The Bar Towel

Going to swing by soon....any early visitors notice if they had their root beer on the menu yet?

Pretty sure they will only be able to sell growlers of their own beers, not other breweries.

chris_schryer wrote:Pretty sure they will only be able to sell growlers of their own beers, not other breweries.

I would say that is correct, but won't they have to wait until they are brewing on site to sell their own growlers?

chris_schryer wrote:Pretty sure they will only be able to sell growlers of their own beers, not other breweries.

More than pretty sure. You don't think bars across the city would be doing this already if it was possible under the (ridiculous) liquor laws? Sorry, don't mean you personally, just "you" in the general sense.

Any one know if their growler sales are up and running yet? Looking to get a growler to share with a friend tomorrow, and until Left Field and Muddy York open, the options east of the DVP are pretty limited.

Bobsy wrote:Any one know if their growler sales are up and running yet? Looking to get a growler to share with a friend tomorrow, and until Left Field and Muddy York open, the options east of the DVP are pretty limited.

Given that they're not brewing on site yet, I would venture a guess that the answer is "no". They're probably just selling empty growlers for now, if anything.

We checked out this place before heading to Cask Days. Walked in around 6:00 on Saturday...and walked out. The vibe was "sports bar with non-macro beer". Too many screens, too noisy, and a cold greeting at the front of house. (Maybe she was having a bad day).

Won't go back anytime soon.

http://www.torontolife.com/daily-dish/o ... staurants/

read the first comment.
i have a feeling that we're not looking at a beer geek destination. maybe they'll get their shit together, but it's a Greektown restaurant, so i assume they're catering to the lowest mouthbreathing denominator.

Went today just after lunch and I liked it. Sampled the IPA (nice until the diacteyl kicked in) and the lager, which was enjoyable as a pint. Service was good, and I like what they've done to the place. Didn't try the food, but the smell made me hungry. A few other beers I remember seeing on tap: gosebuster, nicklbrook wet hop, red racer pale, camerons roggen, side launch wheat, st ambrosie oatmeal, GLB pumpkin, monster mash, dead elephant. Their beers also included a blonde ale in addition to the lager and IPA. There was also a cider.

It's a decent lineup and they've done a nice job of doing the place up. I certainly wouldn't jump to any rash judgements about the place, especially only 3 weeks into opening. My initial feeling is that this place is here to stay, which isn't something I got from 417.

Went in this evening around 5:30pm, place was pretty dead - and with a place this large, you notice the absence of people…

Bar staff hovered, clearly a little too interested and not enough business to keep them busy (had three different bartenders, in the course of 5 minutes wander by and comment how good my wings smelled, what flavour I had ordered, great choice…) Hovered over my food, hovered over my drinks (and were far from knowledgeable about the beers…),

Food menu was pretty uninspired, standard pub fare, though it tasted fine enough. Not bad, just nothing too adventurous or inspiring. Beer list was a little uninspired as well, especially considering their core lineup is not that hot yet. Many of the more inspired options bobsy mentioned were not to be seen (Camerons, gosebuster, etc), so Red Racer Pale & a Nicklebrook Wet Hop were the best options at the moment (and what I ended up having).

The vibe, particularly as people trickled in, was not my thing at all - between the heavy-handed branding, the sports bar crowd double fisting caesars with pints of lager, the uninspired food & beer menu, the cavernous space… I can't imagine I'll be in any rush to get back. I certainly wish it the best of luck with that space, hope it does well in attracting the average drinker to the craft side of things, but it was not my kind of place.

I visited Louis Cifer this past week-end with some newer to craft beer friends.

The place was only sparsely populated at around 2 PM on Sunday. It picked up as we ate and drank with a very large party taking over the upper level. Like a previous reviewer, I felt the wait staff to be a little too interested in us. I don;t need to hear your opinion on every beer and food item we order! the waiter we had was a pretty nice guy though and seemed to know what he was talking about when the others at the table asked for beer choice advice.

We all found the food to be decent, but nothing stood out. I had the Blackened Sole Tacos which were, again, decent.

They had Stone IPA on tap for I believe $9 for a 16oz pour. More than what I seen reported elsewhere. I also enjoyed a Chocolate Stout from Liberty Village (Black Blessing) that I thought was rather good. I also gave some Dunkel hybrid from Railway City a try. It was typically Railway City, i.e. middle of the road.

I had no interest in a growler of their house beer, and am not even certain that they are filling yet.

I suppose I wouldn't object to returning, but I won't go out of my way to do so.

I was there on Saturday night for the first time in a couple of months. Still fairly busy on a cold evening in February so they seem to be doing well through the winter.

I chatted quickly with Erin and she let me know that the brewhouse is up and running (they posted some pics on social a couple weeks back). IIRC the first beers will be an ESB and a brown ale, and they may be on tap as soon as the end of this week.

They had Stone IPA on tap but as mentioned at $9+tax is the highest I've seen yet. Some other good selections on their tap lineup which was nice to see.

...really pricey.

This is my local, but probably one of the most expensive places in the city to get a pint!

I don't really mind the sports bar feel. The city needs a few good sports bars with good beer.

Chris wrote:...rthe most expensive places in the city to get a pint!

Lots of competition in that race. At the rate drink prices are increasing, we'll see an explosion of homebrewing among those who want to retire before they die.

When I popped by last week they had around 5-6 of their house brews available to go. These come in regular growler sizes, and half sizes (I believe they called them howlers). The growlers were around $20 and the little guys were $12ish. There's a $5 refundable deposit on top of that too.