Bellwoods Brewery

lister · Post by **lister** » Thu May 10, 2012 2:00 pm

JeffPorter wrote:Why am I not there RIGHT NOW???

You could be but you'd be standing around outside waiting for them to open.

We still haven't made it over there yet. I suspect we won't until lunch hours are available.

cratez · Post by **cratez** » Fri May 11, 2012 5:31 pm

Belgian wrote: This place deserves some credit for having a great relaxed vibe...It is an magical quality, IMO...By the way the Bellwoods bread is a great house specialty.

Agreed. From my perspective the reviews for this place have been modest so far. Bellwoods is cranking out high quality takes on under-represented styles with interesting, delicious food and a near-perfect ambience. IMO it's the only T.O. spot that favourably compares to the great brewpubs down south, and needless to say it blows Mill St. and Granite out of the water. I know these are strong words but the lady and I were *extremely* impressed with our experience here, so I feel the praise is warranted. They've raised the bar really high and I'll be interested to see how other newcomers (like the Indie Alehouse) stack up.

Kish84 · Post by **Kish84** » Sun May 13, 2012 3:18 pm

This place is great. Tried all of their beers, and the guest tap from GLB. They were all fantastic.

I'll agree with the sentiments on the house bread and butter, very good. Also tried the duck hearts which I enjoyed.

I had a good time sharing tables with others, I can see some people not enjoying that, but it was fun meeting people, and getting new recommendations in the city.

JeffPorter · Post by **JeffPorter** » Sun May 13, 2012 7:46 pm

Went tonight at 5:00 for a couple quickies and fell even more in love.

They threw the window open - there was a family there and their kids were playing on the "patio" out front.

Still haven't had a full glass yet, as I keep just loving the 4oz samplers.

In terms of not being able to have a full meal there, I could live forever off the bread, liverwurst, and fermented veggies.

Heads up - they're going to start selling bottles hopefully soon in the space beside them! Apparently the first beers are already bottled!

TheSevenDuffs · Post by **TheSevenDuffs** » Sun May 13, 2012 8:12 pm

JeffPorter wrote:
Heads up - they're going to start selling bottles hopefully soon in the space beside them! Apparently the first beers are already bottled!

I wonder which style(s) they are bottling?

Kish84 · Post by **Kish84** » Sun May 13, 2012 8:34 pm

JeffPorter wrote:Heads up - they're going to start selling bottles hopefully soon in the space beside them! Apparently the first beers are already bottled!

Yup, they have one of the bottles proudly displayed by the bar.

JeffPorter · Post by **JeffPorter** » Mon May 14, 2012 9:52 am

I saw that too - although the staff wasn't sure what was in it. There was a hint that there was a Belgian IPA in that tanks, but they weren't sure...whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be awesome!

lister · Post by **lister** » Mon May 14, 2012 10:47 am

Spoke too soon. We went on Friday after work. It was busy but no lineup so we got a table upstairs right away.

I got tasters of the baltic porter, IIPA and the dubbel to start. The girlfriend got a pint of the berliner weisse. I later did whole pints of the pale ale and the baltic porter. She had grandma's boy and the dubbel. All were tasty but she found the weisse to be a little thin. 16oz pint sizes of the lower alcohol beers... hmmmm...

There is enough food there for a full meal. We had the bread and liverwurst, salami, thunder oak cheese, crispy pork, pork rinds, spotted prawns and I think that's it.

Service was excellent.

A nitpick, for those sitting at tables on the upper floor it is impossible to see the full menu chalkboards unless you stand and look through the patrons sitting at the rail. Kind of annoying for everybody, table people and rail people. Perhaps a small printed menu of the food and booze should be at each table.

Also I found the air flow to be not that great. It wasn't a problem that night but I think it'll be an issue when it's hotter.

We will be back!

JeffPorter · Post by **JeffPorter** » Mon May 14, 2012 12:18 pm

lister wrote: A nitpick, for those sitting at tables on the upper floor it is impossible to see the full menu chalkboards unless you stand and look through the patrons sitting at the rail. Kind of annoying for everybody, table people and rail people. Perhaps a small printed menu of the food and booze should be at each table.

Did you see the second set of chalkboards? They're actually hanging high in the brewery part adjascent to upstairs seats - maybe that was just a new edition over the weekend...

lister · Post by **lister** » Mon May 14, 2012 12:32 pm

JeffPorter wrote:Did you see the second set of chalkboards? They're actually hanging high in the brewery part adjascent to upstairs seats - maybe that was just a new edition over the weekend...

Yes, they were hard to see as well. We were sitting at the table nearest to the stairs.

Just a simple piece of paper with the menus on it. Nothing fancy. No logos, graphics, etc. Just printed text. Put them on the tables prior to service. Easy peasy.

Stevetut · Post by **Stevetut** » Tue May 15, 2012 10:30 am

lister wrote:16oz pint sizes of the lower alcohol beers... hmmmm...

Based on all the great reports I've read here, I've been really looking forward to checking out Bellwoods on my next trip up to Toronto over our Memorial Day weekend. What's with the 16oz. pints though? Why not imperial pints? This sounds like a repeat of Duggan's misguided policy a few years ago. This is Canada. 20oz. pints are the official measure. What gives?

GregClow · Post by **GregClow** » Tue May 15, 2012 10:54 am

Stevetut wrote:What's with the 16oz. pints though? Why not imperial pints? This sounds like a repeat of Duggan's misguided policy a few years ago. This is Canada. 20oz. pints are the official measure. What gives?

Yes, a pint is 20 ounces in Canada, but there is no "official measure" for selling beer in that quantity.

Bellwoods is selling their beer in 12 ounce pours for stronger beers, and 16 for others. That is how they are listed on their menu, not as "pints". Perfectly legal and acceptable.

Your PREFERENCE might be to order beer in 20 ounce servings. You might even think that Bellwoods is charging too much for 12/16 oz pours. But suggesting that they are pouring "pints" that aren't "official measure" is off base.

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Tue May 15, 2012 11:03 am

But are they using US or Imperial ounces?

lister · Post by **lister** » Tue May 15, 2012 11:11 am

Stevetut wrote:Based on all the great reports I've read here, I've been really looking forward to checking out Bellwoods on my next trip up to Toronto over our Memorial Day weekend. What's with the 16oz. pints though? Why not imperial pints? This sounds like a repeat of Duggan's misguided policy a few years ago. This is Canada. 20oz. pints are the official measure. What gives?

Seems to be "The Thing" to do in Toronto now. I blame the hipsters.

I've said it before here, I don't like 16oz servings here at home in Toronto. I prefer 20oz unless the beer is a high ABV in which case a smaller serving size is appropriate. Places serving 16oz here have not scaled their prices accordingly in my experience. When visiting other cities, like in the USA, I don't mind the smaller serving sizes because I usually want to try a tonne of beers that I haven't had yet. Prices also tend to be scaled appropriately too.

Duggan has a weird fetish for small serving sizes and small bottles. Remember the ridiculously small Mill St Organic bottles? The justification for #9 was the higher ABV. Well, for the Sorachi it's 4%, what's with still using the small bottles? I'll drink his beers on tap but I refuse to buy the bottles.

A bartender at a bar we frequent is looking to open his own place. He asked us about various things pertaining to our preferences for bars. One thing he asked about was serving size. He's looking at 16oz sizes but would scale the price accordingly. I can at least, grudgingly so, accept that.

Stevetut · Post by **Stevetut** » Tue May 15, 2012 11:17 am

GregClow wrote:
Stevetut wrote:What's with the 16oz. pints though? Why not imperial pints? This sounds like a repeat of Duggan's misguided policy a few years ago. This is Canada. 20oz. pints are the official measure. What gives?
Yes, a pint is 20 ounces in Canada, but there is no "official measure" for selling beer in that quantity.

Bellwoods is selling their beer in 12 ounce pours for stronger beers, and 16 for others. That is how they are listed on their menu, not as "pints". Perfectly legal and acceptable.

Your PREFERENCE might be to order beer in 20 ounce servings. You might even think that Bellwoods is charging too much for 12/16 oz pours. But suggesting that they are pouring "pints" that aren't "official measure" is off base.

They ARE pouring pints that aren't official measure. Whether I and others consider that a problem will depend on their price for a 16oz. pint. Why is it "off base" for me to ask why that is happening? Apparently at least one other here questions the policy too. Smaller, i.e 12oz., pours for strong beers makes sense and is common in the US as well and nobody objects. I would still like to know the reasoning behind serving 16oz. pints, as it is not your standard practice - if that's not too off base a request.