According to Twitter, tonight is the last night at Smokeless Joe's John St. location.
http://twitter.com/#!/SmokelessJoe
An end of an era for sure, glad to see they're continuing somewhere else.
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!
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!
Last Night @ Smokeless Joe's
A few beer folks had a quick pint on the patio yesterday to pay our respects to the closing of John St. Smokeless Joe with a couple of stories and beery tales.
We saw Rob who is back working at the bar and confirmed that they are indeed moving, likely to College Street west of Bathurst, as was reported in the Grid as well.
http://www.thegridto.com/life/food-drin ... eless-joe/
Many, many beers were had over the years at the spot, although less over the last couple of years.
Here's to a great run on John St and a successful re-incarnation on College!
We saw Rob who is back working at the bar and confirmed that they are indeed moving, likely to College Street west of Bathurst, as was reported in the Grid as well.
http://www.thegridto.com/life/food-drin ... eless-joe/
Many, many beers were had over the years at the spot, although less over the last couple of years.
Here's to a great run on John St and a successful re-incarnation on College!
I know what you mean. Last five or seven years I've been less excited about the tap offerings (being spoiled for choices nearby) though I liked the atmosphere of the place. Very nice cubby hole feel to it, especially when sharing steamed mussels or slurping hot beef stew with fresh bread on a crowded winter's evening. My nascent beer-geekness was discovered at Smokeless long ago, perhaps even before the Scotia theater was built.Cass wrote: Many, many beers were had over the years at the spot, although less over the last couple of years.
Let's hops the new location has a great intimate vibe. (LOL I'm leaving in the typo.)
In Beerum Veritas
To be fair, was Smokeless selling it before it came into the LCBO? If they were special ordering it vs. getting it via a seasonal release that makes a big difference!JesseMcG wrote:Smokeless was selling Westmalle Triple for $14 a bottle (when available), whereas Town Crier (next door) is currently selling it for around $7 (ridiculous). I agree Smokeless was a cool place... but hopefully they align their prices in their new location.
I think Smokeless was selling it when it was available at the LCBO, and Town Crier is selling it now, and it's been a long time since it was at the LCBO. Town Crier hasn't been open that long.JerCraigs wrote:To be fair, was Smokeless selling it before it came into the LCBO? If they were special ordering it vs. getting it via a seasonal release that makes a big difference!JesseMcG wrote:Smokeless was selling Westmalle Triple for $14 a bottle (when available), whereas Town Crier (next door) is currently selling it for around $7 (ridiculous). I agree Smokeless was a cool place... but hopefully they align their prices in their new location.
What's wrong with a ten-dollar mark up? It's a TRAPPIST ALE.... 
I'm having fun here, but yes, there seem to be two price standards in Toronto for the Rocheforts, Westmalles and so on. One standard is for bars that like to quickly sell out cases at a nominal profit, and the other for bars that try to control a consistent supply for their clients year-round - by selling at higher prices.
I'm only guessing it's so intended, and I guess this way everyone's happy.
I'm having fun here, but yes, there seem to be two price standards in Toronto for the Rocheforts, Westmalles and so on. One standard is for bars that like to quickly sell out cases at a nominal profit, and the other for bars that try to control a consistent supply for their clients year-round - by selling at higher prices.
I'm only guessing it's so intended, and I guess this way everyone's happy.
In Beerum Veritas
It's not really a fair apples to apples comparison.JesseMcG wrote:Smokeless was selling Westmalle Triple for $14 a bottle (when available), whereas Town Crier (next door) is currently selling it for around $7 (ridiculous). I agree Smokeless was a cool place... but hopefully they align their prices in their new location.
Smaller place, less people, less food. TC is also open earlier for brunch.
Once in the new location we can see based on size, food, hours and their area competitors whether prices are in the same ballpark.
To be honest though I rarely ordered bottles at Smokeless. I did occasionally when I found something really interesting not available anywhere else. I do the same at beerbistro sometimes which has high bottle prices too.
lister
Yes the new premises is nicely located close to Caplansky's, The Paddock and Burger Bar & Kensington Market, so they're almost more relevant to this area I think. Best luck to them, they need an opening bash!Cass wrote:According to their twitter feed they have confirmed 488 College St as the new location with mid-August opening. Nice to see them coming back!
In Beerum Veritas