Category: Friends

Toronto Beer Week

Dan Dickinson1 Comment

It might seem unnecessary for me to say that it was a beer-filled weekend, but it was. More so than usual.

It started a few weeks ago when beer writer Crystal Luxmore held a contest, offering tickets to a Toronto Beer Week event called The Beer Experience for whoever tweeted her the best picture of themselves enjoying a local craft beer. This picture of a Muskoka Detour on the dock at Bat Lake took the prize. As if it was even close.

The event itself was last Thursday at the beautiful Berkeley Church. The usual lineup of local craft breweries was there, but each brought something special: a brew not generally available, or even a one-off made specifically for this event. We bought ten tickets each and made the rounds. Here’s what I had; Nellie had ten completely different ones since our tastes don’t overlap much.

  1. Amsterdam Downtown Brown
  2. Side Launch Pale
  3. Sawdust City Coconut Lime Kolsch
  4. Beau’s Dark Helmet Imperial Black Lager
  5. Oast House Dark Chocolate Cherry
  6. Wellington Cocoa Beware Cocoa Husk Baltic Porter (on cask)
  7. King Monster Mash Dubbelbock
  8. Junction All Aboard Harvest Ale
  9. Beer Academy Vanilla Coconut Chocolate Imperial Stout
  10. Double Trouble Vanilla Stout

All of them were pretty good except the Junction, and that makes two beer festivals in a row where I drank a terrible beer from Junction…I think they’re on my shit list now. The Side Launch, Wellington, and Amsterdam (which wasn’t even a special…not sure why I got that, honestly) were all terrific, but the Oast House dark chocolate cherry was absolutely spectacular. Definitely my favourite of the night. And how about that venue?

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On Saturday, following TIFF film #3 we met a friend for a(nother) mini pub crawl with her, starting at Bar Hop (Sawdust City Golden Beach Pale, Left Field Prospect: Kohatu, and Block Three After Market Mild), then trying to get in at Wvrst but being turned away by the very long (and very fucked) lines before retiring to Beerbistro (samples of Rodenbach Grand Cru, Publican House Square Nail Pale Ale, and Unibroue Maudite, and a glass of Unibroue Fin du Monde) before heading to C’est What for some food. Or so we thought.

We arrived to find C’est What in the throes of its own Beer Week event, with 5 stations set up around the bar pouring dozens of samples, many of which I’d never tried. I’d love to be able to tell you what I drank but somebody threw out the paper we’d used to keep track. However, based on the list I found on twitter and my rather fuzzy memory I think these were the samples I picked:

  1. Ontario 100 Mile Pale Ale (cask)
  2. Garden Piperales smoked/spiced Amber Ale
  3. 5 Paddles Uncle Kev’s Milk Stout
  4. Nickel Brook Pumpkin Porter (cask)
  5. Oast House Old Town Drunkel chocolate/cherry porter
  6. St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout (nitro)
  7. Sawdust City Skinny Dipping with Chipotle Stout (cask)

Beer week!

Matthew Danger

Dan Dickinson2 Comments

If you’re going to have friends, have friends who know wine and who can cook and who have access to a great cottage and who like to share and who are generally just the best. This was our weekend:

Matt smoked some ribeyes…

…while we opened the vertical of Bachelders Chardonnays we brought: the 2009, 2010, and 2011…

…and brought the last bottle down to the dock…

…to watch the sunset.

Seriously, look at that.

Couldn’t have asked for a better spot to enjoy a special wine.

Sunset turned from yellow to red as our night ended.

The next day we tallied the damage. Beer not included.

Sunset the next evening was almost as spectacular…

…and paired with beer this time…

…as the last of the clouds drifted away.

There was even time for a little fishing before dark…

…and the evening’s campfire.

Day 2’s consumption. Much of this went with a feast of lobster, shrimp, scallops, and squid.

All weekend we were entertained by chipmunks, chickadees, nuthatches, blue jays, and the odd hummingbird. We also did battle with a squirrel.

If there’s a better weekend than relaxing in that place, swimming in that lake, eating that food, drinking that wine, all with those friends, I haven’t found it yet.

.:.

Side note: all of these pictures were taken with our phones, sans filters.

Coney Island Parachute Jump

Dan Dickinson2 Comments

Just got back from a weekend of fun in Halifax to celebrate my birthday. I’m kind of tired, so no prose this time. Just the highlights of places we hit, both new and familiar.

BAR AT THE PRINCE GEORGE HOTEL
Since we stayed at the Prince George hotel we decided to have a lunch at the new bar downstairs. The fried chicken sandwich was pretty tasty, and they had a surprisingly good beer selection; before I started on the locals I had two from Dieu Du Ciel: the Blanche du Paradis and the Aphrodisiaque.

FIELD GUIDE
After meeting up with our friends we tried to hit this place, but they don’t open ’til 6pm. Next time, then.

STILLWELL
This was the one I was really excited about. It’s a new(ish) place modelled after places like Volo and Pony Bar, and I’ve been following their progress and Twitter account since they were under construction. We all started with samplers; I got the PEI Brewing 1772 IPA, North Brewing Belgian IPA, Boxing Rock Sessionista, and Picaroons Dark and Stormy Night. Our entire group then split a stellar bottle of Brooklyn Sorachi Ace — what a treat. I wrapped up with the Uncle Leo’s Smoked Porter, which tasted like bacon. By the time I left this was my new favourite place in Halifax.

AUCTION HOUSE
This was another new stop for us. There’s a gimmick where they raffle off special appetizers and desserts and such, and people bid using paddles at their tables. We only took part in one auction and weren’t quite willing to part with $20 for a dessert, but it was still kind of fun. We split half a dozen appetizers and I had a Hell Bay Dark Cream Ale.

CARLETON
This was another first for me, even though the Carleton has been there for years. See, when I lived in Halifax, the Carleton was a SMU bar, so I didn’t go there. And old habits die hard. Anyway, it’s gotten a bit swankier inside, and the live music was pretty good. Not a great beer list, but they did have Unibroue Blanche de Chambly and cocktails named after local 90s indie bands like Thrush Hermit and Eric’s Trip. So there was that.

MAXWELL’S PLUM
Yet another Halifax institution which had never had the pleasure of my company. We were getting pretty silly by this point. I remember starting with a Boxing Rock Hunky Dory Pale Ale and ending with a Big Spruce Cereal Killer Oatmeal Stout; there may have been another in between those two but I can’t be sure.

STILLWELL
That’s right, we went back. It was that good. And before I left I’d noticed they had bottles of Dieu Du Ciel Péché Mortel in the fridge, which our friend Becky had never tried, so I ordered two (and some delicious Atari fries). After this magnificent reprisal the girls dragged us somewhere awful. I won’t even discuss it here. Awful.

PIZZA CORNER
Aaaaaaaaaaand the evening was back on track. And by “evening” I mean 2am. And by “back on track” I mean covered in donair sauce.

EDNA
After a very slow start to Sunday morning we dragged ourselves over to EDNA for brunch. By the time we left it had joined Stillwell atop my list of favourite Halifax places. The food was outstanding — I had a smoked pork chop, eggs, beans, toasted sourdough baguette, duck fat potatoes, and a cappuccino. The space (rustic, open) felt completely welcoming, the music (folk, blues) was perfect, and the clientele was almost universally happy and attractive. I can’t wait to go back for dinner some day.

TWO IF BY SEA
We braved the drizzela and walked down to the waterfront, stopping at TIBS for some fuel: capp #2. From there we threaded the needle of Buskerfest crowds down the waterfront, past a superyacht, all the way to the market.

GARRISON
The rain had let up and the sun was out now, so we stopped for two wee samples on the Garrison patio. I had the Raspberry Wheat and the Nut Brown.

HENRY HOUSE
Since we were just around the corner and felt we needed just a little more food in our stomachs we visited an old familiar haunt for some spicy calamari and a Granite Brewery Best Bitter on the patio. Nellie got one of her new favourites, the Ringwood.

STUBBORN GOAT
Sunday night’s plan was to have a proper dinner at another new stop, the Stubborn Goat. The Murphy girls rejoined us, and we added three others, but none of us had much in the way of energy. Even Nellie and I had to power through a few drinks, but we couldn’t leave that beer selection untouched. I had a Boxing Rock Sessionista, a Picaroons Best Bitter, and a Dieu du Ciel Pénombre. The menu looked impressive, though it didn’t really blow us away…or maybe that was the service, which was pretty amateurish the whole night. Still, I want to go back — our friends assured us this was out of character for the Goat, so we’ll keep it in mind for next time.

No Pizza Corner on night #2; we all rolled out of there and made for home. I crashed into bed immediately; Nellie insisted on watching The Other Woman, which even Kate Upton in a bikini couldn’t save. Our travel back to Toronto was unremarkable except for the limo driver who had spent his childhood working on a blueberry farm only a few miles from our own. Small world.

Thanks for the 46 hours of fun, Halifax. It was a hoot.

Photo by Peter Kudlacz, used under Creative Commons license

“Mmmm. Gueuzy.”

Dan Dickinson1 Comment

Well, that was a beer-y weekend. It actually started Thursday night when Nellie and I found ourselves near Volo and stopped in for some Great Lakes drinks (Chill Winston for me, Audrey Hopburn for her) before some dinner at Mercatto. At that point we’d momentarily switched to wine, and decided to watch Red Obsession (imdb | rotten tomatoes) while we drank a bottle of the Tawse wine club T-Blend Red.

My Friday afternoon was spent on a boat cruising around Toronto harbour for a work event, during which I consumed quite a few bottles of Steam Whistle. We were dropped off a few minutes away from the Amsterdam Brewhouse, so a few of us secured a table until Nellie and our friends MLK arrived. The food was pretty decent and I kept to the lighter beers (until the one-off Boxer (10 Count) farmhouse ale with Brett) so I could remain more or less coherent. After dinner we retired back to ours where we shared a (spectacular) bottle of Five Rows Sauvignon Blanc.

We took it easy on Saturday, just lying about and running a few errands, before meeting our friends JP + Sue at Triple A for some barbecue. We ate our ribs and steak and brisket and sausage and drank Camerons California Sunshine APA (mostly), then made a quick stop at our place to share a bottle of St. Louis Gueuze Fond Tradition on our balcony before heading to C’est What for a few more. I’m glad I picked up a bottle of that gueuze before the LCBO ran dry.

And now…I need a nap.

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.:.

Photo by Peter Kudlacz, used under Creative Commons license

 

Mischief

Dan Dickinson2 Comments

Last weekend, by the grace of good friends Matt & Kaylea, we made our now-annual pilgrimage up to a cottage in the Kawarthas. We stopped in Barrie on the way up to pick up a passanger and to eat some pizza & charcuterie cured meat, cheese, and Peruvian olives. We made it to the cottage that night, and crashed shortly after.

The next morning I woke up to this:

…met a new friend:

…went for a swim:

…lay in a hammock:

…ate some lunch, with a very special bottle of wine: a Benjamin Bridge 2004 Brut Reserve:

…smoked a pork shoulder (well, watched Matt smoke it):

…and went for another swim:

See how calm the water is there? Yeah, so did the resident mosquito population, and they ate me alive. Could be worse though: I could have gotten as badly sunburned as Nellie.

Friday was a rapid-fire drive north through traffic, and Sunday didn’t amount to much other than rain and buttermilk pancakes, but Saturday…bacon, sunshine, swimming, sparkling wine, swimming, pulled pork, swimming, camp fire…Saturday was glorious.

Cover photo by Thomas Cizauskas, used under Creative Commons license

Crawl II

Dan Dickinson2 Comments

Three weeks after doing a mini craft beer pub crawl (Volo, Bellwoods, Bar Hop) with our friend Amanda, we did another yesterday with her visiting sister Becky. This time we hit Bryden’s, Indie Ale House, Bellwoods again, and Wvrst.

Bryden’s was unremarkable, except in that it introduced the ladies to the Local 7 Session Saison. Bellwoods was fairly disappointing this time; my Wizard Wolf was fine but the No Rest For The Wicked sour stout just wasn’t enjoyable. And Wvrst was great, both for the sausage and for our drinks — I had a Silversmith Funzover Dunkel and a Péché Mortel, which Becky also tried and loved.

But the real star of the day was Indie Ale House. Somehow Nellie and I had never been, despite its reputation. It certainly lived up to the rep, and more: the beer was fantastic (especially the Fallen Idol Belgian sour), our food (especially the fried chicken) was outstanding, and we loved the feel and décor of the place. If we lived closer this place would be our new local. We’ll need to find an excuse to return to the Junction, I guess.

.:.

Cover photo by Thomas Cizauskas, used under Creative Commons license

Cover photo by Crystal Luxmore, used under Creative Commons license

“Brewed the hard way”

Dan Dickinson1 Comment

Nothing like a quick down-and-back to Niagara on the eve of spring, amirite? CBJ+M drove us to our friends’ place in Niagara-on-the-Lake, stopping at a few wineries (Rosewood, Hidden Bench, Kew, Kacaba, and Stratus), a brewery (Silversmith, which was excellent), the Pie Plate, and The Merchant Alehouse in St. Catherines for lunch.

Our friends laid out a huge cheese & charcuterie board, and green salad, and chicken tagine with couscous, and many bottles of wine. Pie and cocktails (Avaiations, Boulevardiers) served as dessert, and then we crashed. This morning we woke up with coffee, bagels, and a fry-up of bacon and eggs.

Here’s what followed us home from the wineries:

  • Hidden Bench 2010 Tete de Cuvée Chardonnay (x2)
  • Kacaba 2012 Cabernet Syrah
  • Kacaba 2012 Rebecca Rosé
  • Kew 2011 Heritage
  • Kew 2011 Blanc de Noir
  • Kew 2012 Traditional sparkling
  • Kew 2012 Pinot Noir
  • Rosewood 2012 La Fumée
  • Rosewood 2013 Sussreserve Riesling
  • Rosewood 2007 Ambrosia honey wine
  • Stratus 2007 White

.:.

Cover photo by Crystal Luxmore, used under Creative Commons license

Cover photo by Trixt, used under Creative Commons license

Hold on loosely

Dan Dickinson1 Comment

Yeah, I have too much to clean up after that party to spend time describing it. I’ll just cover what was consumed and let you extrapolate from that.

WINE

  • Hidden Bench 2008 Terroir Cache Meritage
  • Kew 2013 Fume Blanc
  • Le Clos Jordanne 2009 Claystone Terrace Chardonnay
  • Megalomaniac 2011 Bubblehead Sparkling Pinot Noir
  • Norman Hardie 2008 Cuvée L Chardonnay
  • Piper Heidsieck Champagne
  • Tawse White 2011 Members Select Chardonnay
  • Tawse 2011 Spark
  • La Vielle Ferme 2013 Recolte
  • Chateau Prieure Canteloup 2009 Cotes De Bordeaux
  • Wolftrap 2013 White
  • Rosewood 2012 Sussreserve Riesling
  • Moet et Chandon Brut Imperial
  • Henry Of Pelham 2012 Sibling Rivalry Red
  • Gustave Lorentz 2011 Riesling

BEER

  • 6 bottles of Duggan’s Sorachi Lager
  • Gulden Draak 9000
  • Affligem
  • Sawdust City Lone Pine IPA
  • 1 growler of Beer Academy Kolsch
  • Beer Academy Oatmeal Brown
  • Beer Academy Black Lager
  • Goose Island Matilda
  • 9 pints of Nellie’s Hoppy Birthday Brew (our first self-brew effort)
  • 3 bottles of Chimay Blue
  • 2 more bottles of Affligem

SPIRITS

  • 1 bottle of Patron Silver tequila
  • nearly an entire bottle of El Dorado 12 year old rum
  • half a bottle of Basil Hayden’s bourbon
  • a mickey of Ballantine’s whisky
  • the .38 Special: a signature cocktail concocted by our good friend CBJ, to celebrate Nellie’s 38th birthday

FOOD

  • Jesus, I can’t even.

Between what was brought for a gift or what was left behind, we made out pretty well:

  • Bouchard Pere Et Fils 2012 Petit Chablis
  • Desiderio Jeio Cuvee Rosé
  • Gardet Chigny-Les-Roses Brut Tradition Champagne
  • Angels Gate 2010 Mountainview Chardonnay
  • Blu Giovello Prosecco
  • Marc Kreydenweiss Barbarelle 2007
  • Coastline Paso Robles 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon
  • Il Sestante Amarone Classico 2008 Tommasi
  • Flying Monkeys Chocolate Manifesto Triple Milk Stout
  • St. Bernardus ABT 12
  • Citadelle gin
  • Bowmore 12 year old scotch
  • Macallan Gold scotch
  • 2 bottles (!) of Grey Goose vodka

Of course, this was also left behind:

.:.

Cover photo by Trixt, used under Creative Commons license

Cover photo by Lisa Ray

Defeated by meat

Dan Dickinson1 Comment

Last night we tried the hot new place in our ‘hood: The Carbon Bar. We’d had plans to do so just before the new year but one of our party wasn’t feeling up to it. Turns out the same thing could have (should have, maybe…Nellie was already feeling sick by mid-afternoon) happened last night, but we were determined to finally try this place. We met our friends JP & Sue for an early dinner.

First: the space is amazing. Crazily high ceilings, warehouse-sized floor plate, and little hints of the building’s past lives — Electric Circus writ in neon, Disney figurines, glowing Baby Blue signs, etc. It’s an impressive place, no doubt.

The place has built its reputation on meat. Well, among foodies anyway; it’s also become something of a hot spot for clubby types, but David Lee’s grilling has attracted people — like us — looking for his take on southern bbq. And man, did we get some of that. Here’s what we ploughed through:

Starters

  • Crisp chicken skins w/ sweet chilli vinegar
  • Cabrito Papusa (goat-stuffed masa tortilla, tomatillo salsa, guajillo date jus)
  • Charred sea scallops w/ brisket espuma, dill pickle, parsley, rye caraway croutons, mustard, horseradish

Main

  • Pit master platter: pork ribs, beef brisket, pulled pork ssäm, jalapeño sausage, roasted turkey, pork crackling

Sides

  • “Hot Mess”: sweet potato, cheese curds, crema, pickled jalapeño, chopped brisket
  • Pork & beans
  • CB slaw

Beer (mostly; Nellie drank wine and JP tried to order a Mill Street IPA but was handed a Tankhouse)

The starters and sides were good. The platter of meat, however, was spectacular…there wasn’t a single thing on there that wasn’t amazing (well, maybe the pulled pork, but it was still damned good). The brisket might have been the best we’d ever tried, and I would have eaten a pound of that sausage. Unfortunately Nellie had gone from feeling poorly to almost passing out during the meal, so she couldn’t really partake. Given that, despite looks of longing from JP and I, we didn’t even try to finish it. Half of what was left is in my fridge right now, just waiting for me to eat it. Anyway, we had to cut the night short because Nellie needed to get to bed, but it was a pretty impressive first visit. We’ll definitely be going back.

.:.

Cover photo by Lisa Ray (yes, that Lisa Ray…she was there last night too)