The Bar Towel

It's funny you should mention the Embassy lounge. Yesterday I finished reading Nicholas Pashley's Notes on a Beermat , a book that is worth reading . I also just finished reading it the book and found it highly entertaining. I may even try the subway game! There were quite a few bars referred to th...

I recently saw an ad for Taps Brewing Company, looked it up on Ratebeer, and noticed that there were only two beers rated while the ad showed three. The unrated beer is "Red Cream Ale". Has anyone here tried it? It looks like their Premium Lager might be okay but their Charleston Lager not...

Two hours to a beer mecca sounds good. I may have to combine this with a trip to Niagara wine country...

If you go the website, check out their extensive beer list....now I understand why some people say the selection at at the LCBO sucks. I've never been to Premiere, but when I do, I think I'm going to faint at the sight of all the beer available!

Any idea on driving time from Toronto to the store?

"A Dark Horse" has come up from time to time and is probably the best pub in the Bloor West area. I still miss the Rebel Chop House as the food was so good and they had decent beer on tap. The Woodhouse was good for some German beer on tap, but that place has been closed for a while. And t...

I like the idea of ratings for beer to help a consumer (though these are often subjective), but don't know if a "BQA" or VQA equivlent would ensure the consumer is getting a good tasting beer. I thought the VQA only ensures that a certain percentage of Ontario grown grapes are used in the ...

Any chance of updating the consignment link? Maybe have a section on Bar Towel 2.0 with a "Where to buy" section including options other than the two towers of power....

It would be something if a hop 'strain' were developed that expressed our regional conditions favorably in beer, Couldn't agree more!!! This could be one way to develop a unique beer style for Canada to call its own!!!! As for the wine, I'm not so dialed in with the scene, so I'm a little niave at ...

Good links! Thinking more about it, there must have been more local sources back in the day, before global trade became so prevalent. The link to the hop manual from Crannog looks interesting and the intro makes some good points about the trend of smaller agriculture producers marketing directly to ...

Having 100% Canadian ingredients is not critical IMO, but it seems weird that a food/beverage product so "ingrained" in our culture has to use imported hops, assuming all the other ingredients are locally available. There are some great hop growing regions in the world, so why can't Canada...

This may seem like a silly question, but I know I can't answer it. Are there any Ontario craft beers made entirely from Canadian ingredients? Around Christmas time, I had a "Harvest Ale" at the Bow&Arrow which I thought touted this fact (and I believe it was made by F&M) but there ...

Only other Ontario stouts I've had in the last while include Amsterdam's Irish Stout and the Black Oak Chocolate Cherry Stout. Both decent offerings, but not in the same league as some of the others listed. And as far as I know, they aren't available in bottles....

Didn't mean to offend you Beermat!...I just thought some beer enthusiasts might enjoy your book. As for the (lack of) royalties at this point, that sucks - if we ever run into each other, I'll buy you a beer!

And the sun may shine again!

I love the comparisons! I don't drink a lot of coffee, but find it interesting that what I thought was a decent coffee (a la Second Cup) is really only a Rickards Red. The analogy can be used on so many levels - from food, music, to any item we buy, but since my resources are often limited, I for on...

Hmmm....That is an absolutely brilliant idea!!! You've got me thinking of possibilities....