For the second year in a row, Ontario Parks has collaborated with Hamilton craft brewery Collective Arts Brewing to produce a limited-edition specialty craft beer, with a portion of sale proceeds again supporting reforestation work at Balsam Lake Provincial Park in Kawartha Lakes.
Trail Loop is a honey lager, brewed with locally sourced honey, with five per cent alcohol by volume. Collective Arts Brewing describes the light-bodied brew as having “floral notes, both on the nose and on the palate,” with a “balanced dry finish that makes this beer incredibly drinkable.”
Founded by Matt Johnston and Bob Russell in 2013, Collective Arts Brewing is a grassroots craft brewery that “fuses the creativity of craft beverages with the inspired talents of artists from around the world.”
Last year, the brewery also collaborated with Ontario Parks to produce a limited-edition India pale ale called Field Guide. Sales of that beer raised almost $6,000 for the Balsam Lake reforestation project, which aims to plant as many as 1,000 trees at the provincial park, located along the Trent-Severn Waterway a few kilometres southwest of Coboconk.
Like many provincial parks in southern Ontario, Balsam Lake’s forests have been affected by the emerald ash borer. The reforestation project is inoculating healthy black ash trees to protect them against the invasive insect, as well as planting native tree species such as white birch, white cedar, and white spruce to fill in the gaps left by dead and dying ash trees. The project is also removing invasive species like Scot’s pine and buckthorn that are damaging the ecosystem’s overall health.
“The team at Balsam Lake Provincial Park is grateful to be the recipient of this collaboration,” says park superintendent Mike Cappello in a media release. “It’s heartwarming to know that Ontarians from across the province will have a hand in restoring our beautiful forest. The reforestation project is helping us to bring diversity back into the habitat that nurtures species and park visitors alike. We look forward to planting even more trees this year as we work toward rebuilding this special and treasured green space.”
Described as “a tribute to the trails that weave through Ontario’s provincial parks and the people who explore them,” the Trail Loop can design features artwork by Toronto artist Gosia Komorski, who also designed the artwork for last year’s Field Guide IPA.
Komorski has a special connection with Balsam Lake Provincial Park, having spent her childhood summers camping there as well as at other provincial parks, which she now revisits with her own daughter. The Trail Loop can design includes trilliums, thistle, and other native plants as well as bees.
The limited-edition beer is now available for purchase at select grocery stores across the province (it will be available at The Beer Store later in May) and online at Collective Arts Brewing’s website at collectiveartsontario.com, where you can also purchase exclusive Trail Loop merchandise featuring Komorski’s artwork, including a Nalgene water bottle and a hat, with proceeds also going to the Balsam Lake reforestation project.
