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Maverick Brewing

Discuss anything and everything about craft brewers from Ontario here.

Moderators: Craig, Cass

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Tapsucker
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Maverick Brewing

Post by Tapsucker »

Anybody know anything about this?

http://www.momandhops.ca/northern-maver ... 7-toronto/

I fear it will just be another dumb loud sorts bar with a couple tanks in the back and over hyped and overpriced pulled pork poutine. Or I guess that's what the logo, name and condo location makes me think. Probably unfair, there's not much commercial space left to do anything that isn't at the base of a builder quick buck eyesore anymore, so I shouldn't hold that against them.

They do promise a cask in rotation. There, that's me trying to be positive. That and they did not mention sours or barrels. :wink:
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jp_jkl
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Post by jp_jkl »

From the article...
...a 400-seat restaurant with patio, retail store and private dining space.
The brewpub will be situated as part of a new residential development at 115 Bathurst.
Sounds like a recipe for a NIMBY disaster.

atomeyes
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Post by atomeyes »

They are still hiring a brewmaster.
they are a US-based company.
they are huge, which means they have LOTS of money behind them.
their tank set-up makes zero sense.
the job posting for their "brewmaster" was absolutely ridiculous. corporate gobleygook.

so, basically, no different than Mascot is/was.
no different than Duggans on Queen, which, from what i've heard, wasn't brewing much in house.
no different than Bandit, which has horrible beer and which, prior to opening, promised to focus on "sours and Belgian beer" (they've done neither).
just don't spend a penny there.
The Great Cull of 2017's gonna happen in the fall/winter. Breweries will close.

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Tapsucker
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Post by Tapsucker »

atomeyes wrote:They are still hiring a brewmaster.
they are a US-based company.
they are huge, which means they have LOTS of money behind them.
their tank set-up makes zero sense.
the job posting for their "brewmaster" was absolutely ridiculous. corporate gobleygook.

so, basically, no different than Mascot is/was.
no different than Duggans on Queen, which, from what i've heard, wasn't brewing much in house.
no different than Bandit, which has horrible beer and which, prior to opening, promised to focus on "sours and Belgian beer" (they've done neither).
just don't spend a penny there.
The Great Cull of 2017's gonna happen in the fall/winter. Breweries will close.
Well, thanks for depressing me. This is what I feared.

Or should we just move on at this point? It's a getting to be a bit like discussing the 'cuisine' at say Milestones...
Brands are for cattle.
Fans are cash cows.
The herd will consume until consumed.

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Belgian
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Post by Belgian »

Tapsucker wrote:Or should we just move on at this point? It's a getting to be a bit like discussing the 'cuisine' at say Milestones...
Motion seconded!
BTW I know a self-described 'foodie' who loves Milestones and Eggsquis, even after some horrible dining & once for sure food poisoning... people are hilarious.
In Beerum Veritas

atomeyes
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Post by atomeyes »

Tapsucker wrote:
atomeyes wrote:They are still hiring a brewmaster.
they are a US-based company.
they are huge, which means they have LOTS of money behind them.
their tank set-up makes zero sense.
the job posting for their "brewmaster" was absolutely ridiculous. corporate gobleygook.

so, basically, no different than Mascot is/was.
no different than Duggans on Queen, which, from what i've heard, wasn't brewing much in house.
no different than Bandit, which has horrible beer and which, prior to opening, promised to focus on "sours and Belgian beer" (they've done neither).
just don't spend a penny there.
The Great Cull of 2017's gonna happen in the fall/winter. Breweries will close.
Well, thanks for depressing me. This is what I feared.

Or should we just move on at this point? It's a getting to be a bit like discussing the 'cuisine' at say Milestones...
any summer night, Bandit is packed. last year, i got a flight. all but 1 were undrinkable. service was beyond dreadful. food menu's disgusting looking. roll-up doors on their entire north side are up and the AC is cranked. got a phone call when we got home. friend says the server's accusing us of dining and dashing. we talk to her on the phone to remind her that we paid her at the bar because she was to inattentive to come to our table. when she remembers, instead of apologizing for the phonecall or the error, she handed the phone to our friend, said "uggghhhh" and walked away. bravo!

Bandit doesn't deserve to be open. Mascot does not deserve to be open. anything Mr Duggan touches doesn't deserve to be open. 3 Brewers doesn't deserve to be open.

we'll see how things progress. see how Bim does this summer, since his place may be doing off-the-cuff beer and is quite large. that will be the measuring stick. and with that measure, will Radical Road and the other 2 pending Queen st East breweries be able to stay open?

Masterplan
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Post by Masterplan »

"Doesn't deserve to be open"? That's a bit obnoxious. If someone had the money to waste, why don't they deserve to be open?

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El Pinguino
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Post by El Pinguino »

All these places deserve to be open, and I can see there being 20, 30 or more breweries popping up before any big "collapse" happens. We are a big city with a lot of room for more beer, good or bad. Bring it on! I'll take 10 crappy breweries opening for every good one.

Some people just suck it up and realize that a bunch of new breweries are going to be nothing more than glorified sports bars. Places that you may never have visited in the past...but because they now make their own beer (perhaps garbage beer), you feel insulted for some reason. They don't care about you as their target client so you shouldn't care about them.

atomeyes
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Post by atomeyes »

Masterplan wrote:"Doesn't deserve to be open"? That's a bit obnoxious. If someone had the money to waste, why don't they deserve to be open?
more like "they should not be financially viable."
they're the Humvees of breweries. people are entitled to buy them and i'm entitled to mock their obnoxiousness and ridiculous as they putter down the street. and after an accidental ride in one, i wouldn't be caught dead in it again

atomeyes
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Post by atomeyes »

El Pinguino wrote: Bring it on! I'll take 10 crappy breweries opening for every good one.
why?
how do 10 new, shitty breweries benefit you in any way, shape or form?
it's like cheering that you have 300 cable channels but nothing worthwhile to watch.

i'll stick with quality vs quantity.

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Tapsucker
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Post by Tapsucker »

atomeyes wrote:
Masterplan wrote:"Doesn't deserve to be open"? That's a bit obnoxious. If someone had the money to waste, why don't they deserve to be open?
more like "they should not be financially viable."
they're the Humvees of breweries. people are entitled to buy them and i'm entitled to mock their obnoxiousness and ridiculous as they putter down the street. and after an accidental ride in one, i wouldn't be caught dead in it again
LOL, I like your analogy, but I guess we are now tipping into culture war territory!

I can see the "too each their own" attitude (and even support it) and I'm certainly not going to claim to be the keeper of good taste, but I am depressed about the race to the bottom both in beer quality and general standards of what are offered.

Oh, crap, I just realized what long run on sentence that was. Sorry pompous ass here!

Let's just say. (note punctuation this time) We have been here to champion, celebrate and support a beer movement that only a decade ago we were desperate for choice. Now maybe we should grow up and not celebrate every last announcement. I know, I started the thread, my bad. Let's see if we can use our collective wisdom to curate the bounty of choices.

Also, Humvees are so old school dipshit, there are now so many more au-courant agricultural vehicles to take the kids to the mall in. Just like Stella somehow became the new Heineken at some point. :lol:
Brands are for cattle.
Fans are cash cows.
The herd will consume until consumed.

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alsiem
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Post by alsiem »

I can no longer drink from the fire hose. Good luck, if you are still in business, get good reviews and I happen to be in the neighborhood, you may see me at some point in the future. That is all I can commit to in my support of craft beer in Ontario because there are already quite a few good options.

To paraphrase Mo from the Simpsons " I wish you well in that I do not not wish you any particular ill will".

atomeyes
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Post by atomeyes »

Tapsucker wrote: I can see the "too each their own" attitude (and even support it) and I'm certainly not going to claim to be the keeper of good taste, but I am depressed about the race to the bottom both in beer quality and general standards of what are offered.


Let's just say. (note punctuation this time) We have been here to champion, celebrate and support a beer movement that only a decade ago we were desperate for choice. Now maybe we should grow up and not celebrate every last announcement. I know, I started the thread, my bad. Let's see if we can use our collective wisdom to curate the bounty of choices.
this is exactly my sentiment, but more eloquently put :)

we don't need to go to every shitty Toronto beer festival or support every local brewery. there is no reason to do that. we're at a time where we are getting some really good foreign beer coming into Ontario in limited releases. i don't need to drink another APA or lager because it's local and, frankly, neither does the public. yeah, they can choose how they like and make choices based on vibe, branding, location, names, etc. That's cool. doesn't mean we need to celebrate this popped-collarness of craft beer.

more choice doesn't mean better choice. never has, never will.

getting back to Maverick: putting the expectations at slightly above 3 Brewers.

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Craig
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Post by Craig »

One plus side to all these breweries opening up is it should give talented brewers more avenues to explore and make more creative beers. Most of these new joints are opening up without head brewers. I don't know, but I strongly suspect that the market for talented brewers who can run production breweries is pretty strong right now. That should give those guys lots of leverage to be able to make the beers they want to make, because if the owners don't let them some other owner will.

So I can still bring myself to think that all these places opening is a good thing. That doesn't mean that I'm going to go.

atomeyes
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Post by atomeyes »

Craig wrote:One plus side to all these breweries opening up is it should give talented brewers more avenues to explore and make more creative beers. Most of these new joints are opening up without head brewers. I don't know, but I strongly suspect that the market for talented brewers who can run production breweries is pretty strong right now. That should give those guys lots of leverage to be able to make the beers they want to make, because if the owners don't let them some other owner will.

So I can still bring myself to think that all these places opening is a good thing. That doesn't mean that I'm going to go.
i disagree.
maverick is an 11000 sq ft building. their brewery is a relatively high volume. no idea if they'll have bottling and/or canning. there aren't a lot of brewers out there that can a) make good beer b) run a brewery.
most new places are hiring Niagara grads, and most aren't making that much of a positive impact in the industry. they're very, very green and recipe formulation seems to be a huge weakness (or perhaps it's recipe execution and adjustment?).

i can think of around 10 brewers in Ontario that I'd consider to be talented. and i would not say that they are all world class talented. Bim, Bellwoods (whether you want to put 1 to 3 brewers on there is up to you), maybe Nickelbrook, Iain Murdock, Mike Lackey, Sawdust Sam, maybe Tweedy at Tooth and Nail, maybe Adrian at Cool, Cody at Amsterdam. you can put Siobhon (formerly Burdock) and Austin (formerly Left Field) on the honourable mentions list.

three of the above names clearly do not have leverage to make whatever they want. debatably, i'd add a fourth name above to that list.

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