The Bar Towel

velovampire wrote:

shintriad wrote: the event has become too popular for the space in which it is held...

My thoughts exactly. After seeing the lineup to get in I grabbed some DFH at the LCBO and drove home.

sprague11 wrote:

velovampire wrote:the event has become too popular for the space in which it is held...

My thoughts exactly. After seeing the lineup to get in I grabbed some DFH at the LCBO and drove home.

Maybe they need to make it a ticketed event?

I got in just before the nutty lineup. It wasn't too bad if you were in the bar on the left. I didn't find the wait for beers too long.

Highlight for me was the cask Iron Duke with the two Oktoberfest brews a close second and third.

Yeah, it was crowded. And I had a great time.

The unanimous favourite at our table was the Neustadt Elderbrah.

With regards to the pint question raised earlier, one of the staff assured me that I could get a half-pint if I ponied up the equivalent number of tickets. The same may or may not have been true for a full pint.

I got there around 9 pm and it was still crowded. The staff themselves were amazed that it was so busy and George told me they served over 5000 samples.
I got the last taste of the Granite's Hopping Mad (excellent, wanted a pint of it) and stuck to the Iron Duke after that. Mmmm.

The busy-ness of last night reminded me of the "old days" when it was always totally rammed for the beer festival (fall, not so much spring).

The crowds didn't bother me so much (kept my drinking intake metered in between samples) and was happy to see the high level of interest for the event.

Jon Walker wrote: BTW, Cass, I just passed 1000 posts...do I get a free Bartowel bottle opener or something?

Next beerfest I'll have one for you Jon

I really liked the Hopping Mad and the Iron Duke. The Corporal Punishment was good too. I am looking forward to the bottled version.

Malcolm wrote:I got the last taste of the Granite's Hopping Mad (excellent, wanted a pint of it) and stuck to the Iron Duke after that. Mmmm.

I also thought the Hopping Mad was excellent (anyone know if Granite intends to make this a new permanent offering in their lineup?), and the Iron Duke on cask was a revelation. I haven't had this one for a couple of years, and even then it was from a near-past due bottle from TBS. Anyway, a wonderful beer, and one I need to seek out (fresh) more often.

Other highlights for me were Mill Street's Oktoberfest (I've got to get over to the brewpub to have a few proper pints of this), Grand River Highballer Pumpkin cask, Corporal Punishment (looking forward to the bottles now), and the King Unfiltered Hopped-up Pilsner.

I did enjoy the Sahti Juniper sample, but don't think I could get through a full pint. Black Oak's Wasabi Brown was good, but I didn't get much (if any) Wasabi - in fact, if it didn't say wasabi, I would have had no idea.

Anything left from Friday, or have the taps run dry?

Did anyone else find the Hopping Mad very similar to Granite's other brews? It reminded me very much of one of them, but I can't put my finger on it. Perhaps the Old Peculiar, or the Best Bitter. Similar hop/malt character.

jaymack wrote:Anything left from Friday, or have the taps run dry?

Dry. We ended up there again during Nuit Blanche and all the specialty beers were gone.

Dang! Thanks for the update.

Cass wrote: Dry. We ended up there again during Nuit Blanche and all the specialty beers were gone.

Well, mostly. I was there last night and the Ironspike, Neustadt and Wasabi were still on. Iron Duke will be back soon as C'est What got 4 kegs and they were prepping one last night.

The results are in:

http://www.cestwhat.com/tasteresult/festival2008.asp