Brews News: Craft beers aimed at carb-conscious quaffers

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Trying to lose weight and drinking craft beer are strange bedfellows.

Beer with its high-calorie content from alcohol and grains can get your belly big, but some options don’t involve switching to seltzer if you’re trying to shed kilograms.

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Beers from large brewers such as Sleeman Clear 2.0 and Molson Ultra are popular with people on low-carb diets. While the pickings have been slim at craft breweries, Something in the Water of Toronto and Kingston aims to change that.

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Something in the Water launched two new low-carb beers that are more flavourful than you’d expect.

Lake Ontario Keto IPA and Lake Superior Keto Lager are aimed at carb-conscious consumers.

Lake Ontario Keto IPA is a rework of a brut-style IPA. Something in the Water used a pilsner malt and late-hopped with Mosaic and Motueka hops. The result is a citrus flavour. Sold in 355 ml cans, it has four grams of carbs and 105 calories.

Lake Superior Keto Lager is an unfiltered German-style lager with the same amount of carbs and calories as its IPA cousin. Refreshing? Check. Flavourful? Check. Its malt bill is a combination of pilsner and Vienna. The hops are Nelson Sauvin and Hallertau Blanc.

Lake Superior and Lake Ontario are five per cent alcohol. A six-pack of the lager is $19.02 and the IPA is $20.52. They can be delivered throughout Ontario through Something in the Water’s online store.

NEW AND NOTED

Low-carb beers at the LCBO include Ace Hill Ultra Light (zero carbs, 80 calories, four per cent alcohol) and Ontario Brewing Awards gold award-winning Low Tide from Lake of Bays. Low Tide IPA, brewed with Idaho 7, Belma and Sabro hops, has one gram of carbs in a 473 ml can, 90 calories and is 2.5 per cent alcohol. It’s part of a light beer six-pack at the LCBO for $19.95.

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Witty Traveller, one of the early beers at Railway City in St. Thomas, is back for its seasonal run. Witty Traveller. It’s a Belgian wit beer with flavours of anise seed, clove and bananas. As the brewery says, fruit from the south, spices from the east, yeast from the north. This is a favourite beer and priced well by today’s standards at $3.45 per 473 ml can.

Rusty Wrench, the excellent brewpub in downtown Strathroy, has a new IPA. Lug Nut Legend West Coast IPA is a hefty 7.2 per cent alcohol.

You know Side Launch as a popular Collingwood brewery, but what if it had a retail store in London, where some of its beers are brewed? Wish granted as a Side Launch retail store will open at Equals Brewing on Sovereign Road in east London.

Planning a corporate event or golf tournament this summer? A private label beer such as Shake lager from Equals takes about eight weeks from order to case.

Imperial City in Sarnia has a new stout for spring named in honour of a local thoroughfare. Exmouth Stout, inspired by Ireland, will please fans of bittersweet beer. Stout is on trend and Imperial City is a good spot to find great ones.

Shining Through is a new, attractively priced, lager from Great Lakes Brewing of Toronto that doubles as a fundraiser for the Shining Through Centre for Children with Autism. The charity receives $1 for each can sold. The five per cent alcohol lager is $3 for a 473 ml can or $63 for a case of 24.

Wayne Newton is a freelance journalist based in London.

BrewsNewsTravels@gmail.com

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