The Bar Towel

So I am heading out to Kingston next week to explore the city and can't find any info on any beer bars (besides kingston brew pub). Does anyone know of any? I am really looking for something with lots of Ontario craft beer obviously if it exists.
Any help would be appreciated,
Thanks,
Colin.

Colin @ Smokeless wrote:So I am heading out to Kingston next week to explore the city and can't find any info on any beer bars (besides kingston brew pub). Does anyone know of any? I am really looking for something with lots of Ontario craft beer obviously if it exists.
Any help would be appreciated,
Thanks,
Colin.

Hey Colin - don't know A LOT about the Kingston Scene, but I do like The Iron Duke on Wellington, which is Downtown - mostly standard craft taps I believe, Beau's, Welly, Mad Tom last time, and good food...

Others from the area will probably have a better insight.

I've long known my home town to be an unexceptional beer destination. If there's much actual beer there Colin I'm not aware of it.

Maybe a few well-chosen craft standbys, in half-decent restaurants and bars. Can check out the food-reliable Chien Noir & Chez Piggy, and other nice-looking random places in the busy lower Princess St / City Hall dining & pubs district.

I also liked the LOOK of Red House when I walked by the other day, but didn't have time to check it out.

Give us a holler if you discover anything good in old K-Town. i'm sure you'll have fun anyways.

Red house is pretty new, I haven't been yet, but they have a decent craft selection. And I think they had some sort of cask event recently Here's their current beer list:

Steamwhistle
Red Griffon
Labatt 50 (this is kingston after all)
Mill Street Organic
Guiness
Pilsner Urquell
St Ambroise Cream Ale
HEadstock IPA
Wellington Dark (cask)
Chatoe Dirtoir Black LAger
Nickelbrook 80 Shilling

That said, my friends who still live in kingston tend to go to the iron duke, there tend to be a pretty decent selection there, for kingston.

The Brew Pub's beer, unfortunately, doesn't standout, but is an institution and worth a try (dragon's breath ale is the signature beer).

The Brew pub had about 6-10 guest taps when I was there last month. Nothing too adventurous, but decent selection of Beaus/St. Ambroise/Steamwhistle kind of stuff IIRC.

Check out the Alibi on Princess Street. It is relatively new but is now the best craft destination in town, IMO. No web site, but they have a Twitter and Facebook presence. I was there in September and it was better than the alternatives listed above, again IMO of course.

BrausBackinTown wrote:Red house is pretty new, Here's their current (sic) beer list:.

This is why I posted the link where you can click on 'beer'. Yesterday's news is tomorrow's fish paper.

rejtable wrote:The Brew pub had about 6-10 guest taps when I was there last month. Nothing too adventurous, but decent selection of Beaus/St. Ambroise/Steamwhistle kind of stuff IIRC.

Which they are crap at advertising. Nothing is written down anywhere, even the 'seasonal' house taps - it's all verbal, which is bizarre for a pub that brews beer.

might be off topic/random, but does anyone remember a commercial bar in Kingston (or near Kingston) that was built in someones garage attached to their house? I went to this place about 10 years ago, but can't remember the name or exact location. I recall a marina nearby..

Belgian wrote: Which they are crap at advertising. Nothing is written down anywhere, even the 'seasonal' house taps - it's all verbal, which is bizarre for a pub that brews beer.

Dunno how it works if you sit inside, but I ate in the patio area in the back this summer, and the beers (guest and brewpub) were listed pretty prominently on a giant blackboard.

Belgian wrote:

BrausBackinTown wrote:Red house is pretty new, Here's their current (sic) beer list:.

This is why I posted the link where you can click on 'beer'. Yesterday's news is tomorrow's fish paper.



aaaaaannnddd that reminds me why I never post on here.

Everything worth noting has been said already-

Kingston Brewpub is probably the best destination, they have definitely gotten better recently about displaying what they have on tap but ask anyways just to be safe

Red House I've only visited once but the Nickelbrook Berliner Weisse I had was definitely off, unless it was supposed to taste extremely metallic. Returned it, despite disagreeing with the bartender on the state of the beer.

Alibi is also fairly new, it tries to be a bit higher-class as far as bars in that area go (read: no sweatpants). They have a cask on occasionally and a couple of interesting taps, but mostly things available at the LCBO.

The Grad club isn't too shabby either given the competition. They have a constantly roatating tap list, which is almost all Ontario craft. Usually some Mill St, Beau's, Flying Monkeys, Muskoka, Railway City, Gan Brewing Co

And, down the road in Gananoque (about 25 mins east on the 401) is the Old English Pub who has around 12 all craft taps and I heard he recently installed a beer engine. Usually has Beau's seasonals, a lot of Flying Monkeys, Muskoka, St. Ambroise and a rotater, which was the pan Ontario beer last time I was in those parts, not sure what it is now.

And not that they have any beer yet, but Mlt Dwn is a little grilled cheese place that opened up on Princess St that could be worth a late night visit once you've imbibed

BrausBackinTown wrote:reminds me why I never post on here.

Sorry about that. It was just that you took the trouble to type up all that information in your post (same as the link) when it would likely be updated online by the time some people read your post. Then again... it's Kingston!

Not having a go at you, mate.