I love craft beer. I mean, I LOOOOVE it!

Now, let’s be clear: that one little word is a key component here. Craft. Typically speaking, beer is not my thing. I’m a red wine girl. That’s my poison. A full-bellied, long-stem glass cupped tenderly in my warm palm, half-filled with fragrant, ruby red liquid… oh, yes!

But there’s something about craft beer that captures my soul along with my taste buds, and that stimulates the romantic inclination of my imagination. Small batch, passionate brewers, flavours and combinations and taste experiences that no other emerging industry can rival…

Oh, YES!

That’s probably why I found myself sitting around this past Tuesday morning, already contemplating the plausibility of an evening run out to 5 Paddles Brewing Company for a post-work round of libations.

I’ve had the good fortune to interview several craft breweries in Durham region in the past. Most recently I did a piece on craft brewing in Durham Region (see East of the City March, 2018 edition, page 23) and the Christmas in North Durham holiday guide for Metroland Media. The common thread that each small brewer seems to have is passion. It’s a passion for the process, for the science, for the ingenuity and creativity which sets craft beer apart from large-scale commercial ventures.

Malt + hops + yeast + water = Beer…

BOOORING! Buuuuut…

Malt + hops + more hops + yeast + water + spice + honey + berries + other stuff I didn’t even know you could put into beer…

Did I say Oh Yes! yet?

Need a better example of what I mean by passion? If so, then I give you Joanne Richter of The Second Wedge Brewing Company in Uxbridge. I’ve had the pleasure of speaking to her a few times through the various things I do locally. In my interview with her for East she told me:

We’re a small brewery run by my husband and I, and we’re a real, local community influence. We started the brewery in order to bring what we loved about beer culture into our town. There’s so much we love about the craft beer culture and we wanted to share that with people, to help enrich our community’s culture.

I mean, who doesn’t want to support a local, community-minded business like that? It’s really just an added bonus that the product is so darn tasty. You can see now why spending an afternoon at 5 Paddles was so appealing to me.

On a Tuesday morning.

Before I’d even finished my coffee.

At about four in the afternoon—yes, I actually waited until four—in the face of particularly blustery, pre-winter weather, Peter and I headed out to see what the boys of the paddles had been up to.

About now would be a good time to mention that there’s another thing I love about craft breweries: the variety. A good craft brewery will not always have the same thing on tap. Go back to Joanne Richter’s comment and you’ll understand that creativity leads to new flavour combinations and offerings all the time.

So, while I was disappointed for a hiccup of a moment when I realized that my favourite Midnight Paddler, a Russian Imperial stout, was not on tap (sob!), the upside was that there were a whole new range of concoctions to try (JOY!)

I hummed, I hawed, I chose. And hummed some more. And chose again. My afternoon consisted of:

1. The Mount Crushmore – a light, crispy boi lager
2. The Retro Home Sweet Home – an unfiltered variation of one of 5 Paddles’ most popular brews, a wheat ale with vanilla available in the LCBO
3. The Coconut Cream Pie – a lactose coconut wheat ale that tastes exactly as it sounds
4. The Frankenbrew – a pumpkin spice Belgian dubbel

I’ve gotta say, I do appreciate that my server recommended the order in which I should be tasting. While I like to pretend I’m a connoisseur of fine brew, I have to be honest… I’m just a girl who likes to drink craft beer. Because my server took the time to make the recommendation, what I discovered was that the order played a significant part in my enjoyment of each sample. If I had started with the strong, spicy Frankenbrew, for example, my taste buds would have been too overpowered to detect the mellow sweetness of the lactose in the Coconut Cream Pie. And had I sampled the Retro Home Sweet Home before the Mount Crushmore (like Peter wanted me to do, since Home Sweet Home is his favourite and he … how do I say this lovingly? … sets a brisk sampling pace), my palate would have been ruined for the less-sweet lager.

Now tell me this: Would you have gotten the same attention to detail from the bartender at your local pub? Probably not.

Would you have gotten the same level of pride as you get when the hands that made the brew serve it up to you? Doubtful.

If you had plied the bartender with questions about the product, about the inspiration, about the dedication and love it takes to make a fine ale… would he have lit up like the Griswalds’ place on Christmas?

Didn’t think so.

That, my friends, is why I love craft beer and the people who make it. And that is why I left 5 Paddles Brewing Company on a frigid, windy Tuesday evening in November with a warm belly and a warm heart.

GAWD, I love craft beer!

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