Sometimes beer takes you to unexpected places. This summer I have fallen under the spell of a light, fruity beer (yes, Virginia, I said fruity) that seems ideal for summer sipping.

This is no blueberry wheat beer or some such run of the mill summer beer. In fact it shares more in common with chardonnay than with regular fruit beer. The beer is Mill Street’s Don Valley Bench Estate Ale. And I have come to like it so much that I wrote up a review for Vue Weekly last week (which you can find here).

As I mention in the column, Don Valley Bench has been designed to resemble a lightly oaked chardonnay. Brewmaster Joel Manning carefully concocted a recipe that offered a light fruitiness, a delicate tartness and zesty citrus note. My first sip, during my recent Toronto trip, was a pleasant surprise. Since then I have found myself seeking it out at other occasions. It was my first beer consumed upon returning to Canada last month (in the Toronto airport).

What is particularly appealing about Don Valley Bench is that it has NO fruit in it at all. Its sharp fruitiness comes from a combination of a fruity British ale yeast and the addition of some soured mash to add tartness. The beer also had oak spirals added during fermentation, although the oak is more suggestion than character.

The beer really does resemble a chardonnay. And that is the most intriguing aspect of this beer.

It is unquestioningly a flavourful summer beer, one with more complexity than you might expect. That is enough to earn it some accolades. But what really causes it to deserve centre stage is the careful, deliberate process of crafting a beer that resembles a completely different beverage. Hats off to the brewers at Mill Street.

The only downside is that the beer is available only in their summer mixed pack – which means only a single bottle per pack. Not enough to sate one’s appetite, I am afraid. Maybe next year they will make it a stand alone seasonal.