My maternal ancestors, United Empire Loyalists all, have names like Millie, Flora, Mable, Zelda and other names you just don’t see much of today. But I have never run into a Philomena,* the MacKinnon Brothers granny who is immortalized in this pilsner.
Speaking of ancestors, I was at my Uncle’s funeral a few years ago and my Mother who is in her 90’s had met an old friend and they were exchanging addresses. My mom put her pad of paper on a gravestone to write out the details. I said “Mom, I think that’s a bit disrespectful using that gravestone”. She looked down at the inscription on the monument and said “Oh that’s Ethel, she wouldn’t mind”.
The MacKinnon’s had a farm, Ei Ei Oh.
While we’re naming names, on a recent visit down on the farm, Bron was very helpful in updating me on the latest MacKinnon brews. I had to double check her name and she said “like Lebron”. I did notice she was over a foot shorter than Lebron and blonde so maybe not just like Lebron. It was Bron who introduced me to Philomena. I had previously met the Brother’s very tasty, very red, Red Fox beer, that one is hard to beet.
As for this beer, the Brothers MacKinnon are not at all grim as they reminisce about their granny’s famous bread and have disclosed the secret to it’s success. “Half a pint of pilsner in the dough and enjoy the other half while it bakes.” Coincidentally it is somewhat similar to my fresh bread recipe “Buy a loaf at Cobbs, stop at the beer store on the way home, and drink a pint of pilsner.”**
A bright fresh baked golden loaf of a pour, clear of encumbrances and devoid of head or other unnecessary trappings. A farm fresh fragrance as in a malt farm with some baked bread cooling in the nearby window, rather than dairy farm if you know what I mean. Nice easy malt body with a crisp dry finish. The finish evolves to include a touch of floral alongside the crispiness. What we have here is a nice easy drinking pilsner with a refreshing malt body and a dry crisp floral finish, all very well balanced. That’s the way they do it, down on the farm.
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