NEW YEAR, OLD BEER

First blog post of 2013 is admittedly my first post in a long while. There are many factors at hand, including my laziness (this always seems to set in heavily at the end of the calendar year), the tumblr app being the absolute WORST (should’t we PD users have equal blogging rights to laptop & desktop users?) - well maybe only second worst to Bell Canada. Seriously, the internet is better in Peru. This may be unfair to the (one) other internet provider in this country, but at any rate it’s a total joke when you need to restart your internet (3 times) every time you want to use it. Oh, and then there’s this whole thing up here where big breweries strangle the budding beer scene up here (though I think the bar owners who buy into those shenanigans are complete losers as well).

Oops - new year, I’m supposed to be bright, shiny, and new. Right. Well I decided to start of the new year with an old beer. Something I’ve never done before, but I am sure glad I did. This black beauty is a Metric Porter brewed by Great Lakes Brewery for Toronto Beer Week 2012. For those of you not in the know, that’s a festival run by a great group of volunteers (including moi), that promotes craft brewing in Canada with a slew of events across our city’s great pubs, and seems to have been overlooked in this article. But don’t worry about that, I’m here to tell you what’s what. 

And lucky for me, my first go at aging a beer was pretty successful. The important elements of a high ABV (this clocks in around 8%), deliciousness, and big body were all there. And I also managed to hold on to this guy since September. Way to go me! The alcohol notes seemed to be played up a bit more, and the head a bit thinner. Also this was the first time I ever sniffed a beer and literally inhaled it, though my nose. Which was off putting amazing. AND the first time I ever tried writing tasting notes! Which will get it’s own dedicated blog post, in the near future. And it won’t be boring - I swear! - like you reading my tasting notes or something. I wouldn’t do that to you.

The Ongoing, Anti-Climatic, Passive Aggressive Battle over Beer and Wine Sales in Canada’s Nanny State

Womp womp womp, Mcguinty fizzles from hero to zero faster than you can finish your beer.

This Weeks Music and Beer Pairing: Bloody Good

I used to very much enjoy myself weekend Bloody Marys when living in Brooklyn - despite never having any money I could some how manage to cough up enough $ to buy myself a spiked glass of tomato juice that cost as much as a dinner entree (but hey, it came with a great view of McCarren Park). But Canadians take note, these drinks were made with house bloody Mary mix that was made from scratch, including Worcestershire and horse radish - and the thickness of the drink allows all of these spiced to float. Also, there are enough garnishes to fill a tapas menu. And these garnishes will vary from each establishment, however they are strictly to be ordered between the hours of 12-4 on Satrudays and Sundays.

Caesars are the Canadian counterpart to the stateside BM. Let me be very clear, that though these drinks may be seen as “equivalent” they are very different and have entirely different rituals placed around them. Caesars are much thinner, and are straight up vodka and some “clamato” juice that comes out of a big bottle bought at a store. The drink is also rimmed with celery salt and may include a piece of lime or lemon and maybe even a pickled item, like a string bean. important to note: you can drink this at any hour. It is not unusual to drink a caesar late on a Tuesday night before dinner. This I can appreciate.

Then there the Michelada - the poor mans bloody Mary. I wish these had caught on more as a brunch trend, since the lower abv wont put you into a after brunch coma. And the thinner nature of them really makes them more akin to the Caesar or the north - at least in flavor.

Then there’s the the rich man’s poor man’s Bloody Mary - The Bloody Beer. No, I am not talking about the weird things Albertans do to their beer - I am discussing Bloody Beer by short’s Brewing Company. This is a beer brewed with tomatoes, horseradish, celery seeds, dill and peppercorns.

If I had some $, I would by myself a few of these.

(Source: Spotify)

Brief History of Early Breweries in Corktown

Cortown being a district of Toronto, for those of you not in the know. An update of modern breweries in Corktown and the remaining structures coming soon….

For those of you unfamiliar with the I Am Canadian campaign.

The title couldn’t be closer to the truth. The author points out, innovation is stifled due to Ontario’s beer oligopoly. This is not the only downside, as we have seen time and time again small brewers and other beer businesses not only weathering the recession in the United States, but also creating jobs and promoting tourism.

To me, the most disheartening is Molson’s complete ownership of the phrase “I am Canadian.” Being Canadian shouldn’t equate drinking watered down mass produced garbage that is created by a publicly traded multinational. The industry, and phrase, need to be reclaimed.

- article submitted via @mattfinlin

This is a picture of Neaustadt’s spring, the water source for their beer.

@mattfinlin just won the best husband award #beer #Canada @wellingtonbrew (Taken with Instagram)

Beer Babes

They start them young in Canada

mattfinlin:

(Taken with http://cinemagr.am)

Though I thoroughly appreciate this list of best beer bars as curated by @blogTO, readers be warned: the food at Victory Cafe is appalling, and they forgot my favorite @bellwoods beer. Other critical points include myself questioning their thesis that Ontario’s craft beer scene “has exploded.” 30 breweries in the most heavily populated province would leave me to believe that we aren’t quite there yet.

- article submitted by mr. right

From West to.. East

Though Canada’s craft beer renaissance may be developing slowly and still in its early stages, the movement is steady and irreversible. Which is good news for me.

So far, more interesting beers and diversity has sprung up on the west coast, notably in British Columbia. With native hops, privatized beer vendors, and a far flung geographic location that left a brewing legacy relatively unscathed from Prohibition; this region has picked up the reigns on inventive brewing much faster than its eastern counterparts. Which was bad news for me.

Until today. Tree Brewing Co’s beers are making there way from Kelowna to Toronto to greet me, just as I cross the border. I’m not sure how this fortune has been made possible. Does anyone out there know if they are contract brewing in Ontario, or has there been some miraculous relaxation in cross-provincial distribution laws?

mattfinlin:

Via QuentinTarantinosBitch 

My wife just learned Canada’s national dance and dress code.  Will you let her in? 

She can also teach you the USA national dance.

Your WTF Beer of the Day

Yep, the Canadians have succumbed to iced T beers. Poor fools.

Ontario’s Craft Beer Scene Is Budding in an Unfriendly Climate

A beautiful video made by my favorite human.