I'm delighted to report that the beer fest I raved about in Copenhagen last year will indeed be back this year, if on a somewhat reduced scale.
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That's the Spirit - Beer Blog (88 items)
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Beer Fest News
Posted: November 5th, 2009, 8:23am EST
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Spare Me the "Brewskis"
Posted: November 2nd, 2009, 1:18pm EST
I like The Globe and Mail newspaper, I really do. I like it enough that it's the only daily I receive six days a week -- they don't publish The Globe on Sundays -- and I like it enough to on occasion write for it. I've worked with many an editor there and they've pretty much all been creative, considerate and kind people.
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Not So
Posted: September 6th, 2009, 9:36am EDT
Normal 0 false false false EN-CA X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}I get nervous when I see one page "the skinny on craft brewing" articles in men's magazines, even more so when they're run unattributed. It's not that I want to poke holes in the things, it's just that they so often undo the demystification attempts I make in my own writing.
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Toronto-Brugge-Brussels-Philadelphia
Posted: September 3rd, 2009, 1:53pm EDT
Well, I made it through a whirlwind visit to Belgium, including a small brewery mini-fest hosted by Picobrouweij Alvinne and the legendary Zythos fest, and have landed in Philadelphia during the heart of Beer Week, which itself included going straight from airplane to hotel to Monk's Cafe where I hosted a well-attended beer dinner.
Excuse me while I catch my breath.
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A Great Toronto Beer Event
Posted: July 4th, 2009, 6:49pm EDT
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Drinks for Canada Day
Fetched: June 28th, 2009, 3:01pm EDT
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Fat Cat Lives!
Fetched: June 26th, 2009, 9:51am EDT
While assembling some Canadian contributions to a forthcoming book called 1001 Beers to Try Before You Die, I made a very unfortunate discovery in British Columbia -- the Fat Cat Brewery was taking its final gasps and preparing to shut down for good. At the heart of this difficult decision was a dispute with their landlord, apparently, but as I discovered in conversation with Bunny at the brewery, it was merely the proverbial "final straw" in a list of hurdles and challenges that has plagued Fat Cat through its ten year history. -
Creemore Hits One Out of the Park...Maybe
Fetched: June 23rd, 2009, 10:56am EDT
I tasted a new beer from Creemore yesterday, Kellerbier, and while it's too early to say for certain, my initial impression is that this may be one of the best new beer launches in Ontario for quite a while. -
Canada's Best IPA?
Fetched: June 13th, 2009, 10:52am EDT
I've been tasting a lot of really fine IPAs lately, and Canadian ones, at that. Like Granville Island's anniversary Brockton IPA, a whole slew of Ontario interpretations and Phillips bright gold and tasty Original IPA. -
Toronto IPA Challenge
Posted: June 4th, 2009, 10:09am EDT
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Session 24: "That's Tripel-Tonguing, Baby!"
Posted: June 2nd, 2009, 6:04pm EDT
It's Session time again, and since David at the wonderfully titled "Musings Over a Pint" was kind enough to actually select a beer style this time, as opposed to a beer concept, I could hardly decline to participate. And besides, the chosen style, tripel, is one close to my heart, and it helps that I happen to have before me a bottle of the limited edition Long Strange Tripel from Boulevard Brewing, a part of their large-format Smokestack Series.
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Session 24
Posted: June 2nd, 2009, 6:04pm EDT
It's Session time again, and since David at the wonderfully titled "Musings Over a Pint" was kind enough to actually select a beer style this time, as opposed to a beer concept, I could hardly decline to participate. And besides, the chosen style, tripel, is one close to my heart, and it helps that I happen to have before me a bottle of the limited edition Long Strange Tripel from Boulevard Brewing, a part of their large-format Smokestack Series.
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Reviewing My Ass Off
Fetched: May 28th, 2009, 9:38am EDT
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Make it Seven, Sure. But with Blue?
Fetched: May 22nd, 2009, 10:21am EDT
If you're Canadian, you probably know all about Research in Motion's Jim Balsillie's efforts to buy the money losing Phoenix Coyotes and bring the hockey team to Hamilton, Ontario. It's been front page news for a while now -- assuming you, like me, are one of those dinosaurs who still enjoys reading an actual newspaper -- and has naturally enough spawned considerable Internet chatter, including a website, Make It Seven. -
Have Your Beer Lit and Be Green, Too!
Fetched: May 20th, 2009, 2:22pm EDT
While I was tearing up the beerscape in western Michigan last week -- more about that over at World of Beer -- word came in that Taps, Canada's beer magazine, has begun offering an online edition. -
Granville Island Brockton IPA
Posted: May 5th, 2009, 5:58pm EDT
It's been a while since I've been really impressed by a beer bearing the Granville Island name, likely dating all the way back to when Mark Simpson was brewing there. But with their 25th anniversary beer, Brockton IPA, Canada's original craft brewery has signaled that they are back in a very big way. -
Granville Island Brockton IPA
Posted: May 5th, 2009, 5:58pm EDT
It's been a while since I've been really impressed by a beer bearing the Granville Island name, likely dating all the way back to when Mark Simpson was brewing there. But with their 25th anniversary beer, Brockton IPA, Canada's original craft brewery has signaled that they are back in a very big way. -
Recent Canadian Beer Developments
Fetched: April 21st, 2009, 12:02pm EDT
Guess which of the following interests me more: -
I Am A Craft Brewer
Posted: April 5th, 2009, 3:41pm EDT
Well, no, I'm not. But Greg Koch of Stone Brewing is. -
Talking Valentine's Day
Posted: April 2nd, 2009, 3:08pm EDT
With Valentine's Day less than two weeks away, I'm betting that people are starting to plan ways to romance their significant others. No doubt many of these approaches will cent5re around food and drink, from Champagne and strawberries to icewine and foie gras and chocolate and port.
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Amsterdam Strong Spring Bock
Fetched: March 31st, 2009, 6:19pm EDT
I'm the first top criticize Ontario brewers for leaving vast swaths of beer styles unattended -- think IPA, strong or "Imperial" pale ales, bocks and doppelbocks, and pretty much anything born of Belgian influence -- so when I heard that Amsterdam Brewing had released a newly formulated Spring Bock AND that it was inspired by the recipe of a local homebrewer AND that the buzz it was receiving was uniformly good, I decided to put my money where my mouth was and stroll over to the brewery to pick up a six-pack. -
It's "Beer Hunter, Whisky Chaser" Day!
Fetched: March 27th, 2009, 11:13am EDT
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Great Lakes Brewery (Ontario) Green Tea Ale
Fetched: March 26th, 2009, 2:08pm EDT
My first thought on pouring this beer was, "Thank god it's not green." A facetious thought, I will admit, since I really didn't expect it would be green, but there was a slight relief nonetheless.
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Paper Bag Drinking
Fetched: March 14th, 2009, 11:16am EDT
I've always found it amusing that, in New York City, when you buy a bottle or can of pretty much anything -- pop, juice, beer, alcopop -- the shopkeeper will immediately slide it into a single-serving brown paper bag and ask you if you want it opened. It's like a vast conspiracy to allow those who wish to drink an alcoholic beverage in public to do so, despite its illegality. -
3k + 5k + Sly Fox Pikeland Pils = A Good Run
Fetched: March 13th, 2009, 11:40am EDT
Well, I survived the Philly Beer Week 5k run from the Bishop's Collar and finished the course with a cool can of Sly Fox Pils. (The extra 3k in the title of this post is from the jog out to Fairmount and 24th from downtown Philly, which I did only because I felt goofy walking there in my running gear.) -
Notes and Scores
Posted: March 3rd, 2009, 10:34am EST
A while back, my friend and fellow scribe Stan Hieronymus posted on his Appellation Beer about the "Tyranny of the Tasting Note," cribbing, and attributing, liberally as he did. And, indeed, there is much to learn about the way in which wine writers have mystified wine to the point that, for many, it's an intimidating topic.
But that's nothing compared to the tyranny, and inanity, of the 100 point score.
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"A Massive, Wonderful Beast"
Fetched: February 17th, 2009, 11:11am EST
No, the above quote is not referring to the noted strong ale from Colorado's Avery Brewing, although we will return to that later on in this post. Rather, those words are from Philadelphia Tourism rep Cara Schneider and what she is referring to is Philadelphia Beer Week. -
Tasting Beer with a Wine Guy
Fetched: January 26th, 2009, 3:34pm EST
If you are a regular blog reader, you may recall this post from a while back about tasting beer with my Master Sommelier buddy, John Szabo. Well, that got us both thinking that maybe this thing had some video potential, so we proceeded to get ourselves hooked up with Dig it Digital and a site called Drinksville.
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Making a Beer List
Fetched: January 20th, 2009, 11:38am EST
I'm in Miami this week presenting a seminar at the Cheers Beverage Conference, and no sooner had I arrived in town that I discovered a restaurant that underlined the importance of my topic, which is "Crafting the Perfect Beer List."
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Into the New Year with Beer
Fetched: January 13th, 2009, 5:45pm EST
Welcome to 2009 everyone! Despite initial appearances, I have a feeling that it's going to be a better year than most people expect. Certainly better for craft brewers than for the big boys.
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Whisky Dinner in Toronto
Posted: January 5th, 2009, 9:57pm EST
I just heard from the organizer of the Spirit of Toronto whisky festival that, amazingly, a few tickets still remain for the pre-fest whisky dinner at beerbistro on May 7. -
Gift List Day 7: What's Left?
Fetched: December 19th, 2008, 9:16am EST
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Gift List Day 6: Because There's More to Life Than Beer
Fetched: December 17th, 2008, 4:28pm EST
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Gift List Day 5: Go East, Young Man (or Woman)
Fetched: December 15th, 2008, 1:56pm EST
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Gift List Day 1: Book
Fetched: November 29th, 2008, 9:57am EST
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I've Got Issues, I Know...
Fetched: November 22nd, 2008, 9:51am EST
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Gourmet Food and Wine Expo Report
Fetched: November 21st, 2008, 5:30pm EST
I visited Day One of the Gourmet Food & Wine Expo last night, and what I reported here earlier in the week turned out to be abundantly true: Beer has now officially arrived at this notoriously wine-centric event.
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Gourmet Food and Wine Expo Report
Fetched: November 21st, 2008, 5:30pm EST
I visited Day One of the Gourmet Food & Wine Expo last night, and what I reported here earlier in the week turned out to be abundantly true: Beer has now officially arrived at this notoriously wine-centric event.
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"Gourmet" Now Includes Beer
Fetched: November 14th, 2008, 10:29am EST
I enjoy Toronto's annual Gourmet Food & Wine Expo and attend almost every year, assuming that I'm in town the weekend it takes place. In the past, however, I've been frustrated by how little attention has been paid to beer, which one might assume from years past the organizers don't consider worthy of the adjective "gourmet."
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Gift List Day 4: Something Useful with a Beer Logo
Posted: November 12th, 2008, 8:48am EST
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Beer Behemoth
Posted: November 7th, 2008, 11:54am EST
I've been avoiding this topic for all of its run thus far (here and here and here and here and, sigh, here), mainly because of its Ontario-centricity. But I can hold my tongue no longer. We must now wade into the unspeakable morass that is beer sales in my home province and confront the beast that is...
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A Tale of Two Black Beers
Fetched: October 29th, 2008, 6:04pm EDT
Last evening, I sat down to sample a few beers with a friend of mine by the name of John Szabo. He's a wine guy, a Master Sommelier, in fact, but a nice fellow nonetheless and someone with a terrific palate. We opened several bottles over the course of a few hours, including some very local stuff -- a few homebrews from John's cousin -- a couple of more obscure offerings -- two large bottled ales from Birrifficio Bruton in northern Italy -- and one extraordinarily rare brew -- a single bottle of the 2005 vintage of Pannepot Grand Reserva. But it was a pair of semi-related black beers that stole the show.
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A Down 'N' Dirty Tour of the Cask Days Leftovers
Fetched: October 20th, 2008, 8:35pm EDT
I missed Cask Days this year at Toronto's Bar Volo, mainly because I was in Kentucky tasting bourbon, but also because of work demands at home. Still, thanks to the indefatigable Ralph Morana, owner and operator of Volo, I was able to sample a bunch of the remaining casks this afternoon. Here are some thoughts: -
A Tale of Two Bars
Fetched: October 19th, 2008, 4:33pm EDT
If you're lucky, you'll never visit a bar like the Toronto locale my wife and I happened to wander into a short time ago. Actually, let me change that: not "wander into," but "were sucked into." Or "suckered."
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One Beer Dinner, One Beer
Posted: October 5th, 2008, 9:43am EDT
Toronto has been an unusually busy place for beer events of late, with dinners and tastings and such popping up with astounding regularity. One you likely will not have read about elsewhere, however, was a dinner I attended last Wednesday at Morton's Steakhouse in Yorkville, which is certainly not one of the first locales a person would associate with quality beer.
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Here's to the Canadian Brewing Awards
Fetched: September 26th, 2008, 11:03am EDT
It was my pleasure and honour last night to host the Canadian Brewing Awards, an annual industry celebration that has grown from a somewhat suspect endeavour into a legitimate recognition of some of the best in beer this country has to offer.
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Beer Week Mania - Could It Happen Here?
Fetched: September 24th, 2008, 4:53pm EDT
When Philadelphia, the self-styled "Best Beer Drinking City" in the United States, held its phenomenally successful and inaugural Philly Beer Week earlier this year, I observed that San Francisco had held a de facto "Beer Week" for years, and sure enough, the San Franciscans have adopted the term and set up a site for their ten days of beer fame.
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A Good Reason to Celebrate Quebec City's 400th Birthday
Fetched: September 16th, 2008, 2:32pm EDT
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Gift List Day 3: Like Christmas Beers?
Posted: September 12th, 2008, 7:41pm EDT
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Organic Meanderings
Fetched: August 27th, 2008, 11:47am EDT
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Sanity from the States? Odd but True!
Fetched: August 21st, 2008, 12:17pm EDT
In the wake of last week's rant on underage drinking hysteria in the United States comes this report from CNN identifying a group of academics who are actually -- gasp! -- in support of the government considering the potential benefits of lowering the drinking age south of the border! Not quite worthy of Ripley's, perhaps, but certainly surprising in this day and age.
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Back to Underage Idiocy
Fetched: August 15th, 2008, 12:14pm EDT
A beer discussion board I occasionally visit, the Burgundian Babble Belt, alerted me recently to a minor brouhaha underway in New Hampshire, once more bringing to light the idiotic and backwards attitudes Americans and, let's face it, many Canadians have towards drinking. The story is documented in two parts, but you can get the gist of it by skimming Part One. (If you want to follow the sordid tale further, Part Two is here.)
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Hindsight Can Be a Funny Thing
Posted: August 12th, 2008, 9:13am EDT
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Reconsidering Toronto in a Beer Light
Posted: August 8th, 2008, 10:53am EDT
Still shy of brewpubs and adventuresome brewers, Toronto's beer scene is buoyed by a healthy contingent of new beer bars. -
From Belgium to the Caribbean
Fetched: July 29th, 2008, 9:27pm EDT
I've been sitting on this review for some time because, frankly, I simply have not been able to figure out what to do with it. And I still haven't, so I'll just throw it up here and see if it sticks.
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Get Thee to Portland, Now!
Fetched: July 25th, 2008, 9:37am EDT
What with all my running around this month -- wedding in Mexico, Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans -- I didn't even realize that this weekend marks the 21st annual running of my personal favourite U.S. beer fest, the Oregon Brewers Festival in Portland.
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Prepping for the Big Show
Fetched: July 23rd, 2008, 10:43am EDT
I'm not in the habit of giving beer events extensive advance play in this space, but Montreal's upcoming Bieres, Flaveurs et Caprices is no ordinary beer fest.
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4 Wedding Rings, But No Teeth
Posted: July 10th, 2008, 1:41pm EDT
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The Session Arrives Early
Fetched: June 27th, 2008, 2:25pm EDT
As regular readers of beer blogs will know, the first Friday of every month is The Session, when we all collectively blog on a specific theme. On the day of July's Session, however, I will be basking in the glow of being newly wed, relaxed and computerless on a beach in Mexico's Mayan Riviera. So rather than miss it entirely, I thought I'd simply post a week early.
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Great Global Beer Bars - Part 3 in an Endless Series
Fetched: June 21st, 2008, 9:08am EDT
It's small. It's out of the way. It's more than just a bit frayed at the edges. But if you ever make your way to Helsinki, don't you dare miss it.
"It" is the One Pint Pub.
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Let's Celebrate Beer and Food
Fetched: June 16th, 2008, 7:46pm EDT
Anyone familiar with my writing will know that a common refrain of mine is the complaint over how difficult it is to find places that combine good beer with a food menu that ranges beyond burgers, wings and fries. Not that there's anything wrong with those foods -- that trio pretty much describes my dinner of last night -- but sometimes a little creative cuisine is nice, and with it a decent beer or two.
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Session #16: Mondial Hits 15 With a Bullet!
Posted: June 6th, 2008, 1:35pm EDT
The theme for this month's edition of The Session, our beer bloggers day, is beer festivals, and so I thought it apropos to revisit here last weekend's Mondial de la Biere in Montreal.
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The End of an Era, in a Convoluted Sort of Way
Fetched: May 26th, 2008, 12:18pm EDT
I had a bit of a jolt yesterday as I walked up John Street in the heart of Toronto's Entertainment District. There, erected just north of Nelson Street between Richmond and Adelaide, were construction hoardings, workmen and welders, and a large banner which read "Coming Soon: Jack Astor's," or words to that effect. Ordinarily, this wouldn't be worth so much as a second glance, except that the structure under what appears to be rather extensive renovations was once home to this city's first modern brewpub, the Amsterdam Brewing Company.
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The Final Nail in the Amsterdam Coffin
Fetched: May 24th, 2008, 11:29am EDT
I had a bit of a jolt yesterday as I walked up John Street in the heart of Toronto's Entertainment District. There, erected just north of Nelson Street between Richmond and Adelaide, were construction hoardings, workmen and welders, and a large banner which read "Coming Soon: Jack Astor's," or words to that effect. Ordinarily, this wouldn't be worth so much as a second glance, except that the structure under what appears to be rather extensive renovations was once home to this city's first modern brewpub, the Amsterdam Brewing Company.
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Savoring the Diversity
Fetched: May 22nd, 2008, 5:53am EDT
I'm just back from Savor: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience in Washington, D.C., and the National Restaurant Association's International Wine, Spirits & Beer Event in Chicago, two not-entirely-unrelated events that proved to me the future for premium craft beer is indeed rosy. At the former, a sell-out crowd enjoyed many a fine beer with select morsels of tasty cuisine, some in pairings that soared and other which struggled, while at the latter, restaurateurs battled crowds and poor sound systems to learn more about what the future of beer and other alcoholic beverages might hold. Interest in both events was reassuringly high.
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The Session #22: What Does Repeal Mean to Me
Posted: May 12th, 2008, 8:21am EDT
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The Session: Drinking in Germany's North
Posted: May 9th, 2008, 10:15am EDT
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Great Beer vs. Popular Beer
Fetched: April 24th, 2008, 12:51pm EDT
I know this entity is called the "Beer Blog," but I'd like to invite everyone to take a sojourn with me for a moment or two over to the world of wine. Trust me, we'll eventually get back to beer.
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Black Etobic-Oak Brewing?
Fetched: April 22nd, 2008, 10:47am EDT
Thanks to our friends at Ontario Craft Brewers, the umbrella group for most of the province's smaller breweries, I now know that Black Oak Brewing will finally be upping sticks from Oakville, the Toronto suburb where it was born, and moving into the Big Smoke. Only just so, mind you, since their new home will lie well west of the Humber, but still within city limits in the area known as Etobicoke.
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I Like Denver Fine, But It is No "Napa of Beer"
Fetched: April 22nd, 2008, 10:47am EDT
You may already have heard something about this, or perhaps you've read the article yourself, but a recent edition of Time Magazine featured a story about beer touring, highlighting Denver as "the best place for brewery touring." Best where, you might ask, as did I? There's no answer to that, but I suspect the writer must have been confining his views to the U.S. of A.
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On Lambic and North America
Fetched: April 22nd, 2008, 10:47am EDT
Granted, traditional lambic beer is not for everyone. The tart assertiveness of a bone dry, 100% spontaneously fermented wheat beer, aged in wood for up to three years and blended with younger lambics to bottle-ferment into gueuze, is not something our soda pop culture accepts quickly or easily.
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Black Etobic-Oak Brewing?
Posted: April 17th, 2008, 12:49pm EDT
Thanks to our friends at Ontario Craft Brewers, the umbrella group for most of the province's smaller breweries, I now know that Black Oak Brewing will finally be upping sticks from Oakville, the Toronto suburb where it was born, and moving into the Big Smoke. Only just so, mind you, since their new home will lie well west of the Humber, but still within city limits in the area known as Etobicoke.
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I Like Denver Fine, But It's No "Napa of Beer"
Posted: April 15th, 2008, 7:15pm EDT
You may already have heard something about this, or perhaps you've read the article yourself, but a recent edition of Time Magazine featured a story about beer touring, highlighting Denver as "the best place for brewery touring." Best where, you might ask, as did I? There's no answer to that, but I suspect the writer must have been confining his views to the U.S. of A.
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I Like Denver Fine, But It's No
Posted: April 15th, 2008, 7:15pm EDT
You may already have heard something about this, or perhaps you've read the article yourself, but a recent edition of Time Magazine featured a story about beer touring, highlighting Denver as "the best place for brewery touring." Best where, you might ask, as did I? There's no answer to that, but I suspect the writer must have been confining his views to the U.S. of A.
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I Like Denver Fine, But It is No
Posted: April 15th, 2008, 7:15pm EDT
You may already have heard something about this, or perhaps you've read the article yourself, but a recent edition of Time Magazine featured a story about beer touring, highlighting Denver as "the best place for brewery touring." Best where, you might ask, as did I? There's no answer to that, but I suspect the writer must have been confining his views to the U.S. of A.
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I Like Denver Fine, But It is No "Napa of Beer"
Posted: April 15th, 2008, 7:15pm EDT
You may already have heard something about this, or perhaps you've read the article yourself, but a recent edition of Time Magazine featured a story about beer touring, highlighting Denver as "the best place for brewery touring." Best where, you might ask, as did I? There's no answer to that, but I suspect the writer must have been confining his views to the U.S. of A.
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The Cheap Beer Trend May Have Crested
Posted: April 1st, 2008, 10:25am EDT
Interesting news out of Calgary may signal that the market for cheap beer -- ahem, sorry, "value brands" -- has crested and could even possibly be slipping into decline.
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On Lambic and North America
Posted: March 26th, 2008, 10:50am EDT
Granted, traditional lambic beer is not for everyone. The tart assertiveness of a bone dry, 100% spontaneously fermented wheat beer, aged in wood for up to three years and blended with younger lambics to bottle-ferment into gueuze, is not something our soda pop culture accepts quickly or easily.
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Gift List Day 2: 365 Bottles of Beer for the Year 2009
Posted: March 12th, 2008, 11:14am EDT
Normal 0 false false false EN-CA X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}I never thought I'd even suggest buying this calendar as a gift, much less recommend it, having been given one myself on multiple occasions by well-meaning individuals. But that was back in the days that Bob Klein was author of the calendar's many reviews, and I've always had a bit of a problem with the way Mr. Klein approaches the subject. Which is not to say that his observations have been wrong, tasting being the entirely subjective science it is, just that I find his writing style florid to the point of overwrought.
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Session #13: Organic Beer
Posted: March 7th, 2008, 3:05pm EST
Last month, during our sojourn around northern Germany and Belgium, fellow scribe Lew Bryson and I dropped in on the Nacht van de Grote Dorst, the biannual lambic festival the name of which translates to "Night of Large Thirst." It was a remarkable event, with two tents and a pub serving all-traditional lambics from such brewers and blenders as Eylenbosch (now defunct), Drie Fonteinen, Girardin and Boon.
So what does any of this have to do with organic beer? The link lies in the one traditional lambic brewer notable by its absence: Cantillon.
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Help! I'm a National Post Reporter and There's Fruit in My Beer!
Posted: March 6th, 2008, 7:00pm EST
Typically, when confronted with an ill-informed article about beer in the local, regional or national media, it is not my habit to point fingers and laugh. Instead, faced with such a situation, I will send a quiet email to the author informing him or her of their errors and/or omissions, and hope that the next time their content will be more accurate.
But this one is far from typical.
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Setting Up For Saturday
Posted: February 21st, 2008, 1:30pm EST
This approaching Saturday is Open That Bottle Night, as mandated by Wall Street Journal wine columnists Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher. Their theory is as simple as it is brilliant: Too many of us hold on to "that special bottle" for too long, awaiting a suitable occasion on which to open it, so why not make that occasion February 23? -
On Beer Glasses
Posted: February 12th, 2008, 9:56am EST
Last week, I received a package from the folks at Anheuser-Busch's imports division, promoting a new pouring tool they call the "Bass Brolly." (Check out my review of said device over at On the House.) Included in the very attractive boxed set was a new trademark pint glass for Bass, one which, in my opinion, simply raised the standard for ugly beer glasses into the stratosphere.
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A Return to the Session, and a Return to My Roots
Posted: February 5th, 2008, 1:42pm EST
Yes, folks, it's Session time again, and if you don't know what that means, follow this link and catch up. I'll wait.
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The Session #12: Barleywine, or Rather, Barleywines
Posted: February 1st, 2008, 6:33pm EST
We're back for another edition of our beer blogging Friday, known as The Session, and the theme as chosen by Jon over at The Brew Site is barleywine. It's a particularly appropriate one, perhaps the most so of any Session thus far, since winter is flexing its mighty, snow-laden muscles this day in southern Ontario. And nothing goes with winter quite like a barleywine.
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Beer Trends for 2008 #5 (and Final): Higher Prices
Posted: January 28th, 2008, 10:53am EST
Yes, you will pay more for beer in the coming year, regardless of whether you drink mass-produced lagers or premium pale ales. Accept the fact and start getting used to it.
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Beer Trends for 2008 #4: Premiumization
Posted: January 25th, 2008, 5:30pm EST
Yes, I just wrote "premiumization," which is about as much a marketing weasel word as exists today. But however vague or nondescript it might be, the concept is very real, and recession or no recession, I don't see things changing on that front any time soon.
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Beer Trends for 2008 #3: Chicks Dig Beer
Posted: January 18th, 2008, 10:40am EST
This is perhaps more a hope than a true prediction, since I've been for year waiting patiently for the day that craft brewers wake up to the fact that women drink beer, too. What's more, based admittedly on purely anecdotal evidence and long observation, women do seem to consume a greater proportion of craft beer than do their male peers.
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Beer Trend for 2008 #2: Mo' Malt
Posted: January 14th, 2008, 12:47pm EST
Unless you've been studiously avoiding all media of late, you have likely by now heard about the looming hop shortage. Actually, it's not so looming any more, a lack of hops having already temporarily stopped production in at least one brewery I know of, and caused the discontinuation of more than just a couple of brands.
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Beer Trends for 2008 #2: Mo' Malt
Posted: January 14th, 2008, 12:47pm EST
Unless you've been studiously avoiding all media of late, you have likely by now heard about the looming hop shortage. Actually, it's not so looming any more, a lack of hops having already temporarily stopped production in at least one brewery I know of, and caused the discontinuation of more than just a couple of brands.
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Beer Trend for 2008 #1: Wood
Posted: January 9th, 2008, 8:53am EST
I suppose we can thank Belgium for this one, since the tiny European nation was the only major brewing district where a couple of decades ago there was a significant amount of aging of beer in wooden barrels and tuns. Or we could thank Chicago's Goose Island Brewing, who made waves some years back when they first put an Imperial stout into some used bourbon barrels and christened it Bourbon County Stout.
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Beer Trends for 2008 #1: Wood
Posted: January 9th, 2008, 8:53am EST
I suppose we can thank Belgium for this one, since the tiny European nation was the only major brewing district where a couple of decades ago there was a significant amount of aging of beer in wooden barrels and tuns. Or we could thank Chicago's Goose Island Brewing, who made waves some years back when they first put an Imperial stout into some used bourbon barrels and christened it Bourbon County Stout.
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Session #11: Bock to the Cellar
Posted: January 4th, 2008, 5:09pm EST
I know that I promised to fill this month's blog with fearless predictions for 2008, but today is the first Friday of January, and that means it's Session time! The theme today is dobbelbocks, as selected by Wilson at Brewvana.
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The Cheap Beer Trend May Have Crested
Posted: January 4th, 2008, 10:25am EST
Interesting news out of Calgary may signal that the market for cheap beer -- ahem, sorry, "value brands" -- has crested and could even possibly be slipping into decline.
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Trends in Beer for 2008, or Not
Posted: January 2nd, 2008, 8:37am EST
In today's (January 2) edition of The Globe and Mail, wine and spirits writer Beppi Crosariol waxes on about his predicted trends for beverages in 2008, including his guess that the vodka juggernaut will sail along unimpeded (safe bet), screw cap wines will increase in popularity with winemakers (ditto), and the strength of the Canadian dollar will result in cheaper, and thus more popular Californian wines (pretty likely). He also suggests that the next big trend in beer will be something he describes as "vitamin-enriched beer."
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Bamboo Shoot Beer?
Posted: December 19th, 2007, 10:57am EST
One of the blogs that I follow more-or-less regularly is the prolific Epi-log over at the the foodie site, Epicurious. Often, I find interesting tidbits of info about cooking or dining, less often something useful about drink, and at least on occasion a post that's simply downright entertaining.
This post is inspired by an Epi-log entry that definitely falls into that last category.
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The Session #10: Winter Beers
Posted: December 7th, 2007, 8:13am EST
This month's edition of The Session is hosted by Ted Duchesne of the Barley Vine, and his oh-so-seasonally appropriate pick for December's theme is "Let it snow, let it snow, Winter Seasonal Beers."
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What Would Be Your "Last Supper"?
Posted: December 3rd, 2007, 9:59am EST
There's a terrific new book out on the market, one which I first noted back in October in the 'Bright Beer' section of World of Beer. It's called "My Last Supper" and details the imagined final meals of fifty great chefs from the world over, supplemented by mostly heroic, sometimes whimsical portraits of the cooks in question. (There is a section of recipes at the back of the book, too, but these feel like nothing so much as an afterthought, even an obligation.)
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Stocking Up for the Holidays
Posted: November 26th, 2007, 11:13am EST
It's inescapable, immovable and just around the proverbial corner. Yes, folks, holiday season approaches, and with it seemingly endless opportunities to entertain and be entertained. If you prefer the former to the latter, you'll want to make certain that your beer fridge is well stocked, but with what?
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The Wacky World of Beer
Posted: November 22nd, 2007, 11:11am EST
Every once in a while, a story arises that makes even me shake my head in bewilderment at the odd alliances and relationships that exist, indeed almost define the global brewing industry. The latest in this series is this week's announcement of a "strategic alliance" between Mexico's largest brewery, Grupo Modelo, and Molson Coors.