It takes a lot of beer to sell wine.
That, at least, is our take on the oft-quoted line, “It takes a lot of beer to make wine.”
For us – for a lot of people – the holy grail of a good beer is the near-ethereal, textural lightness, the finesse, the clarity, the energy. Somehow, a beer can often be more refreshing than a glass of wine, quenching a thirst in a way even a Kabinett cannot. How exactly this works I don’t know; that it is a fact, I do not doubt.
As German importers, since nearly day one there have been the near-constant inquiries: “When are you going to start bringing in German beers?” The answer, as always, was: “Uh, I guess when we find the right one?”
The truth is many of the German breweries that would be of interest work on a scale and volume that is just not what we could manage or what we would personally want. Others we have encountered emphasize certain extravagances that just aren’t are our thing, whether exotic ingredients or flashy packaging or something that just felt, well, to us… not essential. The truth is, we didn’t really have any formula we were looking for, there were no guideposts to judge by, no qualifications we had ever really articulated.
I guess we figured we’d know when we knew?
How exactly we – and to give credit where credit is due – how exactly Collin Wagner found Godspeed Brewery (and introduced myself and John) is a story of love, of dislocation during a pandemic, of an unflagging curiosity and passion, and of course, of the purest, most balanced and traditional-leaning beers we have ever, ever come across.
If we had absolutely no idea what we might want were we ever to import a beer; when we tasted the beers and talked with Luc “Bim” Lafontaine, it was absolutely clear to us that this is the beer we wanted to import. Not even a second question.
And no, it is not a German brewery.
To give the short story: Collin followed his love (now his fiancé) north into Canada (Toronto, Ontario to be exact) as the world was turned upside down in the spring of 2020. There, he did what any good dislocated-Virginian-turned-New-Yorker-ex-chef-Riesling-slinger would do: He sussed out the scene looking for the cool stuff. And that’s when he came across Godspeed Brewery.
And there he found the holy grail of a good beer (see above).
Luc is a brewer’s brewer; he is fastidious about the details – every detail. His love for brewing and beers is infectious, much like a winemaker who is happiest amongst his vines. He is as obsessed with scale (and about staying small) as we are. Luc and only Luc decides what is to be brewed. Luc is in the brewery every week pitching the mash and brewing the beers. He does not want to grow to a size where this is not the case; he has frequently turned down requests for growth or expansion. Everything is done in a small space in an outer neighborhood of Toronto, and it will stay this way.
At Godspeed, there is a focus and an obvious passion for pilsners and lagers (the Kabinett Trocken of beers?). Luc aims to make the beers in the same small-batch way as is traditional in their home countries of the Czech Republic and Germany. After visiting the various regions and becoming enamored with the styles and beers poured fresh from the source, Luc began working with the trade bureaucracies in Canada and farmers on the ground to procure the best ingredients from their native homelands; think malt from locales such as Bamberg or Dortmund in Germany and ancient varieties of heirloom hops from Czech Republic. If he can’t get the Dortmunder malt, he doesn’t make the beer.
Remarkably (and singularly to our knowledge?), every beer is carbonated naturally from fermentation in tank during lagering – which he does for a minimum of seven weeks on all the pilsners and lagers. Luc is going back to the traditional and classic styles, creating a clarity in styles long since out of vogue. Every beer is unfined, unfiltered, directly from the tank. Repeatedly (and then a few more times for good measure), Luc confirmed and reiterated the importance of freshness and the handling of the beers. This is a guy who knows that every detail counts until the tab is cracked and the beer is consumed. We will do our best to honor his wishes, perhaps moving to a pre-order only system, so that we can move the beer from brewer to consumer as quickly as possible.
Luc has been brewing beer for more than 30 years; that sentence alone is worth an exhale and a moment of pause and reflection. He first gained notoriety after working for some time at Du Ciel in Quebec, with whom he still does collaboration with now and again. He moved to Japan (where his wife is from) and there he opened a still-operating brewpub outside of Tokyo. This is where the Japanese influence comes from, with many of the beer’s names and packaging influenced by Japanese culture and traditions. The labels on his flagship beers are taken from shibori, the traditional indigo tie dying from Japan. Finally being drawn back to his native Canada, Luc opened Godspeed in 2017.
This much seems undeniable: Luc is a true artisan, he is doing everything right and, for us at least, we believe these are the best pilsners and lagers we have ever encountered in North America. It is an honor to represent Godspeed in the U.S.
We are beginning with two beers, the Otsukaresama and Světlý Ležák 12º, both of which have the shibori labels. The Otsukaresama’s label is the more traditional indigo; the Světlý Ležák 12º’s fashioned in a patchwork “boro” style to render the Czech flag.
Otsukaresama is a Dortmunder style Pale Lager, pouring with more color than the palate will lead on. It is a treatise on balance, the right amount of malt and bitterness from German hops all in symbiosis for the clearest and cut beer we have encountered. The beer is effortlessly drinkable, just as the working city of Dortmund expects in their beers. The name is a regularly used term in Japanese culture, often said at the end of a day’s work and translated as “good work”.
Světlý Ležák 12º is Czech and translates to “light lager,” with the “12º” representing the plato gravity, or potential alcohol and weight of the beer. This is quintessential Czech lager, hoppy yet in a lite framework. Again balance here is absolute paramount, with just enough malt to add body and hops to provide lift. When everything is stripped away and you are making a beer with just four ingredients, as is traditional in Germany and Czech, the balance and simplicity can elicit a profound dimension, but – and this is central to everything at Godspeed – is must be perfectly executed.
