A limited number of cases of St-Ambroise Russian Imperial Stout have begun to filter into LCBO store. This is the first attempt by the Montreal-based brewery at an imperial stout – an effort which is long overdue considering the plaudits they have received for their St-Ambroise Oatmeal Stout. McAuslan’s description of their beer states:

“St-Ambroise Russian Imperial Stout is Quebec’s tribute to the late 1700’s English Imperial Stouts, brewed for the Russian courts of Catherine the Great. Made from a blend of barley malts, St-Ambroise Russian Imperial Stout is infused with Cascade, Goldings and Willamette hops, resulting in an outstanding hop-character with a smooth finish. Bourbon wood-aged, this full-bodied ale has a rich, smoky aroma with hints of vanilla, expresso and chocolate.

Serve St-Ambroise Russian Imperial Stout between 13°C and 15°C, preferably in a port glass or a brandy snifter. This stout will improve with age for a number of years. Store in a cool, dark place.”

This offering has received considerable praise on both Beer Advocate and Ratebeer, and has become one of the highest rated beers in Canada. Only 9,600 bottles were produced, and the LCBO is selling their allotment at $5.95 while supplies last.

Beau’s All Natural Brewing in Vankleek Hill near Ottawa will be releasing two beers this week – the return of the seasonal Beaver River I.P.eh?, and the brand new Matt’s Sleepytime Stout.

Beaver River is a part of Beau’s on-going seasonals program, complimenting its flagship Lug Tread Lagered Ale with a rotating seasonal beer. It’s an authentic India Pale Ale, designed to appeal to hopheads, and this year the beer has been dry-hopped as well, to amplify the Pacific Gem and Summit hop aromas. Beaver River is named after the Riviere Castor which connects Ottawa to many Eastern Ontario towns and villages.

Matt’s Sleepytime Stout is the first of Beau’s new Wild Oats program,designed to explore some of the most challenging styles in beer to provide truly unique taste experiences. Sleepytime is an Imperial Stout (8% abv), fermented with Belgian yeast and aged with oak staves. Tastes of chocolate, coffee and vanilla are complimented with American hops and a true Belgian character in the finish.

In addition to this pair of new beers, Beau’s has also relaunched Lug Tread in a unique new package featuring four 600 ml bottles. The four-pack features more beer but less packaging than an average six-pack, and features labels are printed on treeless paper to help reduce deforestation, and a non-bleached cardboard box made from 100% post-consumer recycled material. The new four-pack is currently being rolled out to LCBO locations, replacing the 750 ml ceramic bottle which will now be used exclusively for seasonal releases.

St. George’s Day
Beer for a Cure
Gourmet CASK! Ale Dinner

CASK! Toronto presents a delicious four-course dinner featuring a cask ale matched with each course, in support of Prostate Cancer Canada.

The event is a celebration of all things English, with a guest speaker, silent auction and door prizes.

Saturday, April 24, 2010 @ 7 p.m. sharp.
The Granite Brewery and Restaurant
245 Eglinton Avenue East, on the east side of Mount Pleasant south of Eglinton

Tickets are $65 per person. Please call Caroline or Robert Hughey at 416 462 3788 to purchase tickets.

For the March edition of their monthly Project X cask beer night, Great Lakes Brewery will be presenting Project XX in honour of International Women’s Day.

Two teams of ladies put their skills to the test making cask beers for this event:
Team 1: Jamie and Melle Oh will dazzle us with their Hefe Weiss!
Team 2: Anetta and Kristy throw down an American Style IPA!

A bar featuring other Great Lakes Beers will also be available.

Melle Oh will be showcasing her paintings, and there will be live music by a female artist.

Food will be by Kristy and Chelsea, the chefs from The Troubadour Bar – yummy home cooked goodness (and recipes made with beer grains and beer!). Oysters will be provided by Oyster Boy, and shucked by the ladies of Great Lakes!

Thursday, March 11th – 6:30 PM
Great Lakes Brewery, 30 Queen Elizabeth Blvd., Etobicoke
$10.00 at the door – All proceeds go to the Women’s Habitat of Etobicoke

Join local breweries Great Lakes, King, Nickel Brook and Mill Street, along with 86′D Mondays host Ivy Knight and guest host Kevin Brauch (The Thirsty Traveller), for a beer tasting in support of the Ontario Greenbelt.

The Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen St. W.
Monday March 15th – 7:00 PM
free admission

Ontario Cask Imperial Stout Tasting

Starting Friday, March 12th, 2010 @4:00 barVolo will be featuring four Ontario Imperial Stouts on Cask.

The Following beers will be available;

Grand River Russian Gun Imperial Stout          8.4% – 47 IBU
Mill St. Chocolate Imperial Stout              7.5% – 65 IBU
Wellington Russian Imperial Stout              8.0% – 50 IBU
Scotch Irish John By Imperial Stout              8.5% – 80 IBU

All beers will be served in 300mL glassware for $6.00. You can also try all four beers in a sample trio 4 x 3oz samples for $10.00. The feature is available until Supplies Last! Cheers!

Several upcoming beer events have just been announced for Toronto & Cambridge:

Thu Mar 11 – Denison’s Brewing Co. Feature @ barVolo (587 Yonge St., Toronto)
Wed Mar 17 – 3rd Annual Stout Stand-off @ The Monks Table (1276 Yonge St., Toronto)
Sat Mar 27 – Grand River Beer Dinner @ Golden Kiwi (47 Dickson St., Cambridge)

For more information on each event, click the links above.

The Only Cafe (972 Danforth Avenue) will be presenting the next edition of their tutored beer tasting series “About Beer: Beer Appreciation 101″ on Sunday, March 7th at 6:00 PM.

This edition will feature Michael Duggan, brewmaster of Duggan’s Brewery. Michael will be talking about water and it’s influence on different types of beer.

Tickets are $25, and it’s advised that reservations be made in advance, as previous sessions have been very popular. Contact The Only for more details.

Les Trois Mousquetaires Private Order #1 March 2010

HMH Negotiants are happy to announce that we are now representing Les Trois Mousquetaires in Ontario! Based out of Bossard, Quebec, brew master Jonathan Lafortune has developed an array of extraordinary brands mainly routed in the German tradition that have slowly made an impression on the world wide craft beer scene. Recently his beers have placed in the Top 50 Rated beers in Canada on RateBeers Best of 2010. For our first Private Order with Les Trois Mousquetaries the following brands will be available for residents and licensee’s;

Grande Cuvée Doppelbock
Strong Dark Lager
12 x 750mL – 9.0%

Série Signature Rauchbier
Smoked Lager
12 x 750mL – 5.0%
*Rauchbier Available for Licensee’s Only

This order will be closing on Monday, March 16th, 2010 at 12:00pm. If you would like to order this brand, please e-mail tomas@hmhnegotiants.com the following information; your full name, mailing address including postal code and city, telephone number, e-mail address and the number of cases you would like to order. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to e-mail us. Cheers!

5th CASK! Social
Saturday Feb. 27th 3pm to 6pm
Granite Brewery (245 Eglinton Ave. East)

From the CASK! website:

We are happy to announce that our fifth CASK! Social will be held this coming Saturday, February 27th 2010, at the Granite Brewery, on Mount Pleasant just south of Eglinton, from 3pm to 6pm. Ron Keefe’s three fine cask ales will be on offer and, if you’re thirsty for more Granite ales, growlers can be purchased to take away. If you’re bringing a designated driver, there is free parking underneath the building. The rules remain the same: turn up, be genial, drink cask ale. We can’t make it any simpler. Watch this space for news of March and further socializing. www.casktoronto.com