This post marks a milestone in my blogging. Unfortunately it’s not a very glamourous one, but in the blogging world it is a rite of passage. This is my I’m-sorry-I-haven’t-posted-in-a-while-but-promise-to-catch-up-soon post. It’s not a bad thing and it happens to the best bloggers out there. I even fell behind in my precious Google Reader for beer news and posts for a time but it’ll be remedied!
IPA, eh?
Though I haven’t been posting it was not for lack of beer. I recently started a new job and have been fairly consumed with all that is involved with that. Before I started the job I took a week break to enjoy a week of freedom and the hot August weather. Beer related I did my own IPA tasting. It wasn’t formal or scheduled by any means but I did approximately one a day for the week – sampling beers I have collected over the past few months from Buffalo, Montreal, Sault Ste Marie (Michigan) and Manitoba. I will definitely post about this one soon!
4 Casks and a Pig
I also attended the August Great Lakes Brewery Project X on August 12th. In fine Project X tradition this event was a great success. Held outside, the standard draughts were available as well as four different casks. I did not take notes that night and my memory is a bit fuzzy: I thought I was told I had a black forest pale ale, but when trying to track it down online I came across a black forest porter – this seems a better description of what it was. Huge tart cherry and chocolate. The classic My Bitterer (double ER) Wife DIPA was on offer, which I found LESS bitter than a My Bitter (single ER) Wife I had a Volo a few months ago. A hoppy saison and the ‘does this moo-moo make me look hefe imperial hefeweizen’ rounded out the cask list. The pulled pork was cut right off of the pig on-site and the food ran out! Everyone did get their firsts, but there were only a handful who got seconds. Tough life, eh?
Taps, Awards, and Gold!
The Golden Tap Awards weekend was simply incredible. The 7 course beer dinner put on by Brian and the beerbistro crew last Friday evening was remarkable! A lot of planning was put into the dishes and they were enjoyed by all based on the buzz and high energy in the room. The Ontario beers paired with each course were introduced by the respective brewers, while Cass gave us the run down of the food items. Hats off to The Bar Towel and beerbistro for making the dinner the spectacle that it was. I’m looking forward to next year already!
The ‘main’ Golden Tap Award night was last Saturday and was just as enjoyable as years past. The Golden Tap Awards are always a standout event in my summer as they provide recognition for the efforts in the Ontario craft beer industry and a great afternoon of beer sampling and camaraderie. Brewers, publicans, bloggers, beer enthusiasts and beer lovers alike congregated, sampled, laughed, sampled, cheered for the awards and sampled some more well into the night. The beer menu for the day included a huge number of taps and a dozen plus in bottle form. I didn’t come across more than a handful of choices I had not previously enjoyed so I made sure those were first on my hit list. The Lake of Bays Pale Ale and an offering from Kichessippi (don’t recall any more specifics of the name – a blonde?), which I admit I had not heard of prior to this event. I didn’t dislike them however neither were remarkable in any way. They may be playing it safe by making easy to drink ales but they will need to establish a specialty in the near future else they will be directly competing with the big boys and sadly I can’t see them sticking around too long. I certainly won’t write the breweries off before they have the opportunity to prove themselves as they are both young and hopefully up and comers and I look forward to trying anything else from them in future!
Check out Cass’ post towards the bottom of the page for the beer dinner courses & pairings, as well as the results of the 2010 Golden Tap Awards! Congrats to all!
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Hopefully this post will last you through the weekend. I am off to Bracebridge for a wedding tomorrow and unfortunately won’t be able to stop in on the Muskoka Beer Festival (damndamndamndamn) I do plan to stop in at the Muskoka Brewery which is something I’ve not done before so hopefully that will make up for it!
Regular posts coming next week, promise!
Cheers!
Beer With Me 