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!

Can you recommend…?

Recently I was best man at my good friend’s wedding (congrats Joel and Janet!). In advance I was honoured by being asked to select two additional beers for the bar. I chose Black Oak Pale Ale and Flying Monkey’s Hoptical Illusion. It was fantastic to see how many people were drinking these on the day – choosing them over the standard fare of Corona, Heineken, Coors Light, etc. Later in the evening I was asked for beer recommendations by someone who is starting to pull away from only macros. After some hemming and hawing I finally created a list for him. It included a number of Ontario and Quebec micros as well as some international choices. All choices are reasonably user-friendly and are easily accessible at the LCBO. They are also choices I would happily drink. Here they are with some brief comments, sorted roughly by style.

• Denison’s Weissbier – A superb local choice and a top rated German hefeweizen. Lots of great banana, clove and citrus flavours and aromas. A classic. (lcbo)
• Schneiderweiss – This archetypal German hefeweizen is brewed in Germany. (lcbo)
• Unibroue’s Blanche de Chambly – A Belgian style wheat beer made in Quebec. A bit of a different style than the weissbier. (lcbo)
• Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA – An amazing IPA from a very highly esteemed American brewery. (lcbo) *(checking the lcbo site it notes it is now discontinued?)
• Dieu Du Ciel Corne du Diable IPA – Also amazing is an interpretation of the style from Montreal. Recently brought back to the LCBO. (lcbo)
• Duggan #9 IPA – Made in Toronto it’s an incredibly well-balanced beer. One of the best Ontario IPAs. (lcbo)
• Kostritzer Schwartzbier – This one will show that looks can be deceiving! I’ll leave it there… (lcbo)
• Creemore Kellerbier – Another Ontario choice – this keller (cellar) beer has a great hop profile and is unfiltered. Showcases another lager style. (lcbo)
• Czechvar – A classic version of the Czech style Pilsner. Crisp, flavourful and refreshing. (lcbo)
• Young’s Double Chocolate Stout – Black with a tan head. Huge chocolate taste and creamy mouthfeel. (lcbo)
• St Ambroise Oatmeal Stout – Black as midnight and full of chocolate and espresso flavours. One of the best. (lcbo)
• Duchy Originals Organic Ale – A very soft mouthfeel on this Extra Special Bitter (ESB). Mild and refreshing. (lcbo)
• Black Oak Pale Ale – Not quite an IPA, but more of an American Pale Ale. More often than not this will be in my fridge. (lcbo)
• Muskoka Cream Ale – A good transitional beer. Goes down very smooth and appeals to almost everyone’s palette. (lcbo)
• McAuslan Apricot Wheat – A fruity wheat beer; this is a good example of a fruit beer. From Quebec. (lcbo)
• Cameron’s Auburn Ale – An amber ale from Oakville. A malt prominent flavour and moderate hop profile. (lcbo)

Covering a number of styles, hopefully this will be a decent list for him to get started on! I did feel happy knowing that there is one more to-be convert to the awesome world of beer, and hopefully I have sown some seeds to get him on the Ontario craft beer train.

Dry Hopping

Sure bittering hops are added during the boil, and aromatic hops are added towards the end of the boil, but If you want your beer to have that really enhanced hoppy aroma dry hopping is the way to go!

Adding hops near the end of the boil for aromatic qualities may lead to the loss of the aromatic oils due to the inherent harsh nature of the boil so dry hopping is a great way to really enhance the hoppy aroma. By adding hops to the secondary fermenter or keg (or cask) the hops are able to bask in the near finished beer and release their delicate oils to impart their wonderful flavour into the beer. This process can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks depending on the desired outcome.

Brewers use hop plugs, hop pellets and even whole leaf hops to dry hop their beer. By the time the beer is in the secondary fermenter or keg (or cask) there is sufficient alcohol present to prevent any bacteria (which may be present on the fresh whole leaf hops) from contaminating the beer. Sometimes a mesh bag is used to contain the hops to make it easier for clean up and to prevent blockages in the keg but simply tossing them in is a very common and acceptable method. The homebrewer typically brews 5 gallon batches and it is said that 2 oz of hops is at the high-end of moderate dry hopping, and 4 oz is at the high-end for the hopheads.

Since the objective of dry hopping is to provide additional aromatic properties to the beer aromatic hops are the best choice. These hops have a relatively low alpha acid content (under 6%) and more aromatic hop oils. Goldings, cascade, saaz, and fuggles are just a few of the varieties suitable for dry hopping. It is also important to ensure the hops used for dry hopping are suitable for the beer being made. For example saaz hops would be suitable for dry hopping pilsners or European lagers, and Cascade suitable for an American pale ale. In theory you can dry hop any beer but the purpose of dry hopping is to enhance the hop properties of already hoppy beers. India pale ales, American pale ales and pilsners are good examples of the types of beers ideal for dry hopping. This site notes hop varieties including alpha acid percentage and style of beer commonly used in.

A few local examples of dry hopped beers include Granite Best Bitter Special, Great Lakes Lackeys Caskey and Flying Monkeys Smash Bomb Atomic IPA.

Oh yeah, why is it called ‘dry’ hopping? Since once the hops hit the beer they get wet, right?  The ‘dry’ adjective indicates that the hops have not been boiled and are uncooked.

OCB Week Day 5 – Project XXXX

Day 5 of OCB week and still going strong. The G20 anarchy had not yet hit the city so I quickly zipped from downtown Toronto to Mimico station via Go train to get me to Great Lakes Brewing Co asap. I flew solo to the pub crawl on day 4 and was again flying solo to day 5 (I have friends, I swear). This was my second Project X. Attending for the first time in May I was very impressed. Since Project X started about a year ago I kept telling myself to go but it didn’t happen until last month due to the insistence of a friend. Now that I’ve gone I regret not going earlier and plan to attend as many as possible in future.

This was a special Project X – Project XXXX, due to the special occasion (OCB week). Project XX happened in March 2010, and I’m not sure if Project XXX was skipped because it may attract the wrong crowd, the Ontario liquor board would frown on the implication, or simply because they have something supersexyspecial planned in future?

This incarnation showcased four different breweries who all brought casks along. (It’s a good life, isn’t it?) Great Lakes had Lakey’s Caskey and My Bitter Wife IPA on cask, as well as Miami Weiss in bottle (Green Tea Ale, Canuck Pale Ale and Devil’s Pale available in their retail store for purchase and consumption). Muskoka brought a dry-hopped, unfiltered cream ale cask. A cask of strawberry blonde lager was provided by F&M, and Flying Monkeys brought their Smash-bomb IPA on cask and in bottles. I can say that I was able to sample all of the above noted on the evening except the bottled smash-bomb (which was remedied on day 6), but my taste buds had been piqued by Lakey’s Caskey the night before so I largely stuck to the hoppy casks.

For $10 this event was great value for money. In exchange for your hard earned dollars you received drink tickets, a food ticket and outdoor BBQ fun. The weather was fair and everyone was enjoying being outdoors. It was like a big family BBQ, where your family all enjoy great beer and there’s no family drama. The brewery had even set up their own G20 fake lake, which I took my turn sitting at while imagining all of the good that could have been done with the real fake lake’s expenditure.

Before ending this post I need to take a moment to comment about the staff at Great Lakes. They are some of the friendliest people you will meet. They do such good work and take pride in it. They appreciate their clientèle and in turn that gets returned to them. It’s always a pleasure to visit Great Lakes and will certainly be attending the next Project X in early-mid July!

On tap for the rest of OCB week:

Day 6 – Friday – Volo & Night of the Flying Monkeys @ The Only Cafe
Day 7 – Saturday – TBD (wedding to attend)

OCB week, redux:

Day 1 – Sunday – Rebel House and “Granite”
Day 2 – Monday – BelgOntario @ Volo
Day 3 – Tuesday – The Day That Wasn’t
Day 4 – Wednesday – Cass’ & Troy’s First Annual OCB Pub Crawl