After teaming up with beer writer and historian Jordan St John, Toronto’s Muddy York Brewing Company is brewing a beer that first saw light of day 180-years-ago at Helliwell Brewery, one of Canada’s first.

According to Muddy York, Jordan read the Helliwell brewing diaries and painstakingly analyzed them in the hopes of interpreting exactly how the Helliwell family approached beer-making in Toronto’s early days.

The result is a recreation of a traditional English Old Ale. Similar to barley wines, old ales are slightly lower in alcohol and demonstrate a more notable ‘wood’ or barrel quality. “For two years we’ve waited patiently for this beer to mature in one of our favourite aging vessels, a Château Lafite Rothschild Sauternes Barrel. It has brought about massive complexity in the malt character showcasing pear, dried apricot, toffee, and French oak,” says Muddy York.

Muddy York Brewing Co. gets its name from a disparaging term used to describe the early settlement then known as York, which became the thriving metropolis of Toronto. Rainy days wreaked havoc on the city, turning its unpaved streets into impassable muddy roadways. It was a time of hard work and new beginnings, where folks took pride in their craft and built things to last.

This beer release was first spotted in Canadian Beer News.