Garrison at Rhino

Just in case you think all I do is grumble about the state of beer in Toronto, here's a shiny, happy entry.

I'd read the Bartowel post about a whole lot of Garrison bottles at the Rhino, then my friend Anna mentioned she'd tried some, and so, of course, I *had* to go.

Anna and me got to the Rhino a week ago. We found a spot on the patio, and split three bottles between us. (Yes, that seems a bit lame. But alas, we both had to be at work the next day.)

The Jalepeno Ale was good, if a tiny bit of a stunt beer. (I can't see myself drinking more than a half-bottle.) The Hop Yard Pale Ale was *excellent.* Many bottles of this lie in my future. We finished with the Black IPA (no photo, too dark for my camera phone to take pictures...)

The prices were super-reasonable. We paid about $5 for our regular size bottles of the Jalapeno Ale and the Hop Yard Pale Ale, and about $8 for the 750ml bottle of the Black IPA. Good for the Rhino!

I definitely need to head back - to re-taste the Black IPA, and make my way down the rest of the Garrison's list. However, OCB Week is fast approaching, and there's a ton of events happening. Here's hoping there'll still be bottles left at the end of June!

Mid-week pause at C'est What

I’ve been drinking, I just haven’t been writing.

A friend had a birthday last night, and a bunch of us crowded into one of my favourite beer places – C’est What.

C’est What is awesome. They have roughly 20-30 taps, all Canadian, mostly from Ontario. A few staples on tap, but there’s a 6-7 beer rotating selection, which is always fun. Also, they have excellent food, with the added bonus that they are very veggie friendly. (I swear by the hummus and tsiziki appetizer. Yum. Plus, they bring you extra pita if you ask for it.)

As always at C’est What, the beer isn’t cheap. Last night, I had a couple of pints (it was a weeknight, what can I say?), and each beer ran about $8.50, tax and tip included. A girl can go broke very easily with those prices, which is probably the only real downside here.

That being said, my two pints were excellent. The first pint was the Hop Head, (brewed by County Durham Brewery in Pickering), which, to the best of my knowledge, is only available at C’est What. The second was the Hazelnut Chocolate ale, which to my mind tastes a bit like Nutella. I usually can’t drink more than a half-pint of this, but a full pint really hit the spot last night.

Even though it was Tuesday night, C’est What was fairly full and bustling, though that might have partly been because twenty of us poured in to celebrate. Anyhoo – I really recommend this place, with the above caveat of the price of beer.

Bonus points:

Twice a year (spring and fall?), C’est What runs a huge tasting event, where every Ontario brewery seems to brew something special, and each tasting costs $1. For a beer drinker, these events are must-dos, though very, very crowded. You really have to appreciate and support a bar that takes the effort to do events like this. (Next one is May 22nd, I think - watch for it.)

Boring details:

C’est What is located at 67 Front Street (Front & Church), in the basement. (According to their website, it is located in the cellar of a historic century old building in the St. Lawrence Market area. Ok then.) It is open from 11.30am to 2.00am. The bar has pool tables and other diversions, if for some reason the beer doesn’t hold your interest. They have live music fairly frequently, and their website has an up-to-date live music list.

Food runs about $15 for mains. Pints of beer run about $8 (tax and tip included.)

Overall rating: 4 out of 5, but this is a personal preference. Rebel House does better in my book because it is smaller and more intimate. C’est What has better and more beer.

The Beer Girl starts her journey at the Rebel House

I've announced to all that will listen (and to a few that won't) that my favorite bar in TO is the Rebel House. Which makes this an excellent start of the blog.

Every neighborhood should have a bar like the Rebel House. It is appealingly small. The bar's a pleasing L shape, with maybe 10 spots, which always promotes conversation. It attracts an eclectic mix of people, all of who are happy to hang around and chat with strangers. There's no pick-up vibe at all. No DJ, no karaoke, no music at all, in fact.

What the Rebel House has is an excellent, mostly local beer list (the taps rotate pretty frequently), great food and friendly bar staff. In the summer, there's also the incredibly romantic, tented back patio, which probably doubles the seating in the place.

Nine of us squished into the Rebel House's bar area last night, ready to have a good time. We got there at 7.30pm, were there till 10pm.

I drank a pint of the Great Lakes Green Tea ale, which came served with a slice of lemon. It was light and refreshing, though I couldn't taste the green tea at all, so it must be very subtle. (Atleast 2 other people in the group got the Green Tea ale, no-one could taste the green tea.) Also drank a pint of the Wellington Best Bitter - which was, as usual, quite delicious.

I've had the Wellington before, of course, but never the Green Tea ale. I'd order both again, so a successful tasting experience.

I was looking for a stout on the menu, but the only one available was the Black Oak chocolate cherry stout, which I couldn't quite bring myself to drink an entire pint of. Stouts like this are too gimmicky for me. They make good tasting, but I can't ever drink more than 5oz or so of any of these. (I guess I could have had a Guinness, which the Rebel House does have on the menu, but honestly, what's the point? I can find Guinness everywhere.)

To dilute the effects of the beer, I did order food, a plate of the excellent macaroni and cheese, which I enjoyed thoroughly. (Another girl in the group really didn't care for it, though.) Someone else also ordered wings with jerk sauce, which she felt was too chicken-y and not wing-like enough. Since I'm vegetarian, I have no opinion on the wings at all, or any of their other meat dishes.

Cost? 2 beers and food - roughly $27. Most beers are $6.50, most food is in the $8-13range. Plus, the bartender handled our separate check request pretty cheerfully, which not everyone does for a group of 9 people.

All in all, a fun weeknight out, and a good way to break up some of the monotony of the week.

Overall rating: 4.5 out of 5, mostly cause I'm reserving the right to rate places higher.