Nonsuch Brewing Co. turns eight this month, and it has not waited for the party to put out a beer. Toast, a 5.4 percent Marzen, is out now at the Winnipeg brewery's bottle shop and through liquor stores and craft beer vendors across the province.
The name works on two levels, and the brewery leans on both. "A toast to summer. A toast to the long-weekend. A toast to Toast," reads the release note. The other level is the malt: Nonsuch describes the beer as a clean German-style lager that balances hop bitterness against rich malt notes of toasted bread.
That is a fair description of what a Marzen is supposed to do. The style is built around Munich and Vienna malts, which deliver bread crust and light caramel rather than the sweetness a darker grain bill would bring. Hop bitterness is present as a counterweight rather than a feature, which is why the balance claim matters more here than it would in a hoppier beer. Marzen is also the traditional Oktoberfest beer, which puts a September release exactly where it belongs on the calendar - brewed as a seasonal, landing in the season it was made for.
Toast would sit comfortably next to anything off a grill, and the toasted-malt register is a natural fit for the sharper end of a cheese board.
The release lands ahead of Nonsuch's eighth birthday celebration on Saturday, September 26, held in conjunction with Nuit Blanche at the brasserie at 125 Pacific Ave. Cans are available cold for pickup from the bottle shop at 551 Osborne, now open Mondays, or from liquor stores and craft beer vendors.
Source & Editorial
JollyPint independently prepares release articles using information published by breweries through newsletters, websites, and other official public communications. Brewery-supplied descriptions and tasting notes are reported as provided, while editorial context is added by JollyPint.