The Bar Towel

I like Belgian dark strong ales, and each year over the holidays we have a tasting of the ones I can find, typically either at the LCBO or across the border at Premier Gourmet. That's usually five or six different beers. It will be a pleasure to be able to include Westy 12 among them again this year...

I knew there would be a long line at Oakville, but I went anyway. I got there at 4:30 am and was number 12; the first two people had been there since 11:00 pm. Anyone who arrived after 5:30 was out of luck, which led to a couple of hundred people being very disappointed. The staff at the Oakville st...

How many is Ancaster allotted to receive again?

I never heard a number for Ancaster. They've been very close-mouthed about the entire subject.

I can say definitively (I was there at 9:40 tonight) that the Ancaster LCBO *does not* yet have their allocation. An employee said, "I cannot say" in answer to a question whether it could arrive tomorrow and be put on the shelves.

I've been saying for a long time that beer should be treated like what Vintages does with wine and spirits. At one time special beers were indeed part of the Vintages program. However, the people who worked in that section of the LCBO were neither very knowledgeable nor very interested in beer (the...

If I were a certain type of person (which I'm not), I'd be calling real estate companies and car dealers saying I was interested in buying a condo or a new car. I'd leave the contact number in the ad as a callback number.

Here is the latest from the LCBO (http://hellolcbo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1399/session/L3RpbWUvMTM1NTI3MzY4Mi9zaWQvbVR6Um13ZGw%3D): Toronto -Highway 401 & Weston (Crossroads) 416-243-3320 sold out -Queen & Coxwell 416-691-9758 - Pending arrival -Yonge & Summerhill 416-922-0403 sold ...

It actually isn't that much cheaper even. I was curious so I looked it up. It is between 700-800 for a flight from Ottawa to Edmonton on Westjet in January. If you look up a flight from Ottawa to Brussels for the same week you are about $1,089 for the same week. Of course that doesn't include costs...

Kijiji ads have been quickly removed.

They'll be back. These people are like spammers; they have no shame and an almost infinite persistence at circumventing and evading the rules. Why do they do it? Because they know we can't stop them.

There was a report (posted in the store window) that Ancaster has not received their allotment yet. Depending on whom you believe, they will either put it out later today if it arrives, or have it available beginning Friday morning. I tend to think the latter situation is more likely.

I wish we could be as cool as you Edmonton.

I think it's a case of Edmonton being so uncool it's cool. They deserve something for enduring those winters.

Ten years ago you could buy and drink a Westy 12 at the Map Room, a well-known Chicago beer bar, for $12. They poured it slowly into the proper chalice. I used to have one when I was feeling flush. It makes me nostalgic for those days.

SOOO......has anyone noticed any gift packs sitting on a shelf in Ontario today?! Specifically GTA? Apart from Ottawa, London and Kingston (all right, we can quibble about Ancaster and Guelph), you can assume that all locations allotted any Westy 12 are in the GTA. Those of us who didn't get any to...

This release has been crazy North America wide, similar situations are being reported all over Beer Advocate in places like Arizona, Carolina and Florida where they don't have government run stores. The only place this sits on shelves is Alberta....its basically the promised land, if you told Ameri...

The level of activity demonstrates the deep reservoir of frustration Ontario beer lovers have with the LCBO. Now if only we could translate that into concrete action that would resolve the situation once and for all. However, I think in that regard the LCBO is as well entrenched as some despotic reg...