The Bar Towel

hops are your friend wrote:I just picked up my ticket and the waitress said there are only 3 tickets left.

Oh. Shit. I was planning on grabbing mine later tonight. That doesn't sound too promising.

We ended up with 1 extra ticket so if anyone is still looking for one, let me know.

Just wanted to say that I had an awesome time at this event! Only 5 breweries, but lots of rare/one-offs that I definitely would not have tried otherwise. Beau's pan-ontario and dry-hopped lug tread were great. With the Vanilla Maple Porter and IPA, Nickelbrook is moving up in my books (in addition to a great wheat that I had on tap last week). Mad Tom on cask was delicious. Mill Street's Tankenstein and Weedeater were both great. Good to have some Kichesippi on cask too, the new 613 IPA is pretty solid.

Thanks to the Arrow and Loon for putting this on!

Would like to thank all those that came to the event, you helped pioneer this in Ottawa so now we have a starting point to go from when we do our next one (which may be in September). Thanks again for a fun and relaxed afternoon.

We had a good time at the event as well. Here's the full list of the cask ales (from what I remember):
- Beau's Iron Arse Best Bitter
- Beau's Festivale
- Beau's Pan-Ontario
- Beau's Lug Tread
- Kichisippi Dark
- Kichisippi 613 IPA
- Mill St Tankenstein
- Mill St Weedeater
- Muskoka Mad Tom
- Muskoka Cream
- Nickel Brook Headstock IPA
- Nickel Brook Vanilla Maple Porter
- Nickel Brook Gluten Free

Beer tickets were $1 and you could get a sample (5oz for between 3 and 5 tickets) or a full cup (12 oz for between 6 and 10 tickets). Prices appeared to be set by the breweries. Some were a good deal (e.g. Headstock and Mad Tom were $3/sample or $6/full cup) while some seemed to be capitalizing on their limited supply (e.g. 613 was $5/sample and $10/full cup).

The surprise of the event for me was the Nickel Brook IPA.

By the time I left they were out of the Iron Arse & Mad Tom, and the Loon seemed to have moved the cask of Lug Tread into the bar. I don't know how long they kept the event going.

If they do a similar event in the future I would recommend they split the day into 2 sessions and sell separate tickets. From what I heard there were 150 advance tickets sold, but I never saw more than 30 people there at once (I was there from about 1pm to 5:30pm). Separate sessions would allow a better estimate of how many people would be there at any one time, and should make it a busier event. Of course, they'd probably need more beer if 150 people actually showed up for a few hours each.

Also it would be easier to attract more people if it was a Saturday instead of a Sunday, but I don't think the Loon can use the courtyard on a Saturday.

Damn, I missed the Beau's bitter.

Luckily I stuck around until it was winding down (until 8:30 or so... can't quite remember), and after first cutting prices in half, it got to the point where the vendors who were left were basically giving the beer away. That's probably why I can't quite remember when I left

Keep checking our twitter @arrowandloon to see what is being poured at the Arrwo & Loon

ScottyJ77 wrote:Keep checking our twitter @arrowandloon to see what is being poured at the Arrwo & Loon

I do, it might encourage me to pop along more often if there were more updates or a more regular rotation of taps.

ScottyJ77 wrote:

peterchiodo wrote:Hey guys....great job on supporting the cask movement in ontario. We were just in Michigan at the Craft Brewer's Conference where we attended a seminar on casks. we learned a lot ourselves. It is a pretty sizable movement in the US!

Let me know if you are interested in a Flying Monkeys cask. Next time we are going to Ottawa (every six weeks) we'll set you up! even though it sounds like Beaus's and Scotch Irish are taking care of you, we would be happy to support the cause.

Peace,
Peter

I'll take one!!

Did this ever happen? I follow the twitter fairly regulary and Im in every once in a while for some cask, but I've never come across any FM. I had some cask Smash bomb at Cest What over the summer and it definitely was 'the bomb'