drinking a few bottles of Mad Tom IPA we thought we should finally see, where this wonderful beer was produced.

Jake and Bobby were on duty just waiting for some crazy person to go out in another snowstorm to do some beer tasting.  It seemed to us like a great way to spend a snowy blustery cold day (lol I think that's been everyday in Muskoka since December).

The tasting bar had 4 beers on tap and 1 special bottle.  There was the Mad Tom IPA, Twice as Mad Tom, The Winter Weiss and Detour.  Their webpage has a great write up on all their beers and will explain the wonderful tastes much better than I could.  All I know is that the Winter Weiss was my favourite.  A dark beer, not too heavy and that went down far too easy.  This is the write up from the Muskoka Brewery "Winter Weiss (Vice) was developed over a warm cabin fire, filling the void for a flavorful yet sessionable brew to enjoy during a long Winters night. This Dunkelweizen is deep brown with notes of clove and banana. Muskoka Winter Weiss partners the yeast and wheat character of a Hefeweizen with the malty richness of a Munich Dunkel. The result, a brew to enjoy all Winter long. "  

Winter Jack is a limited edition beer that was brewed in casks that had been filled with Tennessee Whiskey.  I have had a few of the scotch oak aged beers from the LCBO, this is the first one where I felt like I was actually having a glass of whiskey with my beer.  A great combination.

After our tasting, Bobby took us out and gave us a tour of the actual brewery.  Next time we go we will try a Friday as the lines will be working and they do special tastings in the brewery of the beer as it is being bottled/canned.  Thinking Quality Control Taster would be a perfect retirement job.

Needless to say the Boys were agrog, oops mean agog listening to Bobby explaining all the machines.  The one on the left was the filtering machine and the one on the right is where the bottles/cans get filled.  This is also where they do their quality control.

Jim buying some beer for our next family beer tasting.  Hopefully it will make it through the night.

The vats above cost $65,000 each, this is where they mixed the yeast.  There were boxes and boxes of liquid yeast.  One of the beers we tasted was aged in a Tennessee Whiskey cask.  There were also some with Appleton Rum.  Looking forward to trying that one.

Floor to ceiling skids of empty beer cans waiting to be filled.  We have been on wine tours and rum tours, this was our first beer tour and very enjoyable.  Will definitely do it again in the summer.  Thanks to Jake and Bobby for a wonderful snowy afternoon.

I gather there has been another foot of snow since I took the above picture.  lol, I know it's good for keeping beer cold, but can it melt a little.  

Muskoka Once Discovered, Never Forgotten

A Winter Wonderland in Muskoka

We have a lovely cottage in Muskoka, but it isn't winterized, truthfully it isn't even "fallized".  So when it gets cold and damp, lock the door and see you in the spring.  This weekend has now started all sorts of talk of how to winterize our cottage.  It's a whole different world up there in the winter.

White, everywhere.  The ground had 7 foot snow drifts, roads were covered, snow was in the air and the sky was pretty grey.  Our first stop needless to say was in Gravenhurst.  Just had to check out the Segwun and Wenonah and see how they were coping with the record temperatures and snowfalls that have hit Muskoka this season.

After Gravenhurst we headed up to Bracebridge.  The sky was getting grayer and a few flakes were starting to drop.  Yeah, more snow.  We stopped at the Muskoka Brewery on the way into Bracebridge (see next post, it was so much fun it gets its own post).  Our friends told us about this lovely little pub called the Griffinhttp://thegriffinpub.ca/ in Bracebridge.  The cold was making us hungry.  lol.  Everything makes us hungry these days.  So off we went for lunch.

The Bison Burger, warms the cockles of your heart

I just had to have their vegetable roti. delish.  Best fries ever

All the years we have had a cottage up there, Jim had never been to the falls or the Bird Woollen Mill.  It was closed and covered in snow, but the water was still rushing like Niagara and the snow and ice made it stunningly beautiful.

The beautiful Irvine Robinson Interior Store, always worth a pop in.

 Back in the car and off to Touchstone , for the night  a beautiful resort in between Bracebridge and Port Carling on Lake Muskoka.  We had a corner unit looking out over the lake.  Off in the distance were ice fishing huts and snowmobilers were racing up and down the lake.  Inside the fireplace was on and a glass of wine was in our hands for the start of a great night with good friends in a fairyland place.

Waiting for Spring

A wonderful weekend, and like these lovely muskoka chairs I can't wait for spring.