The Bar Towel

I had to wait about 20 minutes. And hey, John Tory was there!

$3.75 per 355ml can. Bit steep.

Interior space looks nice. Three picnic tables on the patio. That'll be the premium space on nice days.

I heard Bim say they hope to open fully on Wednesday.

Gedge wrote:I had to wait about 20 minutes. And hey, John Tory was there!

$3.75 per 355ml can. Bit steep.

Everyone has different perspective, I guess. Buddy of mine responded to a couple queries of mine on twitter as follows:
On the long line-up: "It's not that bad actually, and sure to thin out after the initial rush."
On pricing: "Finally a brewery with a reasonable pricing strategy". Perhaps the 355ml cans (virtually no-one is using) are a bit deceptive on the pricing front ... but I for one, applaud the 355ml size (esp for strong brews)

I like smaller sizes for strong beers too, hopefully they make one soon. These were two under 5% and a 6% IPA.

I've tried the Dortmunnder and the Stout. Both very nice. The Stout is the best sub 5% Stout I can remember trying.

Yup, managed to get through all three during my Canada Day evening. Although nothing is experimental or progressive, everything is beautifully true to style. A note, the IPA is much more British influenced, so although has a nice amount of dankness, it is pretty malt forward. I've come across disappointed opinions on both the Dortmunder and IPA, but there's technically nothing wrong with them. Just lacking that excitement of the latest fads I guess.

EDIT: This one comment on Untappd made me giggle: "There aren't enough English style IPAs in toronto so leave it a French Canadian to make a great one in this Protestant town. Bienvenue"

Napalm Frog wrote:Yup, managed to get through all three during my Canada Day evening. Although nothing is experimental or progressive, everything is beautifully true to style. A note, the IPA is much more British influenced, so although has a nice amount of dankness, it is pretty malt forward. I've come across disappointed opinions on both the Dortmunder and IPA, but there's technically nothing wrong with them. Just lacking that excitement of the latest fads I guess.

EDIT: This one comment on Untappd made me giggle: "There aren't enough English style IPAs in toronto so leave it a French Canadian to make a great one in this Protestant town. Bienvenue"

i've only tried the IPA and I found it to be a perfect example of a pre-Moralitie Quebec IPA i.e. it was not good at all.
only redeeming features on the IPA:
no off flavours
mouthfeel/body was nice
goes down way too easy for a 6% beer

flaws with the IPA:
little to no bitterness
little to no hop flavour
little to no aroma

sorry. i'd question anyone who praised that IPA. it's a solid 2.5/5.
i feel like Toronto should be past the point in paying premium dollars for a sub-par product that was clearly a test batch that should not have been canned. but i guess we're not.

Still don't understand the whole lining up for some basic beers. Space looks awesome, price of beers was a bit steep considering it works out to be $5.30 a tall can. I'd be fine if they never made an IPA again.

Had their beers tonight. Dortmunder was generic in many ways, didn't stand out at all...but I really don't drink that style much so perhaps the best Dortmunder in the world still is average to me.

Toe IPA was terrible.

The stout was promising, and decent, but a bit simple. Could become a good beer over time.

Overall impression was, no need to rush out and visit them when I still haven't been to Rorschach and other east end breweries.

Funny, I thought cost was a bit steep too, but then I think that $5, 500 ml bottles from Indie and Muddy York are a good deal. Pretty close in price. My random thoughts:

Lager: Loved it. Just compared it to other lagers I'd had recently and thought it was delicious. You have a business plan right there.
Stout: Liked it. I enjoyed this, more so than Junctions Stationmaster stout, around the same rating as Stork Derby by Muddy York.
IPA: Didn't like this. Even knowing that it was English style, just didn't dig this. Wasn't filtered which is positive but not much bitterness nor English hop flavours at all.

I'm East end, I'll probably swing by for a snack/beer sometime but not sure I'd run over if West end based.

My two cents, Godspeed has declined to join the arms race for the time being. Dialing in the set up and focusing on some core styles before thinking about anything that will push the envelope. It's hard to really excel here. A few summers ago, in Vermont, I had a couple of pints of Hill Farmstead beers (an APA and an American brown ale), while they were very good and paired with what I was eating, I can't say they were light years better than good, fresh Canuck or Eephus or anything like that.

I thought 2 of the 3 beers were good to great but you probably already have favorites at breweries that are comparable. Regardless, I'm sure this place will succeed due to Bim's track record and I'm excited to see future styles they put out.

alsiem wrote:... I thought 2 of the 3 beers were good to great but you probably already have favorites at breweries that are comparable. Regardless, I'm sure this place will succeed due to Bim's track record and I'm excited to see future styles they put out.

And it's an up-and-coming neighborhood that even in the last 5 or 8 years has changed a lot in terms of sophistication and people who know beer. It's a smart choice for a local market, and at a very useful transit junction (particularly the bus link to the subway.)

I still have no idea what to eat in this area. Yes Indian food perhaps, I find it hit-and-miss. Maybe not the (new) Via Mercanti, they do a gorgeous job of baking a super bland pizza, every time. Descendant isn't terribly far and worth the stop by. I wish you could bring in outside food at more bars, the ones with decent food excepted of course.

Belgian wrote:
I still have no idea what to eat in this area. Yes Indian food perhaps, I find it hit-and-miss. Maybe not the (new) Via Mercanti, they do a gorgeous job of baking a super bland pizza, every time. Descendant isn't terribly far and worth the stop by. I wish you could bring in outside food at more bars, the ones with decent food excepted of course.

Lake Inez, right around the corner on Gerrard. Great food (though not what one would call inexpensive, worth everything I've spent there before), and one of the best beer lists at a food-first place anywhere in Toronto: http://www.lakeinezto.com/drink.html

nickw wrote:[Lake Inez, right around the corner on Gerrard. Great food (though not what one would call inexpensive, worth everything I've spent there before), and one of the best beer lists at a food-first place anywhere in Toronto: http://www.lakeinezto.com/drink.html

Cool, I will be taking friends there (though not ones I would be frugal with!)

Make the hike up to the Danforth and go to the Wren. Lake Inez is their sister restaurant I believe, but I've never been.

Craig wrote:Make the hike up to the Danforth and go to the Wren. Lake Inez is their sister restaurant I believe, but I've never been.

Always wondered how the food is at Wren, really great looking place and nice servers and customers (making it virtually an emblem of the new east Dan thing) but never ate there.

Just wrapped up my first sit down here, 2h or so (way longer than expected). Service and food was okay. Love the Japanese izakaya style, but prices are a bit much for what was offered. I found service okay, but the guy next to me said he waited 15 min before he even got his first beer. I was a bit more proactive, and we had a few rounds rapidly after that. Growing pains? Had the Dry Hopped Saison, nice and bitter for a saison, nothing too special. Sipping the smoked saison at home right now, nice hybrid German ruach vs Belgian saison hybrid.

Main reason why i'm posting, is that while the bar was trying to catch up on tasks, Luc was helping out and I managed to have a good chat with him. In a very summarised nutshell, Luc seems to want a break from experimenting. He wants to brew exactly what he wants to drink at home after a full day's work. This is why he started off with the Dortmunder and Stout. He said the only reason he did the IPA was because 'they' (he didn't say who) made him make one. He explicitly mentioned how much of the beer community was 'bitching' about this IPA. He seemed to shrug it off for the drinkability reason above. He also said that one his first favourite IPA was Bell's Two Hearted, and that's his inspiration for IPAs. He understands, but is not necessarily a fan or driven towards making more progressive IPAs that are slowly trickling up here from the US. I jokingly mentioned Bellwoods Milkshark being the current new TO beer geek fad, and although no concrete response, sort of laughed it off.

Luc is a really cool guy, the venue is awesome, food has great potential and I definitely will try to be back as much as possible on bike before cold season hits, but it looks like this might be more of a neighborhood pet project for the next year or two before anything groundbreaking is out.

Call it like you see it.
Beer is average at best.
Ignore his history or cache and go based on the current offerings.
His IPA was shitty and a smoked Saison sounds pretty ungood.
This is just a weird project and even worse than that, no one is calling a spade a spade. So many Toronto beer "writers" all up in his cookie dough, sucking the beer god dick.
So amateur, so gross.