C'est What Fall Festival Of Craft Breweries - Fri Oct 2nd

[bartle]

The really neat thing was to see 11 casks on - a c'est what record!

It was really interesting to try cask lagers.
The Black Oak Oktoberfest was very interesting. I can't pin point just what I thought of it. It was so different from all of the other Oktoberfests, it's smoothness really lent itself to producing subtle tones of the smokey flavour and a nice mellow malt backing. Did it need the crispness of more carbon dioxide? I still don't know.

[TwoPint]

The Great Lakes Redneck was my favorite of the night.

I second that. There were some interesting things there but Redneck was the one for me.

[Derek]

Great to see some unfiltered lagers.

I thought the Oaktoberfest & the Red Neck were the new standouts.

I liked the big butt when I first tried it, but later in the evening it seemed a little too smoky.

[kwjd]

Great to see some unfiltered lagers.

I thought the Oaktoberfest & the Red Neck were the new standouts.

I liked the big butt when I first tried it, but later in the evening it seemed a little too smoky.

I think my favourites were the Black Oak Octoberfest, Red Neck and the Big Butt. I really enjoyed the smokiness in it. I was back at C'est What again today and had a full pint of it and really enjoyed it. I like it better than the Church Key Holy Smoke.

[Torontoblue]

Just had a few mouthfuls of the Red Neck now and thought it was totally unbalanced and was just a "One Pint Only" for the night type of beer. So perfumey (sp) on the nose, a little too much for my personal liking and the finish was immensely bitter and dry; reminded me of JHB's Helter Skelter. Brava for making this beer but a little bit more of a balance would make it far more palatable (seems to be a theme with the current Great Lakes beers, not very subtle and too much in your face).

[northyorksammy]

am i the only one who tried the granite double hopped? not a peep about it
yet i thought it a decent hoppy beer, and very different than their hoppin mad

[kwjd]

am i the only one who tried the granite double hopped? not a peep about it
yet i thought it a decent hoppy beer, and very different than their hoppin mad

I thought this was the same as they have at their brewpub?

[GregClow]

am i the only one who tried the granite double hopped? not a peep about it
yet i thought it a decent hoppy beer, and very different than their hoppin mad

I thought this was the same as they have at their brewpub?

No, it was a special double-hopped version of their IPA. Only the regular IPA is at the brewpub.

The Hopping Mad, which is also available at the brewpub and occasionally elsewhere, is a different beer.

[kwjd]

am i the only one who tried the granite double hopped? not a peep about it
yet i thought it a decent hoppy beer, and very different than their hoppin mad

I thought this was the same as they have at their brewpub?

No, it was a special double-hopped version of their IPA. Only the regular IPA is at the brewpub.

The Hopping Mad, which is also available at the brewpub and occasionally elsewhere, is a different beer.

Ah I see. I knew it wasn't the Hopping Mad, but I assumed it was the same as their IPA at the brewpub. I still had a pint of this at the end of the night on Friday after the tickets were over and enjoyed it. It had been a while since having the IPA at the brewpub so I had no frame of reference to compare.

[georgemilbrandt]

It is amazing how our perceptions change with time. At the turn of the century most beer geeks would have thought that they had died and gone to beer heaven if they walked into an event with forty-six different beers from thirty-three breweries including eleven cask brews. Have we arrived in an era, like the hundred channel universe on TV, scores to choose from - hardly a drop to drink?

But then twenty years ago I thought that Conners Bitter was the best thing ever...

[northyorksammy]

didn't want to post and have snarky remarks because I didn't know it was a variation not allowed by the ever-changing rules

[tupalev]

I'm not sure anyone was disputing the quantity of beers, or variations of styles, just the execution.

There is some good honest feedback here.

[GregClow]

I'm not sure anyone was disputing the quantity of beers, or variations of styles, just the execution.

There is some good honest feedback here.

Agreed. The majority of the already established beers at the event were good to excellent brews. I just found the line-up of NEW beers to be a bit disappointing - not in terms of variety, but in terms of quality. A couple of them were, quite frankly, barely drinkable. But there were also a couple of gems in there as well.

That said - going back to George's post, I'd have to agree that our perceptions HAVE changed, simply because the beer scene in Ontario has changed so radically in the last 10, or even 5, years. While the C'est What fests are still top notch, they're not the only game in town any more, so expectations get higher, as they do for the beers being served.

I don't think it reflects a lack of appreciation on the part of the attendees (well, maybe in SOME cases - but generally not). It's more that the constantly improving quality of the beers being produced in Ontario, and the events that promote those beers, have all of us looking for better and better things. Which I think is healthy for the scene in the long run, as the brewers and publicans that are paying attention to this will end up doing better for it.