Toronto Festival of Beer, Part Two

Ladies, this is not a gratuitous butt shot. I thought it
was funny this server at Somersby Cider needed a stool
to serve customers. (Shhh, guys, it's TOTALLY that...) 

Yesterday, I briefly touched on the spirit and comradery that enveloped the Toronto Festival of Beers on Saturday. What say we continue in that vein? Everyone on board? Then buckle the hell in...

The fact that I still use a notepad and pen to jot down notes seemed to fascinate anyone under the age of 30. As I was writing notes on one particular beer, a young guy stopped, posed and said, using a famous line from the movie Titanic, "Draw me like your French girls." I think the beer nearly came out my nose.

I guess everyone uses their iPhones for notes these days and being Donny Flip-Phone, my old school journalism days of pen and pad have gone the way of Super Mario and Pac-Man, leaving people with the impression that I'm sketching something. That became apparent when three happy dudes asked me: "Hey, are you drawing us?"
Me, laughing: "Do I look like an artist?"
Three Happy Dudes: "Well, yeah, you do..."
Me: "Oh... Thanks?" (Seriously, I have no idea - is that a good thing or a bad thing?)

At the Coors Banquet Rope-A-Steer area, this young
lady gamely hopped on in the hopes of getting snared...

And finally, one young fellow who realized I was writing, not sketching, asked me what it was that I was, in fact, writing. So I showed him. "Coffee and licorice? What's that?" he inquired. "The smell of this beer," I replied. "You smell them first? Are you, like, a beer expert?" he said, wide-eyed. "No, not even close," I smiled with a shared fist-bump, "but I hope to be someday when I grow up." (Okay folks, let's not hold our breath here... on either the expert or the growing up. Just not in the cards, I'm afraid.)

At this point, I should duly note that my employers, the Beer Store, were the major sponsor of this event - their presence was felt both on our glasses and in banners everywhere - and I know a lot of people aren't fans of the current Beer Store/LCBO system of alcohol distribution in Ontario. Hell, count the other three Beer Musketeers among those. I don't mind - it's a valid opinion. But hey, they're great employers and it's a damn fine gig for me - it's always been there while the many newspapers I worked at faded quietly into obscurity. (Certainly worthy of note: on the other side of our mugs were the words: "Know your limit. Sample within it." Well, there are limits... and there are outer limits. Quick, guess the direction I went.)

Hey. it's Somersby Cider again - this time with Twister!!
The cider-makers jumped into the TFOB with enthusiasm

But for a festival to be this successful, the TFOB needs a major sponsor with a lotta sway and deep pockets and that's where my bosses stepped up to the plate. So you'll have to forgive me if I looked at those countless banners... and smiled a little anyway. It was the Beer Store's Project Amber training that vaulted me into writing this blog and trying countless new 'frightening' craft beers to write about. If I left tomorrow, I would still owe them a debt of gratitude.

Okay, as countless hashtags on Twitter surrounding the TFOB have duly noted, it's time to #BeerMe. Let's get this little beer bash started. And unfortunately, I have to start with a bit of a bash. I love dark lagers, King's, Hop City's, a couple of German ones - love 'em all. So when I eagerly tried Junction Craft Brewing's Dark Lager, I was a little disappointed. The afore-mentioned "coffee and licorice" on the nose, it was far too thin on the tongue, packing less than desirable power. Sorry, guys. That said, I know Junction Craft contract brews Shackhouse Brewing's Farmhouse Saison and with its Citra hop infusion, that's one kick-ass saison. Life is full of checks and balances. Sometimes there's winners and others time, well... not so much.

You think the ladies at this bachelorette party had
fun? That's the bride in white, bridesmaids all pretty
in pink and, um, Sasquatch joining in the festivities

While we're on the subject of saisons, let's take a trip over to the Left Field booth and talk about their Sunlight Park Saison. Again, here's another that got pounded on RateBeer (57) that I nonetheless quite enjoyed. What can I say? I'm a life-long proponent of not listening to the opinions of others because I'm half Irish and we're quite stubborn. This baby was banana and grapefruit on the nose, it was lightly spicy, dry and good-bitter on the tongue. Nice job from the folks who brought us the solid 6-4-3 Double IPA. For those outside North America, 6-4-3 is the most common triple-play in baseball - shortstop-to-second-to-first. As Beer Musketeer Glenn recently noted, you call the game "rounders" and consider it quite dull. Which is usually when we in North America bring up cricket. And then there's an awkward silence in the room.

I would dearly love to talk about Quebec's Belgh Brasse's Mons Abbey-Dubbel from Quebec but at the moment, I have their Abbey-Blonde and Abbey-White in the fridge at Donny's Bar and Grill and I want rate them all together in the near future. Suffice it to say, I enjoyed it, the guy at the booth called it their best and it recently medalled at the US Open Beer Championship. Stay tuned...

Someone on Twitter posted this shot of The Planet Smashers from
Friday night. This might be one of the best-timed rock pics ever!

Perhaps my favourite stop of the day was the World Pavilion of Beers booth, which this year featured many brews from the east coast of North America. I honestly could have stayed there all day. Let's start with New Brunswick's Northampton Brewing's Yippee IPA, which is a little too malty on the nose. The hops (Cascade, I assume) do come through with some citrus on the tongue but far too light for this hop-head. 

That said, American IPAs have, thus far, never let me down and that was the case, once again, with Lakewood, NY's Southern Tier Brewing IPA, also from the pavilion, kicking up some serious dirt. This triple-hopped treat is pine and citrus on the nose and literally jams citrus onto your tongue. It's like Mr Clean grabbed your tongue and wouldn't let go... which, I suppose, in reality, would really hurt... thus making this a poor analogy. Okay, it's damn good! How's that?

At Beer Musketeer Cat's request, I sought
out her music student, Caitlin, above left,
at the King Brewery/Thorncrest booths.
Honest, I was there but Caitlin was not and
then, I got distracted by 6 million beers and
forgot to go back there. Next time, Caitlin. 

Let's finish up the beer portion with a true King Slayer from the Cooperstown, NY's Brewery Ommegang's Game Of Thrones series - the Fire and Blood Red Ale, which clocks in at a nifty 6.8% and also found in the pavilion. (Hey, I made sure I got my money's worth out of those beer tokens.) The aroma, like their previous Iron Throne Blonde Ale, is quite complex... spicy, peppery even. You really get no sense of what you're about to slam down, much like Thai food. On the tongue, it becomes apparent quickly - hops and rye malts are clearly there, as is a note of plum, more spiciness and some caramel - a bizarre mixture, to be frank, but dammit if it doesn't work out beautifully. It seems Brewery Ommegang employs the same brewery techniques as Quebec's Unibroue, which has never made an uncomplicated beer in its history. My all-time Brewery Ommegang beer remains the Take The Night Stout but hey, you know what would go well with Thai food? The Fire and Blood Red Ale. Oh sure, you'd pay for it the next day but sometimes you just have to grab life by the horns. (That's about as close to a YOLO moment as you'll ever get from me. Besides, you don't only live once, Drake. You live every day. You only die once. You Canadian musical genius/dumb-ass.)

Colin MacDonald, lead singer for The Trews, belts
out one of the Canadian group's many hits to close
out Saturday's festivities. What a great show!!!

And speaking of music, man, did we get spoiled when Canadian hit-machine, The Trews, took to the bandshell stage for an acoustic set. Only Jack Syperek's bass was amped while drummer Sean Dalton, guitarist John-Angus MacDonald and vocalist-guitarist Colin MacDonald relied strictly on mics. (There was also a guest keyboardist in for a few songs.) You know how they say music takes you back in time? That certainly happened when they opened with Poor Ol' Broken Hearted Me, a song that transports me instantly every time to a then-sad break-up many years ago. Of course, in retrospect, it happened for the best but at the time... owww. But it still made me smile (and rock right out, meaning awkward white guy dancing) because I believe great songs are meant to be book-marks in the chapters of your life. And with hits such as I'm Tired Of Waiting, So She's Leaving and Not Ready To Go, it's pretty clear The Trews understand the dynamics behind a break-up. Granted, another hit, The Power Of Positive Drinking certainly indicates why they'd be the hit they were at the TFOB. The Trews killed it... then resurrected it... and then killed it once more, this time using Thor's hammer, Mjolnir.

A final word to the organizers... when I got home, my Facebook status was simply this: "The Toronto Festival of Beers? Yeah, that pretty much kicked 10 tons of ass!" Believe me, it was 'liked'. Let's make a deal. You keep holding them, I'll keep coming back... fair, yes? #BeerMe, indeed... Well, guys and dolls, that's it, that's all and I am outta here!! Until next time, I remain...