The Bar Towel

Hi everyone,

Not sure if you've noticed, but the main site of the Bar Towel underwent a significant transformation yesterday. Gone is the old blue template and in with a new, fresh & responsive design for the site. It's a long time coming and I'm very excited about it.

As mentioned in another thread, the forum is going to remain a big part of the site and the software is going to be upgraded this weekend, where registration will be open again and generally everything will be improved.

But I'd also like to focus a bit more on the main part of the site, making it a "digital journal" of sorts. I don't want it to be a personal blog, nor a news site. I'd like it to be a place where thoughtful content about beer can live, and then link into the forum where people can discuss.

You can read about that here:
http://www.bartowel.com/introducing-the-new-bar-towel/

So, I'd like to put it out there if anyone would like to write for the site, let me know. I'm starting to build a small roster of folks to write about the beer scene, similar some other collective content sites out there.

If you're interested, drop me a line at contribute@bartowel.com or PM me and we can chat further.

Looking good!

I'll try to contribute some worthy content from the west coast. I have to admit that my 'news' started to feel a lot less relevant as the Ontario scene started to really develop. Originally I had hoped to illustrate what a dynamic beer scene was really like, and that it was actually possible in Canada. Now, I think Ontarians are starting to see that for themselves (even if it is often Toronto-centric). I look forward to visiting some of the new establishments when I'm back in June, as well as some old favourites.

I'm looking to the new content... and hopefully some of the industry insiders will provide some as well!

Derek wrote:Looking good!

I'll try to contribute some worthy content from the west coast. I have to admit that my 'news' started to feel a lot less relevant as the Ontario scene started to really develop. Originally I had hoped to illustrate what a dynamic beer scene was really like, and that it was actually possible in Canada. Now, I think Ontarians are starting to see that for themselves (even if it is often Toronto-centric). I look forward to visiting some of the new establishments when I'm back in June, as well as some old favourites.

I'm looking to the new content... and hopefully some of the industry insiders will provide some as well!

look us up in June!

I love! It looks great.

One cool thing that would be great is a more dedicated beer bar/pub guide. I know the forum has built up a long history of recommendations and announcements of openings, but if this could be turned into a dedicated resource, say even with maps I think it would make great content. I'm thinking something along the lines of the event listing Toronto Beer week posts with a quick link to a bars website if they have one.

It might even be something I'd be prepared to assist with.

Derek wrote:Looking good!

I'll try to contribute some worthy content from the west coast. I have to admit that my 'news' started to feel a lot less relevant as the Ontario scene started to really develop. Originally I had hoped to illustrate what a dynamic beer scene was really like, and that it was actually possible in Canada. Now, I think Ontarians are starting to see that for themselves (even if it is often Toronto-centric). I look forward to visiting some of the new establishments when I'm back in June, as well as some old favourites.

I'm looking to the new content... and hopefully some of the industry insiders will provide some as well!

It would always be great if you wanted to bring some west coast perspectives to the new site Derek!

Tapsucker wrote:I love! It looks great.

One cool thing that would be great is a more dedicated beer bar/pub guide. I know the forum has built up a long history of recommendations and announcements of openings, but if this could be turned into a dedicated resource, say even with maps I think it would make great content. I'm thinking something along the lines of the event listing Toronto Beer week posts with a quick link to a bars website if they have one.

It might even be something I'd be prepared to assist with.

That's always something I wanted the Bar Towel to be, dating back to some of the early versions of the site where I listed pubs in different neighbourhoods in Toronto. If you wanted to grab a beer and chat about it that would be great - I'd need assistance to make something like that happen.

Cass wrote:

Tapsucker wrote:I love! It looks great.

One cool thing that would be great is a more dedicated beer bar/pub guide. I know the forum has built up a long history of recommendations and announcements of openings, but if this could be turned into a dedicated resource, say even with maps I think it would make great content. I'm thinking something along the lines of the event listing Toronto Beer week posts with a quick link to a bars website if they have one.

It might even be something I'd be prepared to assist with.

That's always something I wanted the Bar Towel to be, dating back to some of the early versions of the site where I listed pubs in different neighbourhoods in Toronto. If you wanted to grab a beer and chat about it that would be great - I'd need assistance to make something like that happen.

Sure, let's explore this. It will be a couple weeks before i have the bandwidth, though. I like this idea and I think I can come up with some inspirations, but I'm no coder, so it may take some help from more web savvy contributors.

If this can be a well structured, crowd source guide, that would be so cool.

Tapsucker wrote:

Cass wrote:

Tapsucker wrote:I love! It looks great.

One cool thing that would be great is a more dedicated beer bar/pub guide. I know the forum has built up a long history of recommendations and announcements of openings, but if this could be turned into a dedicated resource, say even with maps I think it would make great content. I'm thinking something along the lines of the event listing Toronto Beer week posts with a quick link to a bars website if they have one.

It might even be something I'd be prepared to assist with.

That's always something I wanted the Bar Towel to be, dating back to some of the early versions of the site where I listed pubs in different neighbourhoods in Toronto. If you wanted to grab a beer and chat about it that would be great - I'd need assistance to make something like that happen.

Sure, let's explore this. It will be a couple weeks before i have the bandwidth, though. I like this idea and I think I can come up with some inspirations, but I'm no coder, so it may take some help from more web savvy contributors.

If this can be a well structured, crowd source guide, that would be so cool.

Something like the Mom n Hops brewer directory would be great, especially if you could sort it by region, and include a user rating system