Beer For The Holidays
In Wednesday’s Toronto Star Food section, beer writer Josh Rubin offers some gift ideas for the beer lover on your Christmas list. Some of his suggestions include Beer: The Story of the Pint by Martyn Cornell; the Mill St. Barley Wine Gift Pack; a Granite Brewery Gift Pack featuring an empty [...]
The 12 Beers of Christmas
The folks behind Toronto's Festival of Beer have announced the details for a special holiday themed tasting event they are presenting later this month: The 12 Beers of Christmas Thursday December 14th 5-8pm Casey's (123 Front St @ York St) Capacity is limited so don't wait to RSVP! UPDATE: The RSVP [...]
Beer & Mussel Thursdays at Esplanade Bier Markt
Esplanade Bier Markt is offering a complimentary mussel bar and beer sampling on Thursdays between 5:00 and 7:00 PM. Here are the beers to be featured this month: Thursday December 7th & 14th: McClelland Premium Imports presents Affligem Blond Abbey Ale Thursday December 21st: Fine Beers presents Sinha Stout Discuss this [...]
Steam Whistle Supports Our Troops – With Beer!
The staff and owners at Steam Whistle Brewing are sending a very special care package to Canada's troops in Afghanistan this Christmas: All members of staff have contributed their weekly beer allotment to be sent overseas, and owners Cam Heaps and Greg Taylor have thrown in an equal amount to the [...]
Cask Ale at The Rhino
Good news for beer lovers in Parkdale and other points west: The Rhino has added a cask engine to their already impressive tap selection, and even more impressive line-up of 200+ bottles. Your friendly neighbourhood news editor hasn't had a chance to check it out for himself, but the word seems [...]
LCBO Winter Release – Update
The LCBO Winter seasonal release has started hitting the shelves, although there have been some changes to the list originally leaked back in October. Here is the updated listing: Available now/soon: Adnams Broadside Belhaven Wee Heavy (postponed from Fall release) Chimay Blue (limited distribution - wider release in January) De Koninck [...]
Beaumont on The Year In Beer
The December/January issue of City Bites has just hit the streets, and in his regular Malt column, Stephen Beaumont gives props to what he considers the best things to happen in the beer scene (plus a couple of whisky highlights) during 2006. You'll have to pick up a copy (or download [...]
New Releases from Fine Beers Agency
Fine Beers Agency - the import reps for such breweries as Paulaner, Fischer and Ceylon (Sinha) - have two new products available to Ontario beer drinkers. Arriving at the LCBO in early December will be Brooklyn Lager (LCBO 26997). Other Brooklyn brands will be available at beerbistro and other bars & [...]
Holiday Gift Packs at LCBO
Only 35 shopping days left until Christmas, so here's a reminder of some of the holiday gift packs that are available at select LCBO locations: AFFLIGEM COMBI-PACK LCBO 682906 | 4x330 mL bottle | $14.45 Includes two bottles of Affligem Blonde, one bottle each of Affligem Dubble & Affligem Tripel, and [...]
Great Lakes Winter Ale
Great Lakes Brewery have just announced details of their next seasonal beer: In light of the great response to our Devil's Pale Ale, we've brewed a brand new beer that will be ready just in time for the holidays. Appropriately named Great Lakes Winter Ale, it will be our seasonal offering [...]
Wine/Cheese/Beer Mash-Up at Volo
Volo will be holding their second Wine/Cheese/Beer Mash-Up on Sunday, November 26th from 3:00 to 5:00 PM. The event will feature wine, cheese & beer tasting trios selected by cheese specialist Tonia Wilson, sommelier Julia Rogers (both from Cheese Culture), and beer expert Robert Hughey. At time of writing, 11 tickets [...]
Beer Bulletins
Here's a quick round-up of some local beer-related bits that have appeared in print and online in the last couple of weeks: Stephen Beaumont has been keeping busy with his World Of Beer website and two different blogs, with recent posts discussing topics such as Samuel Smith's move from clear to [...]
C’est What Fest Results & Beer Update
The results of the beer ratings gathered at C'est What's 18th Annual Festival Of Small Breweries on Friday, September 29th were announced this week. The favourite beer of the festival was Durham Hop Addict, with a median score of 42.5 out of 50. Runners-up were McAuslan Raspberry Ale and C'est What [...]
West 50 Pour House Opening Next Week
After several delays, West 50 Pour House & Grille at Mississauga’s Sussex Centre (50 Burnhamthorpe Rd. W.) will be opening next Monday, November 13th. In addition to a large & varied food menu, they will be featuring 102 different draught beers on 115 taps, which they boast as being the largest [...]
Canadian Amateur Brewers Association AGM and Brewery Tour
The Canadian Amateur Brewers Association will be holding their AGM and Brewery Tour on Saturday, November 18th. The bus will be leaving Yorkdale Mall at 9:30 AM and heading west for visits to Cool Brewing, the Woolwich Arms, and F&M Brewery. Tickets are $40 for CABA members, $50 for non-members (which [...]
McAuslan Beer Dinner at Local 4
McAuslan Brewing and Local 4 Restaurant are teaming up for a beer dinner on Thursday November 16th at 7 PM. Chef Nancy Gilmour will be creating a 4 course menu that will be friendly to both veggies and carnivores alike, and each course will be paired with a different McAuslan brew, [...]
Trafalgar’s “Vote With Your Throat” Returns
With municipal elections on the horizon throughout Ontario, Oakville's Trafalgar Brewing has brought back their popular "Vote With Your Throat" campaign, and have rebranded several of their beers to represent the mayoral candidates in three cities. For Toronto, they're offering Miller Blonde (aka Harbour Gold), Pitfield's Special Reserve (aka Paddy's Irish [...]
Mill Street Brewpub Now Open
After months of planning and work, Mill Street Brewery have opened the brewpub at their original brewery location in the Distillery District. They currently have eight beers on tap - Tankhouse Ale, Stock Ale, Coffee Porter, Organic Lager, Oktoberfest, Barley Wine '04, Wit, Cobblestone Stout - and will be adding an [...]
LCBO Winter Release
The following seasonal beers are scheduled to hit the shelves at select LCBO outlets in the next few weeks: Samuel Smith's Winter Welcome Trafalgar Celebration Ale Okocim Porter Brakspear Triple Morland Hen's Tooth St. Peter's Winter Ale Fuller's Vintage Ale 2006 Adnams Broadside XO Beer Chimay Blue Greene King Strong Suffolk [...]
Steam Whistle Holiday Twelve Pack
As the holiday season rapidly approaches, Steam Whistle Brewing is the first local brewery to get on the gift-giving bandwagon with their Holiday Twelve Pack. While the beer inside is the regular Steam Whistle Pilsner, the package has been given a Christmas make-over, including a built-in tag to allow the gift-giver [...]