Steve remembers his first Wellington beer. Sort of.
Circa 1990. The Wooly Pub in Guelph, hanging with friends and likely having lunch. Paula, who would later open a pub in Toronto, liked to recommend pairings. Steve can’t remember what he ate, but he’s pretty sure he had the S.P.A.
Seven or eight years later, Steve introduced me to my first Welly beer. The County Brown, served exclusively in a cask when first brewed back in 1985, I enjoyed instantly. But Iron Duke started my decades-long love affair with deeply delicious dark beers.
So, we were genuinely thrilled to learn Welly was bringing back the classics. And spent this past weekend revisiting beers we’ve enjoyed over the years, comparing old and new, pairing some and cooking with others.
Here’s what we found:
Try as we might, we couldn’t note a single difference between the classic and current versions of Welly’s award-winning County Brown. We know and love this one. A deep mahogany colour hints at the roasted malt character, with nut and toffee notes.
Unsurprisingly, Welly’s Upside IPA has little in common with their classic India Ale. The first was meant to be true to the original British style, while Upside is more New England, juicy and loaded with grapefruit, peach and tropical flavours. The characteristics, from ABV to colour, are completely different.
We found the Special Pale Ale surprisingly unchanged. We expected some subtle shifts, but everything from colour and taste to ABV and OG are identical. The only difference we found is in serving temperature, from 7-10 degrees Celsius to 5-8.
The Arkell Best Bitter, which we’ve only really come to appreciate in the past decade, has evolved a bit. We found the new one is a little darker than the classic light amber. Also slightly sweeter and more caramel forward than the malt-forward classic. And the mouthfeel is smooth today, while the classic sparkled just a bit more.
Finally, we have ribs and local dark beers once a week. So we already knew the County Brown and Iron Duke both pair really well with a decent rack — whether pork or beef — and your favourite sauce.
But experiencing beer is an incredibly personal thing. If you want to get a taste of Ontario beer history, pick up the classic 6-pack while you can.
Beer Bards 