This was the Summer that... Part One

What speed dating would be like,
according to Beer Musketeer Cat,
who forwarded this meme to us all...

At the end of every Summer, I have the same routine. I take the first week of September that includes Labour Day off with my son, David. (When he was in school, it was the last week of August.) The reasons are simple. He's in camps and on trips and also vacation with his Mom during the Summer so his and my regular routine gets upset. As he is full-Irish on his Mom's side and half-Irish on mine, my lad is very stubborn and strong-willed, insisting at the end of each Summer, this disruption in his routine-with-Dad be redressed immediately. As he's a great kid and makes few demands, we accommodate him every year. On my end, I've always enjoyed it, especially now, having him when all the kids are back in school. Last summer, we went to the local theatre to see Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters for an afternoon matinee and were the only two in the theatre. I didn't even turn off my phone as we sat there, openly and loudly discussing salient plot points. Well, as salient as plot points can get, given Percy is the demi-god son of Poseidon, the Greek God of the Seas. According to this series, the Greek gods spent a lot of time whoring around Earth, knocking up or being knocked up by mortals. As gods go, it would seem they were all man-hoes and sluts. I mean, can you imagine trying to convince your buddies at the bar that you hooked up with Aphrodite the night before? "Yeah, right," they'd snicker, "Did she yell out, 'Oh my Zeus, oh my Zeus' as things got intense?"

Ahhhh, Summer-time and the living was easy,
say my home-boys at Nickel Brook Brewing...

But the point is this: if David is happily hanging with me for a week in September, it means something far bigger. Summer is now over. Not according to the calendar, of course, but for all we know the Gregorian Calendar was created by drunk Greek gods on Ho Leave from Olympus. To us mortals, school's back, summer's over, it's done like dinner, that's all she wrote. But that being said, it does not mean this Summer of 2014 has been forgotten. In fact...

This was the Summer that... I finally learned the IBU (international bitterness units) of Alexander Keith's India Pale Ale, thanks to the menu of Fionn MacCool's in Oakville where my high school friend Liz and I enjoyed a Craft Addict Thursday at the end of July while she was in town from British Columbia. And the IBU of Keith's? Yeah, that would be 17... slightly above tap water. In fact, the much-promoted Keith Hops Series - their Cascade, Hallertauer and Galaxy Hop beers - run 25 to 30 IBUs. Don't get me wrong, they're pretty decent step-up beers for the mainstream brew swillers but you wanna knock on the door of Donny's Bar and Grill? You better be packing 60-plus IBUs. That said, I suppose I applaud the brewery for stepping outside the "safe zone." *Polite golf applause*

According the Beer Musketeer Stevil St Evil, the rules at
Donny's Bar and Grill are remarkably simple to follow....

This was the Summer that... I learned a woman's memory goes back much farther than I realized. While I was with Liz and she asked about David, I explained that my ex-wife and I had done a pretty good job of co-parenting, carrying punishments over from one domicile to another so that neither parent got the luxury of being the "fun one." Liz remembered a different time when I actually bragged about being the "fun parent" and how great that was. She admitted as a single parent herself at the time, she remembered thinking, "Shut up, asshole." That was over 15 years ago. Women forget nothing! Ever! Be warned, gentlemen, this will happen to you, too.

Is Shocktop a craft beer? Not according to one young lady,
who attended the Toronto Festival of Beer and decided
to dress down the ladies at the booth who made that claim

This was the Summer that... I  realized if a brewery is going to make a claim, they better back it up with facts. When I attended the Toronto Festival of Beers in July, I roamed from tent to tent, trying dozens of new beers. One of them, which I thought I'd hate but quite liked, was the Kensington Brewing Watermelon Wheat. But as I wandered off to another tent, a tiny young lady, who saw me taking notes, flew up and asked me what I thought. I had to admit that I liked it and it turned out, so did she. But she quickly related the story of being at the Shocktop booth. Now Shocktop is a Belgian white brewed in Canada by Labatt and in America by Anheuser Busch. But it's not identified as such, listing only Shocktop Brewing on its cans and bottles. So the young women at the Shocktop booth, likely reading off a script, made the mistake of calling it a "craft beer" to this very craft-beer-savvy young lady.

How to lure Canadians into your establishment
in the dog days of Summer: Air-conditioning!

Oooooh, rookie mistake (not that was the servers' faults - they were simply hired to pour beer, be pretty and friendly.) Tiny Craft Lover went up one side of them and down the other, explaining to them why they could never call it craft. Her retelling this story to me drew hearty guffaws on my end as she was relentless. When she was done, I had to confess, "It's actually not a bad beer. I've had more than a few." She quickly acknowledged, "Oh, me too. Don't mind it at all. But don't ever call it craft!" Well, no, not while this feisty fire-plug's in the room.

This was the Summer that... I learned at that very same Toronto Festival of Beers that big brewers and smaller craft outlets can co-exist at an event. Please understand, every single Beer Fest I've been to prior to this was geared to the smaller craft breweries. Labatt and Molson's were all over the TFOB. (In many ways, I'm still a newbie to this - a year and a couple months but learning quickly - well, quickly for me. At least more quickly than I learned the Highway Traffic Act laws... and I've been doing that for decades. Still uncertain. ) One of the bonuses of the bigger guns being at a Beer Festival with their stacks of cash? Big-ass bands play there. This year on the Friday, it was K-OS with The Planet Smashers as openers. On Saturday, the day I was there, it was heavy-hitters The Trews.

Colin MacDonald, the lead singer for The Trews,
belts one out during the band's acoustic set. So
if you drink outstanding craft beer all afternoon
long and then see these guys? Top of the world!

On the Sunday, it was the Matthew Good Band with Wide Mouth Mason opening. Gotta say, not too shabby at all. Not complaining about the bands I'd seen at previous Craft Beer Fests - some of whom were quite good - but by comparison, they were kinda Bob And Three Drunk Guys Who Practised In Bob's Dad's Garage. While Bob's Mom brought them snacks - usually sandwiches with the crusts cut off... and some juice boxes, the preferred drink of real rockers everywhere!

This was the Summer that... I found a few really good new beers - the outstanding Mill Steet 100th Meridian Organic Lager, newbies out of Oshawa Underdog Brewing's All or Nothing Hopfenwiesse wheat beer and, apparently, been around for a while but hiding their light under a bushel-basket, Hanover's MacLean's Ales and their outstanding Pale Ale. But I'm not done talking about MacLean's or Underdog. Still, you know something? I'm running out of room... but not Summer 2014 stories. In a day or two, Lloyd and Vicky's kick-ass backyard bash, meeting my new grand-daughter, why Great Lake Breweries ruled the roost this Summer... and more fun that you can shake a stick at. (Again, if someone could explain... you shake a stick at fun because...?) But guys and dolls, that's it, that's all and I am outta here. Until next time, I remain, as always...