We went to the rib-fest at the Distillery District yesterday but I resisted the urge to make a pig of myself. Along with the porcine purveyors, there was a beer tent featuring several microbrews. None of my favourites was present but I did manage to enjoy a Wellington County Lager, a Steam Whistle and a Camerons lager- no great hardship there, all good brews. My wife had a Hemp ale from Cool Beer, called Buzz. I had a sip but wasn't too impressed. I'd try it again though.
The interesting thing is there weren't separate booths for each beer. Instead the Craft Brewers Association hired someone to serve all the beers from one location. I'm of two minds about this innovation. On the one hand it's great to see that the Association is working to improve access to their product and I approve of the idea in principle. But one of the joys of visiting a brewery's booth was chatting with employees and owners who had a stake in the presentation and the product.
This tent yesterday was a sad looking affair, the guy selling beer tickets ( yes it's still Ontario) was surly and the girls pouring the beer were clearly hired more for the expert way they wore the company T-shirt than for brand knowledge. One charming young thing explained to me that these were all "micro-beers". Funny they looked like 12 ounces to me.
Yes I want my craft beer and to drink it too. I said I applaud any attempt by the Craft Brewers Association to get the word out. It just seems a shame for them to use the same 'babes n' brew' method as their less artisinaly inclined big batch competitors. The Wellington sure went well with my pulled pork sandwich though.

The reach and the greed of the major brewers in Canada never ceases to amaze me. Not content to control 90% of the beer market, they seek to undermine the craft brew market at every opportunity. A couple of recent examples:
Labatt, shocked and amazed at the popularity of various 'Honey Lagers' has come out with their own version. Now, I'm not a Honey fan, I think it's generally the weakest of the popular micros, no matter who makes it, but I object to Labatt trying to ooze their way into this segment. The advertising promotes that the beer is cheap and has no preservatives. It doesn't mention whether it was made with rice or 27 other adjuncts or how many strange chemicals might be found in this 'natural' beer.

Also recently the 'Toronto Star' printed an article headlined 'Beer Drinkers moving to lighter brew, chemist says'. A chemist eh? Well who would have a better opinion about beer drinkers tastes than a chemist? Especially one who works for the akwardly and somewhat frighteningly named InBevSA. This Frankenstein is the worlds biggest brewer and so by definition, the worst. They also are the parent company of Labatt.
The young chemist in question, who works for Labatt in some evil castle laboratory in London, speaks glowingly of how the rest of the world is "evolving" toward North American tastes. Doesn't 'evolving imply improving? Why would a North American homogenization of tastes be a good thing? The article goes on to discuss how, yes a few mal-contents are drinking this craft brewed nonsense, but most of us are toeing the company line and drinking mass produced dreck.
The timing of this article interests me because in the last month the Star has published two longish articles about the joys and wonders of craft beer. Coincidence? Yeah, right. Alarm bells must have gone off in Macro offices accross the nation as the publicity flacks sprang into action. 'Counter that micro brew propaganda- save our near monopoly.' Just a thought but wouldn't you think 90% should be enough for these guys?

We caught the Blue Jay game at the Dome (yes it's still a dome)last night - a good time was had by most. Jays won with a fine pitching performance from the previously clueless Ted Lilly. By the way does that guy ever smile?
While the beer situation at the stadium has improved from the days of Labatt Nation when it was Blue or water, there is still something missing. Micros. Specifically a craft brewed beer from Toronto.
The selection is limited to the Canadian majors and a few,not very inspiring imports. OK they have Moose Green which has a place in my big soft heart ( and has contributed to my big, soft belly) and that's what we drank last night. Not too bad. But let's face it, you could hit the Roundhouse with a long home run from the Dome. Why not roll over a few barrels of
Steam Whistle for each game. If you want a decent ale ,Mill St. is a couple of blocks east- Amsterdam a few blocks north. You'd hardly even need a truck for the delivery.
The Jays want to be Toronto's team again and it may happen one day in the not too distant future. Would it hurt them to support Toronto's Beer?

I rail regularly about the big brewers but generally don't feel the need to get into specifics,mostly because they can be relied on to shoot themselves in the foot on a regular basis. Two recent "improvements" in giant brews highlights this point.
Labatt has come out with a beer can which will keep the swill inside colder,longer.Now this is no doubt an impressive technical achievement but why is it necessary? The whole point of beer is taste. The colder a beer is the less you can taste its complexities and subtleties.If Labatt had a brew that had any of those, they wouldn't need to nearly freeze it to cover up it's inadequacies. If you need to drink something, just because it's too warm out, then drink water.

In advertising its new 'premium light beer'(a true oxymoron) Heineken refers to the 'lack of premium choice within the light beer market'. They also suggest that 'consumers (red flag) should not have
to sacrifice quality, taste and (wait for it) cachet! to drink light beer. How many ways can this be wrong and annoying? Firstly there is no such thing as a 'premium light beer'. On my planet there is no such thing as a light beer.Secondly, 'cachet? What are they making here, a perfume? a purse? a luxury automobile? Anyone who chooses their beer because of cachet is a poseur first class and should be made to drink 'near beer' for the rest of their miserable lives. And does anyone over 21 still think that Heineken makes a premium pilsener?
Nonsense like this is why we so desperately need to support craft brewers and micro-brewers. In fact I'm going to go drink a Black Oak Pale Ale and rest my weary brain.

Cheers

Toronto Beer
We were at the Amsterdam on Saturday night and while the place is not as welcoming as when it was the Rotterdam (before the re-fit)the beer is still as good. There are few brews as refreshing during this abominable heat wave as 'Natural Blonde' quaffed on the patio. It's not a great beer, but it is a well made one, with attention to craftsmanship. It was also nice to take some of my less discerning pals to a place where they have little choice but to drink craft beer. Thumbs up from the boys- I'm larnin' them , slowly but surely.
This must be happening for craft beer proselytizers everywhere and it's great to spread the word. I just wish I had more home grown (home as in Toronto) beer to spread the word about. Particularly home grown brew pubs.It's long past time for the Ontario government to change regulations which make brewing, retail and serving your own draft three separate functions. Having to have different doors to your pub and your retail outlet harkens back to the days of 'Ladies and Escorts' at the local hotel. I don't expect twenty first century regulations, but it would be nice if we were no longer governed by nineteeth century rules.
That being said, you can still enjoy a visit to the Amsterdam or to the Granite, at Eglinton and Mt.Pleasant, to savour one of Ron's excellent beers (particularly the dry-hop for me)but I'd sure like to see the number of brew pubs go up. Hard to argue with more access to fresh, real beer.

Intro to Beer
I drink enough of the stuff, I suppose it's time I started writing about it. Beer that is. But not any old beer. If you want to read about mainstream brews, fizzy lager and big tank swill, you are on the wrong blog my deluded friend. Real beer is made by craftsmen, in small (or smallish) batches, using premium ingredients,primarily all malted barley. Using rice or corn or any other other cereal adjunct and brewing in ten gazillion hectolitre tanks means you are a making a product, in it for the cash and should be dunked in a tank of Labatt Blue repeatedly, until you turn Blue.
Odds are on this blog I'll discuss my favorite micros and craft brews and complain about the big brewing industry.I'm big on complaining so feel free to whine along.

I'm still shuddering from the news that the Darth Vader of Canadian beer, Molsons, has taken over one of the best and oldest microbreweries in Ontario. Creemore Springs was more than a brewery. It was a soldier in the fight against mediocrity.Make one good thing and make it well and people will want it.
I've been a fan since they opened and have converted many a mainstream swill drinker to the joys of real beer through a liberal application of this well balanced, tremendously refreshing lager.
I use the past tense in that paragraph because there is no way on this semi-green earth that Creemore, as we have known it, can possibly co-exist with a bottom line purveyor of mediocrity like Molsons. It's over,drink the pre- takeover pints now and weep.