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CBN Dinner: Great Lakes Brewery at Bar Hop - Thu Feb 14

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GregClow
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CBN Dinner: Great Lakes Brewery at Bar Hop - Thu Feb 14

Post by GregClow »

The Canadian Beer News Dinner Series is back for 2013, and we’ll be kicking off a new year of dinners and tastings with a special Valentine’s Day event.

Come celebrate your favourite romance, bromance or womance with us at Bar Hop (391 King Street West, Toronto) as a selection of great beers from Great Lakes Brewery – including the brand new 25th Anniversary Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout – will be expertly paired with dishes created by guest chef Tim Steele, who has worked in some of the top kitchens in Toronto (Chantecler, c5, Black Hoof) and Europe (Noma, Mistral).

Seating to this exclusive dinner will be limited to 50 spots, so those interested in attending are encouraged to act quickly to avoid disappointment.

Great Lakes Brewery and Chef Tim Steele
at Bar Hop

391 King Street West, Toronto

Thursday, February 14th, 2012
6:30 PM – reception with oysters, hors d’oeuvre and welcome beer
7:00 PM – four course dinner with beer pairings

$75 including all taxes, gratuities, and ticket order fees
Vegetarian option available if requested when reserving

Tickets available at http://www.guestlistapp.com/events/144714
Facebook RSVP at
More details at http://www.canadianbeernews.com/dinner- ... t-bar-hop/

Note: Following the dinner at 10pm, Bar Hop will open to general admission, and any beer left from the dinner will be available for purchase at the bar.

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GregClow
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Post by GregClow »

For those who are considering coming to this dinner - we're approaching 50% of tickets sold, so I'd suggest acting fast. I wouldn't be surprised if it sells out this week.

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Post by GregClow »

The beer list has been confirmed for this dinner:

25th Anniversary Belgian Saison
Long Dong Pilsner
Ezra Saison
Pompous Ass on Nitro
Belgian Dark Strong (Quad)
25th Anniversary Bourbon Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Stout

We'll announce the food menu next week.

Less than 20 seats remaining!

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GregClow
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Post by GregClow »

Here's a sneak peek the full food menu for this dinner, which will be posted to the event website and officially announced later tonight or tomorrow.

For courses with two items listed, the second is the vegetarian option, which can be booked when the ticket order is placed.

-

Oysters and Hors d'oeuvres

25th Anniversary Belgian Saison

-

Amuse

-

Sunchoke soup, gruyere, corn dog

Bulgur, root vegetable chews, hazelnut

Long Dong Pilsner

-

Mussels, celeriac, crispy chicken skin

Hallumi, cured and stewed squash

Ezra Saison

-

Beef cheek, spaetzle, brussel sprouts

Gnocchi, creamed kale, flowering kale

Pompous Ass on Nitro

-

Opera cake

Belgian Dark Strong (Quad)

-

Mignardises

25th Anniversary Bourbon Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Stout

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GregClow
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Post by GregClow »

Just a quick note for those considering a last minute reservation for this dinner:

We're down to less than 10 tickets left, and ticket sales will be closed at 12 midnight on Tuesday night (if it doesn't sell out sooner) so that we have numbers confirmed in advance to allow for seating to be planned and the right amount of food to be prepared.

studious
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Post by studious »

Thanks for helping put this together, Greg.

The food was very, very good. The sunchoke soup and corn dog with the Long Dong Pilsner was my favourite pairing, and the Pompous Ass on Nitro was possibly my favourite beer. My lady had the Veg option which was arguably even better than the regular courses. Big hats off to the chef. Would have been nice to hear a few more words from or about him and the dishes rather than the mostly beer focused introductions, as well as some words about the pairing choices.

The only negative for us was the length of time between courses. With the whole dinner taking almost 4 hours we both became pretty uncomfortable which made it harder to truly enjoy everything through to the end. Still, great value for the cost and hopefully lessons can be learned to run another dinner like this and really kill it. Cheers!

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KW1
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Post by KW1 »

If I were local I'd have been there in a heartbeat. Great stuff

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GregClow
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Post by GregClow »

Thanks for the feedback, studious.

I agree that the pace of the dinner was a bit slow - the first course in particular took a lot longer to come out than was ideal. I suspect that serving 50 meals out of a relatively small kitchen - and one that the chef was new to - may have been a bit more challenging than expected. But once the food did come out, it certainly didn't disappoint.

And yes, having Tim (the chef) talk a bit more about the food would've been nice. But I know from poking my head back there a couple of times that he was run pretty ragged in the kitchen, so I can understand why he couldn't do so.

The few small negatives aside, I was pretty happy with the evening. Great food, great beer, and the Bar Hop folks really stepped up and showed that they're able to host these sort of events. I hope they do more of them, either with our without my participation.

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