Esplanade Biermarkt

esprit · Post by **esprit** » Fri Jun 07, 2002 8:01 pm

FYI, the Biermarkt has launched it's new beer menu today with about 30 new beers available including new bottled offerings from Victory, Rogue, Brakspear, St. Peter's, Samuel Smith and Ayinger. Although part of a large corporate chain, their new G.M. Michael has a passion for beers and is determined to make their list one of the best in the city and the province for that matter. In addition, some good live music Thursday-Saturday nights. I realize that this sounds a bit like a commercial but I personally am impressed with what I see happening there.

PRMason · Post by **PRMason** » Sun Jun 09, 2002 4:28 pm

I agree! Michael is really keen and is putting real effort into his menu.

Cass · Post by **Cass** » Mon Jun 10, 2002 8:42 am

Sounds good, but the real question - does the staff actually aware of this menu? Sorry, but I've had countless amounts of problems trying to order beer here if it's not actually printed on the menu.

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Tue Jun 11, 2002 11:53 am

I agree with Cass. Having the manager truely interested in making it a premium place for beer is only part of the equation. The staff are the customers main point of contact. If you have staff who couldn't tell you the difference between an ale and a lager, then it doesn't matter how good the beer or beer selection actually is. I've experienced this from the esplanade before.

esprit · Post by **esprit** » Tue Jun 11, 2002 4:06 pm

Again, I don't work for Prime Pubs so don't think I'm a corporate spokesperson but first, Cass, the new menu is just that, a new printed menu. Second, I think that it is one of the best beer menus I have ever seen...right up there with Smokeless'. Not only do they give some good product descriptions provided by Steve Beaumont, the new menu includes a style guide at the front which breaks down all of their offerings by style. Let's face it, a place this big is always going to have a lot of staff turnover so it's not surprising when your waiter/waitress can't contribute a lot. However, I think that if anyone wants to take the trouble to read the menu then they will have more than sufficient information available to them in order to make their decision. You can slam the Esplanade all you like but it's encouraging when one of the largest restaurant/pub groups in the country has taken an interest in craft beers. I wish there were more establishments prepared to be so adventurous. It's a shame that you have to go to downtown Toronto to get a good selection of beer and that it can't be found in the west end or Mississauga or some of Ontario's smaller centres. Although constructive criticism is almost always a good thing, let's give credit where credit is due...the Prime Group is the only major restaurant/pub group in the province who has shown any interest in craft beers so let's support them by patronizing them.

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Wed Jun 12, 2002 7:23 am

I applaud Esplanade for striving to have a great beer list. It is good to see a large establishment like Esplanade doing great things for beer. I plan on making the trip down to esplanade to check out their new list.

Biers4all · Post by **Biers4all** » Thu Jun 13, 2002 3:27 pm

Hey all, i thought that since you are speaking about me and my staff that I would get in on the action and give you information right from the source.

I am the new GM at the Bier Markt (though it has now been 7 months) and i appreciate all the positive comments and value the criticisms as well.

You are correct in stating that the staff are critical components in the overall delivery of a quality experience. That is why we have implemented 8 training sessions (this year) by our consultant, In addition our staff will be going to various beer suppliers for specific training on history, brewing and pouring the perfect pint.

Of course this is the first step in ensuring that all staff can answer questions like "what is the difference between x & y".

It is my desire to create an army of beer enthusiasts who have passion for all things brewed. And since I am totally charged about it the hope is that my enthusiam will become infectious and that the staff will see how important it is for me.

Baby steps everyone.

Oh, if you are in the neighbourhood and want to chat, look me up. I am usually in everyday and always look forward to sharing my vision for the Beer program.

Thanks again for your support,

Biers4all

Cass · Post by **Cass** » Thu Jun 13, 2002 3:31 pm

Welcome to the forum, Biers4all! I am immensely looking forward to visiting and sampling from the new beer menu. I have heard from another beer friend that it is quite impressive.

I should be by on Saturday after the St. Lawrence fest and I'll definitely say hi if you're around.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Cass on 2002-06-13 15:32 ]</font>

Andicus · Post by **Andicus** » Fri Jun 14, 2002 12:39 am

It would be nice, since some of us are infrequently in Toronto, if someone could post the new beer menu here for all to see.

Prices aren't necessary, but seeing the available selection would be great.

In fact, it would be great to see the beer menu from Smokeless Joe's as well. I realize the selection changes, but people tend to update us on that with occasional posts anyway.

Andrew

Sac · Post by **Sac** » Fri Jun 14, 2002 2:41 am

Welcome to the forum Michael, keep up the good work. We need more individuals like yourself. With Smokeless, I can only reach a few people. But the Esplanade could reach triple what I can. We'll chat soon.

esprit · Post by **esprit** » Fri Jun 14, 2002 11:03 am

It certainly would be a good idea for people to be able to see what's available. Smokeless could possibly e-mail his menu as a Word Document or PDF file and Michael might look into his company putting a menu on their website somewhere or also going the e-mail route for interested parties. Having said that, I know a bit about the life of people managing/owing a pub/restaurant and I can't imagine that there's too much spare time to do these sorts of things....you guys could always stop taking days off and sleep a bit less!
In any case, we at Esprit certainly try to keep people informed about new Esprit offerings at these establishments but we're obviously not the only guys out there selling new products, although I wish we were cause we can use the business.

Biers4all · Post by **Biers4all** » Fri Jun 14, 2002 11:08 am

Hi Again,

I will look into scanning or gathering the info from the beer menu and posting for all to see. I am working most of the weekend so I will attempt to do next week. Cass, what do think is the best method for viewing?

Sac, thanks for the welcome. Glad to be here. Have you picked up your Unibroue 10 yet?

See you all soon

Cass · Post by **Cass** » Fri Jun 14, 2002 12:03 pm

I'd be more than happy to set up a couple of pages on the site for the Smokeless' and the Bier Markt's menus, similar to what I did for Premier Gourmet's beer listing.

Biers4all - if you could scan in your menu and e-mail me the files (cass@bartowel.com), I'd be happy to set up a page where they can be accessed through the pub guide and the forum.

Joe - if you have your menu as a PDF or Word doc, please e-mail as well, and I will update your page on the site, adding the menu.

How does this sound?

Biers4all · Post by **Biers4all** » Fri Jun 21, 2002 2:02 pm

I might be able to get the PDF. I just asked our printer as I did most of the approvals over the web. I will keep you all posted. By the way, the new selections are screaming off the shelves. I mean fridges. Don't be disappointed, get down here before we start running out the really hard to get ones. Oh, one last thing. I made it over to the St. Lawrence Ribfest/beer fest last weekend. I tried a few new beers but was most impressed with the Porter and the incredibly Hoppy IPA from Scotch Irish. Excellent work guys! Cass, i got your note on Saturday night, sorry i missed you.

Jon Walker · Post by **Jon Walker** » Fri Jun 21, 2002 4:05 pm

Hopefully you'll work something out with Perry and put the Scotch Irish IPA or Porter on one of your taps???

I visited the biermarket on Saturday evening and was very happy to see the improvements in the beer menu. More domestic micro brew draft beer would be my only suggestion. Congrats!

Jon