For beer lovers, few processes are as beautiful and sacred as a beer poured properly. Arguably the best looking pours are those found from nitrogen gas infused beers, as thousands of beautiful bubbles cascade from the base of your pint glass upwards, to form a thick, creamy head and a beer with unrivaled smoothness. Think of the first time you ever saw a Guinness pint poured, and how magical that moment was. Unfortunately, for far too long, these marvelous moments were available only at your local pub, with their nitrogen draught system. While we cannot replicate all the features of your favourite pub at home (unless you have a draught system in your basement, and then we’d be jealous!), we can help you find some great nitrogen beers available in Ontario that give you the rich, smooth and creamy beer experience once thought impossible to replicate at home!
Ontario Craft Options
Calabogies Brown Cow Nitro Stout (5.5% abv, 25 IBU)
Calabogie Brewing Co. Ltd., Calabogie Ontario)
Available in tall cans, the truly amazing Brown Cow Nitro Stout lives up to the Calabogie Brewery’s bold mission to “[break] through boundaries and [seize] the best of styles and taste”. It is tremendously smooth, bitter at first with slightly sweet finish and characterized by notes of coffee with hints of milk chocolate. The dark stout pours beautifully (silky comes to mind) and leaves about an inch of head. While some beers (think IPAs) lose a lot of bite and flavour when in nitro cans, this beer feels perfectly suited for a nitro mix.
Another great aspect of this stout is how easily accessible it is for Ontario consumers. Calabogie sells this at their two taproom locations (Calabogie and Kanata), through the Beer Store, and offers delivery in Eastern Ontario within a forty minute drive of Kanata, and in Eastern Toronto. Delivery options can be found here: https://calabogiebrewing.com/beer-delivery/.
Lorna Bray Flygirl Nitro Oatmeal Stout (5.1% abv, 20 IBU)
Blyth Cowbell Brewing Co, Blyth, Ontario (https://cowbellbrewing.com/)
Named after Blyth native Lorna Bray, Canada's first fly girl who flew a Piper J-3 at the tender young age of 14, this bold beer is a fitting tribute to its namesake. Tasting like an oatmeal cookie smothered in dark chocolate, this beer's strong flavour is balanced nicely with the exceptional nitro smoothness. Not yet available in cans, look for this in breweries and restaurants across Ontario.
Kurō Nitro Dry Stout (4.3% abv)
Godspeed Brewery, Toronto, Ontario (https://godspeedbrewery.com/)
This stout from the Japanese inspired Godspeed brewery stands out from the nitro stout crowd. With the faintest hints of coffee, hazelnut, and chocolate, the beer has a dry finish. In fact, fans of Godspeed may remember this as a nitro reincarnation of the brewery’s first ever beer, and the name, Kurō, meaning struggle in Japanese pays homage to the challenges craft brewers face when opening. The beer has a silk texture, and is a deep black which stands in contrast to the thick, white head. Godspeed took inspiration from the Japanese philosophy, Godai, and imitated the five elements (earth, water, fire, wind, void) with five different beer labels. Although not available through retailers, Godspeed does do home beer delivery.
Tommorow Will be Different, Nitro IPA with Lactose (6.5% abv)
Leftfield Brewery, Toronto, Ontario (https://www.leftfieldbrewery.ca/beers)
A truly unique nitro, this IPA is a can’t miss for people looking for something different. While some nitro IPAs sacrifice flavour in the quest for smoothness, this beer does not fall into that unfortunate trap. Characterized by strong flavours of pineapple and orange creamsicle, this sweet, smooth and refreshing beer is perfect for summer drinking. This beer was co-created with Wizard Brewing, a Swedish brewer, and contains the most hops in Leftfield Brewery History – a colossal 6+ pounds per barrel! Godspeed offers home delivery and pickup from their Toronto Location.
Nitro beers can be expensive! Save more than a few bucks and check out our list of Ontario's cheapest beers! https://www.ontariobrewreview.org/post/cheap-beer-ontario
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