The Bar Towel

... Possible Topics: ... 3. Brewing methods/techniques (technically its steeping...) 4. Home roasting tips ... **For those of you with cheap grinders (like me) buying a sieve works wonders or improving cup quality by removing fines and making a more even extraction. Its like day and night. Great th...

Does anybody know which cider at cask days will be more on the sweet side?

Which is the most approachable for non beer/cider people?

I was looking forward to some good milds and bitters. Any recommendations?

The UK ales are all American style. I want some East Kent, Fuggles and other British hops in my cask ale. Right now, a few BC breweries and House ales look the best.

Yes Dark Horse… as opposed to Black Rooster or Donkey or Camel LOL…. There are SO many coffee shops now that I've been in a few that had a slight flaw to them… the place smelled weird, the attitude smelled weird, or something was just a tiny bit off - and I never went back. It's gotta be a little c...

Hello everyone, Coffee is my morning beer, and there is a ton of coffee in Toronto that is spectacular. Pilot is the Bellwoods of coffee, and I spend more money there than at any brewery. Sammy and I talk about coffee quite a bit, but we are looking for other people who have some information to shar...

Having Celebrator is just amazing on top of things. We now have Rochefort 10 and St. Bernardus Abt 12 as regular listings, and they would have each been a heavy weight on previous year's Winter releases. Hopefully the smaller seasonal releases will translate to more and more regular listing of clas...

Rodenbach Vintage alone would have been a great winter release by my standards. Having Celebrator is just amazing on top of things. We now have Rochefort 10 and St. Bernardus Abt 12 as regular listings, and they would have each been a heavy weight on previous year's Winter releases. Hopefully the sm...

Bell's Expedition Stout, bottled October 23 2014. From my six-pack I got from Premier last winter. I still have 4 more! I couldn't wait for this one to turn 1 year old. Excellent stout, on par with Ten Fidy, Old Rasputin and Storm King. It has an excellent acidity from the roast malts that is almost...

I haven't had the opportunity to try Lamda yet and am hoping to change that following the release later this month. For those who have had it, just curious how dominant are the effects of the brett? I tried Indie Alehouse's (Belgian dark strong w/ brett) at Bar Hop's greatest hits event a couple of...

We should let each other know if an LCBO favourite is spotted in a fresh shipment. Usually I just want to drink a good beer in decent condition. I can get around to all my favourites eventually this way, and I get to have them in top shape. I know it's hard to believe, but every so often we get very...

ocd & short attention span AND ... looking at the current trend in whisky prices, I gave up on WWW forum at the right time long-timers here may disagree but beer is offering much better value than whisky at the moment (and no, cheap rot-gut Canadian Whisky doesn't count). when Glenfarclas, one ...

Cuvee Soeur'ise * I am disappointed in this one. For the abv it is very thin and spritzy, too fizzy. Tartness is moderate, sweetness is perceivable in the mouthfeel and unclean aftertaste. Cherry flavour is mild but comes off slightly artificial, in a sort of Liefmans Cuvee Brut kind of way. Flavou...

the other problem? carbonation. i had to read a bunch of webpages and watch tutorials on how to carbonate cask beer. i then made a step by step spreadsheet on what to do and it still didn't make total sense. i think we have a grasp on how to cask carbonate/condition, but we'll see. and if it's tapp...

Liefman's Goudenband from the LCBO release a couple years back. ** As a sherry fan, I can appreciate the oxidized flavours, but the thin body and lack of other flavours make this a little one dimensional. Decent, drinkable, but not in the same league as the Rodenbach Vintage or Cuvee de Jacobins. I ...

Aged Saison Dupont and a 2012 Orval. Orval and Dupont are two of my favourite beers. I find I love the hops in Orval so much that I prefer just a touch of funk to add complexity. I'm drinking the Jan 2015 batch right now, and it is one remarkable beer. My last 750 of Dupont is sitting in the fridge...