Sustenance
Tooth and Nail Brewing Company

 

 

 

Can from the brewery for around $3.

Sustenance would look perfectly in place in a Belgian brewer's yearbook - it has the solid, stable, off-ivory white head (with accompanying lace) and the dark, brooding body that when more closely inspected actually proves to be clear and colourful. It's a charming appearance and one well suited to a so-called "Autumn Ale".

The nose is captivating in the same vein as a best selling mystery novel - I can't put the glass down! I might be up all night smelling this thing. Dark, sugary malts are elevated not only by the addition of raisins and orange peel, but nuances of walnut and chestnut wood, black peppercorn, clove, dried figs and heavily bruised plums.

While far from intense, Sustenance is nonetheless a complicated puzzle that commands attention. It marries dried, dark, sugar-driven fruits with more tropical, tangy and breezy notes while at the same time offering an enticing perfume of holiday baking spices and dense, deep malt flavours. It is as layered as the Earth's crust.

Most North American brewed Belgian ales turn out like a Robert Munsch book - cute, likeable, but the stuff for children. This one is more in line with the works of James Joyce - it is rich, complicated and likely to be appreciated most by those that like to endlessly dissect what they're drinking. And it should also stand the test of time.

Sustenance is possibly the first proper and probably the very best Bière de Garde ever produced in Ontario. While it has the rich maltiness and dried fruit undertone to pass for a Dubbel, there's an also unmistakable cellar-worthy component that really puts it over the top. I couldn't imagine anything better suited to Fall or holiday season drinking.