New Ontario Brewing released a limited-edition craft beer after the people in Powassan, just south of the city of North Bay called Two Towns Past Powassan and the reaction from people has surpassed what the company could have imagined.

“We were expecting it to come out and, like most beers, at least they have a good surge at the start and then they waiver and then they’ll sell out after a month or two,” said Brew Master Mike Harrison. “With this one, we launched it and it just went crazy. We sent skids of it out through Canada Post to people all over, so it’s definitely more than we expected.”

“It wasn’t a secret,” Harrison laughed. “Maybe we didn’t know how popular it would be with Powassanites. So we named the beer, we put the little town sign and all that on the can and then when the word got out that it was out there, we just got an overwhelming response from the people of Powassan, which was really nice to see.”

Only 4,000 cans of the amber ale were created featuring both Powassan’s name and population sign. The brew is a malt forward amber ale with notes of caramel and toffee complimented by a pine infused floral finish to make for a truly Northern Ontario inspired ale.

More than half of the cans have already been sold and since the idea went over so well, the brewery plans on producing more but people will have to wait until 2022 or even 2023 to get it.

“It’s cool to see when something comes together when you know, there’s those second and third-order effects that happen to something you just started off being cheeky and then you really see that it (resinates) with people,” said Powassan Mayor, Peter McIsaac.

McIsaac said it’s grabbing the attention of people from further than just Powassan.

“Everyone’s really enjoying it. Everyone’s really excited about it. Even this morning, I had a friend that I went to public school with here at 250 reach out to me from Burlington, I haven’t talked to him in years, and ask me about the beer,” he said. “He was going to order some. So it’s kind of neat how it’s spreading not just inside the community but for people who are from Powassan and have moved on. They’re looking for a little taste of their hometown.”

People can order Two Towns Past Powassan beer on the New Ontario website or by calling the brewery.

Photo courtesy of Alana Pickrell, CTV Northern Ontario