Canada’s latest wildfire smoke legacy? Wisconsin’s new beer-and-burger combo

WASHINGTON –

Another fragrant, hazy phenomenon is drawing attention in the United States — only this time, beer fans in Canada will be happy to take the blame.

It’s one of the latest IPA offerings from G-Five Brewing Company in Beloit, a southern Wisconsin community of about 36,500 an hour southwest of Milwaukee, a city synonymous with suds.

“Blame Canada” — what else would they call it? — is an easy-drinking Indian pale ale inspired by the smoke-filled skies that plagued much of the Midwestern and Northeastern states of the US earlier this summer.

It was the product of a collaboration with fellow Wisconsin brewers Rocky Reef, a collaboration that happened to come about in mid-June when wildfire smoke was at its worst, said Tim Goers, G-Five’s head brewer.

“When you have a business that is so cyclical, you don’t want your customers to be out because of the air quality, so it hurts business a little bit,” Goers said.

Then, of course, the talk turned to 1999’s “South Park: The Movie” and that now anthemic song-and-dance number “Blame Canada” — a riff on the show’s tongue-in-cheek penchant for making fun of Canadians. .

“We were supposed to last for a week, but it was just dumb luck that the haze of wildfires came back,” he said.

“We got to the point where when we put this beer in a keg, it was pretty awful outside. We were like, ‘It’s too coincidental — we can’t hold this beer.’ So we released it.”

Then it caught on like the proverbial fire.

Of the 12 options available on tap, “it’s our No. 3 best-seller right now, and it hasn’t even had a full month of sales.”

Even the label on the can is one that many Canadians could get behind – a red silhouette of Toronto’s familiar skyline in flames, with a smoky mountain range and a white Maple Leaf decal in the background.

If the beer alone isn’t enough, patio patrons can pair it with G-Five’s newest Burger of the Week, “Canadian Wildfire,” a ground ribeye burger made with spicy maple syrup, the requisite bacon, jalapenos, and pepper jack cheese.

“If you have an IPA or a hoppy beer – ours aren’t that crazy hoppy – it will help take some of the zing out of the burger. So they ended up going really well together.”

Much of the U.S. is now getting a reprieve from the smoke, though there are still air quality problems in northern states, including Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota and parts of northern Wisconsin, data from the Environmental Protection Agency shows.

Instead, most Americans will face a frightening heat wave this week that is already plaguing much of the southern US, with record highs expected to reach 49C in some places.

And Goers said he is well aware that wildfire season has only just begun on both sides of the border.

“It’s an ironic, fun thing for us as a brewery, but as a nation and for people going through it, it’s pretty horrifying,” he said.

“It’s kind of sad for me — I have a lot of empathy[and]sympathy for what the hell is going on… it’s July 14 and usually the dry season hasn’t even started yet.”

Back in the day, G-Five sourced some of its malt barley from Maker’s Malt, a specialty producer near Saskatoon that caters specifically to the craft beer industry. But in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, shipping issues and recent droughts, the brewery has been forced to switch to a supplier closer to home.

“It hurts to see,” he said. “Now, does it hurt us to brew beer? No. But, you know, that’s not all my life revolves around.”

In the meantime, Goers said, while he hopes the wildfires don’t flare up as bad as they did last month, G-Five will keep the “Blame Canada” recipe on hand and break it out again if conditions change.

“I’m not the biggest ‘South Park’ connoisseur — I may have seen a few[episodes]in high school so I had something to talk about with my friends,” Goers said.

But if a Canadian craft brewer wanted to hit the ball back with a sharp seasonal offering called “Team America: World Police,” it’d be all in.

“That would be hilarious.”

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on July 15, 2023.