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Halo Brewery

Discuss anything and everything about craft brewers from Ontario here.

Moderators: Craig, Cass

napoleon
Posts: 282
Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2012 12:37 pm
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Post by napoleon »

atomeyes wrote: not to talk about Bandit on a Halo thread (and someone should start a Bandit thread, please and thanks), .
I already did start a Bandit thread:
http://www.bartowel.com/forum/viewtopic ... 20&t=10551
I went there during their soft-opening week. Out of the newest 3 entrants Halo was the best, Bandit was the worst, and Henderson's was bland, but competent.

atomeyes
Beer Superstar
Posts: 2153
Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2011 1:39 pm

Post by atomeyes »

[quote="sprague11"][/quote]
Just touching on Halo again for a second. if there's anything they're doing that can be considered flawed, it's being creative. there aren't any standard, plain Jane beer they're doing that would cater to typical Toronto beer drinkers OR that would possibly highlight their brewing abilities. and i'm quite fine with that. They've gone the "Sculpin" route of playing with fruit additions. that's currently their thing. complicates beer and recipes. in the end, i can see Toronto 100% falling in love with that schtick.

Halo's space is very nice. clean, small, nice, simple.

Halo and Bandit (and others) did the same thing: branding and logos were made well before the beer was launched. which is fine. Halo didn't launch glassware prior to opening, and that always makes me raise an eyebrow. like, why bother? let the beer speak for itself. i do like the Bandit glassware, except their logo's a ripoff of something. can't put my finger on what it's stolen from, but, in my mind, it's 100% a rip off of artwork already out there. i apologize if i'm wrong.

there's nothing wrong with not being a beer guy and getting into the industry, as long as it's for the right reasons. we have enough beer folk getting into the industry for the wrong reasons. yes, passion's a dumb reason to sink hundreds of thousands of dollars into a brewery. a business plan PLUS passion is the smart way to go.

I've seen pictures of the Bandit taproom and it's a total headscratcher.
Image

fermentors open up into the bar. makes little sense to me when a brewery's that small. if you have to clean a tank on a saturday or sunday, how do you do it when a bar's operating right there??
FVs are also pressurized vessels. having those so close to employees? i've heard of tanks collapsing due to improper caustic cycles being run. makes zero bloody sense.

Duggan's Syndrome's different. it's similar to Paul Dickey Syndrome. guy did something once upon a time, and is now a hired gun for any deep pocket with money. doesn't really do much now, but hey, people who aren't in the know will hire them for a recipe.

User avatar
Blasphomet
Posts: 446
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 11:07 am

Post by Blasphomet »

I enjoyed the Halo brews I had quite a bit. Especially the Ion Cannon.

As for the above comments... there's nothing stopping someone who wants to open a brewpub if they want to do it. I say good for them. If people go, they go, and hopefully they improve, and if not, and they still do well, then that's fine too. I find it hard to complain about what is going on. The more beer the better. I enjoy going to the bottle shops and picking stuff up even if it isn't always the greatest.

I look forward to trying Bandit too.

napoleon
Posts: 282
Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2012 12:37 pm
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Post by napoleon »

atomeyes wrote: Halo and Bandit (and others) did the same thing: branding and logos were made well before the beer was launched. which is fine. Halo didn't launch glassware prior to opening, and that always makes me raise an eyebrow. like, why bother? let the beer speak for itself. i do like the Bandit glassware, except their logo's a ripoff of something. can't put my finger on what it's stolen from, but, in my mind, it's 100% a rip off of artwork already out there. i apologize if i'm wrong.
You know you're completely right on the logo. It makes me think of the Bad Robot Logo:
Image

For comparison:
Image

As for the plan to try Bandit...you can just skip it unless they've dramatically improved.

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El Pinguino
Seasoned Drinker
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Location: Downtown TO / Galapagos Islands
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Post by El Pinguino »

I like that we seem to have high expectations for new breweries. Whether it be halo or bandit or whoever.

When I look at Left Field, I remember their launch...was happy to have new beers in town, wasn't overly impressed early on though. Now, they've established themselves more and are improving their beers and making some great limited releases, like the prospect series. Even Grandstand Wheat I enjoy quite a bit.

Same for Bellwoods, about 1/3 of the beers I had from them early on were beers I thought could be improved a lot (lost river, fruit helmet, sails of charon)...and they've either dropped them from production or improved them.

Even Indie Ale House, who I thought for a long time had good food and overrated beers, is finally a place that usually has a beer or two that impresses me and I'm happy to go buy bottles from now and then, such as their fates and furies releases.

I guess what I'm saying here is don't write off the latest round of "new guys" so early...if they're smart they'll learn what people want and change / fine tune their offerings.

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jeremyg
Posts: 316
Joined: Wed May 06, 2015 4:57 pm

Post by jeremyg »

El Pinguino wrote:I like that we seem to have high expectations for new breweries. Whether it be halo or bandit or whoever.

When I look at Left Field, I remember their launch...was happy to have new beers in town, wasn't overly impressed early on though. Now, they've established themselves more and are improving their beers and making some great limited releases, like the prospect series. Even Grandstand Wheat I enjoy quite a bit.

Same for Bellwoods, about 1/3 of the beers I had from them early on were beers I thought could be improved a lot (lost river, fruit helmet, sails of charon)...and they've either dropped them from production or improved them.

Even Indie Ale House, who I thought for a long time had good food and overrated beers, is finally a place that usually has a beer or two that impresses me and I'm happy to go buy bottles from now and then, such as their fates and furies releases.

I guess what I'm saying here is don't write off the latest round of "new guys" so early...if they're smart they'll learn what people want and change / fine tune their offerings.
agree 100% (minus about IAH, just not a fan) and it's actually really impressive the jump in quality Halo's had since it opened, which wasn't that long ago

napoleon
Posts: 282
Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2012 12:37 pm
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Post by napoleon »

jeremyg wrote:
El Pinguino wrote:I like that we seem to have high expectations for new breweries. Whether it be halo or bandit or whoever.

When I look at Left Field, I remember their launch...was happy to have new beers in town, wasn't overly impressed early on though. Now, they've established themselves more and are improving their beers and making some great limited releases, like the prospect series. Even Grandstand Wheat I enjoy quite a bit.

Same for Bellwoods, about 1/3 of the beers I had from them early on were beers I thought could be improved a lot (lost river, fruit helmet, sails of charon)...and they've either dropped them from production or improved them.

Even Indie Ale House, who I thought for a long time had good food and overrated beers, is finally a place that usually has a beer or two that impresses me and I'm happy to go buy bottles from now and then, such as their fates and furies releases.

I guess what I'm saying here is don't write off the latest round of "new guys" so early...if they're smart they'll learn what people want and change / fine tune their offerings.
agree 100% (minus about IAH, just not a fan) and it's actually really impressive the jump in quality Halo's had since it opened, which wasn't that long ago
Halo has stepped things up 100% since my last visit. The initial problems they had with their hoppy beers seem to have been solved, although I think their unique saisons are by far their strongest beers. My only disappointment was that I wasn't able to bring my favorite beer home in a bottle last time.

midlife crisis
Beer Superstar
Posts: 2009
Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2004 7:00 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by midlife crisis »

Giving this thread a bump as I picked up their 100 PTS Dubbel with Cherries last Saturday. Highly recommend. Very highly. As noted already, simple but pleasant tasting bar with friendly and helpful staff. Very enjoyable visit.

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