The Pint Jockey Online: Beer # 497 Dark Sky Reserve, Sawdust City

Beer # 497 Dark Sky Reserve

Collab with Taboo Resort in Support of Torrance Barrens Dark Sky Reserve

Brewery: Sawdust City Brewing Company

Type: Independent Brewery Est.: 2014

Location: Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada

Beer Style: Sour ale with Adjuncts

ABV: 4.0% IBU: ?

Format: Black Glass Bottle Size: 750 ml

Cost: $19.95 CAD Purchased At: The Brewery

sawdustcitybeer

@sawdustcitybeer

Ok, I've sat on these notes for a bit but this was a very interesting beer so I am glad I got around to posting this. This came out during the summer when I was busy with the truck. So I wrote down some tasting notes and took some pictures and hopes I would finish this post before I forgot all about this beer. There is a place near Pint Jockey Headquarters called Torrance Barrens Dark Sky Reserve. it is an area set aside where there are minimal lights to facilitate sky watching at night. We have gone out for a few meteor showers and we have spent some time hiking there in the day. It is an amazing place full of wildlife, incredible geology, and foliage. If you are in the area please do try to visit. Just bring lots of water (it gets very hot in the summer) and do not leave any trash.

So the beer was conceived as a fundraiser and a way of bringing attention to the reserve, for I believe it was in danger of losing its Dark Sky reserve status. Local resort Taboo Muskoka and Sawdust City Brewery collaborated on this fruited sour. However, to make the beer stand out, they included two very unusual ingredients: activated charcoal, and gold flakes. Why? To simulate the gorgeous dark sky at night... more on that in the tasting notes. I didn't know this initially when I started to taste the beer, but you had to swirl the beer immediately after opening (gently) and before pouring.

Onto our beer:

Pours a light cloudy yellow-green with a quite obvious particulate. Effervescent and active white head made up of tiny bubbles Aroma is bright lychee, pineapple, and grapefruit, very wine-like nose. First sip is tart and grapefruit. Very clean with a good hit of minerality. Halfway through I refilled my glass and noticed the beer turned a dark green-black. I swirled the bottle and poured again. The beer turned dark like a night sky with twinklings of gold flakes resembling stars. The taste changes to include a carbon hint.

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: 6/6 Exceptional

Final Thoughts: The most exciting thing about this beer was the experience of it, the fun discovery of the beer changing colour was thrilling. It was truly an "A-ha!" moment as all the pieces clicked in together. I tried to get the effect in the picture. if you look closely in the last photo you can see the tiny specs of gold that make up the twinkling stars in the night sky. Even though you are supposed to swirl this first I like the way I enjoyed this beer, because in a way you go from a beautiful sunny day in your glass to dusk, to midnight with all the stars around you. It tells you a story of how you can enjoy Torrance, from morning to night. The charcoal adds a touch of carbon to the taste but it is far from distracting from the bright sour fruit flavours of the beer. The gold is, of course, inert and adds nothing to the taste, but everything to the experience. I believe these are all sold now unless there are a few in the vault for next year. I hope they do this beer again because I would buy it to watch that transformation one more time.

Cheers
CJT

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