San Francisco Beer Guide for the Craft Brewers Conference
In Part 1 of our Craft Brewers Conference (CBC) Preview, we covered some of the sure-to-be interesting seminars and discussions during the conference itself. Now we’ll cover another crucial element to getting the most out of the conference – the great beer bars of host city San Francisco. San Francisco is [...]
Rogue Brewery Feature Coming in June
The next LCBO Brewery Feature, the successful program whereby a number of beers from a single brewery are debuted simultaneously, will be Rogue from Newport, Oregon. Rogue is the first American brewery to be a part of the LCBO's program, which has in the past featured Dieu du Ciel!, Harviestoun and [...]
CAMRA turns 40!
The CAMpaign for Real Ale is now 40 years old. Some people might think this organization is just a bunch of bearded old curmudgeon's, but that certainly isn't the case. Take a look at CAMRA Vancouver's executive, it's mostly women! There's a whole new generation of people that refuse to consume [...]
San Francisco Craft Brewers Conference Preview: The Seminar Picks
The Bar Towel is hitting the road next week to the annual Craft Brewers Conference (CBC), the major industry event for breweries, brewpubs, distributors and trade organized by the U.S.-based Brewers Association. The CBC has grown dramatically in the past number of years (at least from our viewpoint here) to an event [...]
LCBO Spring Specialty Release On the Shelves
The LCBO's spring specialty beer release is out in full force, with a solid lineup of beers from Canada and the world. Included in this release are: Gouden Carolus Hopsinjoor ($3.05, 330mL) Grand River Curmudgeon IPA ($3.50, 500mL) Amsterdam Springbock ($3.95, 500mL) Trafalgar Maple Bock ($4.50, 650mL) Tree HopHead Double IPA [...]
VanBrewers Homebrew Competition
The VanBrewers just announced their 2011 Homebrew Competition. Entries will be accepted between April 1st and April 27th. Check out the VanBrewer Awards site for details. The awards will be presented during Vancouver Craft Beer Week, and the Grand Prize winner will not only have their beer brewed by Russell Brewing [...]
Great Lakes Tap Takeover at barVolo
If you like Great Lakes Brewery and the beers of brewer Mike Lackey then you're going to love this event, coming up on Saturday, March 12th at barVolo. 19 one-offs will be served, taking over all the taps at Volo for the entire night. Beers available will include: Dude Where's My [...]
Vancouver Craft Beer Week
If you're considering a trip to Vancouver, make it May 6th - 14th. Vancouver Craft Beer Week is returning and it's going to be "Bigger, Better and with More Beer"! According to the official press release, it'll feature 9 signature events, as well as countless satellite events and week-long specials. Additionally, [...]
Garrison Feature at Bar Volo – February 25th
This Friday, February 25th Bar Volo will be debuting a mini-feature of some of the big beers from Garrison Brewing of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Available at Volo will be: For the first time in Ontario, the multiple award winning Grand Baltic Porter, winner of a Gold medal in the 2009 Canadian [...]
TBW Announces 6-Month Countdown Event
TWO PUB CRAWLS TO HIT CITY ON SATURDAY MARCH 19TH February 23, 2011 (Toronto, ON) - While St. Patrick’s Day may be on March 17th, craft beer drinkers will be awaiting the 19th with anticipation, as Toronto Beer Week (TBW) marks the start of its six-month countdown by inviting beer lovers [...]
BC Beer – February Releases
Next week Driftwood Brewing will be releasing their new seasonal Cuvee D'Hiver. It's a Belgian Farmhouse style ale made from 100% locally grown and malted barley. Pacific Western launched Natureland Organic Black Stout, which clocks in at 6.2%. Granville Island Brewing's Limited Release Irish Red is now available at their retail [...]
Howe Sound Ales for Change
Howe Sound Brewing Company has become known for their excellent specialty brews that are packaged in 1 L bottles. Recently they started a philanthropic program, stating that: "real change happens when innovation and thought create a helping hand to special and unique environmental projects, humanitarian projects or local events." Last year, [...]
Burger Bar Featuring Two Garrison Beers
The Burger Bar, a relative newcomer to the Toronto beer scene but a spot that has quickly shown its dedication to craft beer, is now offering a limited amount of two beers from Garrison Brewing of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Available in bottle are both the award-winning Black I.P.A. and Hop Yard Pale [...]
Toronto Beer Week 2011 – Save the Dates!
We are pleased to announce that the 2nd annual Toronto Beer Week (TBW) will once again be taking over the streets of Canada’s largest city. Working off a tremendously successful week in 2010, TBW promises to be bigger and better this year, and due to popular demand will be expanding to [...]
Phillips Hops into the (Chinese) New Year!
It's the year of the Rabbit and there's certainly good things hopping at the Phillips Brewing Company! In addition to releasing the Double Dragon Imperial Red Ale, they're replacing the Surly Blonde with Hoperation Triple Cross Belgian IPA. And as if that's not enough for the hop heads, they're introducing a [...]
Sam Adams Infinium Hitting LCBO Soon
Samuel Adams Infinium, another product in an aggressive Ontario strategy which features quarterly seasonal releases and the recent, incredibly successful Utopias lottery, is hitting the LCBO in the coming week. Infinium, a unique beer made in collaboration with the Weihenstephan brewery in Germany, will only see 200 cases available in Ontario. [...]
Nørrebro Coming to LCBO in Early February
Following last year’s LCBO Brewery Features of Dieu du Ciel! and Harviestoun, the first feature of 2011 is about to hit the shelves. Nørrebro Bryghus, the acclaimed brewery from Copenhagen, Denmark, will see five of their beers released in 25 LCBO stores starting the first week of February. The lineup of [...]
Dead Frog – Beermaster Series
A number of breweries are now producing a Brewmaster series of limited-edition specialty brews, in addition to their regular lineup. Dead Frog recently jumped into that pond. Dead Frog has a number of easy drinking (5% abv), yet flavourful, brews in their core lineup. For the holiday season they released the [...]
IPA on the West Coast
Vancouver Island Brewery has been producing natural, unpasteurized beer since 1984. Now this is the west coast... SO IT'S ABOUT TIME THEY CRAFTED AN IPA!!! Their 6.5% Double Decker IPA will have the malt character of a British-style IPA, complemented by Cascade hops from the Pacific Northwest. The best of Britain [...]
Grand River Beer Club 2010-11 Adds Extra Date
Due to popular demand, Grand River Brewing has added an extra date to their 2010-11 Beer Club series of tasting sessions at the brewery. The original series, which is completely sold out, includes the following: Tuesday December 14, 2010 - Winter Warmers Tuesday January 11, 2011 - Stouts and Porters Tuesday [...]