Author: Dan Dickinson

Four-boner

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Between 10:30am yesterday and 10:30am today we (Nellie, myself, and CBJ+M) drove to Niagara, stopped at five wineries (Leaning Post, Hidden Bench, Kew, Tawse, and Southbrook), a brewpub for lunch (Merchant Ale House), a brewery (Silversmith), and a pie place (The Pie Plate) before arriving at our friends’ place in NotL, where demolished a cheese board, drank some excellent wine, ate an enormous roast (the afore-mentioned four-boner), enjoyed a chilly fire, played some Wii tennis (!), slept it all off, ate some breakfast, and drove home.

Hidden Bench is where we did the most damage, but Leaning Post was the big find of the day. None of us had been before, but we all really liked their wines. Also, Ilya and Nadia were incredibly nice. Great first stop on the way into wine country.

Here’s what we brought home, and a few pictures from the day:

  • Hidden Bench 2011 Tete de Cuvee Chardonnay (x3)
  • Hidden Bench 2011 “La Brunante” (x2)
  • Hidden Bench 2012 Nuit Blanche
  • Hidden Bench 2013 Locust Lane Rose
  • Kew Blanc de Noir
  • Leaning Post 2013 “The Fifty” Unoaked Chardonnay
  • Leaning Post 2013 Gamay
  • Leaning Post 2013 Foxcroft Vineyard Riesling
  • Leaning Post 2012 Keczan Vineyard Syrah
  • Southbrook 2009 “Married Young” Cabernet
  • Southbrook 2012 “Minerality” Chardonnay
  • Tawse 2010 David’s Block Cabernet Franc

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Cask Days 2014

Dan Dickinson2 Comments

Really, it’s hard to believe we’d never been to a Cask Days event before. On this, the tenth year, we felt that needed to be rectified. We bought tickets, and yesterday met up with Nellie’s friends Adam and Alicia and joined the 1:00 masses at the Brickworks. Here’s what I drank:

  1. Bottle Logic “Calf-Life” milk stout w/ rum soaked oak
  2. Magnolia “Cole Porter” robust porter (when the Noble Aleworks “Cinnamon Roast Crunch” milk stout was out)
  3. Ballast Point “Victory At Sea” imperial porter w/ cacao nibs & bhut jolakia ghost peppers
  4. Bad Apple “Operation Green Ring” cucumber mint pale ale
  5. Siren Craft / Magic Rock brown ale w/ coconuts
  6. Sawdust City “Blood Of Cthulhu” imperial stout w/ cranberry, raspberry, and cherry
  7. Great Lakes / Bar Hop “Hanlan’s Point” porter w/ coconut and coffee (when the Great Lakes / Bar Hop “Sweet Zombie Jesus” peanut butter milk stout and Innocente “Chocolate Rain” chocolate & peanut butter oatmeal stout were out)
  8. Dunham “Saison Du Pinacle Reserve” wine barrel-aged hoppy saison w/ brett
  9. Le Castor “Citra Weisse” hopfenweisse
  10. Innocente “Until Proven Guilty” Russian imperial stout
  11. Broadhead “Mommy Kissing Santa Clause” mint stout

My eighth beer was actually a mistake. I had ordered #139, the Brasseurs Du Monde English Porter w/ cascade hops & coffee, but clearly what the server handed me wasn’t a porter. I figured she’d just heard me incorrectly, and a few sips of the saison told me it was actually quite good, so I didn’t say anything. But then Adam ordered #139 later and got the very same incorrect drink. We guessed that they swapped in a new one, or mixed up a couple of kegs. A comment on Untappd would seem to confirm that.

While it wasn’t exactly easy to drink, the Ballast Point was the definite winner on the day. Every sip produced a serious ghost pepper burn in the back of my throat, but the overall flavour was excellent, and it was amazingly smooth for a 10% porter.

Cool space, cool atmosphere, great luck with the weather (apart from a few showers while we stood in line), ribs from Uncle Smoke, espresso from Propeller, and no untoward bathroom situations. Probably the best beer event I’ve ever been to. Pretty much a lock for next year too.

We moved on a little after 5 and cabbed over to Wvrst for some more beers and food. After a nice light Weihenstephaner to go with my sausage Adam and I shared a couple of bottles of Le Trou Du Diable: the Volo 25th Anniversary Ale and La Grivoise Du Noël (Merry Christmas!) to finish off the day.

Excellent, excellent beer fest. See you next year, cask days.

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Four Seven Two

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A few nights ago I ate at Byblos for the first time. I’d heard mixed reviews about it, so I’d been looking forward to trying it for myself. It was…okay. Here’s what we had:

Appetizers

  • Citrus Mixed Olives w/ Chili + Preserved Lemon + Cilantro
  • Lamb Ribs w/ Dukkah + Buttermilk Sauce + Carob Molasses + Red Chili Schug
  • Steak Tartare w/ Chili Paste + Mint + Yogurt + Olive Oil + Barbari Bread

Mains

  • Fig Salad w/ Orange Blossom Honey Vinegar + Ackawi Cheese + Kohlrabi + Pistachio
  • Dry Aged Ribeye w/ Za’atar Butter + Smoked Eggplant
  • Whole Boneless Branzino w/ Vine Leaf + Chemoula + Saffron Toum + Eggplant Pickle
  • Hand Rolled Couscous w/ Brown Butter + Saffron + Herbs

Dessert

  • Yogurt Mousse w/ Pistachio Cake + Orange Blossom Water+ Pomegranate Molasses + Flower Jam

Apart from the lamb ribs and steak tartare, the meal wasn’t exactly remarkable. I was being treated, though, so I couldn’t complain.

After that a few of us went to Bar Chef. I’d never been there but I’d heard that we be in for some ridiculous cocktails. And oh, were we ever. To wit:

  • Heirloom Caesars: infusion of thyme, shallot, garlic, fennel, tomato water vessel, clamato snow, celery snow, pickled beet brunoise, parsley
  • Sailor’s Mojitos: beach essence, sailor jerry rum, mint, fresh lime, vanilla syrup, mojito ravioli, fresh lime and vanilla air
  • a Mad Man: backwoods infused bourbon, sweet vermouth, cacao, maple, black pepper, cherry, leather
    Coconut Mojito: coconut rum, fresh lime, vanilla, coconut milk, mint
  • a Vanilla And Hickory Smoked Manhattan: Crown Royal special reserve, vanilla infused brandy, cherry and vanilla bitter, hickory smoked syrup, smoked hickory and vanilla. It comes in a bell jar full of smoke.
  • Punchbowls (!) of Four Seven Two (bourbon, cola bitter, fresh lime, muddled mint, mint syrup) and Jimmy Cliff (thyme infused spiced rum, vanilla syrup, fresh lime, in-house ginger beer)

It was a drinkyadventure, to be sure.

Cover photo by Robin, used under Creative Commons license

“Oh my God, it’s the slutty Oompa Loompas.”

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We squeezed in a few more movies over the past week, two of which had an unintentionally common theme.

The To Do List (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was about Aubrey Plaza, a high school valedictorian, attempting to become sexually experienced before college while working as a lifeguard at her local pool. It was very dirty, and very funny.

The Lifeguard (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was about Kristen Bell, a former high school valedictorian, attempting to reset her imperfect life while working as a lifeguard at her local pool. It was a little funny, but also clumsily serious.

Edge Of Tomorrow (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was a surprise. I figured this was another paint-by-numbers Tom Cruise sci-fi whatever, but when I saw the 90% RT rating we decided to give it a go. It was actually really good: entertaining, clever, funny in parts, interesting in its WWI and WWII parallels (the “Angel of Verdun” felt like a mashup of two iconic WWI battles, for example), and Emily Blunt is just…*wistful sigh*. Really, though, you should see this.

On a separate but movie-related theme, we stumbled into something yesterday by accident which we wish we’d discovered earlier: the Bell Members Lounge at the TIFF Lightbox. All these years as contributing members and no idea that quiet little oasis is up there, far from the madding crowd. But we know now.

.:.

Cover photo by Robin, used under Creative Commons license