Long, Dark Voyage to Uranus

Where to buy: LCBO

Price: $5.25 per 473 mL can

Food pairings: Dark chocolate, venison, rack of lamb

The verdict: A little tasteless, but plenty of taste

Sometimes, craft brewers have been known to push the boundaries of good taste.

No, that’s not a reference to the nuances of a beer’s flavour. Instead, some brewers have beer names or labels that can be a little risqué at best, or downright juvenile at worst.

The latest beer to hit the LCBO from Gravenhurst-based Sawdust City — Long, Dark Voyage to Uranus — would fall firmly into the latter camp.

With a name that would likely inspire loud guffaws from people too young to legally drink (or, you know, who have graduated middle school), it’s perhaps no surprise that there’s also an oddly shaped, er, “star” on the can’s label. But really, it’s all about space exploration (nudge-nudge, wink-wink), because there’s a rocketship on the label.

Even Sawdust City brewer Sam Corbeil, who came up with the name, was a little surprised it passed muster with the sometimes-overzealous guardians of good taste at the LCBO.

“When we submitted it for a listing, we figured they’d probably say no, but they didn’t,” said Corbeil, who makes no apologies for the bathroom humour.

“We take our beer seriously, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously. If you don’t find it a little funny, you’re either too old or too square,” said Corbeil.

There’s little doubt that Long, Dark Voyage is indeed a serious beer: At 10 per cent alcohol by volume, it’s not something to be trifled with.

The inspiration for the brew came from an “Iron Brewer” contest held four years ago. Brewers were given a mystery ingredient they had to incorporate into their beer. The ingredient? Star anise. (The beer’s original name was Long, Dark Voyage to Your Anise).

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In subsequent versions, Corbeil dropped the star anise. He also used eight different kinds of malt, as well as demerara sugar. While most of the sugar ferments into alcohol, some vanilla and molasses character is left in the brew. There’s also a slight sweetness, and a bitter chocolate flavour from some of the darker malts. The alcohol is dangerously well-hidden.

It’s a warming brew, best suited to serving in the dead of winter, rather than in prime patio season, suggested Corbeil.

“I love stouts all year round, but most humans don’t need a 10 per cent beer in the dead of August,” said Corbeil.