BANDIT BREWERY STAYS ON SAFE SIDE FOR NOW
But west-end neighbourhood’s tastes are more adventurous than expected
It would be cruel — and probably inaccurate — to call the beer at Bandit Brewery boring.
The word “inoffensive” is probably a little closer to the mark.
There’s nothing particularly wrong with the six or seven brews on tap on any given night. It’s just that there’s nothing particular compelling, either.
That, according to Bandit’s head brewer, Ben Morris, is mostly by design and partly by technical necessity.
“We didn’t really know what people would want to drink, so we didn’t want to start out doing double IPAs,” says Morris, referring to the ampedup big brother of the India pale ale style. Nor, for that matter, did Morris start pouring any high-octane brews such as an imperial stout or barley wine.
While Morris has already brewed an imperial stout, it’s currently aging in a former whisky barrel, partly to give it some extra flavours from the wood and partly to tame some of the fierceness from the higher alcohol.
Eventually, Morris would like to brew a whole range of sour beers, barrel-aged brews and use as many kinds of yeasts and beer styles as possible.
For now, though, the highlight of the lineup is a salted, slightly tart wheat beer style known as a gose, flavoured with the addition of apricots. Also on tap is a decent IPA called Cone Ranger, an aromatic, bitter brew made with three different American hop varieties: cascade, centennial and chinook. There’s also a competent Bavarian-style wheat beer called The Hassel-Hef and a decent Belgianstyle wheat beer called Farmed and Dangerous.
As for what the west-end neigh- bourhood has a thirst for, Morris, a 2016 graduate of the brewing school at Niagara College, says the people are proving more adventurous than initially assumed.
“We ended up making a double IPA and people really enjoyed it. They keep asking when we’ll have it back,” Morris says. josh@thestar.ca