Liquid Arts Fest was killer!

Barrie Beer Brother Hago snapped this picture of me in front of one
of the many murals that literally got painted on the brewery's outer
walls during the Liquid Art Festival on June 15-16. I thought the
art would be a component that I wouldn't pay much attention to. I
was wrong as watching the murals being created was fascinating.

Everything went right. That is probably the easiest (and laziest) way to describe Collective Arts Brewing's Liquid Art Festival this past weekend on June 15-16.

The weather cooperated, especially at the Saturday afternoon session that Barrie Beer Brother Hago and myself attended. And believe me, I have been at many Beer Fests that weren't so fortunate. Nothing but blue sky and sunshine for us that day.

The collection of breweries from around the world was phenomenal. I tried beers from all over America and Europe, some of which I'll get to eventually in this space.

The two bands we saw on Saturday afternoon, Toronto's Twist and Philadelphia's Mt. Joy were talented, lively and professional, particularly the latter.

And the art - the part of the event I honestly didn't think I'd pay much attention to - man, it was absolutely captivating me. Watching countless artists, all using spray-paint, turn various gray, boring, humongous walls into eye-popping art. No lie, I just kept pausing just to watch. These guys were up on these huge industrial cranes... it was too cool.

I'll be honest here. Going in, I figured, hey man, 51 breweries from around the world, including Japan and Iceland, in one setting, that's the big draw for me. Who gives a damn about music and art? Turns out in the end, I did, very much to my surprise.

I nicked this picture off Collective Arts' Facebook page. That's me and
Hago on the left waving. If you can't see us, please have your eyes exam
sooner rather than later. Actually, what you can see on the left is some of
the murals painted on walls as over 2,500 square feet of boring grey were
turned into something far more colourful over the three-session, two-day
Beer Festival that emphasized art and music as much as it did brewers!

Talk about a perfectly-executed triple play - beer to music to art - that ended up nailing the perfect troika.

Again, to play off my opening line, I knew it was gonna be good but I don't think either Hago or I were anticipating it was going to be this damn good. 

But before I wade in too deep, a quick word about my buddy, Hago. As you may know, I take a lot of trips to Las Vegas, the last five times solo. I will happily talk to anyone and everyone while there. And I do. I'm not shy in the least. But next to Hago, I honestly look like a frikkin' introvert. Put this man into any social setting and he's off and running. He works a crowd better than Oprah.

Okay, why am I telling you the Story Of John The Security Guard?
For this reason. He see that Joker tattoo on his arm? (He has Groot
and Rocket Raccoon on the other.) Well, John was at a Comic Con a
few years back and one of the guests was Mark Hamill, better known
as both Luke Skywalker and the voice of The Joker on the Batman
cartoon show. Hamill sees his tat and pulls him aside for a photo and
an autograph. For free. It cost other people at the Comic Con $1,000
for the same thing. John told us it was the coolest thing ever for him.

Surround him with craft beer lovers? Talk about a man among his people. He was having a field day at this.

Not that I was sitting on my thumbs, mind you, because, well, who actually does that? Sounds like a good way to break them, frankly.

I got a chance to introduce Hago to Joe and Lindsey Mrav, the husband and wife team that opened up Grain & Grit Small Batch Beer in an old auto garage on Ewan Road in East Hamilton late last year. Numerous trips there, including ones with Beer Bro Glenn and my son, David, have made me fairly easy-to-spot for the amiable couple. (David got to regale Joe with a story about how cool the movie, Black Panther, was. That was Joe's mistake because he asked David what he had done that day. That's all it takes. But bless him, Joe smiled and took it all in.) My first question to them was basically who's at the brewery since I've only ever seen Joe, Lindsey and one other person working there. Like, every single time. They assured me they had covered it off. Well... okay, then.

They, in turn, got to talk to us about one of the two beers they brought - Max's Big Ride, a 5.5%, 57 IBU Milkshake IPA with peach and vanilla. Turns out Max's Big Ride is a charity-event in the name of a seven-year-old local youngster named Max who has a rare genetic disorder called Duchenne muscular dystrophy that halts any muscle growth. So for the past two years, his parents have organized three events to help fund-raise for a cure.

Lindsey and Joe Mrav, owners of Hamilton's Grain & Grit
Small Batch Beer, explained to Hago and myself how Max's
Big Ride Milkshake IPA came about and how some of the
proceeds go directly to a specific charity. Just a great job!

So Lindsey and Joe got involved this year, creating the beer that contained Max's two favourite milkshake ingredients - peach and vanilla. When they released it on June 10, all of proceeds from the tap sales that day went to the charity. Since then, 50 cents a can goes to the same thing. People like these two are why Hamilton has become such a cool place to visit and for some of my friends, live.

But we also met some familiar Twitter friends while there. While Hago and I were basking in the beer-filled atmosphere, Jen Heaslip (@crftbeernkittns) and well-known Toronto beer writer Mike Burton (@beermostly) spotted us and came over to say hey. Like us, both were having a fantastic day in the sun. Mike confessed the only complaint he had was the people who complained online about the Friday night session. It seems everyone and their mothers' basement where they live knows how they would have done it better. News Flash: No, you wouldn't, not even close so go troll your local Dairy Queen or something. It's funny because on Sunday, I posted on Twitter about how great everything was at the Liquid Art Festival with a picture of the event glass.

When a pretty lady from Toronto radio station, Indie88, offered up free
high fives, Hago was onboard! Hell, so was I. The Price Was Right, eh?

Instantly, some guy I don't follow and who doesn't follow me jumped on to say it could have been done better. I guess he saw it because I hash-tagged the event.

But the fact is I know what Collective Arts spent on this event and while I won't say how much, it's a fargin' huge chunk of cash. I could retire easily on it. They won't make money. In fact, they'll lose it. A shit-ton. But to them, what the brewery is trying to build here is important. Think about it. Bringing in breweries from around the world costs a little more than pocket change. So - what's the diplomatic way to say this? - take your complaints and shove them up your ass. Because 99.99% of us had a blast.  Keep your chirps among the 0.01% of you. (Sorry, that's a downer. But I'm weary of online keyboard warriors griping about everything good. I'll stop now.)

Brewer Paulie from Thin Man Brewing in Buffalo
offers me up their Burning Money IPA, a dandy 6.6%
New England style with a big citrus and melon aroma.

And it was great to meet Jen who I tag in a lot of beer photos because I dig her enthusiasm. Hell, I've used her pictures in this. She was wearing her Society of Beer Drinking Ladies ball-cap so I had to ask her how those Beer Fest events they hold were because man, they look like a blast. They were exactly that, she told me. She said while she sometimes doesn't get along with other women in social settings, the comradery at the SOBDL events was completely the opposite. "I can walk in there without knowing a single person and walk out with 25 new friends," she smiled. Very cool.

But it was Mike who did me a huge solid when he steered me towards the Twin Sails Brewing booth out of Port Moody, BC, suggesting I would love their Diamonds Are For Never Honey Oat Double IPA, assuring me, "You'll really like it. And the brewer is there and happy to talk." (My one complaint? That I forgot to get a picture of Jen and Mike when they were standing right there in front of me!!! Bloody rookie move.) Diamonds ended up being one of my favourites of the day. Mike seems to know the styles I favour the most. (So IPAs... following by other IPAs.)

What are the odds of TWO guys wearing Flying Monkeys' "What
Would Jesus Brew?" T-shirts being at the same session at a Hamilton
Beer Fest,  miles away from Barrie, be? I don't know but I wish I had
bet big on it because here's Hago and Sergei both wearing that shirt.

Okay, by the end of the three-and-a-half hour session, I had enjoyed nine beers from around the world and I gotta be frank, every single one was solid. I've already told you about Max's Big Ride and Diamonds (again, great call, Mike) so let's see what else was on the play-list?

There was Magic Rock Brewing's (Huddersfield, UK) Damn Son!, a 6.5% Sour Damson IPA (tasty pucker-face), Two Roads Brewing's 8.2% (Stratford, Connecticut) Two Juicy New England IPA (juicy was bang on the money), Brewski Brewing's (Heisenberg, Sweden) 6% Dolph Double Dry-Hopped IPA (Sweden's onboard with the hops and doing it right), Left Field Brewing (Toronto - local so try this one - a Hago recommendation and he totally called it) 6% Whip Smoothie IPA with passionfruit, orange and guava, Thin Man Brewing's (Buffalo) Burning Money NEIPA (mentioned above).

Again, another picture I plunked directly from the
Facebook account of Collective Arts. What can I
say? I liked it. For starters, I now want to try the
beer that's in that glass because I like the colour.

Okay, two more to go but anyone sensing a pattern here as to beer style? Like I said, Mike nailed it. And finally, Civil Society Brewing (Jupiter, Florida) 7.5% Weapon of Choice IPA (tons of tropical fruit but the best malt backbone of the day) and lastly 18th Street Brewing's (Hammond, Indiana) and their 8.9% Overlords Revenge Double IPA (citrus but despite its ABV, one of the smoother beers there.)

On a final note, when I was watching Philly's Mt. Joy play in the bandshell, I noticed something. While the four guys were doing their kick-ass rock dudes thing, the serene keyboardist and back-up singer Jackie Miclau was gazing out at the happy crowd while she played. Flashing smiles or nodding to whomever she locked eyes with. Like us, she was soaking in the off-stage vibe (as I'm sure the guys were in their own way) but I think she may have been connecting to what the rest of us were, as well. An environment beyond music. An environment that had three prongs just like Aquaman's sick-ass spectre - great music plus really top-flight craft beer aided and abetted by a healthy dollop of wild free-form art. So Collective Arts, you know what you can do better next year? Nothing. Just match this year's Liquid Art Festival because this guy's got plenty more time for that. Hago, my brother, next year, the weekend pass. There was over 120 beers there... and I had nine. I need more! Okay, Scooby Doo Gang, that's it, that's all and I am outta here! Until next time, I remain...

Liquid Arts Fest is bringing it!!

I'm not sure we'll ever see a collective (pun intended) of
outstanding international craft breweries as we will this
weekend at Collective Arts' Liquid Arts Festival on June
15 and 16. Well, that is, until they do it again next year.

Okay, if Collective Arts Brewing from Hamilton held a Beer Festival at their Burlington Street location featuring just themselves with a handful of great bands and artists working on walls and murals everywhere, it would be pretty cool. Definitely colourful, right?

But hey, on second thought, maybe they should amp it up a little and include the other Hamilton freshman and sophomore craft breweries, such as Grain & Grit Small Batch Beer, Fairweather Brewing, Merit Brewing and Clifford Brewing. That would be five great breweries and a beer fest with a truly Hamilton-centric theme, which would kick some serious ass.

But when Collective Arts decided to throw the Liquid Arts Festival this Friday night and then two more sessions on Saturday, they had a real "Holy shit, hold my beer! Here's an even better idea!" moment.

From their Facebook page, here's the band best known to
me, Jane's Party - probably because they've been around
since 2006. They and Charly Bliss are playing the Friday
night session (6-9:30pm) while Mt. Joy and Twist will hit
the stage for the Saturday afternoon slot (12:30-4pm) and
The Beaches and Lost Cousins will close it out on the final
Saturday night show (6-9:30 pm.) Burlington Street will
be getting a very fun musical atmosphere this weekend.

How about six bands, a healthy handful of artists (because art has always been entrenched in the brewery's Modus operandi since Day One) and 50 more breweries on top of themselves for the two days? Yes, fifty... 5-0. Not just from the GTA. Not just from Ontario. Hell, not even nation-wide. Try world-wide!!!

The best news? You won't have to wait long. It's all happening starting this Friday night (6-9:30 pm) with two more sessions on Saturday from 12:30 to 4 pm and again at 6 to 9:30 pm. Tickets are $60 for each session unless you want the $100 VIP Mothership package, which give you a seven-ounce glass as opposed to five-ounce. Oh and for the poor folks stuck pulling designated driver duty, there's a no-alcohol ticket for $30 because hey, great art, great tunes, great times! I'll include the link at the end.

Ready for the list of visiting breweries? Get in your comfy chair because this is gonna take a while. Omnipollo (Sweden), Mikkeller (Denmark), Les Trois Mousquetaires (Quebec), People Like Us (Denmark)... whoa, Bellwoods (Toronto)?

One of the places you will not see me this weekend is at
the three Beer Yoga sessions. I love beer and it's nothing
personal about yoga but my body no longer bends that
way. They'd be carrying me out on a stretcher. And no
one likes to see an ambulance at a beer fest. Not pretty.

I'm whoaing on that because Bellwoods does not do beer fests except their own. Like ever. Okay, continuing on... Aslin (Virginia), Moon Dog (Australia), Brewski (Sweden), Finback (New York), Dieu Du Ciel! (Quebec), Dageraad (Burnaby, BC), Civil Society (Florida), Voodoo (Pennsylvania), Dugges (Sweden), Garage Beer (Spain), Lamplighter (Massachusetts), Cruz Blanca (Chicago), Dunham (Quebec), Twin Sails (Port Moody, BC), Weird Beard (UK), B Nektar (Michigan), Revel Cider (Guelph), Other Half (New York), Half Hours on Earth (Seaforth, Ontario), West Ave Cider (Freelton, Ontario), Great Lakes (Etobicoke - so ours, not Cleveland's), Pohjala (Estonia), Marz Community (Illinois), Wild Beer (UK), Evil Twin (Denmark), To Ol (Denmark), Magic Rock (UK), Transient (Michigan), Stillwater (New York) 18th Street (Indiana), Two Roads (Connecticut), Dry & Bitter (Denmark), Thin Man (Buffalo), Founders (Michigan - colour me happy - one of my all-time American favourites!) Sorry, got sidetracked there!

Collective Arts Communications Manager
Toni Shelton gave us insights as to how this
Beer Fest was all pulled together, as well as
answer a query that has stumped apiarists
(those who study bees) for decades now...

Okay, moving along... Barrier (New York), Sloop (New York), Graft Cider (New York), Threes (New York), Coedo (Japan), Four Winds (Delta, BC), Kex (Iceland) and finally, hey those four other Hamilton brewers we talked about way back in paragraph two!

No beer festival like this... of this magnitude... with all these international breweries has ever been pulled off or pulled together before, at least not in Ontario and probably not Canada. So how did Collective Arts do it? Well for that, we had to chat with Toni Shelton, the brewery's Communications Manager. So, Toni, what's it's been like throwing something this humongous together?

"From the day we pressed 'go' on the fest, it's been full throttle ahead. I'd like to tell you we had it all figured out the second we announced but it's been a six month process. We've been lucky enough to be invited to beer festivals around the world so we've made some amazing brewer friends that are jumping onboard even though it's our first festival." 

How about those bands and artists? The artists alone are taking over 2,500 square feet as a urban art gallery that will stay put after the beer fest is done.

During the last weekend in May, the Canadian Brewing
Awards touched down in Halifax and Collective Arts won a
big one - Best Imperial IPA for Radio the Mothership! It
won "Gold, Jerry, gold!" The awards keep piling on...

"On the music front, we knew we wanted to curate the best in up-and-coming artists and the connections we've made through our 'Call for Art Program' helped there. The response has been amazing so far so without the support from all these people, this ambitious goal would be a pipe dream." 

While there are still tickets left for all three sessions (but hurry if you want Friday), Toni said response was immediate. "The day we launched ticket sales, the response was overwhelming! We sold almost 500 tickets in one day. As the music line-up and breweries were announced, the buzz has just been an uphill climb in a good way."

But because we were talking on Twitter DM, I had to be sure this was actually her and not some pre-programmed cyberbot. So I threw in a skill-testing question, which was, "According to every Law of Aerodynamics, the wings of a bubblebee should not able to support the weight of its body. So how does it fly?" Toni answered quickly, "They're aliens, obviously." Holy shit, she got it on her first try! Okay, here's the link to Liquid Arts Festival, entitled: This Gonna Be Cray Cray... Plus here's an interesting one the fest put out for us hopheads called: Ten IPAs You Gotta Try At Liquid Arts Fest!!! But Scooby Doo Gang, that's it, that's all and I am outta here. Until next time, I remain...