The Bar Towel

Did you come into C'est What? at about 6:15pm in a Newcastle shirt? I was just leaving and saw you. I wasn't able to sign up for the preview event since I was pouring wine at the New Zealand Wine Fair tonight but stopped in for a pint on my way.

Hope it went well!

Ha! I actually visited the Brains Brewery in Cardiff back in 1987 as a young backpacking lad. The Brains S.A. was recommended (I loved the nickname: Brains Skull Attack) and I recall enjoying it. Best of all, we drank it in the pub attached to the brewery, with a couple of old brewery workers, one o...

Ah, thanks for reminding me. I also have a pretty good report on my blog from 2003: http://www.consolationchamps.com/archiv ... _jord.html

Has anyone ever tried any of the beers from Yuengling, "America's Oldest Brewery"? Are they available in any of Toronto's watering holes?

As far as Ontario reds go, 2002 was a great year. I don't know if I'd be as confident buying the 2003s.

I'll second the recommendations of Strewn, Lailey, Cave Spring and Henry of Pelham. I'd also recommend Vineland Estates (good Rieslings and knowledgeable pouring room staff) as well as Fielding Estates, one of the newer operations (again, great Riesling) and Flat Rock (again, Riesling, and some inte...

I was at Volo last night and Ralph said he's thinking of adding it to his list. Has anyone tried this? Over at Ratebeer.com, it's averaging 3.88 and is in the 97th percentile.

Not sure I can go, but I did get an email from Sam Calagione from Dogfish Head saying he'll be there. By the way, funny story. He was going to send me a bottle each of the 90 Minute and 120 Minute IPA for forwarding the Toronto Star story to him, but the paperwork was going to be arduous so I sugges...

Thanks for your answers so far, but stuff like Dogfish Head doesn't really count, because they DO have an agent (and great work, Esprit, for getting the beer to us!). I'm thinking of beers that are not represented in Ontario at all yet. I saw the big order for Great Divide and thought that if there ...

I was just about to post asking about a good "encyclopedia" and remembered to search first. Thanks, all. Now I'm giving the thread a bump. If anyone has anything else/new to add, please...

I'm interested in what you consider the best beers not currently available in Ontario. Just as important, which beers do you think would sell well if they were available here?

Just putting out some feelers...

<slaps forehead>D'oh!</slaps forehead>

I sent an appreciative email through the Dogfish web site and got two nice responses, one from Claus Hagelman, National Sales Manager, and the other from Sam Calagione, the President . I told them about the good writeup in the Star and emailed the link to the article and a scan of the article itself...

Grabbed 12 bottles at Summerhill last night of the Dogfish Head 60 Minute. There were 18 bottles left at that time. And by the way, the Dogfish Head web site actually refers to the 60 Minute as a "session beer", in fact calling it "THE session beer for beer geeks like us": http:/...

I'm on my way. I'll try to post a stock report when I get home, about 7:00.