FIRST DRAUGHT — Tabula Rosa could be a patio staple

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/07/2019 (2285 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s hard to believe that it has already been three weeks since Flatlanders Beer Festival in Winnipeg!

I had a media pass for BeerCrank.ca and The Brandon Sun to check out the event, but apparently my pass didn’t work at all the gates. I went through the main doors right before opening only to be told “no, you have go to the gate nearly two blocks over!” Well, as soon as I got to the second gate (out of three!) hoping to finally try some beers, I ran into Brandon’s own Christel from Winnipeg’s Devil May Care Brewing. If you’ve ever tried any of Devil May Care’s beers, she’s the one who does the amazing artwork! I absolutely love the artwork on the Futurama-themed Starstuff, but every label she has done so far has been great!

So, while you shouldn’t judge a beer by its label, you definitely should at the same time … Devil May Care’s Tabula Rosa looks more like a label from a fine dessert wine than it would be for a wheat beer with hibiscus.

Tabula Rosa is described as a product of Devil May Care’s perception of a perfect summer’s day. The beer is light, refreshing and slightly tart with notes of raspberries, citrus fruits and fresh-cut flowers bloom with each sip, reminding us all of those summers that helped shape who we are today. If that’s not a nice description, then I don’t know what is.

I had a bit too much fun at Brandon Beer Festival back in April — I bought a glass from them and uh … I had too much fun schmoozing with the beer reps and the few beer geeks I know that I left it behind without thinking. I sent them a message that I’m an idiot and lost the glass. Christel and Colin over at Devil May Care said “no worries, we’ll bring you another one!” which they honestly shouldn’t have done.

In the past while I’ve been dreaming of summer beer and while a Belgian-style witbier would usually do the job, it’s just not for me at the moment … I felt like it was time to check out DMC’s Tabula Rosa.

If you were to pour Tabula Rosa into a glass, you would be thinking that you’re pouring raspberry juice into a glass because that’s exactly what it looks like. The body is a bit clear, a tad carbonated and mostly looks like raspberry juice, except for the beer’s head — it has a light to moderate snow white foam that’s bubbling up a tad, with a smidge of foam around the rim of the glass.

The aroma has a very hint of tartness to it that I’m thinking is from the raspberries … which is also giving off a very light sweetness to it, followed by a very light floral rose-like aroma. So far, the aroma smells like a walk in a flower garden mixed with an afternoon of picking berries at a U-Pick.

The taste starts off with more of a tartness than what we saw in the aroma — there’s a moderately tart presence right at the beginning which I’m getting as the combination of raspberry and hibiscus. The raspberries give off a nice light sweetness (nowhere near jammy) while the hibiscus gives off a floral presence that reminds me of roses. There were only two other times I’ve ever had hibiscus-style beers and both of them were by Dieu du Ciel out of Montreal — Rosée d’hibiscus and New Belgium’s collaboration with Dieu du Ciel, Heavenly Feija Tripel. This kind of floral presence isn’t something I’m generally getting from most beers even in this day and age … so it’s quite a challenge for me, but I’m enjoying it!

The tartness of the beer is nice yet light, the floral petal notes are interesting but work well in this beer. Tabula Rosa is surprisingly light at five per cent ABV, so I feel like this should be a patio staple for those who tend to drink wine but want something more subtle and not going to be heavy on the stomach after a glass. Devil May Care’s Tabula Rosa Wheat Beer with Hibiscus is available at the Brandon South End and 10th & Victoria Liquor Marts for $3.49 per 473-millilitre can. 4.5/5 pints

I’m absolutely proud that Manitoba’s craft beer industry scene has got to this point — there’s literally a beer for almost every sort of beer drinker now days. With Patent 5 Distillery now open, I can’t wait for them to create a better Canadian whisky than Gimli’s own Crown Royal!

I’m not generally a fan of chain restaurants, but I have to give serious props to the brand new Original Joe’s restaurant. They’re one of the only chain restaurants that puts local and regional craft beer front and centre on their beer list.

Here’s just a sample of Manitoban craft beer you can find on TAP there: Half Pints’ Little Scrapper IPA, Fort Garry Dark Ale, Little Brown Jug 1919 Belgian Pale Ale and a rotating beer tap, which currently features Torque’s Witty Belgian Witbier. I also have to note that they also have Moosehead’s Strawberry Rhubarb Milkshake IPA on tap — it’s a sweet, fruity wheat ale with notes of strawberry, rhubarb and a hint of creaminess to it, much better than you would expect from a name like that.

Lastly, if you ever travelled to Toronto, you may have seen Steam Whistle everywhere. Sure, Steam Whistle has been available in Manitoba but you will now be able to find Steam Whistle in two new formats – six 341-millilitre bottles (with a free bottle opener) as well as six 473-millilitre cans (in a Steam Whistle lunch box). Steam Whistle is now also brewing two new beers: Steam Whistle Pale Ale, which should be in Manitoba in the near future, as well as New Belgium Fat Tire Amber Ale for the Canadian market. I’ve sampled Fat Tire from their brewery in Colorado and compared it to the Steam Whistle brew, and so far — I can’t tell the difference.