Vote for the 2015 Golden Tap Awards
The Golden Tap Awards, Ontario's most democratic beer awards event, has launched its voting for 2015. Now in its thirteenth year, the Golden Tap Awards is the only major beer awards event in Ontario predominately determined by public vote by beer lovers in the province, recognizing the following achievements: Best craft [...]
Innocente Brewing Company
I knew Steve Innocente (the owner/brewer) in the late 90's when we were both doing graduate school. I was on his ball hockey team, and although I don't remember a lot of wins, I do remember going for a lot of beers. Since that time, Steve has done a post-doc studying [...]
Exploring Beer in Barrie
Mike Gurr, who is the Operations Manager at Kensington Brewing Company in Toronto, called Barrie home until he was 18. He still has friends and family in Barrie and visits frequently. Back in 2012 Mike set out to get Augusta Ale on tap at as many bars as possible in his [...]
Join us on Lester P. Beerson Day!
The Brewer’s Backyard returns tomorrow with Lester P. Beerson Day. On this celebration of Canada Day we’ll be welcoming the tasty beers from Great Lakes (pouring Canuck Pale Ale, Limp Puppet Session IPA, Pompous Ass English Pale Ale and special collaboration below), Left Field (Prospect Single Hop IPA, Eephus Oatmeal Brown, Maris* Pale [...]
Quaff & Ale with Troy Burtch of Great Lakes Brewery
Welcome to a new feature on The Bar Towel called Quaff & Ale, or Q&A for short. In a Quaff & Ale we interview personalities in the beer world to get their take on this delicious and booming industry. Our first Quaff & Ale is with Troy Burtch of the Great Lakes Brewery [...]
Frothing for Homebrew in San Diego
The Bar Towel is proud to present our annual preview of the American Homebrewers Association (AHA) National Homebrewers Conference, taking place from June 11th to 13th in San Diego, California. This article will cover highlights of the conference as well as recommended beer destinations in San Diego. Following last year’s National [...]
Chicago’s Beer Scene is Flying High
Recently I announced a new collaboration with Porter Escapes, to showcase some of the wonderful beer cities that you can visit through their network of destinations. My first trip was to one of the finest beer cities and overall great places to visit in North America: Chicago. In this feature article [...]
The Bar Towel Escapes to Chicago for Great Beer
The Bar Towel is thrilled to announce a new collaboration with Porter Escapes, all in the name of great beer! It's no secret that Porter Escapes is a fabulous way to enjoy some amazing destinations, and one thing you'll be able to find at all of them is delicious craft beer. So, The [...]
Join us at Queen Victoria’s Secret on Holiday Monday
The Brewer's Backyard returns tomorrow with Queen Victoria's Secret, our annual event on the Victoria Day holiday. As is tradition we don't reveal the specific beer and food lineup until the event begins, but on offer will be tasty beer and cider from Sawdust City, West Avenue, Side Launch, Publican House, Silversmith and Muddy York, [...]
A Beer Gambol: From the 1970s to the 2000s
The following article was written by Gary M. Gillman, a long-time beer fan and practitioner of business law in Toronto. As one of the older members of the esteemed beer Discussion Forum on bartowel.com, I have had the chance to survey the beer scene for a long time. Knowing of my relative longevity, [...]
The Bar Towel Discussion Forum Relaunches
The Bar Towel's Discussion Forum, home to the most active online beer conversation in Canada, relaunched yesterday with a long-awaited software upgrade, allowing for increased user access and functionality. The Discussion Forum, in existence since 2001, has over the years become an archive of Ontario's craft beer history, with thousands of conversations [...]
Almanac Beer Company on Bar Towel Radio
At the recent Craft Brewers Conference in Portland, Oregon we were fortunate to record a few conversations for Bar Towel Radio. And we're thrilled to release another one of those chats, this one with Jesse Friedman of Almanac Beer Company of San Francisco. In this episode of Bar Towel Radio we discuss with Jesse [...]
Introducing The New Bar Towel
The Bar Towel has been one of the original craft beer focused web sites in Ontario, dating back to the beginning of the century. Launched as the first beer news site in Ontario, we’ve grown to house a popular discussion forum where both beer lovers and industry alike chat about the [...]
Retail Roundtable with Ontario Brewers
This week is the Craft Brewers Conference in Portland, where there are a significant number of Canadian brewers present. So when the news broke that the Ontario government was making changes to the beer retail system in the province, many brewers and others within the industry were together to discuss its impact. So, [...]
Bar Towel Radio with Dave McLean of Magnolia Brewing
I've written fondly in the past about San Francisco, one of my favourite beer cities in North America. This year I was fortunate enough to visit again, and while I was there I recorded an interview with Dave McLean, the founder and brewmaster of Magnolia Brewing Company, now featured in our latest [...]
Our Seminar Picks at the 2015 Craft Brewers Conference
The Bar Towel is proud to once again present our annual preview of the Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo America (CBC), taking place from April 14th to 17th, 2015 in at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon. Part One of the preview covered our highlights of breweries, bars and other sights of the city, and Part Two [...]
Craft Brewers Conference Preview, Part One: Portland, Oregon
The Bar Towel is proud to once again present our annual preview of the Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo America (CBC), taking place from April 14th to 17th, 2015 in at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon. Part One of the preview covers our highlights of breweries, bars and other sights of the city, [...]
Join us at the Brewer’s Backyard on Great Friday!
We're on the cusp of some real springtime weather, so what better way to celebrate than at the Brewer's Backyard? On Good Friday, April 3rd the Brewer's Backyard returns with Great Friday, featuring six awesome brewers and two delicious food vendors. Participating breweries including a mix of new and familiar: 5 Paddles, Nita Beer, [...]
Ever Wanted to Tour Goose Island’s Brewpub?
Our previous episode of Bar Towel Radio was a live recording of Goose Island's Black Friday event at their brewpub in Chicago. And now we're thrilled to release the second part of our "Live at Goose Island" series, with a live recording of the Goose Island Brewpub tour! The tour, recorded in November 2014, [...]
Stone in Ontario: A Sign of the ‘Taps’?
Next week marks the official launch of famed California brewery Stone into the Ontario market, with a pair of beers arriving on draught: Stone IPA and Arrogant Bastard Ale. Not only are these beers a great addition to the Ontario beer scene, but they continue a recent new strategy with a few [...]