Looking for the original Bar Towel blog? You can find it at www.thebartowel.com.

We have a trivia question in order to register to prevent bots. If you have any issues with answering, contact us at cass@bartowel.com for help.

Introducing Light Mode! If you would like a Bar Towel social experience that isn't the traditional blue, you can now select Light Mode. Go to the User Control Panel and then Board Preferences, and select "Day Drinking" (Light Mode) from the My Board Style drop-down menu. You can always switch back to "Night Drinking" (Dark Mode). Enjoy!

2011 Toronto Beer Week - Sept 16th-24th

Post details, reviews and recaps of interesting beer events in Ontario and elsewhere here.

Moderators: Craig, Cass

zane9
Posts: 429
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 1:05 pm
Location: Hamilton

Post by zane9 »

JerCraigs wrote:...
I quite liked all three beers, all were well made and supremely drinkale. The IPA was a standout though. Less intense than some, that is a dangerously drinkable beer. Its a many pints tonight kinda brew. Lovely stuff.
I was also there last night. What a terrific bar! Service, atmosphere, food...all great! Judging by the numbers of people, it's clearly a neighbourhood favorite.

We went there for the TBW sneak peek. Like JerCraigs, I thought the IPA was tremendous. So drinkable that I had to tear myself away to get the GO train back to the 'burbs. :(

The Mick
Posts: 237
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2011 5:58 pm
Location: Ottawa

Post by The Mick »

Made it to the Beer Experience at Berkley Church last night, which was a really neat event at a venue that was really interesting too. Lots of one offs were on hand which was nice. Amsterdam had there 416 wheat ale tweaked with honey and extra dry hopping pouring from a cask, Flying Monkeys brought a Blueberry Watermelon beer and a Peach beer, Great Lakes had a Peach Wheat and Banarama, an interesting beer, their take on "liquid banana bread" and they didn't use wheat yeast for the banana flavour, it came from banana chips thrown in during the brewing. There were definitely many other one offs and seasonals as well, but I won't list them all. It was a really great event that I hope happens again next year.
I don't always drink beer ... because sometimes my friends win and we have to go to macro-only establishments.

User avatar
andrewrg
Bar Fly
Posts: 521
Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2011 11:15 am
Location: Downtown TO

Post by andrewrg »

A bit late, but I went to the Howe Sound event at Volo on Tuesday, and was very impressed with all of their beers. I liked their King Heffy least of all, but it was still a good beer.

Most impressive was the Pothole Filler and the Three Beavers. I wish the LCBO would start carrying some of their stuff.

User avatar
lister
Beer Superstar
Posts: 2071
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 2:33 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by lister »

The Mick wrote:Made it to the Beer Experience at Berkley Church last night, which was a really neat event at a venue that was really interesting too. Lots of one offs were on hand which was nice. Amsterdam had there 416 wheat ale tweaked with honey and extra dry hopping pouring from a cask, Flying Monkeys brought a Blueberry Watermelon beer and a Peach beer, Great Lakes had a Peach Wheat and Banarama, an interesting beer, their take on "liquid banana bread" and they didn't use wheat yeast for the banana flavour, it came from banana chips thrown in during the brewing. There were definitely many other one offs and seasonals as well, but I won't list them all. It was a really great event that I hope happens again next year.
DAMN! I hope we see some of these at Cask Days and maybe some taps next summer.
lister

icemachine
Beer Superstar
Posts: 2637
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 11:20 am
Location: Aurora, ON
Contact:

Post by icemachine »

This has been a terrible week at work, haven't been to anything since the Cask Social. Going to try an get to either the Bar Volo takeover of their own taps and/or the C'est What beer an hour event
"Everything ... is happening" - Bob Cole

User avatar
JerCraigs
Beer Superstar
Posts: 3053
Joined: Sun May 25, 2003 8:00 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by JerCraigs »

The Mick wrote:Flying Monkeys brought... a Peach beer
D'oh! Missed that one! Was it good?

User avatar
sstackho
Bar Fly
Posts: 501
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 11:37 pm
Location: Riverdale

Post by sstackho »

Had a really nice time at the Dominion tonight for their beer dinner with the Flying Monkeys guys. Well done.

The Mick
Posts: 237
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2011 5:58 pm
Location: Ottawa

Post by The Mick »

JerCraigs wrote:
The Mick wrote:Flying Monkeys brought... a Peach beer
D'oh! Missed that one! Was it good?
It was. Very fruity and light, but what else would you expect I suppose. Kind of like taking a bite of an alcoholic peach.

The dinner with the Monkeys at the Dominion on Friday was fantastic too. I was expecting a large crowd, but instead there were 10 dinner guests and we all sat at a large table with Peter, Paul and Sean from the brewery. Just a really cool event where they led the tasting and answered questions about anything we wanted to know. For anyone who was thinking of going, but skipped it, you missed an awesome night and the pub owner said the dinner the night before was top notch as well.
I don't always drink beer ... because sometimes my friends win and we have to go to macro-only establishments.

User avatar
JerCraigs
Beer Superstar
Posts: 3053
Joined: Sun May 25, 2003 8:00 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by JerCraigs »

The Mick wrote: The dinner with the Monkeys at the Dominion on Friday was fantastic too. ... For anyone who was thinking of going, but skipped it, you missed an awesome night and the pub owner said the dinner the night before was top notch as well.
I think the weather and being at the end of a long week of beer events was a factor there. We were shocked at the low number of people for the House Ales takeover at Volo, especially compared to the DDC event the next night. (Ironically I liked the House Ales stuff better!)

The Mick
Posts: 237
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2011 5:58 pm
Location: Ottawa

Post by The Mick »

JerCraigs wrote:
The Mick wrote:
I think the weather and being at the end of a long week of beer events was a factor there. We were shocked at the low number of people for the House Ales takeover at Volo, especially compared to the DDC event the next night. (Ironically I liked the House Ales stuff better!)
We wanted to come for the House takeover, but we were on foot so we popped down to C'est What for the 24 hours of beer instead. We did make it for down for DDC though. Packed early on, but by midnight I thought the crowd had slimmed down nicely. The Penombre and Mea Culpa were fantastic and the Peche Mortel was in its usual fine form
I don't always drink beer ... because sometimes my friends win and we have to go to macro-only establishments.

User avatar
JerCraigs
Beer Superstar
Posts: 3053
Joined: Sun May 25, 2003 8:00 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by JerCraigs »

We left fairly early from the DDC night, combination of the crowd and another engagement. Did they still have lots of stuff later in the evening?

The Mick
Posts: 237
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2011 5:58 pm
Location: Ottawa

Post by The Mick »

We didn't stay right till the end. We left around 1, just before the DJ started, but the size of crowd was much easier to navigate and all but 3 of the beers were still being offered.
I don't always drink beer ... because sometimes my friends win and we have to go to macro-only establishments.

zane9
Posts: 429
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 1:05 pm
Location: Hamilton

Post by zane9 »

I had limited time on the last day of TBW, so I headed to Day 2 of C'est What's 24 Hours of Beer. Saturday afternoon there had a small crowd, which gave many of us time to chat and compare notes.

Enjoyable beers included: Dieu du Ciel Corne du Diable; Cheshire ESB; St. Ambroise IPA; Indie Alehouse Conductor's IPA (cask); Black Oak Gender Bender. Unfortunately some of the beers I wanted to try were not being served until later in the day and I could not stay. Also, the St. Andre Hop Infusion was gone.

I'm not a fan of pumpkin beers, so I passed on them, but they were popular. Good comments were made for the Great Lakes Pumpkin Ale.

All in all, TBW 2011 was great and I hope it continues to attract more venues in 2012.

User avatar
hops are your friend
Posts: 89
Joined: Sun Sep 03, 2006 4:49 pm
Location: Ottawa

Post by hops are your friend »

zane9 wrote:Enjoyable beers included: Dieu du Ciel Corne du Diable; Cheshire ESB; St. Ambroise IPA; Indie Alehouse Conductor's IPA (cask); Black Oak Gender Bender. Unfortunately some of the beers I wanted to try were not being served until later in the day and I could not stay. Also, the St. Andre Hop Infusion was gone.
When I was there on Sat afternoon I was told that the Conductor's IPA was really made by Junction City Brewing, which is a new brewery in the same area as Indie Alehouse, and it was really an APA. The person who told me this said they were the brewer. I agree that Conductor's was a nice beer.

He also said he was the brewer for the St Andre Hop Infusion, and that he never got a chance to try it. He described how he rigged up some stuff to circulate the beer through hops - he compared it to what Sierra Nevada does for Torpedo, but on a much smaller scale - and it was still being circulated in the back seat of the car as he delivered it to C'est What.

zane9
Posts: 429
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 1:05 pm
Location: Hamilton

Post by zane9 »

hops are your friend wrote: When I was there on Sat afternoon I was told that the Conductor's IPA was really made by Junction City Brewing, which is a new brewery in the same area as Indie Alehouse, and it was really an APA. The person who told me this said they were the brewer. I agree that Conductor's was a nice beer.
I remember that conversation, and you re-tell it so well! Just for clarity, it's Junction Craft Brewing that makes Conductor's Craft Ale.

The Indie Ale House is very near Junction Craft Brewing in that area of Toronto...lucky beer fans in the Junction!

hops are your friend wrote:He also said he was the brewer for the St Andre Hop Infusion, and that he never got a chance to try it. He described how he rigged up some stuff to circulate the beer through hops - he compared it to what Sierra Nevada does for Torpedo, but on a much smaller scale - and it was still being circulated in the back seat of the car as he delivered it to C'est What.
I missed that part about the car!

Post Reply