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!

Toronto Beer Week – Great Lakes Harvest Fest – Saturday

Attending a work party on Friday night and drinking G&Ts as an out for a lackluster beer selection, Saturday was a day I was looking forward to. Planning to attend 3 Toronto Beer Week events this day I was excited to say the least. But not just any three events! Three events all with cask beer. Delicious.

First up was the Harvest Festival at the Great Lakes brewery. A number of Project X events this past summer were held in the Great Lakes front yard and this one might have been the last outside one of the year. Slightly overcast and a touch breezy, the weather did not ruin the festival of harvest! By the time I arrived at 230pm there were about 60 adults sampling beer, enjoying the food and keeping an eye on the ~15 kids tearing around the lot. The small things often make a difference and the bales of hay and pumpkins were a nice touch along with the booths of local purveyors of fine cheeses, coffee, meats and soap (they had even made a pumpkin ale soap including ‘head’ – very original!). Live country music also filled the air and greatly added to the atmosphere.

We managed to get the last of the cask pumpkin ale on our way in. I have had a few bottles of this year’s pumpkin ale from the LCBO and the pumpkin ale on cask was considerably hoppier than it’s bottled counterpart. Since it was the end of the cask I got a bit of pumpkin particulate in my glass. It added to the authenticity of it being a pumpkin ale, as well, who doesn’t love floaties in their cask? Now armed with some cask it was time to eat!

There were a small number of food choices but boy were they excellent! Jalapeño sausages (brats?) were just massive and incredibly delicious. For $2 this was the deal of the day! I was told they were from a place called European Quality Meats & Sausages in Kensington – definitely worth checking out.

We heard word that Sweet Pete’s Peach Wheat was running out so we hurried over to try this one. It was a very smooth wheat beer – I’m going to guess it was a North American wheat based on it’s smooth, mellow profile. I didn’t taste too much peach, which is OK by me – I’m not a big peach fan, but I did taste some cloves. This one was certainly not dry hopped.

Time to eat again – we grabbed the last couple slices of pumpkin pie and a pumpkin ale on tap. The pumpkin ale was not dry hopped and had that glorious clove, nutmeg, cinnamon profile you expect in a pumpkin ale. The pie was very delicious and dominated by cinnamon. After a bite of pie the pumpkin ale tasted just plain ‘beer-y’, but the beer long outlasted the powerful pie and once again returned to its pumpkin-y glory.

We headed off in search of more casks at Bryden’s for the Cask! social but everyone else was still having a great time. It seemed a fun environment for beer lovers and families alike. Would definitely go to this event again next year!

Toronto Beer Week – Black Oak – Thursday

After seeing Volo as rammed as I have ever seen it on Monday of the Toronto Beer Week I did not expect to see another full house at Volo on Thursday. I was wrong. Black Oak was featured for the evening and all beers available that evening were from the hard working brewery from Etobicoke. On tap were some fantastic choices: Pale Ale, Nut Brown, Summer Saison, Oaktoberfest Lager, Nutcracker Porter, Double Chocolate Stout and 10 Bitter Years. Cask offerings were Hop Bomb and Nutcracker Porter. 10 Bitter Years, Nutcracker Porter and the Summer Saison were all available in bottle. The Oaktoberfest and both casks were long drained by the time I arrived but diving into a Saison and 10 Bitter Years was something I had no qualms about.

The Black Oak VIPs, Ken and Adrian, had been making the rounds and happily chatting with the full house of thirsty patrons. Ken told me of the VERY successful evening of cask beer at Kilgours where the beer vanished before one could say “reinheitsgebot”, and an enjoyable evening of Black Oak tastings at the Only Cafe.

While I was sitting at the bar drinking my saison and  catching up on my Toronto Beer Week news some university aged kids came in and were bemused by the Black Oak only menu. It became apparent that they came specifically for the event and didn’t know where to start – but were also keen and unintimidated. I overheard one say to another “have you heard of this beer called ‘Creemore’? It’s great – it’s way better than the stuff we usually drink! But I don’t see any of that here.” From there they each selected a different beer and I lost track of where they went. It was a great conversation to overhear! How it reminded me of a younger version of myself where the wonderful world of beer is just beginning to appear on the horizon. Creemore was definitely a great choice over Rickard’s, Keith’s or anything else they might serve at a sports bar back then. They were so excited at the prospect of trying new beers, and they had obviously chosen a good spot to make that leap. People trying great craft beer for the first, second… or Nth time. That’s what Toronto Beer Week was all about, and that was the most powerful moment of the week for me.

Toronto Beer Week – In The News

Toronto Beer Week has been getting some mainstream exposure! Check out the links below.

Josh Rubin @ The Toronto Star (scroll to bottom for TBW notes)

Pints of Fancy @ The Toronto Sun

Suck Back Those Suds During Toronto Beer Week with Now Magazine

Toronto Beer Week @ BlogTO