First off, I'd like to apologize to the awesome people over at Winnipeg's Power 97 for taking a million years to get around to posting this!
Late last year I got to interview Power 97's popular DJ Ty Jordan as he partnered up with One Great City Brewing on a limited release Power 97 Pale Ale. Power 97 Pale Ale was the first beer that Power 97 and One Great City partnered up to do - I was only able to try it a few times but I found it to be a nice, easy to drink Pale Ale with a bit of a New England sort of vibe to it. The beer was sweet, surprisingly quite piney for aroma yet light on bitterness for taste, and has a bit of a toasted barley malt vibe to it.
Now onto the interview..
Last year I had a nice chat with Ty Jordan to discuss the Power 97 Pale Ale and what led to the creation of the beer. It's not every day you see collaborations taking place between Manitoba breweries and local radio stations, so this marked the first of its kind (and thankfully not the last).
I asked Ty what led to the collaboration between the brewery and the station and essentially it was all due to the staff over at Power 97 being fans of local craft beer and with One Great City being only a short walk from the radio station, it only made sense to team up with the local brewery.
While Ty is originally from Alberta, a province that has a much better access to craft beer than Manitoba ever did, he wasn't really a fan of craft beer until he moved to Manitoba. He just happened to move to Manitoba right when the craft brewery boom was starting to begin, with breweries like Barn Hammer and Torque opening up at a rapid rate. At the same time he moved from Alberta to Manitoba, the craft brewery scene echoed Manitoba a great deal with only a couple craft or crafty breweries in the entire province. So his move to Manitoba was the perfect timing as he got to try a bunch of fresh and cool new breweries right as soon as he moved here, how can one not become a craft beer fan because of that?
Why a Pale Ale? Ty wanted to come out with a beer that the Power 97 fans would enjoy, something that's easy to drink, full of flavour and something that could convert the Busch/lager demographic into trying something new and interesting. The Pale Ale has a bit of a New England-style sweetness to it, a bit of grapefruit bitterness, yet is quite approachable to just about any beer drinker.
Who would he love to have a beer with? Since he has one of the best jobs in the world after craft beer writer, he gets to meet many musicians when they're in town to perform a show so he thinks that he'd love to have a beer with just about every musician. He saw success from beers such as Sam Roberts' Band Beer and felt like Power 97 Pale Ale would be the perfect beer to sample with a band or musician when they come to Winnipeg.
What's Ty's favourite brewery whenever he's back in Alberta? Analog Brewing out of Edmonton, which I've heard is pretty damned awesome!
Ty also mentioned to me that one of his favourite styles is Stouts/Porters and that if the Power 97 Pale Ale is successful, he hopes to one day collaborate with One Great City on one. Well, fast forward to now.. the Pale Ale turned out to be a great success and led to a second collaboration, a Power 97 Porter!
Today's the second anniversary of when One Great City publicly opened their doors (according to my Facebook's On this Day), so I think it's perfect timing to finally post this interview and review of the beer he was dreaming of making way back when! This beer was launched at the end of last year but it's still readily available at Manitoba Liquor Marts and since porters are typically a style that ages well, I assume that this beer has only gotten better with age!
On the label: OGC has teamed up with Power 97 for a second time to bring you a truly Winnipeg beer for the holiday season. While dark, this beer is easy drinking and unpretentious, making it the perfect choice for enjoying with friends or family... or maybe when you need a break from friends and family. Happy Holidays!
A smooth drinking dark ale with strong flavours of coffee, chocolate & caramelized sugar. There are also a few notes of liquorice, dried fruit & toffee in the background.
Ingredients: water, malt (Superior Pilsen, Munich, Vienna, Melanoiden, Dark Crystal, Chocolate, Black Patent, Crystal-120), hops (Magnum, Goldings), yeast
Appearance: Power 97 Porter pours a very dark brown with a bit of a cola hue to it. It's not as thick and black-as-the-night as many porters but still looks great. The head is a really nice yellowish cookie dough in appearance and gradually diminishes, leaving behind a light amount of foam on the side of the glass.
Aroma: I still remember being at One Great City two years ago today and falling in love with their Milk Stout, from my love of that beer, I knew this would be a solid beer. The first thing I get from the beer is a big dose of caramel/toffee followed by a mild roastiness to give off a bit of a bitterness from the malt. There's a slight booziness to it, it has a good amount of aroma to it.. it's not overly roasty like many porters or stouts. Fairly light but I'm already wanting another bottle of this.
Taste: The beer has a mild roasted profile to it, so it gives off a hint of coffee to it. The porter is decently sweet with a good amount of toffee to it, there's a hint of chocolate to it, a tad bit of a peat-like earthiness to it, and a light metallic aftertaste at the end.
Overall Thoughts: It may not be porter/stout season but this is a porter I could drink year round. While it's fairly light, it's smooth, a tad roasty, has a good amount of caramel sweetness to it, and a hint of chocolate. Definitely something that can be enjoyed with friends or family.. or in my case, away from them both! Cheers to Ty Jordan, Power 97 and One Great City Brewing for creating an absolutely tasty porter! I hope we see more collaborations like this in the future because they're simply fun to try! 7.2% ABV / 24 IBU
https://power97.com/powerbeer/
https://power97.com/show/shows-ty-jordan/
http://www.ogcbrewingco.com/
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