Sawdust City Collab Little Norway

# 235 Little Norway

Sawdust City Brewing Company
Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada

Independent Microbrewery
Pale Lager
IBU 25
4.5 % ABV Aluminium Can 473 ml
$2.50 (Canadian) At the brewery

Twitter: @sawdustcitybeer

Tonight's offering is the result of a collaboration between Sawdust City Brewing Co. and Norway's Arendals Bryggeri. The name Little Norway has a very historic meaning with Sawdust's hometown of Gravenhurst During the Second World War when Nazis had occupied Norway the King and the Government of Norway escaped to England and was running a resistance movement from London. They arranged for some planes to be "borrowed," in a Lend/lease agreement. and set up a training camp in Toronto at the Island Airport. When one of these planes crashed into the lake the residents of Toronto got nervous and the training camp was moved to the Muskoka airport just outside of Gravenhurst. From 1942-45 thousands of displaced Norwegians came to the airport nicknamed (you guessed it) Lille Norge, or Little Norway.

The beer was developed in the summer of 2013 When the  brewmaster of Sawdust journeyed to Norway and collaborated with Arendals Bryggeri. The beer was launched in Norway in 2014, and then Sawdust brewed their own batch with pure Muskoka water in 2015.


Onto the tasting...

Pours an apple-juice coloured light clear gold with a bright white head made up of small bubbles. The aroma is malty and heavy with European style lager hops (Saaz and Magnum). First sip is reminiscent of a Euro lager crossed with a west coast pale ale. Very malt forward with some slight sourness. Malt gives way to some lemon and orange zest and then to a bitter herbs and medicinal hop finish. As the beer warms the malts become more distinct and defined. The grain flavours deepen. Aeration brings out a very green and bitter herb flavour along with some smoky malt sugars.

Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 

Cost: 5/6 PASS
Colour: 5/6 PASS
Beer Style: 5/6 PASS
Re-Order:  5/6  PASS
Experience:  5/6 PASS

Final Thoughts:

I am not a big lager drinker (anymore... anyway). I used to drink Labatt Blue in my younger, wilder days. However, my tastes have matured. These days I am far more comfortable with a ESB or an IPA in my hand. After drinking so many inky-black, barrel aged, high octane beers it is hard to come down to the lager level and be objective. The lager is a simple, clean, crisp beer. And in my mind it is a beer best suited for food, the acids and citrus aromas (not unlike a white wine) compliment something fatty (like sausages, hamburgers, chicken wings... etc) or hot (curry and the like). This beer took a little warming to fully open up, so unlike it's counterparts, (that are best served just above 0 degrees Celsius) let this beer warm to at least cellar temperature 8 to 10 degrees Celsius.  5 to 10 minutes on the counter out of the fridge would do nicely... your patience will be rewarded. And put the chicken wing down...

Cheers


CJT



Follow me on Twitter: @pintjockey
Like me on Facebook: Pint Jockey Online

And don't forget to "Friend" me on Untappd.