I had the esteemed honour this past weekend to be invited to a special private tasting of some of Dunham’s beer for this springs bottle release party on May 21st. The small invite only event took place at Vice & Versa and was set up delightfully. The idea, as we were told by Simon Gaudreault, was to better understand the consumers mind set on Dunham’s beer. Because we are all beer lovers, and we are all in this for drinking good beer! It is a wonderful idea that Dunham have created and the tasting itself was fantastically executed.

It was warm, welcoming, interesting and very informative. Each beer was served as a small taster amount and thank god because I was already feeling something after the end of the 2 hours. They were very generous with the pours offering more if it pleased you and I have to say some made me want to yell at the servers to just give me the damn bottle, but of course that would just look crazy (Or would it?). Thus, I will patiently wait for the release coming up very soon! They also provided us with some appetizers and a meal and had a table filled with some nice snacks. You bet, they really took care of us!

Along with the serving of each beer followed a lengthy in-depth explanation of by Simon Gaudreault and Eloi Deit. To get to know all the information about the process and ingredients of each beer really made the experience even more worth while. I swear I wasn’t there for the free beer. Ahem. I really enjoyed listening to the men behind Dunham talk so passionately about their beer. Sebastian Gagnon stepped in as well several times to elaborate and his presence added an even more friendly environment. They also stressed to us to be honest if we had thoughts about the beer, rather than shy away and just say it was “Good.” Honesty is what will make breweries understand the mind of the consumer and this in turn aids the brewers to understand where to put their focus. Craft beer is indeed about people wanting to brew the beer that they love, and experiment with things that interest them, but it is still a business and what is more important than the consumers? That’s the beauty of brewing craft beer, you get to do what you love and provide it to the public! The public for craft beer can be harsh at times, but really they have the same mindset as the breweries themselves. The only difference is the breweries are mad scientist who provide us with sustenance and we chug it down and I’m okay with that! Even though they are really brewing for their own joy and love, they feel it is still very important to understand their consumers, and that’s what makes a brewery worthwhile. They take the time to hear their consumers and actually care about what the people think! Honesty is always key, but honesty doesn’t mean you bash a brewery or their product, that’s not honesty, that’s just rude. Stop it! This is one of the reasons that Dunham truly stands out to me, Sebastian Gagnon and crew put the people first! They deserve a round of applaud and we sure gave them one after the event concluded! Simon was also kind enough to translate everything for me and Malty Tasker the only two lonely anglos that were at this event, and it was greatly appreciated!

Some of the beers they honoured our taste buds and motor cortex with include Saison Fluers Sauvages, Assemblage Numero 1 (6th batch), Assemblage Numero 1 Cru Paysan, Stout Imperial Russe aged in Tokaji barrels, Leo’s Early Breakfast IPA aged in vin rouge, Berliner Mango Weisse, Ping Pong Wizard (Collab with Cambridge Brewing), Tropicale IPA and Deze Monnik is Drunken. And this man got droonken, well sort of. A buzz kind of filled the air around me. I blame our so called spring weather and not Dunham for this strange buzz.

I will not go into a lengthy review on each beer we tasted, that will come at a later time once these great bottles are in my hand, and I am able to take more extensive notes. But I want to spread the word on what amazing beers Dunham has to offer us this spring and let you know they are well worth your time and brain cells! Don’t worry I know, spring is coming…. I swear, its here.

One beer I am really looking forward to enjoying this spring and summer is the Berliner Mango Weisse. It’s a great balance of sour and fruity to tantalise your thirst during a hot summer day, it truly is a real thirst quencher! The system to order your beers is very straight forward this year. To avoid chaos at the brewery and to avoid waiting hours and going home empty handed, you are able to pre order your beers and simply pick up the day of the release. You can pre order by clicking Here. There will also be a special event in the brewery, considering it’s their anniversary, and its sure to be a delight. I strongly urge you to pick up some bottles and attend this event! I know some of the beers are a bit pricey, but I guarantee they are delicately crafted beers and well worth the money!

Thanks again Dunham for the special invite and the amazing hospitality, it was delightful.

Written by Hopcitizen