A somewhat surprising feature of Australia’s craft beer industry is the fact that when Canada Day rolls around every July 1, you can be sure that a handful of breweries will be putting poutine on. With the likes of Bad Shepherd, Tallboy & Moose, Sea Legs & Wayward all having Canadian cofounders, the national day seems the perfect way to celebrate and champion what they love about that country. For 2022's Canada Day, those four breweries came together to create Tabernak! and while it might be named after a French Canadian expletive, there’s a certain calmness to the collaborative maple cream ale. Sure, that first sip does instantly fill the mouth with maple flavour, but go back for another and you’ll find a surprisingly sessionable pale ale with soft biscuity notes and a building bitterness.
Also new from Bad Shepherd is their 17th Brew Crew release, Lights & Sounds, which saw their venue manager Rhys take the reins. Given the name and the can design, clearly, Rhys is a live music fan but it also seems he’s a fan of the kind of malty IPAs we don’t often see anymore. Sure, the Pahto, Centennial, Galaxy and Cascade hops do bring a mix of grapefruit, passionfruit, pine and floral flavours but you’ll find an underlying sweetness and a caramel touch brought by the Crystal malt.
Will Ziebell
Tabernak! & Lights & Music
Published July 8, 2022 2022-07-08 00:00:00
