Creemore Springs celebrates cycling culture with new radler
As part of its discovery series, Creemore Springs Brewery has launched a grapefruit radler just in time for cycling season.
Radlers – the German word for cyclist – have been around for more than 100 years but have been growing in popularity in the North American market.
According to lore, Franz Kugler invented the radler in 1922 when, during the cycling craze of the day, thousands of thirsty cyclistsstopped at his tavern in Deisenhofen, Germany. When he began to run out of beer, he started cutting it with sparkling lemon soda.
Radlers are made with a variety of juices and are typically lower in alcohol.
Setting out to make a grapefruit radler – Stiegl being a popular brand – head brewer Cameron Cottrell said the Creemore Springs Brewery team went in a different direction. Instead of adding grapefruit juice, they used only the zest.
The zest is blended with a specific hop selection – citra and cascade – that also mimic the flavour of grapefruit. The result is a lighter, drier radler that is a little more tart.
Cottrell describes it as refreshing with a light aroma of a dry hop.
“You really get the zest,” said Cottrell. “It’s very effervescent.”
With the recipe in development since December under the leadership of Matt Polowyck, Cottrell said the team sampled many, many different types of radlers and brewed a few test batches before landing on the recipe.
He said that is the rewarding thing about the discovery series, that the brewers get to be creative and experimental. Out of 135 possibilities though, the team will only get to make three or four specialty brews per year. The radler is a very limited run, only about 5,000 litres, which will be available at the retail store and through direct delivery.
At 3.7 per cent alcohol per volume, the radler is classified as a light beer, which makes it more “crushable,” says Cottrell.
He said members of the brew team are cyclists and the light, less filling beverage appeals to them, along with its origin story.
It’s labeled a celebratory radler because it is meant to be consumed at the end of a long ride. The beverage is launching in time for Turas Mor, the brewery’s own European style cycling event, and two others for which Creemore Springs Brewery is the title sponsor, the Paris to Ancaster bike race and the GTA’s Heck of the North.
Turas Mor takes riders on their choice of four back road routes ranging from 20-85 kilometres in length, beginning and ending at the brewery.
Organizer Heather Harding said the May 11 cycling event sold out in record time even with increased registration from 450 to 650 participants. She encourages the community to come out and cheer on riders as they depart and return. Harding said there will be live music on the stage at Creemore Village Green from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., and a farmers’ market from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
