Just wanted to give a heads up about Magpie at 831 Dundas W. It recently changed hands and now has 4 of taps as OCB. They're carrying CHurch Key's Holy Smoke, Stratford Pilsner, St. Andre, Cameron's Auburn and the only non-OCB is St. AMbroise Stout. The vibe there has become warmer and more relaxed. Graeme (new owner and bartender) has created a cozy vibe in a formerly cold space. I recommend stopping in for a pint!
Cheers all!
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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!
Magpie
-
midlife crisis
- Beer Superstar
- Posts: 2037
- Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2004 7:00 pm
- Location: Toronto
I was here again last Saturday, my first visit there in about a year. I'd kind of forgotten that, while there are certainly better places in Toronto for beer, it's not a bad little spot in its own right.
They had a pretty good selection on tap, all from Ontario craft brewers. I didn't go there with the goal of posting about it, so working from memory, they had:
Dennison's Dunkel
Dennison's Weissbier
Sex Panther (ie. Stratford's California Common)
Durham Hop Addict
Mill St Tankhouse
St Andre Lager
Granite Best Bitter
Churchkey Brave New Wheat
And a good three of four others that I can't recall. Most were served in your standard nonic pint glasses, but one of my friends ordered the Brave New Wheat which was served in a nice little Belgian tulip glass.
Their bottle selection consisted of, to name a few, Duvel, Brooklyn Lager, Anchor Steam and Liberty Ale, Rogue's Kell's Irish and Hazenut Brown, Sgt. Major IPA, Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted, Dogfish Head 60 Min IPA, Southern Tier IPA, and a bunch more. It's all stuff you can get from the LCBO, but it's certainly some of the better LCBO offerings.
They were understaffed on Saturday with the lone bartender clearing tables as well as pulling pints, and we had to order from the bar and bring it to our table as there were no servers. Which I have no problem with. But it's a little unusual. In past visits I have always sat at the bar and they've always had two bartenders on duty.
The only real negative I can think of is that the entire downstairs reeks of Satan's taint. Really, they didn't look overly filthy—pretty much just your standard Toronto bar washrooms, down a flight of old stairs to a dingy, low-ceilinged basement—but the stench, honestly, it smells like a hundred cats live down there, many of them dead.
Anyway it's not a bad little place to have a few pints of good beer with friends if you happen to be in the area.
They had a pretty good selection on tap, all from Ontario craft brewers. I didn't go there with the goal of posting about it, so working from memory, they had:
Dennison's Dunkel
Dennison's Weissbier
Sex Panther (ie. Stratford's California Common)
Durham Hop Addict
Mill St Tankhouse
St Andre Lager
Granite Best Bitter
Churchkey Brave New Wheat
And a good three of four others that I can't recall. Most were served in your standard nonic pint glasses, but one of my friends ordered the Brave New Wheat which was served in a nice little Belgian tulip glass.
Their bottle selection consisted of, to name a few, Duvel, Brooklyn Lager, Anchor Steam and Liberty Ale, Rogue's Kell's Irish and Hazenut Brown, Sgt. Major IPA, Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted, Dogfish Head 60 Min IPA, Southern Tier IPA, and a bunch more. It's all stuff you can get from the LCBO, but it's certainly some of the better LCBO offerings.
They were understaffed on Saturday with the lone bartender clearing tables as well as pulling pints, and we had to order from the bar and bring it to our table as there were no servers. Which I have no problem with. But it's a little unusual. In past visits I have always sat at the bar and they've always had two bartenders on duty.
The only real negative I can think of is that the entire downstairs reeks of Satan's taint. Really, they didn't look overly filthy—pretty much just your standard Toronto bar washrooms, down a flight of old stairs to a dingy, low-ceilinged basement—but the stench, honestly, it smells like a hundred cats live down there, many of them dead.
Anyway it's not a bad little place to have a few pints of good beer with friends if you happen to be in the area.
Stopped in for a pre-dinner pint last night after a six-ish month absence and thought I'd give this thread a bump.
The bottle selection seemed more streamlined than usual, shall we say, but was still a good representation of some of the better LCBO's current offerings.
On tap:
Granite Peculiar
Dead Elephant
Duggan's #7
Denison's Weisse and Dunkel
St Andre Vienna Lager
Stratford Pilsner
King Pilsner
Flying Monkey's Netherworld
Cask: Durham Triple X IPA
And a couple more I don't remember. The plan was to go back after dinner for the triple X, but Campagnolo across the street was at capacity and service, while good when you got it, was sluggish at best so we were very late to finish. Damn.
The bottle selection seemed more streamlined than usual, shall we say, but was still a good representation of some of the better LCBO's current offerings.
On tap:
Granite Peculiar
Dead Elephant
Duggan's #7
Denison's Weisse and Dunkel
St Andre Vienna Lager
Stratford Pilsner
King Pilsner
Flying Monkey's Netherworld
Cask: Durham Triple X IPA
And a couple more I don't remember. The plan was to go back after dinner for the triple X, but Campagnolo across the street was at capacity and service, while good when you got it, was sluggish at best so we were very late to finish. Damn.