Due to the fact that I write about beer (and occasionally other things) in a number of different places, I get a lot of press releases and invitations and freebees. This is nothing new to me - I spent many, many years as a music writer and DJ, and received an absolutely insane number of free CDs, records, concert tickets and other swag - and as such, I’ve become both jaded and realistic about PR and marketing and the people who work in that business. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve met a lot of really nice PR people over the years, a couple of whom I’ve gone on to become fairly good friends with. But I also have to recognize that my relationships with most them are ultimately based on them giving me stuff in hopes that I will write about it, and nothing more.

In addition to recognizing this, I’ve also developed what I think to be a pretty strong bullshit detector (OK, sometimes it’s a bit too strong), as well as a low tolerance for empty buzzwords and marketing doublespeak. Basically, I’m a cynical bastard who dislikes many elements of our consumer-oriented society, and I take most of the PR bumph that I receive with a huge boulder of salt.

So when I received an invitation a month or so ago to a blogger-oriented tasting event of some sort featuring Molson beers, I was typically ambivalent about it. Not just because I dislike most of Molson’s products, but also because the event was called “Brew 2.0” and the invite used phrases like “social media space” and “blogosphere” and such. I was prepared to ignore it, but I got hooked by two things: the promise of a debut of a brand new beer (Molson or not, I’ll all about trying new beers, since I’m a ratings whore), and the chance to check out the micro-brewery at the Air Canada Centre where they brew Rickard’s Red for on-site sales (not a big fan of the beer, but I always like looking at all the shiny tanks and pipes and things).

Taking Troy from Great Canadian Pubs & Beer along as my guest (and also my camera source, since I forgot to bring my own(, I headed down to the ACC where I found a group of 20 or so local bloggers and other “social media” movers and shakers gathering at Lord Stanley’s Mug, the bar located beside the small brewery. Folks I recognized included Alexa and Gerry from Cheap Eats Toronto, Matthew Blackett (aka m@b) from Spacing, and Joey deVilla (aka Accordion Guy), one of Toronto’s earliest and most infamous bloggers. Pints and bottles of an assortment of Molson products were being offered as people arrived and mingled, and I was pleased to note that the vast majority of the people were drinking the quite palatable Creemore Springs and Rickard’s White, while very few were bothering with Coors Light or Canadian.

After a few minutes of chatting and drinking, the group was treated to a presentation by the Director of Brewing for MolsonCoors, Ian Douglass, which covered the basics of beer and the brewing process - nothing new to me, but it was well presented and taught something to quite a few of the attendees. This led directly into the tasting portion of the evening, which featured a bunch of Molson (& Molson owned/distributed) beers paired with some nibbles from the ACC kitchens that were very tasty indeed (not surprising, given that their culinary program is headed by chef Brad Long).

The pairings we were treated to included:

grilled chicken skewer / Molson Canadian

mini burgers with brie & bacon / Coors Light

fried oysters / Heineken

mini veggie tacos / Corona

grilled beef with caramelized onion reduction / Rickard’s Red

shrimp with citrus glaze / Rickard’s White

smoked bratwurst / Creemore Springs Lager

The first few pairings were fine in the sense that the beers had so little flavour that there was no chance of them clashing with the food. With the burgers/Coors Light pairing in particular, we might as well have been drinking soda water. The freshness of the Heineken and Corona was impressive, though - especially the Corona, which I don’t think I’d ever tried in a non-skunked form before.

The remaining trio of pairings were a bit more interesting, and generally pretty well executed. The Rickard’s Red was the freshest I’d ever had it (which makes sense considering it was probably brewed about 50 feet from where we were drinking it), and had a pleasant caramel maltiness that matched the beef and caramelized onion sauce very nicely. The Rickard’s White was also in good form, and matching it with citrus and seafood was a smart choice. (An aside for those who might be curious: I asked Douglass about the rumour that Rickard’s White is just Coors Blue Moon Belgian White rebranded for Canada, and he confirmed that they’re very close, but some slight changes were made for the Rickard’s version.) The final pairing was also a winner, with the subtle smokiness of the sausage sitting well alongside the always enjoyable - and like the other beers, remarkably fresh - Creemore Springs.

Once the food was out of the way, our pint glasses were refilled with whatever we chose, and Steve Riley of Draught Prophets gave a presentation on the ins and outs of draught beer, from how kegs are constructed to why it’s important for bars to keep their beer glasses and tap lines clean. Again, not really news to me, but it was nice to see such knowledge being spread to folks who might not normally consider the importance of such things.

A quick tour of the brewhouse followed the presentation, and then to wrap up the evening, the mysterious new beer was revealed: Kasteel Cru, a French lager brewed with champagne yeast that Molson will be distributing in Canada starting this fall. Two precious bottles were brought up from NYC for us to sample, so there wasn’t a lot to go around, but the bit I was able to taste seemed to be OK, albeit a bit unexciting. I’ll reserve judgement until I get a chance to sample a full bottle.

While the macrobrew-bashing part of me hates to say it, I have to give Molson some kudos for this event, at least in terms of how the beers were presented and the way that information was passed on to the generally non-beer-savvy group that attended. As shown by the blog posts that followed from some of the attendees, they opened a few people’s eyes and minds to aspects of beer that I just take for granted, like beer and food pairings and the importance of spotless glassware.

That being said, I’m still pretty cynical about the approach that was taken from a PR perspective - the subsequent story from one attendee about how the PR company somehow found out about a BBQ they were holding the following weekend and showed up with free beer is more creepy than cool, IMO. But like I said above, I’ve got some issues with most aspects of the PR and marketing industry, so I’m bound to feel that way.

Come to think of it, though, perhaps the fact that I wrote this post despite the original invite saying that coverage of the event wasn’t a requisite for attending shows that I’m not quite as immune to PR hype and freebees as I’d like to think. Maybe I’m more of a sucker than I realized for free beer and food - not to mention the free taxi chits, USB stick with the press material, and coupon for a free 12 pack of any Molson product from The Beer Store that I was given on the way out.

Damn. I feel so dirty!

(Sorta creepy photo borrowed from evilloop.com)

The title of this post is a bit misleading, as Unibroue never actually went anywhere. But for the last couple of years, their presence was on the wane in Ontario. Their products were being delisted from retail outlets, and while Blanche de Chambly was still a popular draught choice at various in-the-know establishments, most of their other beers had all but disappeared. Quite simply, it seemed that parent company Sleeman (and their parent company, Sapporo) were more interested in expanding the Unibroue brands in the US market than in Ontario, which is somewhat understandable, given the relative size of that market.

Recently, though, there’s been a definite push to re-establish Unibroue in Ontario. 750 ml bottles of several of their beers are now back on LCBO shelves, and a couple of events have taken place in Toronto recently that show they’re serious about getting back to business.

The first was a trade event held at the end of May at Archeo, one of the swank restaurants in the picturesque Distillery District. The aim of the afternoon was to (re-)introduce the Unibroue line-up to representatives of the bar and restaurant trade, presenting them in a fine dining context. There were tasting stations set up throughout the space, each pouring a different Unibroue beer, alongside paired canapés such as lobster galette (with Blanche de Chambly), mini smoked meat tourtière (with Chambly Noire), and bitter chocolate & cayenne pudding (with Don de Dieu). Meanwhile, out on the spacious patio, there was a self-serve poutine station, with such hoity-toity toppings as spiced ground lamb, smoked chicken, and duck confit alongside the more traditional cheese curds and gravy.

The event also featured a presentation by Unibroue’s Pascal Robitaille who spoke a bit about the beers and the brewery, and then presented a series of beer and cheese pairings which all attendees were welcome to try. Unfortunately, I neglected to take notes, but there was one pairing in particular - I think it was a blue cheese of some sort paired with Trois Pistoles served at room temperature - that was truly phenomenal. Everyone I spoke to was impressed with the beers and pairing ideas, and there seemed to be a lot of interest in getting the beers into their respective bars and restaurants, so I’ll be looking forward to enjoying some Unibroue beers in new places soon.

One of those places is Piper’s Gastropub, the casual dining restaurant at Toronto’s Royal York Hotel, where they hosted a Unibroue Dinner in mid-June. Attendees were greeted with glasses of Blanche de Chambly and various hors d’oeuvre that fit in with the restaurant’s Canadiana theme, including mini servings of poutine, Nova Scotia fish & chips, and Alberta beef with Yorkshire pudding, all washed down with glasses of Blanche de Chambly.

Once seated, the courses included a melon gazpacho with smoked duck paired with Éphémère Apple, pan seared sable fish with La Fin du Monde, chili-rosemary rubbed steak and braised short-ribs enjoyed with Maudite, and sticky toffee pudding served with Chambly Noire. I was seated with Stephen Beaumont and his lovely fiancée (and as I write this, very soon to be wife) Maggie, and as he notes in his more-timely-than-mine blog post about the dinner, the food was all excellent and most of the pairings worked well. But the three of us agreed that the dessert pairing fell flat, as the overly sweet pudding clashed badly with the relatively dry and roasty beer. The ingenious Mr. Beaumont found a solution, however, by blending some of the Maudite that we had left from the previous course with the Noire, giving it a bit more body and sweetness which made it a much better match.

It also needs to be mentioned that Pascal Robitaille was in attendance to represent the brewery, and kept us entertained with various stories and anecdotes, including a lengthy retelling of the Quebecois legend that inspired the name and label of Maudite. And in keeping with the blending theme, he and the Piper’s team whipped up a post-dessert beer cocktail for everyone by mixing equal parts Blanche de Chambly and La Fin du Monde, which was a nice cap to a nice evening.

Given the fickle nature of large beer companies, it’s hard to say how long Sleeman will continue actively pushing Unibroue brands in Ontario, but the immediate signs are promising. And also promising are the plans for Piper’s to host more beer dinners in the future, including an Oktoberfest-themed event. Onwards and upwards…

Unlike some of the more popular beer blogs, I don’t report much in the way of industry news here, instead taking a more personal approach and writing about beers I’ve tried or events I’ve attended.

I’m making an exception today, though, because this is some pretty big news (and pretty good news) that’s been in the works for a while, and which none of the bigger blogs seem to have reported yet, so hey, it’s a scoop!

Duvel acquires Liefmans

On 24 June 2008, Duvel Moortgat nv reached an agreement with the receivers of Brouwerij Liefmans nv.

On the basis of this agreement, Duvel Moortgat nv acquires a large portion of the assets of the bankrupt companies, including the complete machinery, all the brands and recipes.

Earlier, Duvel Moortgat nv had already made a binding offer on the real estate of Brouwerij Liefmans nv in Ouderaarde. The receivers have granted Duvel Moortgat nv a right of use until the completion of some procedural aspects of the sale of this site.

In the first phase, Duvel Moortgat nv will concentrate primarily on the brown ales and fruit beers of the brand Liefmans brewed in Ouderaarde. This way, Duvel Moortgat nv can complete its existing product portfolio with a fine, authentic and traditional beer brand, in a market segment in which it was not active until now.

When Duvel Moortgat nv acquires the site in Ouderaarde, the company will make the necessary investiments to revalue the production site and give visitors a hearty welcome.

The price of the total transaction, including the real estate in Ouderaarde, amounts to 4.5 million Euro.

As I mentioned in my infamous “Ass Sandwich” post a while back, one of the highlights of my trip to Montreal in February was meeting Fred Cormier of Microbrasserie Hopfenstark. It was a highlight not only because he’s a great guy with a lot of passion for beer, but also because he’s a very generous guy who gave me and my travelling companions a box of beer to bring home with us.

I went through my share of the goodies soon after returning to Toronto, and have intended to write something about them here ever since, but lack of time and organizational skills have caused a delay until now. Below are my tasting notes from the half-dozen bottles I tried, as originally written for RateBeer:

Hopfenstark Ostalgia Blonde
Pours a light golden colour with a faint haziness and a good sized white head. Aroma is quite yeasty, with some herbal notes and a bit of apple. Body is highly carbonated at first, but calms down as it warms. Flavour is sharp and fresh, with notes of pepper, apple skin, yeast, juniper, and bitter herbs. A very unique beer with a lot more character than a typical golden ale.

Hopfenstark Saison Station 10 (Bière Sure)
Slightly hazy gold with a good sized white head that leaves lots of lace. Aroma is sour, lemony, with some yeast and slightly funky notes. Flavour - oh, yeah! - tart fruit (esp. lemon), yeast, spice, and some pleasant funkiness. Just fantastic, love it!

Hopfenstark Kamarad Friedrich - 5 Star Edition (Oak Aged)
Deep brown-black colour with a small tan head. Aroma of deep roasted malt, whisky, wood and smoke. A bit of cocoa and dark fruit in there as well. Body is a bit lighter and more carbonated than I recall the regular version being. Flavour is very good - roasty to start, developing some nice bitter licorice notes, hints of wood and smoke, a bit of vanilla ad bourbon, and some boozy warmth in the finish. Very nice indeed.

Hopfenstark Postcolonial IPA
Slightly hazy golden-amber. Fantastic aroma of sweet tropical fruit (pineapple, papaya) and firm resiny hops. Medium mouthfeel. Flavour is big and well-balanced, with sweet and toasty malts to hold up against the resiny citric hops. Finish is long and bitter, but not astringent, just really crisp and refreshing. Damn good!

Hopfenstark Framboise Forte Édition Spéciale (Oak Aged)
Light pink-orange with a slight haze, small head, and very still looking body. Awesome aroma - fresh tart raspberries with a hint of oak and a great funky edge. Medium bodied. Flavour is bracingly tart and dry to start, with some sweet woodiness filling out the middle, and a nice level of acidity in the crisp finish. Very, VERY good!

Hopfenstark Saison Station 55 (Bière Amère)
[Note: This is a blend of their Postcolonial IPA and Saison 10] Slightly hazy deep golden-amber with a small white head. Aroma of tart fruit, yeast, spice (esp. coriander), some hop tingle. Full mouthfeel, almost chewy, quite nice. Flavour is fruity off the top - apricot & peach - developing yeasty and spicy notes in the middle, finishing long and peppery. Blends of this sort can be a real crapshoot, but this one worked brilliantly, IMO.

And just because I liked all of their beers so much, here are a few others that I tried on draught while in Montreal:

Hopfenstark Blanche l’Ermitage
Golden colour with a slight haze. Aroma is rich and fruity - pineapple, orange, banana, apricot - with a subtle spice backing. Mouthfeel is soft and full. Flavour is just great - verging on a saison - with big fruit notes, moving into a pleasant herbal spiciness, and a moderately hopped finish. A really unique take on the style that I quite enjoyed.

Hopfenstark Kamarad Friedrich
Deep pitch black with a medium-sized dark tan head. Aroma is very dark and roasty, with some interesting fruitiness, and rich espresso notes. Full bodied. Flavour is sweet and warm, with well-roasted chocolate malts, dark roasted coffee, and a long, warm, moderately bittered finish. Booze is a bit too prominent in the end. Otherwise, a pretty nice impy.

Hopfenstark LouLou Porter 1920
Deep brown colour. Aroma of roasted malt, molasses, bakers chocolate and a bit of smoke. Light bodied. Flavour starts roasty and quite full, with some pleasant slightly lactic sourness in the middle, and a moderately dry finish. Could use a bit more body, but otherwise, a very nice porter.

Hopfenstark Saison Station 16 (de Seigle)
Hazy golden colour. Lovely aroma of herbs, apricot, and an odd hint of whiskey - probably from the rye. Flavour is quite herbal as well, with notes of orange and lemon, a faint yeasty funkiness, and a hint of pepper in the finish. Very nice!

I know there’s still over half of the year to go, but I think it’s safe to say that Hopfenstark will end up being favourite newly discovered brewery of the year for 2008. They don’t have much in the way of distribution outside of Quebec (or even inside of Quebec, for that matter), but if you’re in Montreal any time soon, keep an eye out for their stuff on tap at places like Vices & Versa, or plan a trip out to the brewery a bit east of the city. You won’t be sorry.

As I was finishing up my contributions to the upcoming Summer issue of TAPS magazine last week, it occurred to me that I’d completely forgotten to post a mention here back when the Spring issue came out back in early May.

So, here’s the mention: The Spring issue of TAPS magazine came out in early May. A bit later than planned, but in the right season at least. And while it’s still not perfect, it was a marked improvement over the Winter issue. The layout is less busy, are there are more contributors from across the country so it’s less Ontario-centric. I’m still not a fan of the corny bar jokes that are sprinkled throughout as filler, and I think the order of the features still needs some tweaking, but all in all, it’s continuing to move in the right direction.

While I’m on the topic of TAPS - as I mentioned previously, my main contribution to the mag is a series of articles on different beer styles, presented under the horribly unoriginal title of Beer Styles 101 (a title I came up with myself, by the way, so don’t go blaming anyone else for it). Hopefully, most of my pitifully small blog readership will be buying copies of the magazine to read my scintillating words in print, but for those who have some sort of aversion to paper, I’m going to start reprinting each column here as following issue comes out.

Since the Spring issue is out now, here’s my column from the Winter issue…

BEER STYLES 101: PILSNER

According to the official style guidelines of the internationally recognized Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP), there are 80 different styles and sub-styles of beer being made today. These range from light lagers to pitch-black stouts; bocks to Belgian ales to barley wines; subtle lager/ale hybrids to mouth-puckering gueuzes and Flemish sours. And with the amount of experimentation happening at craft breweries around the world – most notably in the United States – it’s probably safe to say that there are new styles and hybrids out there that haven’t even been classified yet. Yes, it truly is a great time to be an adventurous beer drinker.

So why is it that an estimated 95% of the beer purchased and consumed in the world today is bland lager that is pale yellow in colour and light in body and flavour? It would take a lot more space than this column allows to dig into the numerous reasons for this, but one of the main ones is consumer knowledge – or rather, the lack thereof. The massive financial resources of the large breweries allow them to put forth a constant barrage of advertising and promotions telling people that beer is meant to be crisp, clean and cold, and no beer is crisper, cleaner or colder than their brand. Trying to push something different through the din has generally been an exercise in futility.

Thankfully, though, things are changing. As part of a larger trend towards better quality and artisanal food and drink, craft beer sales in North America are rising each year while the market share held by the big brewers is stagnant or dropping. More and more people are interested in trying new and different things, and more and more craft breweries and independent importers are coming forward to give those people what they want.

Given all that, it could be considered a bit ironic that this first instalment in a series of columns on beer styles should focus on Pilsner, as it was the world’s first golden lager, and the style which begat the bland beverage that most people think of as beer today. But it is because of that influence that it’s important to understand the Pilsner style as it is supposed to be: not a pale, lifeless, industrial product, but a truly classic creation that immeasurably changed the world of beer and brewing.

Before Pilsner was born, pretty much all beer was served unfiltered, most of it was dark in colour, and aside from in areas where the weather was cool, the majority of the beers being brewed were ales which ferment at a higher temperature than lagers. And since these dark, cloudy ales were often produced by brewers who had only a rudimentary knowledge of the science behind what they were doing, the resulting product was often of a questionable quality, to say the least.

In 1838, the citizens of Pilsen, Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) decided that they’d had enough crappy beer, and started dumping barrels in the town square to show their dissatisfaction. The town elders quickly took the hint, and plans were drawn up for a new brewery that would produce beer using the latest knowledge and technology from neighbouring Bavaria, where brewers had been experimenting with bottom-fermenting lager yeasts that produced beers with more clarity and consistency than top-fermented ales.

To help them implement these Bavarian brewing concepts, they also brought in a Bavarian brewmaster named Josef Groll who used the new techniques along with newly available pale malts to produce a beer with a clear, golden colour that was unique for the time. Combined with Pilsen’s soft water and the use of Saaz hops, a variety known for imparting an inviting herbal aroma and a mild bitterness, the resulting beer was unlike any that had been made before, and it was a hit pretty much immediately after the first batch was released in November, 1842.

This golden hued lager with a well-balanced and refreshing flavour became known as Pilsner after the name of the town, with the name Pilsner Bier registered with Pilsen’s Chamber of Commerce and Trade in 1859. But it wasn’t until 1898 that it received the trademarked name that it still bears today: Pilsner Urquell, which translates to “original Pilsner”.

As with any successful product, it didn’t take long for knock-offs to appear. Throughout the later part of the 1800s, beers in the Pilsner style started being brewed through Bohemia. Those that have survived until today include Prague’s Staropramen, first brewed in 1869, and Budvar (known as Czechvar here in North America), which was created in 1895 in the city of Budweis.

Back in Bavaria, several brewers created their own golden lagers based on the style that Josef Groll created. Even Groll himself found himself brewing back in Bavaria after his contract with Pilsen expired in 1845 and wasn’t renewed. Due to differences in the mineral content of the water and other factors, the Bavarian versions tended to be dryer and leaner than the original, with the hops often giving the beer a grassy or lemony character. Now classified by the BJCP as German Pilsners, there are numerous examples of this style available to Ontario beer drinkers including Wernesgrüner, Radeberger, Warsteiner, Fürstenberg, König and Bitburger.

Of course, when it comes to most beer – especially the lighter styles – fresher is always better. So it would be neglectful not to mention that there are some world-class Pilsners being brewed right here in Ontario. Arguably the best of the bunch is King Pilsner from Nobleton’s King Brewery. Owner and brewmaster Phil DiFonzo is a stickler when it comes to his ingredients, so he imports his Pilsner malt and Saaz hops from Europe, uses a Czech yeast strain, and even distils and remineralizes the water to bring it as close as possible to the soft water of Pilsen. The resulting beer is definitely similar to Urquell, but it also has enough unique characteristics to stand on its own.

Elsewhere in Ontario, several of the province’s largest craft brewers have versions of the style available, with a couple of them being fairly new to the market. Brick Brewing in Waterloo launched the well-received J.R. Brickman Pilsner as part of their Founder’s Series in the summer of 2006, and this past summer the Molson-owned Creemore Springs Brewery brought out a Traditional Pilsner that they intended to be seasonal, but which became a year-round offering when it proved to be a success. And of course, Toronto’s own Steam Whistle Brewing have been making their namesake Pilsner in the historic Roundhouse near the CN Tower since 2000.

If you’re more inclined to support the really little guys, there are a few of Ontario’s smaller craft brewers in the Pilsner game as well. At select LCBO outlets, you can find 650 mL bottles of a Pale Pilsner from Mississauga’s Old Credit Brewing and Harbour Gold Pilsner from Trafalgar Brewery in Oakville. And down at the Stratford Brewing Company, brewmaster Joseph Tuer has been crafting Stratford Pilsner since 2004.

As for the beer that began it all, the brewery in Pilsen has undergone many changes in the 165 years it’s been around, including a controversial switch in the early 1990s from traditional oak brewing vessels to modern stainless steel, and buyout in 1999 by South African Breweries, now part of the multi-national brewing giant SABMiller. But through it all, Pilsner Urquell has survived as a top quality beer that is enjoyed around the world. Opinions vary on whether or not it’s the best Pilsner available today, but it’s still the original, and that’s something that will never change.

Working at the same place for almost 20 years generally means you get some nice perks (assuming you work at the sort of place that provides perks, of course), which is why I am lucky enough to have five weeks of paid vacation a year. The problem, though, is that I’m really slack about taking that time off. I rarely travel, and I generally enjoy my job, so taking a big chunk of time off at once usually isn’t a priority for me.

So around this time every year, when I’ve only taken a handful of days off for short trips or appointments, I start to realise that I’d better start booking a few days here and there before I end up having to take the entire month of December off. Which is why I’m off work today (well, that and the fact that my wife, who works from home, it out of town today, so I needed to stay home to take care of our dogs who are a couple of spoiled brats that get a walk every 3-4 hours).

All of which is a long-winded explanation as to why I finally have some time to post something to this oft-neglected blog of mine. In fact, I might manage to get a few posts written today, although I’ll probably schedule them to post sporadically over the next week or two in order to fill what is bound to be another lengthy gap before I get around to writing something here again.

Today’s topic: The stupendous Dogfish Head beer dinner at beerbistro that I attended way back on Wednesday May 28th. As others have noted, this was possibly the best beer dinner Toronto has ever seen, and it was certainly the best I’ve ever attended. Even DFH’s Sam Calagione (pictured above right, along with Tom Peters from Monk’s Cafe in Philly who made a pit stop on his way to Mondiale in Montreal) was completely blown away, and said that it was in his top three DFH dinners ever.

The spectacular meal from beerbistro chef Brian Morin and his stellar kitchen staff featured nine courses, all of them playful takes on classic comfort foods, and each paired with a Dogfish Head beer, plus a bonus beer at the end. If you know anything about DFH, you’ll know that most of their beers are 6% and up, with some as high as 20%+, so it probably goes without saying that Thursday morning was a little blurry. But man, was it worth it.

Here’s a review of what we ate and drank, along with some pretty pictures and brief comments:

Mini Lobster Roll
soft white Chateau Jiahu roll, steamed lobster, pickled ginger, Jiahu mayo, sweet basil, chives
paired with Chateau Jiahu

Morin seems to like starting his tasting menus with a playful lobster dish - he did the same at last year’s Brooklyn Brewing dinner. And as with last year’s taco, this dish was generous with the lobster, not to mention the dollop of caviar that wasn’t noted on the menu. The sweet and slightly earthy Chateau Jiahu was a good match.

Soup and Sandwich
Quebec foie gras Monte Cristo, sour beer plum compote, Black & Blue B.C. chanterelle soup
paired with Black & Blue

Generally, I find foie gras to be overrated, but this preparation of it was absolutely delicious. It was seared perfectly, and the compote had a sweet/sour character that stood up to the fattiness of the liver. The soup was also fantastic, with a remarkably rich and intense mushroom flavour. Beerwise, I probably would’ve chosen a dark, malty ale over the fruity Black & Blue, but at 10%, it packed enough punch to be a decent pairing.

Bacon and Eggs
white truffle and parmesan custard, bacon crisp, toast soldiers
paired with Indian Brown Ale

The “custard” mentioned above was actually warm and runny, emulating a soft boiled egg for dipping the toast. I found the beer pairing a little odd - the roasty, nutty brew just didn’t seem to mesh with the food for me. But then Troy suggested that maybe the coffee notes in the beer were what inspired the pair, since a cup of coffee is a typical drink with bacon and eggs. Interesting observation, and one that made me appreciate the pairing a bit more.

Buffalo Wings
confit chicken wings, Belgian blonde ale poached sweetbreads, chipotle wing hot sauce, blue cheese and leek sauce
paired with 60 Minute IPA

This was one of the favourites at our table, although at first, we could figure out where the sweetbreads were since they were visible on the plate. Ends up that the wings were hollowed out - i.e. the bones removed from the main part of the wing - and then stuffed with the sweetbreads. The chipotle sauce had just the right amount of kick, and the pairing of the 60 Minute was really a no-brainer, as there are few beers that go better with spicy wings than a nice, hoppy IPA.

Tongue ‘n Cheek Mac & Cheese
cod tongues, beer braised veal cheeks
paired with Raison d’Etre

This was an odd plate. Everything was really good, although some people were a bit squicked out by the deep fried cod tongues (me, I loved ‘em!), and the veal was a tad too salty. The mac & cheese was also up there with the best I’ve ever had. But the three components just didn’t seem to go together. They didn’t completely clash, but they also didn’t compliment each other in the same way as the soup and sandwich did, for example. But hell, they all tasted great on their own, so why complain? (Note: At this point, I gave up on taking any tasting notes, so I don’t really remember how the rest of the food & beer pairings were…)

BBQ Ribs
Black & Blue cured wild boar ribs, Raison d’Etre BBQ sauce, jalapeno corn biscuit, mango slaw
paired with 90 Minute IPA

beerbistro does some of the best BBQ in the city, and this was no exception. Absolutely delicious, fall-off-the-bone ribs. Mmmm!

Broccoli and Cheese
L’Ami du Chambertin, roasted broccoli brioche, black walnuts
paired with 120 Minute IPA

L’Ami du Chambertin is a soft, buttery cheese from Burgundy, and it was heavenly when spread on the freshly baked brioche. And as for those black walnuts, they’re an Eastern European treat (or so I’ve been told by a Russian friend - perhaps they’re common elsewhere as well) made by putting young walnuts through a series of boils and soaks until they soften, and then boiling and preserving them in a spiced sugar syrup. If you get them in a jar with the syrup, they’re fantastic on ice cream, but they’re also a nice addition to a cheese plate like this one.

Peanut Butter and Banana
peanut butter chocolate stout cappuccino, Reese’s peanut butter cup banana spring roll, Raison d’Extra ice cream
paired with Raison d’Extra

I don’t think I can add anything to the description above, aside from “OMG!!!!!!11!!1!”.

Raspberry Lollipop
paired with Fort

By this point, everyone felt a bit like Mr. Creosote, but no-one could resist these slightly more than wafer thin beauties which were essentially chocolate-raspberry truffles served on a stick. Despite my lack of notes, I do recall that the strong and fruity Fort was a beautiful match.

And then, when we thought it was all over, the surprise of the evening: a final serving of World Wide Stout to close off this truly outstanding dinner. As we sipped, Sam got up for this last of his several entertaining and animated remarks of the night, expressed his utter admiration for beerbistro and its entire staff, and pledged that he’d love to hold an annual DFH dinner there. Oh, we can only hope!

Wow, nearly a month since my last post. That’s a long time, even for an irregular and inconsistent blogger like myself. Lotsa things have been keeping me busy - in fact, looking back at my social calendar for the last month, you could say that I’ve just been too busy drinking good beer (+ other things) and eating great food to write about any of it…

Fri May 1st: Monthly beer tasting night with my usual crew - Paul, Harry, Jeff and Jer - at Paul’s place. As always, there were a bunch of great beers consumed - plus a few not so good ones - and plenty of shit was shot.

Mon May 5th: Media preview dinner at Grace, which just may be my new favourite restaurant (my only real complaint being the poor beer list). I liked it so much that Sheryl and I went back a couple of weeks later, and she wrote a glowing profile for Taste T.O.

Tue May 6th: Ontario Brewing Awards at Bier Markt. Due to last year’s infamous Steelback incident, even less breweries that usual participated in this year’s edition, with only 57 beers entered into 15 categories. So the results should be taken with a grain or three of salt, but the event itself was the usual good time, a chance to chat with a few local brewers while enjoying some complimentary pours of the gold medal winners.

Wed May 7th: International Wine Tasting at The Carlu. We originally planned to go to several events during the Santé Wine Festival, but this was the only one we were able to make it to. As wine newbies, it was a bit overwhelming - 300 wines from 74 wineries representing 12 countries - but pretty enjoyable once we got into the sampling. I pulled some tasting notes out of my ass for a Taste T.O. write-up.

Thu May 8th: Weihenstephan launch at Bier Markt. New import agents Beer Barons are bringing the beers of Germany’s Weihenstephan Brewery to Ontario for the first time, and they threw a big bash to celebrate the launch, with sampling stations pouring six Weihenstephan brands along with fantastic food pairings. Plus a take-home loot bag with a branded stein and other goodies. One of the Barons hooked me up with bottles of all six brews a couple of days later, and a full review post is forthcoming.

Thu May 15th: LCBO Summer Speciality Beer tasting. For years now, the LCBO has held advance tastings of new wine releases for wine writers, and now they’re finally doing the same for beer writers. “Sensory Evaluation Room B” at LCBO Toronto Warehouse was the venue for this tasting, which featured 9 of the 13 beers from the LCBO’s new Summer Speciality Beer release. A summary of my notes appeared in my weekly beer column on Taste T.O. earlier this week.

Thu May 15th: Great Lakes Orange Peel Ale launch at The Victory. I unfortunately couldn’t make it to this event, but it was apparently quite a good time, and I always like to give the Great Lakes folks a mention.

Sun May 18th: It was a long weekend up here, so Jeff and family (wife Kelly and toddler son Conor) invited a few folks over for a casual gathering. Sheryl and I stopped for a stellar dinner at beerbistro beforehand, and then waddled our overstuffed bellies down to their condo for a couple of hours of beer drinking and Wii playing. I was great at one of these activities, and useless at the other - I’ll let you guess which is which.

Thu May 22nd: Steelback media event at Mirto Restaurant. After a few months of restructuring and recovery from bankruptcy protection, the much-maligned Steelback Brewery is back with new ownership, new branding, and most importantly, NO FRANK D’ANGELO! - uh, I mean, improved beers! A very generous delivery was sent to me by the PR company the following week, and a write-up on the full line will be up here soon.

Fri May 23rd: Spring Festival of Small Brewers at C’est What. This semi-annual tradition is always a great time, with 40ish different craft beers from Ontario and a couple of other provinces available for tasting at a buck per sample. I got in a few tastes, including a couple of new brews, and then headed north a few blocks to meet Sheryl for dinner at Harlem, an upscale soul food restaurant where the beer is crap but the food is incredible.

Sat May 25th: 2nd Annual Summer Saison Tasting at Jan’s place. Jan is part of my extended circle of beer pals, and after missing last year’s instalment of this now annual event and hearing others rave about it, I had to make it this year. Even with the 40 minute train ride each way, it was soooo worth it: a whack of great saisons and other beers, and a completely decadent spread of food, including an absolutely insane selection of cheese and to-die-for Belgian pastries. This boy knows how to throw down a tasting!

Tue May 27th: Unibroue trade & media tasting at Archeo. After a couple of years of all but ignoring the Ontario market, Unibroue is making a comeback, bringing some of their brands back to the LCBO, and also making a really big push for the bar and restaurant market. This event was to advance the second goal, and featured tasting stations pouring 7 different beers, each paired with canapés, as well as a beer & cheese pairing presentation by Unibroue’s Pascal Robitaille, following which the suggested cheese for each beer was also available for tasting. And let’s not forget the do-it-yourself poutine station featuring such fancy-schmancy toppings as smoked chicken, duck confit and spiced lamb along with the traditional cheese curds and gravy. The turn out was strong, so we should be seeing Unibroue beers appearing at a lot of spots around town soon.

Wed May 28th: Dogfish Head Dinner at beerbistro. A full post is coming very soon, but for now, I’ll simply say: HOLY. FUCKING. SHIT.

Damn, May was a busy month. And my dance card is already starting to fill up for June…

It seems to have become a tradition for me to post my contributions to The Session a day or two late. (Or in the case of last month, not at all - which is too bad, since the topic was an interesting one that I would’ve liked to have tackled if I had the time.)

So in that spirit, here is my delayed answer to the following question as posed by this month’s hosts, Boak & Bailey:

We’d like you to write about the moment when you saw the light. At what point did you realise you were a beer lover / geek / enthusiast? What beer(s) triggered the conversion? Did someone help you along your way, or did you come to it yourself?

In short; how did you get into good beer?

I actually touched on this topic a bit in my very first post to this blog back in July, 2006, where I wrote the following:

My interest in good beer [...] started when I was going to school in Waterloo at a time that coincided with the start of Ontario’s modern craft brewing culture. Waterloo was at the epicentre of the scene in the early days, with Brick, Sleeman and Wellington all located in the area. It didn’t take me long to realize that there were better beer options than Labatt and Molson, and I’ve spent the following two decades – and the last few years in particular - exploring the world of microbrews and craft beers as much as possible.

Expanding on this: I attended the University of Waterloo from the fall of 1987 to the end of 1988, at which point I decided that I enjoyed working more than I liked school, so I dropped out and convinced my employer to bump me up from a co-op student position to a full time employee (and incidentally, I’m still working there 20 years later).

As noted above, the first wave of Canada’s modern craft brewing scene was just taking off at this point, and a lot of the action in Ontario was centred around Waterloo and surrounding towns and cities such as Guelph and Cambridge. The Brick Brewery was located quite close to the campus, so some of the first beers I drank at the school were their lagers - although to be honest, I wasn’t an especially discriminating drinker, so I’d be just as likely to be seen pounding back Black Label or Molson Golden (the latter being the preferred brand of my next door neighbour in the dorm who I split a case with each weekend).

The first time I remember drinking a beer that seemed unique from the others in flavour and quality was during my final term when I was at my favourite hang-out, Phil’s Grandson’s Place, and the bartender recommended I try this new beer they’d just gotten in on tap called Sleeman Cream Ale. Compared to every other beer I’d had up to that point, it had a darker golden colour, a fuller body, and a slightly richer flavour. Certainly nothing exciting compared to what I drink today, but at the time, just the fact that it was noticeably different - not to mention pretty tasty - was enough to make me take notice.

Once I’d made the permanent move to Toronto, I continued to dabble in new beers fairly often. I still drank some mainstream brands, like Black Label (pretty much the official beer of Queen Street at the time, thanks to one of the earliest examples of viral marketing) and Molson Dry. But the micros of the day - Upper Canada, Conners, Creemore Springs, Formosa - were also regulars in the rotation. And hell, the very fact that I had a “rotation” and didn’t stick with one brand made me pretty unique.

This casual sampling continued for the next ten years or so, but then a couple of things happened in the late ’90s and early ’00s that caused my interest in craft beer to really spike.

First, in 1998 I read an article in Eye Weekly about the Belgian-style wheat beer Celis White, which Brick had just started brewing for Ontario on contract. Since Hoegaarden wasn’t yet the ubiquitous brand that it has since become, I was completely unfamiliar with the style, but the description of a beer brewed with spices and orange feel intrigued me, so I tried it, loved it, and ended up consuming a lot of it that summer. Soon after that, I somehow stumbled across The Bar Towel, which was a pretty quiet site at the time, but still lead me to beers and bars that I’d never heard of before.

And then in 2000, I went to Montreal for the first edition of the electronic music festival MUTEK. The last couple of days happened to overlap with Montreal’s renowned beer festival, Mondial de la Bière, so I headed down to check it out one afternoon, and proceeded to have my mind blown by the variety of beers available. That was the moment that I decided this beer thing was really for me.

In the years since then, I’ve discovered RateBeer, became the news editor at Bar Towel, written about beer for various places, started this blog, gone to numerous beer festivals and events, and tasted and (mostly) enjoyed over 2100 different beers. I’ve also met some fantastic people - brewers, drinkers, writers and bloggers - all of them amongst the friendliest folks you could ever hope to meet.

So that, in my usual long-winded and roundabout fashion, is how I got into good beer. You can find out how it happened for a bunch of other people (all of whom are more punctual and organised than me) by checking out the round-up of this month’s Session. I’ll do my best to be more on the ball when next month’s edition rolls around.

As usual, others have beat me to it, but I figure since I was a host and co-presenter of the Southern Tier beer dinner at the Academy of Spherical Arts last Friday, I should probably post a little write-up about it.

This was the first beer dinner presented by import agency Roland + Russell for one of their represented breweries, and while the turn-out was a bit lighter than they’d hoped (most likely due to the insane number of beer dinners that have taken place recently), it was still a great night. It definitely helped that the Academy is an absolutely gorgeous venue, and that the chef did a pretty fine job on the food and beer pairings. And having Phin DeMink and Paul Caine on hand from the brewery to speak and answer questions was a big plus as well.

Butternut squash, roasted pear and cheddar soup
served with Phin & Matt’s Extraordinary Ale

I’m a big fan of squash soup, and this was a particularly good one. The cheese pushed it over the top for me (much like bacon, many foodstuffs are improved with the addition of cheese - really, it’s a fact!), but even without that addition it would’ve been a very flavourful and satisfying soup. The well-balanced Extraordinary Ale matched it well, with neither the soup nor the beer overpowering the other.

Baked black cod with sweet potato, rapini and a walnut butter sauce
served with Southern Tier Porter

I have to say that when I first saw the menu a couple of weeks ago, I was skeptical about this pairing. Matching a porter (or any darker, full flavoured beer) with fish just seemed illogical to me, in the same way that one rarely serves red wine with seafood. But the chef really pulled this one off, as the sweetness of the walnut butter sauce and sweet potato played against the porter fantastically. This was both my favourite dish and favourite pairing of the night.

Spicy chicken panang with scented rice, crisp garlic and onions
served with Southern Tier IPA

While my digestive system generally hates me for it, I eat spicy food fairly often. Indian, Caribbean, Thai - I love ‘em all. And pairing a great IPA with a heat-forward dish is always a hit in my books. That said, I found this dish to be exceedingly spicy, almost to the point where I couldn’t finish it, which was too bad as the flavour that managed to fight through the heat was actually very nice. The IPA fought valiantly and managed to cut though the burning sensation somewhat, but by the end, I was mopping the sweat from my bald head and looking for a water refill.

Bitter Chocolate mousse with fresh raspberries and sauce
served with Southern Tier Raspberry Wheat Beer

After the tongue-shredding temperature of the main course, this cool dessert was appreciated. And while I think Southern Tier’s Raspberry Porter would’ve been a better beer pairing for the rich chocolate mousse, the Raspberry Wheat was pleasant, and crisp enough to help strip the residual heat from our mouths.

Food and drink aside, it was a great night for socialising with friends old and new. It was especially nice to see Alan “Mr. Crankypants” McLeod of A Good Beer Blog take the trip from Kingston to attend. Congrats to Liliana & Vlado of Roland + Russell for putting together such an enjoyable night and for all they’ve done to get the Southern Tier beers into Ontario. I look forward to being able to buy the IPA at the LCBO soon, and I’m glad to see the notice on their website that they’re planning to bring in the forthcoming Cherry Saison and Crème Brûlée Stout on a private consignment basis this summer. Here’s hoping they’ll be able to do similar events with some of their other represented breweries in the future.

A couple of weeks ago, I sat down for a chat with Ralph Morana of Volo, one of the best beer bars in Toronto. He recently celebrated his 20th anniversary of ownership (although it’s only been a go-to place for beer for the last 5 of those), and we talked about the ups and downs of the last two decades. The resulting article was posted to Taste T.O. today, so under the assumption some some of you might be interested in reading it, here’s the link.

Also on Taste T.O.: One of our other writers interviewed Brian Morin, co-owner and chef at beerbistro. That article was posted yesterday. And here are links to my Beer Of The Week columns that have been posted since the last time I did one of these round-ups:

April 29th: Trafalgar Oak-Aged Rye
April 22nd: Southern Tier IPA
April 15th: Weltenburger Kloster Asam-Bock
April 8th: no column (posted a list of upcoming beer dinners instead)
April 1st: Rogue Brutal Bitter
March 25th: Headstrong Pale Ale & Headstrong Munich Lager