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!

Beer Festival Crankiness

Drinking in Toronto is always an expensive proposition - I'm someone who likes good value for money.

And that brings me to today's post, the ridiculous amounts of money that beer festivals cost in Toronto.

I'm picking on Session in particular here, mostly because the Toronto Festival of Beer is something I have no desire to go to. From what I can tell, it is filled with frat boys and macro beer. Boring, and boring.

Session is, however, a craft beer festival, one I would actually like to go to. I'm not going to though - because it costs $35 to get in.

$35. Let's pause and consider that, shall we? Here's what $35 will get you beer-wise, anywhere else in Toronto.

- 4 pints at C'est What, Bar Volo, Rebel House - all places where you can get quality local beers. 4 pints is more than I want to drink in an evening.
- Significantly more beer at cheaper beer venues - the Only Cafe, the Rhino - again, quality local beers.
- At-least 2 6-packs of almost any beer. Sit on your balcony, have some friends over, get the grill going. A perfect summer evening.

Here's what you get for $35 at Session. (From BarTowel.)

- Entrance to the fest
- limited addition glass tasting stein
- access to approx 100 different craft beers from Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, B.C, Oregon, New York
- live music throughout the day (acts TBA)
- opening ceremony with garrett oliver -
- unique entertainment all day - blue mushroom circus (sword swallowing, strongman, dancers)
- Cooking with beer demonstrations (pairing etc)
- Chances to win beer prizing (vote for the best of fest)
- Meet and chat with beer makers, marketers, sellers, creators throughout the day
- Spend the day drinking with 2000+ like minded folks.

So, essentially, you get a glass for $35.


- The bands? Free at the Harbour Front. And at a million of free summer festivals in Toronto. Go there instead.
- Opening ceremony? Meh. Brooklyn Brewery does make good beer. I'm not sure if I'm going to pay $35 to meet a brewer though. They drink around town, they are normal people, I'm sure you can meet them for free. (OCB Week has a ton of Meet the Brewer events - they are all free.)
- Cooking with beer. Again, meh.
- Drinking with 2000+ like minded folks? Ok, that's an amazing way to spin 'crowded as heck'.

I know I sound cranky. I am cranky.

Sorry. I think $35 is just greedy. In addition, $35 encourages me to drink entirely too much, in an attempt to spread out the cost of my entry fee over multiple samples. I'm sure over-imbibing is something the organizers are trying to prevent, not encourage.

Yes, people in Toronto seem to have a ton of money. But me? I'm going to spend my money on Mondial instead. Where the entry is free, and the beer is just as good.

Drinking from the refrigerator

Last Tuesday, a couple of friends dropped by with pizza, and we opened my refrigerator to taste as much beer as possible.

I am slowly becoming something of a collector of beer (you may substitute the word pack-rat here), and I was pretty pleased to find I could pull out 12 distinct varieties of beer from the refrigerator. (People are very impressed when you can do that, incidentally.)

Here's what we tasted:



We tasted right to left - so we started with Bell's Two-Hearted, and finished with the Black Oak 10 Bitter Years. (It was only afterward that I realized this was my last bottle - curses!)

The second round, if you will, was also tasted right to left - starting with the Mort Subite, and ending with the Lava Smoked Stout.



Our collective least favorite beer was the Mort Subite. We were sorely tempted to pitch it, but that would have violated the house rules - no beer gets pitched.*

In retrospect, I think the drinking order contributed greatly to how disgusting we found the Mort Subite. It was a major mistake drinking the Mort Subite after the 10 Bitter Years. After the intense hoppiness of the 10 Bitter Years, the Mort Subite couldn't hold up.

I tend to self-identify as a stout/porter drinker, but I found, in this tasting round, I liked my big IPAs the best - the Two-Hearted, the Pliny, the Dogfish Head and the 10 Bitter Years. Who knew? My personal favorite was the 10 Bitter Years, but that's partly tied up with its scarcity.

A fun evening. Work the next day was a bit rough, but life is filled with such trade-offs.

Here's the list.

1. Bell's Two-Hearted Ale. Kalamazoo, Michigan.
2. Otter Creek Copper Ale. Middlebury, Vermont.
3. Short's Brewing Company - Magician Ale. Bellaire, Michigan.
4. Samuel Adams Octoberfest. Boston, Massachusetts.
5. Great Lakes Brewing Company - Eliot Ness. Cleveland, Ohio.
6. Black Oak - 10 Bitter Years. Etobicoke, Ontario.
7. Mort Subite - Mort Subite Kriek. Kobbegem, Belgium.
8. Innis & Gunn - Oak Aged Beer. Edinburgh, Scotland.
9. Dogfish Head - 60 Minute IPA. Milton, Delaware.
10. Russian River Brewing Company - Pliny the Elder. Sonoma, California.
11. Leinenkugel's Big Eddy's Russian Imperial Stout. Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.
12. Olvisholt Brugghus - Lava Smoked Imperial Stout. Iceland.


*I don't tend to buy bad beer, so this is seldom a problem. And in my defense, both the Mort Subite and the Innis & Gunn were brought by someone for another house party.

Volo - Monday night $5 pints

I love Volo. Happened to end up there on Monday (March 21) evening to meet with my Toronto Beer Lovers leadership team. Here's what they had on tap.



I had the Railway City Chocolate Cherry Stout, since I was curious to see how it would compare to the Black Oak version. From what I could tell (I wasn't comparing them side by side, just by memory) - the Black Oak has a more pronounced cherry flavour. The Railway City was more subtle. Both very good beers though.

My second pint was the Durham Black Katt Stout, which is a bit of a default go-to stout for me whenever I see it on the menu.

I was trying to see how much of the beer on the menu I'd tried, and realized, I should keep better track of the beer I drink. Some people keep the bottles. I have no room for that, but a list (or perhaps more timely updates on this blog) will serve the same purpose.

Drinking in San Francisco - Part 3

My last drinking stop was more of a shopping stop. City Beer is another well-known San Francisco beer venue. They have an excellent selection of beer, and 6 taps. You can open any bottle of beer they carry and drink it in the store for a corkage fee of $1. I was there two times, and both times, they had a fair number of people in the store, just tasting and enjoying their beer. The entire thing made for a very fun shopping experience.

I simply *had* to buy some beer, of course, to bring back. (Plus, the guys at Black Oak promised to trade me some Nutcracker Porter for Pliny the Elder, and I really love that porter!)

Bringing beer back involved buying some really expensive packaging, and a lost bag, but all was well in the end, and I was reunited with my beer. Here's what I bought.



One bottle of Pliny has already been drunk, two are on reserve for the crew at Black Oak, which leaves me one precious bottle. A special occasion must be devised for this.

Drinking in San Francisco - Part 2

No vacation in San Francisco should be complete without a stop at Toronado. This little dive bar is pretty legendary, and was a definite high point on my little beer tour.




There was both a grumpy bartender and a nice bartender. I drank half-pints, paying anywhere from $1.75 to $2.50 for it (aargh, Toronto!). The nice bartender even gave us a round on the house. Everything was amazing except the restrooms, which are truly disgusting, and really make you want to be drunk enough not to notice.

What I drank, in order (all halves, unless otherwise mentioned - the goal was to taste as much of the beer list as possible):

1. Lost Abbey Carnevale Saison
2. Moonlight Death and Taxes (a dark lager)
3. Stillwater Existent (a full pint of this, they wouldn't do halves)
4. Full Sail Hop Pursuit Pale (a double-IPA)
5. Russian River Pliny the Elder - another double IPA
6. North Coast Old #38 Stout
7. Lagunitas SF Fusion Hop High IPA (this was a 10% beer, and that was a good way to finish the night.)

Such good times!

Drinking in San Francisco - Part 1

Vacations bring opportunities to discover new beer.

In San Francisco, my first beer-related stop was at Magnolia's. I opted to try a sampler, since I'd never had any of their beer before.

The beer menu.


And my sampler.


Worth noting - they served all their cask at close-to-room temperature, which was pretty cool. Also worth noting - look how many beers they have available. I can't think of any microbrewery in Toronto with such a selection.

While the beer was all good, nothing blew me away. Still, a fun way to pass a couple of hours.