To say 1986 didn’t start off on the right foot is a bit of an understatement of both cosmic and nuclear proportions. With the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion and the Chernobyl meltdown, there wasn’t much to cheer about earlier in the year. But if you were living in downtown Toronto there would have been some good news to toast to. Amsterdam Brewing Co. opened Toronto’s first craft brewpub way back in 86, shaking up the beer business with their classic Boneshaker brew and other self described DAM good beers.
But as is the case in business, small successful enterprises often get bought by large successful enterprises. Amsterdam’s success was partly due to their draft volume at 40% of sales, but the pandemic erased that volume, creating the perfect timing for a Royal Unibrew buyout of Amsterdam in 2022. *
Boneshaker at 80 IBU was a bear for some bad to the bone bitters, which may have been more bitters than some could bear, but we quite enjoyed it. Will this juicy toned down and tuned up variation prove equally adorable? Time to get down to some beer business with a pour and score.
A hazy lighter orange pour with a full head of froth. That one finger frosting stayed the course for the full sampling, dense and persistent (like our Editor). An aroma of stone fruit juice and hops in tandem. First taste is peach tropical smooth juice to smooth hoppy bitters. Is it ironic that a boneshaker can be so smooth? The juice bitters are nicely balanced. The foamy froth remained but the juice tailed off a bit and evolved into a malt bitters kinda thing going on. Definitely drink this one quick and frosty cold because the smooth started to tail off into a funky not so fine finish.
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