Last evening my Goddess Co-Pilot and I were driving around the north end streets of The Hammer looking for parking, whereupon we spied our daughter and dog, residents of said neighbourhood, walking and fairly owning the sidewalk in early spring splendour. They soon hopped in and we all pulled up outside her domicile. We needn't have dropped off the pooch as our eventual destination is dog friendly. We didn't know that so we'll bring Gracie the family dog next time. In any case we three entered Collective Arts Brewery to pull up a stool and pick our brew from the plethora of choices. Although I highly recommend the choice of suds I wouldn't recommend choosing by label alone. They are just too mind blowingly creative and there are far too many. After our small family crowd joined us for a sip we were all treated to a tour of the real heartbeat of the brewery by the family brewer who works there. Thirty two enormous stainless steel vats of IPAs, Porters and Ales tower, all interconnected with hoses and pipes and gangways and footpaths. Many dozens of oak barrels from whisky distillers all sit with bungs firmly in place, finishing select collaborative concoctions ( called
colabs ). I got to sample a Baltic Porter. "We used hops usually used for lager for a cleaner taste result. Not sure what we'll call it, or what the label will look like." I called it exceptionally good.
There were racks and stacks of clean silvery cans 2 stories high ( nicknamed silver bullets ), and near the end of the tour we came upon the large rolls of shrink wrap plastic labels with which to cover them. These labels are not adhesive backed but shrunk to the cans somehow ( I think they heat the can and then cool it ), but standing there I recollected this thread so I was pondering portage packs and food barrels as I scanned the colourful artsy labels. The choices are nearly endless, and I like how they've commissioned regional artists to apply their artistic genius to this delicious commerce. Hmmm, how do I wrap my blue barrel in this and adhere a roll or two onto a dry bag? And which labels to choose? Hmmm....
https://www.google.com/search?q=coll...w=1280&bih=602
I know this is waaay off topic vis a vis high vis labelling canoe packs for safe laundry collection, please forgive this crazy old man and his inquisitive wandering mind.
ps . I started the evening with the Stranger Than Fiction porter. Very nice. I finished the evening with Mood Dog porter. And it pretty much finished me. It is aged in old bourbon barrels (from Heaven Hill Distillery?) and tastes like pouring 2 parts stout and 1 part bourbon into your glass. oof! One s-i-l described it as "Roofing tar with a little shoe polish for good measure." Yes well, it tasted far better than that. He is a lite beer drinker after all, but the escaping alcohol vapours did remind me of hot nights summer in the city. He might have a point. I finally met a beer I couldn't conquer. I left half of it in the glass. But it was good.
Okay everybody back to work.