Toronto Beer Week – Cask! Social @ Bryden’s – Saturday

Stop number two on my TBW cask crawl found me at Bryden’s for the Cask! social. (This event was also in a double whammy with respect to knocking items off of my goals list.) I was warned in advance by west-enders that Bryden’s isn’t too big and if an event was going on I had better get there early to ensure entry. Arriving around 4pm (one hour after start time) those words were almost confirmed – the packed house had room for a few more people but not much more. The patio area also offered space for the caskees but it was a bit chilly to enjoy a good sit outside.

We received name tags (to encourage the social aspect of the ‘social’) and headed to the bar. We found out that the first casualty of the afternoon was Beau’s Matt’s Gose. This must have been quite the beer based on the speed at which it disappeared! I was looking forward to trying it mostly because I don’t believe I have ever had a gose (not to be confused with gueuze). The trek to the bar was slowed by brief chats with friendly and familiar faces. By the time we reached the bar the Great Lakes Miami Dunkelweiss cask was being tipped for its last drops. I did hear that it was “quite hoppy”. Two down, two to go. My hit list now had one primary target: the Muskoka Dark Chocolate Ale. This cocoa-y dark ale lent itself perfectly to being a cask beer. The light carbonation and fresh factor worked wonderfully with the malty body. I don’t think I would drink too many of these in one sitting but was delicious nonetheless. The final cask was the ever fantastic Granite Best Bitter Special. What can I say about this beer that has not been said before? Simply marvelous.

As promised there were nibbles provided. There were 4 offered and were nothing too fancy but each one was paired with one of the beers. Fortunately they kept bringing the food samples out after the casks ran out. Granite BBS was paired with cajun shrimp, Muskoka Chocolate Ale with ‘spicy’ chocolate dipped strawberries, the Dunkelweiss with sharp cheddar and finally the Gose paired was paired with a Thai fresh roll.

The beer menu on the wall had a fair number of craft choices as well as a ‘beers of the moment’ board which were entirely craft beers including the likes of Black Oak 10 Bitter Years and Flying Monkey’s Smashbomb. The atmosphere was fun and folks jovial. I am definitely inclined to go back to Bryden’s AND attend future Cask! social’s. Thanks to all involved – it was a great time!

Dieu Du Ciel! In Ontario!

I never did make it up to the Granite on Saturday afternoon but I eventually did manage to get my hands on a Toronto Beer Week tshirt. My arm was “twisted” and I agreed head into Allen’s for a pint after submitting an order for a Black IPA and a Double Chocolate Stout at Fermentations on the Danforth. After this I headed to Bar Volo (I seem to be going there a lot lately…) for the Dieu Du Ciel tasting feature. Beyond knowing they had DDC on tap, and enough choices to push the list to double digits, I didn’t know what I was in store for.

This event was towards the end of the DDC feature week presented by HMH Negotiants. Starting earlier in the week a beer dinner was held at Chancey Smith’s, a beer lunch was held at Caplanskys and a pub crawl staggered it’s way across the city enduring more than 12 hours.  Tonight was the feature event at Volo and the next day was a DDC brunch at beerbistro hosted by Stephen Beaumont. All of this, and Toronto Beer Week had not even officially kicked off!

Getting back to the DDC feature, I was privileged to sample three fine DDC beers. I could not go without tasting the mighty Aphrodite. (Normally I refer to it by its not LCBO-bastardized name but the rhyme there was so appealing.) This top rated stout boasts big hits of cocoa and vanilla with the perfect bitterness. Always smooth and velvety this is a top choice that I cannot ever resist. The two choices new to me were Chaman, an Imperial Pale Ale, and Grande Noirceur, an Imperial Stout. I found the Grande Noiceur very similar (in taste and  excellence) to the Peche Mortel, with the notable difference being the absence of an overt coffee profile. Very easy to drink and could see the dangers in making this an inadvertent and unlikely session beer. The Chaman, copper colour and quite cloudy, was dominated by hops but had a large enough malt profile bring about a decent balance. I don’t think I could session this one even if I tried! Lastly I tried the much hyped Caustic Commencement Saison – the much hyped and highly anticipated collaboration effort from Biergotter and Volo. Saisons are fairly new to me but what I have learned so far is that there is much diversity under the saison label. On initally inhaling the nose I thought I smelled a fruity bathroom cleaner. Perplexed at what I was smelling I had my confusion eased when Chris told me “mangoes”. Once I had identified the mango aspect things fell into place. The mango flavour was competing with a strong hop aroma as well as notes of other tropical fruits. It was a treat to drink and was not out of place with DDC, as the caliber was top notch. Definitely setting the bar high for all future products coming from Volo’s brewery.

It’s fantastic to see that one of Canada’s best breweries is now available in my backyard, both in pubs and the LCBO. Hopefully they are blazing the trail for many others to follow! Cheers to Volo, HMH Negotiants and DDC for creating such great opportunities for beer drinkers in Ontario

Toronto Beer Week – And They’re Off!! – Monday

Excitement was in the air as I approached Volo, the humble craft beer mecca, on the first day of Toronto Beer Week. At only 6pm the patio was rammed and the inside near capacity. Three hours later even more bodies somehow fit themselves into the small establishment and a note on the door indicated the bar was at capacity and no more were permitted in. To officially launch beer week the draft line up was to be 10 of Ontario’s best beers as well as two casks: the finalists in the 2010 Cask Challenge.  As it turned out there were 12 Ontario taps and you would be tough pressed to find argument in the excellence of the choices:

Denison Weissbier, Denison Dunkel, Black Oak 10 Bitter Years DIPA, Scotch Irish John By Imperial Stout, Wellington Imperial Stout, Flying Monkey Smash Bomb IPA,Black Oak Nutcracker Porter, Mill St Tankhouse Ale, Durham Hop Addict IPA, Creemore Kellerbier and Mill Street Coffee Porter.

Most of these choices did not last the night as the exuberant the thirsty patrons guzzled them down. At with beer week in the air and at $4/pint it’s no wonder! The casks were also reduced to empty barrels. Flying Monkey’s Smashbomb IPA and Great Lakes My Bitter Wife had at it and voters eagerly cast their ballots for the 2010 IPA Cask Challenge finalists. In the company of these two casks was a third cask (though not in the finals) the top choice Durham Hop Head on cask.

I spoke to a few others who had attended beer week events in other parts of the city including Mill Street, Granite, Starfish (for Malt and Molluscs Monday) and the early consensus was a “great success.” Hopefully everywhere else this week will be a booming as last night was. And that was just the beginning. Happy beer week everyone!

Toronto Beer Week Is Upon Us!

Well, officially Toronto Beer Week will be upon us in two days but a number of beer related events have already been occurring across the city for those eager go-getters. Unfortunately there are so many things going on that it is not possible to engage in all of the events or even all of the days.  I’ll do a quick day by day of what I think sounds hot as well as what I’ll be attending.

This weekend: HMH Negotiants has been presenting a Dieu Du Ciel feature at Bar Volo from this past Thursday through this Sunday.  This evening is a big event there from 7pm-2am. After popping up to Granite Brewery this afternoon for a pint of cask and hopefully a Toronto Beer Week t-shirt I will be attending the early media portion of the DDC feature. Sadly I won’t be able to stay for the evening as I have to leave to go see Mastodon, Deftones and Alice in Chains down at the Amphitheatre – a cross I am willing to bear. Tomorrow I am hoping to accomplish a large number of chores around the house in preparation for shirking many responsibilities and having a singular focus of Toronto Beer Week from start to finish.

Monday: It’s hard to say no to $5 pints at Volo on Monday evenings. This beer week edition of pint night will feature $4 pints of the top ten rated Ontario beers. I’m not sure of whose rating this is but I am certain the selection will be top-notch. If that wasn’t enough they are kicking off the finals of the 2010 IPA Cask Challenge. The contenders are Great Lakes My Bitter Wife vs. Flying Monkeys Smashbomb IPA. May the best cask win!

Tuesday: Unfortunately scheduling does not permit me to attend any events on Tuesday. If I COULD go to an event it would certainly be the Brew Dog Dinner @ Beerbistro. A six course dinner is being prepared by Brian and crew of beerbistro and paired with beers from one of the most avant-garde breweries in the world. $90 a head is not a cheap price tag but this is one of those rare opportunities not to be ignored. My prediction is this is one of the events that will still have the biggest buzz once beer week is over.

Wednesday: Sadly another day I will have to miss. Stephen Beaumont will be hosting a session called ‘Malt Magic’ at The Monk’s Table. This event is described as “Premium beer and spirit pairings with decadent chocolates and gourmet cheeses.” This one will appeal to beer and food lovers alike! I will be doing my own beer tasting at home which I’ll post when complete.

Thursday: I’m heading back down to Volo on Thursday for the Black Oak feature. “ALL” Black Oak beers will be available, which includes year round favourites as well as seasonals. In addition to this they will be bringing in 2 casks. The Black Oak crew will be on hand to mingle.

Friday: Kicking off this day is the 22nd annual Festival of Craft Breweries at the C’est What. This event, along with it’s spring counterpart have grown in popularity over the years that for this incarnation they have decided to spread the festival over two days, and now includes the Saturday. A different lineup is scheduled for Friday and Saturday. Admission is free and most samples go for a buck.

Saturday: This will be a busy day! I’m planning to make the below day’s events into my own mini cask trail/crawl. Great Lakes Brewery has modified their September Project X and turned it into the Great Lakes Harvest Festival (review). They will be offering bratwurst and pumpkin and peach pie as well as two special casks: Sweet Pete’s Peach Wheat and their Pumpkin Ale. This runs from noon through 4 at the brewery. Next up is the CASK! September social at Bryden’s (review).Four casks will be available: (Beau’s Matt’s Gose, Granite Best Bitter Special, Great Lakes Miami Dunkelweiss, Muskoka Dark Chocolate Ale) as well as some nibbles and prizes (runs 3 through 6). Wrapping up the mini crawl I’ll be heading back to the C’est What for the Saturday session of the Festival of Craft Breweries.

Sunday: Deciding it sounded like a fun idea I signed up for Toronto Beer Quest. “An urban adventure featuring Toronto Beer History.” Registration is online for teams of 2 and it’s a photo scavenger hunt. I am not entirely sure what I’m in for but it sounds like a fun idea. $40 per team is the registration cost and I believe it winds up at a pub at the end for some (hopefully) celebratory beers!

I’m hoping this week will be as great as it sounds. A few days off will need to be taken the following week I’m sure, but I’ll be right back at it on the Thursday for the Canadian German Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s German Bierfest. More on that later.

Happy beer week all! Cheers!

OCB Week Day 6 – Volo & Flying Monkeys

When Volo announced they will be having special taps and casks it’s usually about 50-50 chance that it’s a special event. Though it was OCB week this event was not officially on the agenda but that did not stop the faithful from pouring into Volo. Arriving at 4pm on the dot we grabbed a shady-ish spot on the patio and previewed the cask menu of the day.
Six (or more?) casks on offer plus a number of familiar taps from the BelgOntario days earlier in the week. The casks included Black Oak Marmalade Saison, Granite Hopping Mad, Duggan #99 Double IPA, Great Lakes “does this moo moo make me look hefe?” Imperial hefeweize, Beau’s Festive Alt as well as Beau’s Beaver River.

The light malt, citrus and grassy notes of Black Oak’s (standard) seasonal Summer Saison make it a perfect choice for quenching a thirst, so I was keen to see how the Marmalade version would fare. Visually it looked very similar but the citrus aroma and flavour were considerably more pronounced. I do not think they used actual marmalade but a considerable amount of orange and grapefruit (from fruit) hit your tongue and added notable amount of tart bitterness to compliment the hop bitterness. Would I have it again? You betcha, though drinking it quick enough to stop it getting warm OR keeping it out of the sun would be a wise decision.

Next up was to be The Only Cafe for a Night of Flying Monkeys however we decided to lengthen our trip from downtown to the Danforth and make two pit stops.

Double Double IPA IPA Volo Volo!

Continuing the beer weekend noted in my previous post, Saturday (May 29) saw my first serious exposure to the world of double/imperial India Pale Ales at the East Coast vs West Coast vs No Coast Double IPA Challenge @ Volo. I had not previously sampled enough double IPAs to get a proper feel for the style and my knowledge of the style was incomplete. This tasting fixed that. Due to the heavy-duty nature of these beers and because I had to go to another occasion later in the evening I opted to split a tasting flight and what a treat they were! At first my taste buds were disoriented by the onslaught of rich maltiness, triple digit IBUs and overall intensity of flavours but they soon settled and were able to decipher the complex tastes being broken down into rich toffee malts, explosions of grapefruit, earthy woody notes as well as subtleties including vanilla, sherry and candied fruits.

Since I had no real frame of reference of what these beers were going in my guesses were exactly that; guesses. My selections were based on IBU and what I thought were the entries I have previously tried (My Bitterer Wife from Great Lakes and 10 Bitter Years from Black Oak). Volo has since revealed the results from this tasting. Even though the Charlevoix Armadillo Double IPA appears to have been replaced by the Great Divide Hercules I was only able to correctly identify one of the eight samples. Correctly identified was the Great Lakes My Bitterer Wife, and as noted above I have previously tried this beer and remembered a) what it looked like (cloudy like a hefeweizen) and b) a hop content which puckered my mouth, eyes and brain.

Any type of event which allows sampling en mass and the opportunity to try new (and hopefully good) beers is what it’s all about. I doubt that Double IPAs will become a large part of my beer consumption but now knowing what they are I will have a keen and discerning eye when I come across them in future.

What did I learn?: Double IPAs and triple IPAs are both imperial IPAs. (Remember, Imperial means strong.) As a general guideline double IPAs use 50% more malt and 100% more hops than traditional IPAs and triple IPAs use 100% more malt and 200% more hops. Weighing in with ABVs starting at 7% and low end IBUs at 60, these beers are not for the uninitiated and are to be treated with respect.

C’est What Spring Festival of Craft Breweries

Last weekend was one of shirking responsibilities and complete beer indulgence. Friday night (May 28) was the 6th annual C’est What Spring Festival of Craft Breweries. Twelve casks and thirty taps were available for the sampling. I was secretly hoping the hot weather would cause everyone to seek out a nice spot on a patio however the turnout was formidable. With queues out the door of up to 30 people this tasting was certainly a success. At a buck a sample I can understand why. Compared to the 2009 fall festival this spring edition had a better overall selection on offer. The trending seemed to be heavy on the IPAs as well as a number of wheat beers and fruit beers, as the season demands.

The best beer I had not previously tried was the Flying Monkey Smash Bomb IPA cask. A whole lot of hops caused a whole lot of happy. A close second was the Hockley Valley Black and Tan. On draught it had a wonderful chocolate and toffee flavour that is completely different from the Hockley Valley Stout, which was incredibly drinkable (possibly due to having it late in the evening?). The Great Lakes Imperial Hefeweisen made quite an impression on me and overshadowed their own (Great Lakes) hopped up Miami Weiss.

The best old favourites I tried were the Black Oak 10 Bitters Years and the Wellington Russian Imperial Stout – both of which are big beers and always treats. A nightcap at beerbistro may have been unnecessary but was the perfect way to wind down the evening.

What did I learn?: I tried the Great Lakes Do These Pants Make Me Look Really HEFE Imperial Hefe, which is my first time for an imperial wheat beer. So what is that? A hefeweisen is a wheat (weisen) beer with yeast (hefe). That is straight forward.  So what makes it imperial? The first ‘imperial’ beer was the Russian Imperial Stout made in England in the 18th century to be exported to Czarist Russian. These are far from ordinary. Weighing in a 8%+ for ABV these super malty, intensely roasted malt tasting beers are ones that can store well, and thus travel from England to Russian without spoiling (and I’m sure the style was something to impress the Czar!). The imperial label is modernly applied to styles of beer where they are stronger than the traditional style. For example Imperial IPA, Imperial Pilsner, Imperial Porter.