Corks Beer and Wine Bar - at Longo's?!?

[GregClow]

Yesterday, I attended a media tour of the massive new Longo's flagship store in Maple Leaf Square (new condo & retail development next to the ACC), and in addition to being one of the best grocery stores I've ever seen both in terms of design and selection, I was pleased to discover that they have a licensed lounge area called The Loft that includes a bar called Corks Beer and Wine Bar that serves exclusively VQA wines and Ontario craft beers.

There was only one beer on tap yesterday - Black Oak Pale - but I spoke with the sommelier who told me that there will be six beers available when they open to the public today. In addition to the Black Oak, the initial line-up will also include Granite Keefe's Stout, Stratford Pilsner, something from Grand River, and a couple others that she couldn't recall. The beers will be available in full servings or samples.

There will also be 20 VQA wines available by the glass or samples, kept fresh using an Enomatic serving system. Customers are welcome to bring in food purchased from the salad bar and food stations in the store, and staff will be trained to know all of the beer and wine available, and will be able to recommend pairings.

All in all, a very cool initiative! Just too bad that you won't be able to buy any of the beer to take home...

[northyorksammy]

prime property value, wonder how much they will charge a beer

[Rob Creighton]

I loved this place. Great spot to go for a pint before a game or concert. I like how the Toronto Maple Leafs parking section has all the pillars painted and logo'd

[sprague11]

Glad to see it won't be strictly Macro's. May as well have some quality brews for Leafs fans to drown their sorrows in after an ass kicking

[kwjd]

I read an article about this store. This just seems odd to me... who would go to drink in a grocery store? I'm glad they have a good beer list though.

[lister]

Too bad you can't wander the store with a beer or glass of wine. That would certainly make the shopping experience better.

[Cass]

Sounds great, and I work a stone's throw away. Looking forward to checking it out.

[zane9]

Yesterday, I attended a media tour of the massive new Longo's flagship store in Maple Leaf Square (new condo & retail development next to the ACC), and in addition to being one of the best grocery stores I've ever seen both in terms of design and selection, I was pleased to discover that they have a licensed lounge area called The Loft that includes a bar called Corks Beer and Wine Bar that serves exclusively VQA wines and Ontario craft beers....

Very cool. Longo's is an innovator. The one near me, out here in the suburbs, does its own coffee-roasting daily and the price/kg is very reasonable. I can also buy green beans from that store for my own roasting.

As trite as it sounds, Longo's wants to expand the concept of what a grocery store is.

So to anyone who wonders why you would have a beer in a grocery store, be not surprised. The new Longo's is at the core of a massive explosion in residential development in the city. The waterfront and just north is where things are taking off.

Maybe, just maybe, over the next few years it will be companies like Longo's who can actually turn the tide on where we can buy beer for off-premise consumption. As someone wrote, if you can sample beer at their store the next logical step is to buy it there to take away.

[icemachine]

I'm going to check out the Loft at the newest Longo's in Thornhill then, see if they having anything as sweet. They do coffee roasting on site too, so I'll get some beans there also.

[lister]

We wandered by for a visit tonight. Big space, quite nice. What's really irritating though, there's an Aisle 43 wine store there but of course, as we all know, no beer store* to be found. The OCB and the other Ontario brewers really need to hammer the government about that.

* Not The Beer Store, but a beer store.

[Cass]

I stopped in yesterday while downtown and can say I was very impressed.

I was under short time constraints so I wasn't able to have a drink. But they had all 6 tap lines filled - all Ontario craft as Greg mentioned. And at $5.50 per 20 oz pint they are priced great. They also had a small bottle selection including some of the Ontario fall seasonals (noticed GL Pumpkin).

You can order food from the grocery store and bring it to the bar area to eat it. The bartender mentioned to me that they are doing a pizza night on Thursdays with a 16" pizza for $6.99 or thereabouts which sounded pretty good to me.

They are open till 11pm (except Sundays), have free Wifi an lots of space (you can take the drinks to tables or just sit at the bar).

I'll echo the comment that I really respect Longo's for thinking about new ways of creating a retail grocery experience. It doesn't feel like you'd be drinking in a grocery store and I can see myself going regularly.

[JerCraigs]

I am more intrigued by the wine sampling to be honest, but it sounds pretty interesting!

[wilco]

Popped in on Friday and was impressed. This was definitely well planned out and not an afterthought. The bartenders said business has been slow so far, but a lot of people have been coming by to check it out and have said they'll be back (just like Cass). My half-pint of Grand River Ploughman's tasted great.