Thursday, December 31, 2009

Hoppy New Year

Ya like the title? See what I did there. Clever eh? I've had a spectacular beer year, I hit 1000 ratings on ratebeer.com, managed to finally track down a Westy 12 and numerous other rare and awesome beers. Instead of a blurb, I'll post some highlights of the year pics instead.


 
 



 
 



 
 



 
 

I can't wait for 2010

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Volo Cask Days 2009

I can't believe it's that time of year again. Volo Cask Days marks my almost 2 year anniversary in Canada. Volo has become the number one beer bar in Toronto, in fact I'd almost hazard to say, Ontario over the past few years. Owner Ralph Morana, his wife, sons and their staff put an almost religious like commitment into ensuring that the yearly Cask Days event runs like a well oiled machine.




This year saw a change of the usual events and had a 'Cask Week' running up to the main event with a number of different casks available in traditional UK styles. This was an excellent opportunity to enjoy some fine cask goodness in the relaxed atmosphere of pre cask days in Volo. I attended on Monday with my good friend Harry (@hogtownharry on Twitter) and on Tuesday with my other good pal Paul (@paulbazinet). On these days I gave the following brews a try:

F&M Stonehammer Porter
Mike Duggans #6 ESB
MacLeans Battle X ESB
Magnotta Festa Best Bitter
Ste. Andre Brass Monkey Ordinary Bitter

The real cask challenge for me was to be on the Friday, I had tickets to both sessions and had my eye on the prize i.e. try as many of the interesting brews as possible!

Friday came along and I'm delighted to report I managed to try 22 other brews, I'll have to go through my notes to check which ones, but this is what was available:


ONTARIO EAST
Scotch Irish Brewing Company - Black Plain Strawberry Porter
Heritage Brewing Company - Hop Fresh 2009
Beau 's All Natural Brewing - Tommy Gun Pale (Caba Caba Hey) / Night Märzen Aged in Wood Cask
County Cider* - Waupoos Cider
Barley Days - Harvest Gold Pale Ale
Church Key - Purple Loosestrife Mead / Oaked Islay V Scotch Ale
Publican House* - McHenry Red Ale

ONTARIO NORTH EAST
Lakes of Muskoka Cottage Brewery - 2009 Harvest Ale
Hockley Valley - Peanut Butter and Jam Ale
Flying Monkey* - Netherworld India Pale Porter
King - Dry Hopped/Unflitered Pilsner
Black Creek* - Traditional Pumpkin Ale
Magnotta - Festa Best Bitter (Dry hopped mid Atlantic Pale Ale)

ONTARIO NORTH WEST
Thornbury Village* - Peeler Cider
Battleaxe Brewery* - Old Angus Old Ale
F&M Brewery - Nightmare On Ale Street
Wellington - Iron Duke Strong Ale
Grand River - Highballer Pumpkin Ale

ONTARIO SOUTH WEST
Railway City - Dead Elephant Ale
Stratford - Empire Strikes Black
Niagara’s Best - Portage Pale Ale
TAPS Brewing Company* - Rosberg's Porter (Dry Hopped)
Nickel Brook - Wooden Nickel IPA
Trafalgar - Pickled Corpse
Cameron's - Vanilla Dark Ale

ONTARIO (TORONTO)
Mill St. - 08/09 Blend Barley Wine (Dry Hopped)
Granite Brewery - Gin Lane Barley Wine
Duggan's Brewery* - Duggan’s #7 Stout
Denison’s - Dunkel from a Wood Barrel (Not Cask-Conditioned) Session 3A Only
Durham Brewing Company - Black Eye Ale
Amsterdam - Oaked Oktoberfest 2009
Great Lakes - Morning Glory Breakfast Stout
Great Lakes & BarVolo - Matt’s Marathon Mild
Black Oak - Lime Light Pale
Cheshire Valley Brewing* - Ginger-Lime Ale
St. Andre - Freshly Squeezed Barley Juice

GUEST (QUEBEC & ENGLAND)
Brasserie Benelux* - Amato Texas Reserve Brown
Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel! - Corne Diable IPA / Péché Mortel / Penombre Black IPA
Brasserie Hopfenstark - Post Colonial IPA
Fullers - London Pride Pale Ale / Extra Special Bitter / India Pale Ale / Red Fox Red Ale

Thanks to Volo's great patience with the 'ticker' we were all given a pint glass to keep as part of the entry fee and were able to buy 1/4, 1/2 and full pints of each brew - perfect for the tickers and the newbies alike.

Surprisingly enough, one of the best beers of the fest for me was the Hockley Valley - Peanut Butter and Jam Ale. Deliciously nutty with actual peanut butter and jam notes. Crazy.

Hopefully over the next coming days I'll have some of the beer reviews ready to post. In the meantime, here's some pretty pictures.


 
 

Friday, October 16, 2009

The Ceili Cottage


An eagerly awaited newcomer to the Toronto pub scene. This truly is as close to a pub in Ireland as you’ll get outside the Emerald Isle. From the 2 million year old bar made from granite from Ireland, to the oyster shells embedded in the concrete on the patio, this truly is a taste of home for me. The owner Patrick McMurray has done a fine job of this place, the food is all made in house (even the sausages!) and they have fresh oysters from Canada and Ireland.

There are 12 taps, 4 Irish and the rest are rotating Ontario brews and a real ale cask. The staff are a fantastic bunch and certainly always friendly and willing to help. There’s different events each evening from live Irish trad music sessions, match making evenings to shuck your own oyster nights. This has become my favourite pub in Toronto by far and is a home away from home, right down to the Irish turf burner that scents the place evoking memories of home. This is a must visit in Toronto.

www.ceilicottage.com

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Stop - Pumpkin time!


It's probably my favourite beer time of year - yes, Pumpkin Ale time. Right now as I type this I'm having a Wolavers Will Stevens Pumpkin Ale.

It's certainly not my favourite pumpkin ale but it really is a delicious example of what a pumpkin ale can be.

My rating is as follows:

Appearance: Golden Orange, no visible carbonation, small off white spiderweb head. Aroma: Pumpkin spice, cinnamon, malt, yeast, orange peel and bread. Aroma: Bitter orange peel, malt, spice, cinnamon, it’s a strange balance between orange peel and malt. It works, but just barely.

Aroma: 6
Appearance: 3
Flavour: 6
Palate: 3
Overall: 14

Score out of 5 is 3.2

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Beer of the month - August


It has to be Black Oak Summer Saison. I must say, I allowed the Toronto Ratebeer lads whip me up into a frenzied state about its pending release. I didn't get around to having it for a couple of weeks so I had to put up with hearing the guys raving about it...

So, I finally got around to having it at The Rhino , I was seated at their patio and was chuffed when the server told me they had it... so, it arrived: Looked in order but smelled very odd, lots of caramel and wet paper, lots of skunk... then the taste - caramel, caramel, caramel.... butter and caramel again... I left disappointed and confronted the lads.. they all came to the defence of the Summer Saison.

Anyhow, zip forward a week and I was in one of Toronto's finest beer establishments Bar Volo and saw that they had it on tap. I ordered a pint. What a different beast it was. Superb. Just a perfect summer beer.

Aroma 7
Appearance 4
Flavour 7
Palate 4
Overall 16

Total 3.8 out of 5

Kudos to Ken and the staff at Black Oak, this is a cracker of a brew.


Pic stolen from my pals at www.tasteto.com

Friday, July 31, 2009

Beer of the month - July



Yeah, yeah - I'm a couple of months late on this one *blush*

This months beer of the month is Creemore Springs Kellerbier, much like Greg Clow over at tasteTO it's also only my second Kellerbier...

I was sorry to miss the launch party at Victory Cafe a little while ago, so I was very glad to grab a 6 pack from the LCBO today..

Here's my notes and scores

Appearance: Pinkish orange with a small off white head and good visible carbonation. Aroma: Slight perfume, some grassy hops, malt, some light lemon peel and grain. Flavour: Initially malt, nice grassy hops (as opposed to the grassy hops that I personally dislike) a good creaminess to the body with a sweet hop finish, the more I’m drinking it - the better it’s getting. Good work Creemore, a solid brew. Oh - refreshing too!

Aroma 7/10
Appearance: 4/5
Flavour: 7/10
Palate: 4/5
Overall: 17/20

Total score: 3.9 out of a possible 5

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Beer of the month


My beer of the month for April is most definitely Brooklyn Black Ops:

With thanks to HogTownHarry for picking this up in Buffalo for me! Appearance: A lovely used motor oil body with nice thick creamy brown head. Aroma: Chocolate-peat, bourbon, leather, vanilla, lots of malt, alcohol, yeast, some almost strawberry notes with a nice hint of whiskey in the finish of the aroma. Flavour: Tremendous, lots of oak, smoke, bitter chocolate, with burnt malt and coffee. There’s some alcohol but it’s not overpowering, thin but somehow creamy body with nice tingly carbonation on the tip of the tongue and a very long malt-whiskey-chocolate finish. Just superb.

Appearance: 4/5
Aroma: 9/10
Flavour: 8/10
Palate: 4/5
Overall impression: 18/20

http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/brooklyn-black-ops/82103/30639/


Saturday, March 21, 2009

Six Nations - Grand Slam


I can't recall the last time, if ever, a radio broadcast made me cry. Well today it happened. Congratulations Ireland - you made us proud, from Dublin to Cardiff to Casablanca then Toronto. You've lifted the spirit of the nation in a time of horrible uncertainty.

Friday, March 6, 2009

The Spring

Today was finally above freezing. I left work and it was 10c there was a slight breeze in my face. I flashed back to Dublin at the end of the summer. I suddenly missed the sights and sounds of home. The smell of the trees as I walked to the shops. The friendly nod of the odd passer by I knew. The familiar sights and sounds of the main street in my town. The bellows of laughter and chat coming from the pubs.

Immediately I was back in Toronto. I could see the city in the distance, it beckoned me. It screamed of a new home, a new place. Nothing will replace Ireland but my God, Toronto takes a good crack at it. I gladly got on the streetcar and made my way home.

Sometimes happiness comes from the simplest of things, today it came from the wind.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

I'm pretty jarred. 'Jarred' is Irish for 'locked' which is Irish for 'pissed' which is Irish for 'Baloobas' which is Irish for 'Scuttered' which is Irish for 'Walloped' which is Irish for 'GaGa' which is Irish for 'Smashed' which is Irish for 'Locked'

Has it almost been a year?



I read somewhere that 90% of blogs once created are never accessed again after the first couple of months by the owner. Well, I guess this almost happened to me. It's one of those things, I keep meaning to do it; but I put it on the long finger.

So I've been living in Canada for over a year now, I came across this list of things and find myself agreeing with a lot of the topics

  1. You stand in "line-ups" at the movie, not lines.
  2. You're not offended by the term, "Homo Milk".
  3. You understand the sentence, "Could you please pass me a serviette, I just spilled my poutine."
  4. You eat chocolate bars instead of candy bars.
  5. You drink pop, not soda.
  6. You know what it means to be on pogey.
  7. You know that a mickey and 2-4's mean "Party at the camp, eh?!"
  8. You can drink legally while still a teen.
  9. You talk about the weather with strangers and friends alike.
  10. You don't know or care about the fuss with Cuba, it's just a cheap place to travel with good cigars and no Americans.
  11. When there is a social problem, you turn to your government to fix it instead of telling them to stay out of it.
  12. You get milk in bags as well as cartons and plastic jugs.
  13. Pike is a type of fish, not some part of a highway.
  14. You drive on a highway, not a freeway.
  15. You know what a Robertson screwdriver is.
  16. You have Canadian Tire money in your kitchen drawers
  17. You know that Thrills are something to chew and "taste like soap."
  18. You know that Mounties "don't always look like that."
  19. You dismiss all beers under 6% as "for children and the elderly."
  20. You know that the Friendly Giant isn't a vegetable product line.
  21. You know that Casey and Finnegan are not a Celtic musical group.
  22. You participated in "Participaction."
  23. You have an Inuit carving by your bedside with the rationale,"What's good enough protection for the Prime Minister is good enough for me."
  24. You wonder why there isn't a 5 dollar coin yet.
  25. Like any international assassin/terrorist/spy in the world, you possess a Canadian passport.
  26. You use a red pen on your non-Canadian textbooks and fill in the missing 'u's from labor, honor, and color.
  27. You know the French equivalents of "free", "prize", and "no sugar added", thanks to your extensive education in bilingual cereal packaging.
  28. You are excited whenever an American television show mentions Canada.
  29. You make a mental note to talk about it at work the next day.
  30. You can do all the hand actions to Sharon, Lois and Bram's "Skin-a-ma-rinky-dinky-doo" opus.
  31. You can eat more than one maple sugar candy without feeling nauseous.
  32. You were mad when "The Beachcombers" were taken off the air.
  33. You know what a toque is.
  34. You have some memento of Bob and Doug.
  35. You know Toronto is not a province.
  36. You never miss "Coach's Corner".
  37. Back bacon and Kraft Dinner are two of your favourite food groups.


Like everywhere, it has its ups and downs but I have to say, Toronto has mainly ups. Although I whinge about the public transport (TTC) it's generally clean, on time and very frequent. The people are friendly, the food great, the beers great and the standard of living is really high. The downsides? Well the novelty of snow wears off pretty quickly and standing waiting on the streetcar in -28c weather isn't my idea of fun to say the least.

But all in all, I've feck all to complain about.. it's a Thursday evening, I've no work tomorrow (I work a short week once a month). It's snowing out but I have the heating on, I'm curled up on the couch and I've a St. Ambroise Oatmeal stout in my hand.

Life is great.

Himself

My photo
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Beer lover, Loving Husband and Dad :-) - oh and I'm an expert recruiter