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| The place that changed the way I would approach beer: Six Pints Specialty Beer Company's Beer Academy in Toronto. So basically, blame them... |
I remember one Toronto community newspaper editor I had - a genuinely decent guy but so far left-of-centre, he made Karl Marx look like Attila The Hun - looking down his nose at my page-filling year-end lists and haughtily wondering aloud, "How does this serve our readership?" I did what any smart journalist would do... I agreed with him, said he made an excellent point... and continued to do whatever the hell I wanted to. You get what you pay for and believe me, I wasn't getting paid all that much. Eventually, he, too, relented and started his own Year-End Lists, one of which I recall should have been entitled: "Why Everyone Who Disagrees With Me Is Wrong!!!!" (In all honesty, I feel the same way when someone says they don't like IPAs...) He was a quirky little dude. Still, liked him, though. I think his heart was in the right place even though I often wished he would drink a big frosty mug of "Lighten The Hell Up"...
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| And they shall create me a Steam Whistle throne!!! |
Anyways, back to the point. Back in April, the crew at my Beer Store was shipped off to the Beer Academy as part of a chain-wide effort to spruce up our image and beer knowledge. One day at the Beer Academy and I was sold. This blog started at the end of June so that I could basically teach myself about new and different beers and, in turn, pass that along to our customers. Hey, I know EXACTLY what you're thinking - where the hell is this guy's Nobel Peace Prize??? I appreciate your warm thoughts but you know, extensive beer research is a reward unto itself. (But thank you all the same...)
So with a half-year under my belt (literally... gone up a belt notch or two), here's some of the finer moments of My Beer (Half) Year. No seasonals are included. This stuff has to be available year-round! Also not included... anything I've had and enjoyed but have not written about yet. I can't have anyone wondering why Hogtown Brewery's My Dog Has Big Balls IPA wins the Brew Ha Ha IPA title when I've never mentioned it. But trust me, whole new bunch of Canadian winners next year... some that I've had this year! Also no ties. Winner-take-all.
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| Most people would think a gun is the most dangerous thing that you can put in my hands. I disagree. It's this ticket. Or a flame-thrower |
Best Canadian Pilsner: Of the dozens of really great ones I've had, two instantly come to mind as the tops and the first is King Brewery's Pilsner which is, without a doubt, one of the most outstanding pilsners out there. But in the end, I'm sliding this to Steam Whistle Pilsner. Both are equally excellent in their own way but King's is based on a German Pilsner while Steam Whistle is based on a Czech Pilsner. I haven't even written a Czech beer blog yet but guess what category I'm looking the most forward to in 2014? They're both winners... but 10 points to Gryffindor! Oops, I mean Steam Whistle! King Brewery... sit tight... your love is coming.
Mill Street Oktoberfest "D'oh" Moment - Part 1: When I and my co-workers, Saga and Andrew "Scotty" Scott attended the Mill Street Brewery's Oktoberfest, the first gaffe belonged to me. Upon entering, the first craft brewery booth I saw was Flying Monkey's Craft Brewery, who were doling out their excellent Red-On-Red Ale. Like a crazed 12-year-old Justin Bieber fan, I excitedly said: "Flying Monkeys is my favourite brewery!" To which, the two servers replied: "You mean Mill Street, right?" All of the booths were manned by Mill Street employees. I had no idea. So naturally, I said with a smile, "Of course, Mill Street! Geez, what did you hear?" Thank gawd, they went easy on me. "Yeah, we heard Mill Street, too..."
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| I don't even like pineapple, ESPECIALLY on pizza but this pineapple-infused pale ale continues to rock my world! |
Best Canadian Pale Ale: Again, I have had dozens but three bob to the top of the ice-cold pond. There is no denying that Flying Monkeys Hoptical Illusion Not Quite Pale Ale and Nickel Brook American Style Pale Ale are at the Head Of The Class. But 2013 belongs to Spearhead Hawaiian Style Pale Ale. This 6%, 60 IBU (international bitterness units) might be more at home in the IPA category... but it's won several awards for Best Pale Ale and if the pros believe it's a pale ale, who am I to argue? I know the latitude for pale ales is incredibly wide from somewhat mild to... well, this beer! This is in my fridge more often than, oh let's say, food.
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| Of all the porters I've had this year, nothing - but nothing - comes close to this Vanilla Porter |
Best Canadian Porter: First off, lemme say this. Brick's Waterloo Small Batch Union Mills Porter surprised the hell out of me. For a medium-large brewery, their Brewmaster did an outstanding job with this one. He went for craft quality... and succeeded. Same with Mill Street Coffee Porter. Both Saga and I were wondering if we'd hate it... and ended up loving it. Also in the running: Cameron's Obsidian Imperial Porter which is rum-barrel-aged. Really tasty stuff! But in the end, this one was a slam-dunk and my easiest choice of the year - Mill Street's Vanilla Porter. Porter-wise, nothing came close to this in 2013. You don't drink porters? Yeah, shut the hell up, Princess, and try this. Thank me later.
Mill Street Oktoberfest "D'oh" Moment - Part 2: That would be the moment Saga thought he spent a beer ticket on a root-beer flavoured beer. Turns out that after recommending it to another party-goer as the best "root beer flavoured beer I've ever had," the pretty server told us it actually was root beer. My response? "You got A&W-ed, yo!" Scotty's response, which eclipsed mine? "You're Jesse Pinkman, bitch!", referring to the lovable loser of "Breaking Bad" who was constantly getting the crap beat out of him. Well, Saga spent the rest of the night barking, "I'm NOT Jesse Pinkman!" Scotty and I spent the remainder of the evening, now officially renamed Scottoberfest, laughing and calling him Jesse. If dissing your bro is wrong, I don't wanna be right... Every once in a while even now, if I look at Saga funny... just right, he still barks out: "I'm NOT Jesse Pinkman!" It's a fun game.
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| "Yo, bitch! Don't call me Saga!!! Ummm, yo...!" |
Best Canadian Lager: Tough category for this reason: I had literally dozens of different lagers this year - craft and otherwise - but they're all very different beers. Many beer snobs would not agree with me - some would actually kill me in my sleep for this - but I genuinely liked that Budweiser Crown (amber lager). Besides actually tasting pretty damn good, I appreciated a big gun like Labatt going outside their comfort zone and doing something different. On the craft side, there were a boat-load of crafties that could not be ignored. Amsterdam Natural Blonde is outstanding - clean, clear sunny day patio beer. Right up there with it was Hop City's Barking Squirrel Amber Lager. This lightly-hopped lager was an easy recommendation to me for customers looking for a little bite with their lagers. In the end, I'm going outside the box and saying King Dark Lager was, by far, the best lager I drank this year. Why is this outside of the box? In this country, lagers are slam-em-down, sports-watching beers and this dark lager is anything but that. These are to be savoured... enjoyed slowly. These are a special treat, not a chug-a-lug frat-party lager.
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| There's bar fridges... and then there's MY new bar fridge! |
Oblivious as usual, I yelled back down: "What? You mean for the food?"
"There is something seriously wrong with you," she sighed. That said, she had a valid point. There's probably room in my place for this one shown here (above left) if I sell my bed. I can sleep on the couch. I was married twice. I'm pretty used to that.
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| He had to win. He has a crown. Nuff said... |
Best Canadian Light Beer: How the hell would I know?
Best Canadian Ale: Okay, this one is tough. Really tough. I had reds (my favourite), I had darks and I had browns. You know what my barometer is for this one? What Canuck ale is ready to be ranked on the (Newport, Oregon) Rogue Dead Guy Ale Scale? I could literally list off dozens of contenders because this is what I drank the most of this year. But, and this is most unlike me, I'm cutting to the chase. Mill Street Tankhouse Ale was so good that I feel like sending a 6-pack of it to Newport with a note that says, "You're welcome. This is how we do it, north of the 49th Parallel. It ain't all igloos, strip malls and Mounties up here. Well yeah, not gonna lie, we have that stuff... but also some damn good craft beer and this bad boy's at the top of list, yo..."
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| ... and sometimes, the crown is put on top of your head... |
Best Canadian India Pale Ale: Remember that movie, "Sophie's Choice", where Meryl Streep had to decide which one of her two kids she was gonna hand over to the Nazi's? I never saw it because it co-starred neither Batman nor Iron Man but I heard it was intense. And then I saw something shiny and forgot about it. Well, this is MY Sophie's Choice... except instead of Nazi's and which kid, I have to decide which IPA was the best. Sorry to say but that bitch Sophie had it easy. (Relax... it was a movie... it didn't really happen.)
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| Yo Rogue! This is how we keep your Brutal IPA cold in in Canada! Why? Because we're a Rogue Nation, baby! |
Sawdust City's Lone Pine IPA was outstanding. So was Surrey, BC's Central City Brewing's Red Racer IPA. Ditto for the Muskoka Brewery twins: Mad Tom IPA and its nastier older brother Twice As Mad Tom IPA. Amsterdam Boneshaker IPA, you are one of my favourites and hands down, have the BEST name. Nickel Brook Headstock IPA... well, I buy you by the growler... you can feel my love. But in the end, which IPA have I bought the most of since June? Step up, Flying Monkey's Smashbomb Atomic IPA because no beer spent as much time in the fridge at Donny's Bar and Grill as you did. At 6% and 70 IBUs, you are both safer than some and yet far more deadly than many... and no, I have no idea how that works. But enjoy the sales spike. It won't end anytime soon. You were the first IPA I tried at the summer Craft Beer Fest at the Steam Whistle Round House... and no one forgets their first love.
People, that's it, that's all and I am outta here!!! I have literally dozens of you to thank for making 2013 the best beer year ever! And I will... another day.
But until that day, I remain...
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