The Bar Towel

Hey, there are clearly some issues with their choices but with 2 of my favourite GRB beers in bottles, I'll give them a shot

pic from facebook

Call me an ass (based on my drunken reply on FB ), but I'll be the one to be a hater.

If this place is what I heard and expect it to be, I'll support Borealis any day of the week.

With the amount of beer they have, yes, there's something I may be willing to drink, but sadly, this is not our saving grace.

If this turns into something very good, I'll buy a round for our next K-W gathering since this may be our next meet up.

PS: From what I've heard, food is nowhere near their other restaurants. Info from a rival, but someone that's friends with owners and enjoys their other brands.

I attended "training day" in Cambridge accidentally by noticing the front doors opening at noon on Sat and just turning in for a pint. The food (free for all that showed up) was very good (I had an albacore tuna salad and my son had a beef sandwich with fries) and I had a Mad Tom and a OK Pale.

Sleeman has the most taps (8, I think) plus the 3 tap booths, Mill St is second with 5 and then an importer with Steigl, DT, etc... Brick, Muskoka, Amsterdam, Flying Monkeys all had some representation. Only 1 Molson (Creemore) and no Labatt.

All the staff were on so you were somewhat overwhelmed by shapely young women in LBD's. The bottle fridge shown in the pics is a 3 tier that has a rolling library ladder for the top shelf which will be great for asking my favourite LBD to get me a beer from. The 9 TV config behind the bar is spectacular.

Overall, a good first impression. The reality for me though is the location is awkward and not somewhere I want to drive to on a regular basis. Maybe as a shopping break from time to time

I went in for lunch Tuesday. Food was good, small portions, but I expected that. Good beer selection, far better than anything else that we have locally. Nothing too far into left field, but they need to make the rent.

I don't think that anything in Cambridge can be in a good location, this city is still stuck in Preston, Galt and Hespeler. For m though, I could walk home from Beertown if I had to.

I mentioned this in the "What are you drinking?" thread, but their goal is to eventually get in bottles from different importers/agencies, not sure about kegs though.

I don't know if it was bad luck on my part, and I picked a bottle they haven't gotten in yet, or if there's a bunch of bottles not in.

One of the cooler things is that you can purchase the glassware at a low price of $5 (the three of us were guessing in the $10-20 range for them.) A portion of glassware sales goes to the Cambridge Memorial Hospital.

Waterloo Region Record Aug 11, 2102
http://www.therecord.com/news/business/ ... enaissance

Charcoal invested $1.8 million to launch Beertown Cambridge and is spending $2.3 million to open Beertown Waterloo.

According to Palubiski, it’s all based on the “beer renaissance” that’s been taking place over the past decade, which he likens to the “wine renaissance” that preceded it in the 1990s.

In the 1980s, the company’s anchor restaurant in Kitchener, the Charcoal Steakhouse, could get by offering a ho-hum selection of wines like Mouton Cadet and Black Tower.

But a push by the wine companies to promote more sophisticated vintages raised the bar and customers started expecting them on the menu.

The same leap forward happened in the beer industry with the arrival of craft beers, quality imports and an explosion of flavours such as apple, wheat and raspberry beer, which were designed to appeal to people who never liked ales and lagers in the first place, he says.

So Charcoal, which has never been one to rest on its laurels, decided to jump onto this beer bandwagon.

hmmmm.
I am of 2 sides on this.
They clearly have the stones and the $ to build a significant business, but will the beer ever live up to the expectation of beer geeks? Cambridge is OK - they have a good selection of Ontario craft (fewer taps than I'd like) but nothing one off or anything I'd drive to Cambridge for like I would to Volo or C'est What or Gigs.... Michigan or Philly. There is nothing stopping them from raising their game, except maybe a margin hit.

I have the same kind of reaction to the Beer Academy. They obviously have the DEEP pockets and their beer is so far ... good. I wonder if there is anything stopping them from brewing the next 10BY ....or Tempest ...or Pliny. They can afford the best ingredients, the time , the technicians, the equipment and the tools, but it all seems to be missing something..... the passion? I have talked to people at Beertown and Beer Academy.....it's different.
I don't know.
Can you buy passion?
"Me so horny, me love you long time!"

The jury is out. I'm not sure. I am sure the internet knows.
/end rant

NRman wrote:ic from facebook

Does Keith's prevent them from listing a REAL India Pale Ale?

Because those who dislike it, dislike it a lot...

Belgian wrote: Does Keith's prevent them from listing a REAL India Pale Ale?

Because those who dislike it, dislike it a lot...

Exactly.
My wife is known to lecture/advise many a bar owner/tender/waiter on listing Keith's as an IPA (it "worked" at the Bungalow in London and they eventually canned it for Mad Tom!?) and its presence in a place called Beertown is what I struggle with. We actually called out the manager and he suggested Keith's insisted that it be listed as an IPA. Although it is a beer and therefore meets the minimum standard and I guess its not called "Only Good Beertown" and maybe that's OK.

Those who drink it, drink it a lot!

It's just that nearly every hoppy pale or bitter on the list is closer to an "IPA" than the Keiths Idiot Pale Ale. The contrast is ludicrous. Put Mad Tom IPA on that list, unless... does Labbatt have some clout in the matter?

Went to this place for the first time a couple weekends ago.

Lame, sanitized, corporate version of a beer bar. Between the nearly zero interesting taps and the composition of the crowd I'll never be returning.

Ale's What Cures Ya wrote:Went to this place for the first time a couple weekends ago.

Lame, sanitized, corporate version of a beer bar. Between the nearly zero interesting taps and the composition of the crowd I'll never be returning.

Kind of place I'll stop by...

to purposely order a water after asking for the beer menu.