Railway City Brewing Co. opened for business back in the spring of 2008 and battled consistency issues right out of the gate. They opened with a portfolio that consisted of a Blond Ale, a Cooper Ale, and an Amber Ale, and depending on when you ordered one, it might not have been so good. Things changed for the better when Barb Ziola entered the picture. Ziola brewed at Creemore Springs under Gord Fuller for years and learned a thing or two about maintaining and producing consistent flavour profiles in Creemore's beers. She got to work tweaking recipes and playing with new ones, and one of those ended up being an IPA that Railway City has called Dead Elephant Ale, paying homage to Jumbo the elephant, who eventually came to his demise in St. Thomas.
I recently acquired some 500ml bottles from the brewery (without labels - see new label below) due to the fact that TAPS: Canada's Beer Magazine will be reviewing it for the upcoming spring issue of the Tasting Panel, and I enjoyed a couple of bottles over the weekend.
The first two or three times I found myself supping a pint of it at a local Toronto pub I didn't really know what to think of it, but these two bottles I had were quite good. Those two Dead Elephant's were a nice surprise.
The pour stirs up a thin layer of white bubbly head that sticks around, leaving sporadic lacing around the pint glass atop an orange/amber coloured body. The nose is nice and hoppy (grassy) and a swirl of the glass produces some caramel notes that are mixed together with a slight acidic (citrus)/fruity touch. The slightly hazy body offers a fruity bite of mango and lemon zest before giving way to a good amount of piney/bittering hops. It has a nice citrus finish and Ziola has done a pretty decent job hiding the 6.8%abv.
The Dead Elephant Ale will start appearing in LCBO stores anytime now as part of the LCBO Spring Release. It will be packaged in 500ml bottles and will retail for $3.50.Railway City Brewing Co.
168 Curtis Street
St. Thomas, ON
www.railwaycitybrewing.com
2 comments:
I am drinking a "DEAD ELEPHANT" right now. Since I am an ale drinker, I find this quite tasty and enjoyable. Congratulations on this good brew.
I am drinking the Blonde Ale, also from Railway City...Tasted the Dead Elephant today and bought some on the spot!..
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