Nickel Brook's new Tap Room? So good...

If you ever see these four gentlemen in one place again, call the cops. I
mean, a larger selection of No-Good-Niks you will never find. Actually,
we all just got together to check out Nickel Brook's new Tap Room and
geezuz, it's pretty sweet. From left, you have Bill from @craftbeersblog,
a random homeless dude, Dan from @craftbeersblog and, of course, my
man, Steve from @SOBeerBoys. Hell, we had a great afternoon there...

It started, as so many things do, with a simple Twitter post.

I posted a picture of a Nickel Brook's Wicked Awesome IPA with a simple mention that I needed to get in the proper frame of mind to visit the brewery's brand spankin' new Tap Room the next day - two Sunday ago. So November... *looks at present date on laptop*... I dunno, 13 days ago.

Suddenly, a couple of Twitter buddies joined the conversation. Dan from @craftbeersblog wondered when I'd be there. He hadn't seen the new Tap Room so he was curious himself.

Next on deck was Steve from @SOBeerBoys, who was dropping his daughter off at a 1 pm sports (gymnastics, I think) practice near Mapleview Mall, five minutes away, who wondered if we'd still be there.

"Good afternoon, fellows. I'll be your entertainment
today." Nickel Brook owner John Romano came to
our table and regaled us with stories for at least an
hour. This is why we love our craft breweries. There
is always a personal touch. He's also a beer server!

Now before I tell you about our afternoon, let me bring you up to speed on the two separate blogs-social media accounts run by these gents. Craft Beers Blog is actually a group of seven or eight women and men, each of whom write beer blogs with an eye to their specialty. "So we have that person who loves sours, another who loves the dark beers and so on," Dan explained to me. So a multi-tiered, multi-viewpoint approach. Very democratic and pretty creative.

And then there's the Southern Ontario Beer Boys, a group of four very charitable fellows. You see, they run the Kans 4 Kids program, which collects beer cans from anyone wishing to donate and then channel all the proceeds directly to McMaster Children's Hospital. So they have taken a love of craft beer (or any beer - hell, Bud cans are also worth 10 cents) and turned it into something noble, which we all love to see. You can connect with them on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Great guys, great cause.

Okay, let me continue to write this blog, which offers just one opinion and contributes absolutely nothing to society whatsoever. We all agreed to meet up at Nickel Brook to check out their new digs.

Because he had eaten lunch (I hadn't), Dan was able to
enjoy this year's 11-05, the annual collaboration between
Nickel Brook's Ryan Morrow and Sawdust City's Sam
Corbeil, both of whom were born November 5th. This
year's version is a cherry-laced Belgian Quad that clocks
in at 11.05% ABV. Which is why I couldn't drink any...

Holy crap, what a change! I guess I haven't been there since Barrie Beer Bro Hago and I popped in during the Summer. For many years, they were my hometown homeys, right around the corner from me, until family matters intervened and I had to move back to Oakville last September.

But the east end of the Nickel Brook brewery not too long ago was a wine-making facility. Apparently, that has since shifted down Fairview Avenue to a strip-plaza, opening up a fair bit of space for this new Tap Room. And man, it's gorgeous! The shape is like two L's connected, one upside-down, with the top and bottom facing different directions. It zigs, goes long... and then it zags. (That is probably the shittiest room description I've ever given but in fairness, I've never had to describe many rooms. Most are square or rectangular.)

After happily greeting my favourite Tap Room Manager, Rob Nagy, Dan quickly introduced himself and the pair of us got down to the business of beer. The first question of the day? How much did we think this facelift cost? I threw out $300,000 as my guess and Dan said that sounded about right to him. We would soon find out that we weren't far off.

Okay, Nickel Brook posted this a week before the Grand
Opening. You have to kind of use your mind's eye for this
but unseen to the left is the bar with over 20 taps and a
seated space that juts to the west. At the top right of this
is another section that goes due east. (We are facing north
here.) You know what? It's easier to come and just enjoy.

You see, not long afterwards, a voice boomed behind me. "Oh no, you let him in? And on a Sunday?" It was John Romano, who co-owns Nickel Brook with his brother, Peter. And yes, the comment was completely aimed at me.

You see, John and I met in October 2013 when I landed in the brewery for the first time and John himself was behind the counter, filling growlers. After getting directions, I had come in for, of course, Headstock IPA (still in the six-pack bottle back then) but also Bolshevik Bastard Imperial Stout, which I had heard about but never tried. John sold me my first-ever growlers. (The empty jugs cost just $5 at the time.) He said words to the effect of, "The kegs I'm filling these growlers from come from the room right there. There is no fresher beer." Because I was still pretty new to the blog game, he explained the importance of getting beer, especially IPAs, as fresh as possible, the difference in taste... pretty much everything.

Finding out I worked at the Beer Store (perhaps a perceived "enemy" at that time), he smiled, arched an eyebrow and asked why I was there? I shrugged and mumbled, "I just think it's important to shop locally." Based on his reaction, 10 points for Gryffindor.

John himself got this board together for Dan and myself. It's billed as a
"curated menu of local cheese, charcuterie and bar snacks." Folks, it's
bread, cheese, meat, mustard and pickled veggies. As we say in English.

So I walked out of there with a new friend and very important contact. But it also meant lot of jocular teasing to come.

I'd walk in with my growlers. If John was with someone, he'd point me out and taunt, "You see that guy? He works at the Beer Store but comes here for his beer!"

Granted, I gave as good as I got. One summer, John's son, Nick, an university student, was working the growler station. So one day, I strolled in with my growlers, saw John 20 feet away with a client and basically yelled, "Hi, Nick! Once again, I'm here to pay your f**king university tuition!"

Another of Dan's great interior shots of the new look
Nickel Brook Tap Room. I told him that I would be
stealing these pics. He didn't seem all that concerned.
But the new Tap Room - 20 different taps plus retail!

(Got some looks - totally worth it. I could see John doing the laughter shake from behind. Nick had a small smile but you could totally see the "What's this dude's damage?" in his eyes.)

So anyway, back to the main story. After a while, Dan and I noticed a light drilling sound at the far end where John was set up. It almost sounded like a dremel, that little hand-held spinny, grindy tool you use to round corners on wood and steel. So I had to investigate. It was John with the world's smallest meat slicer, getting food trays ready.

Of course, I simply asked, flat-out... the new look? $300,000 or so? He smiled and said yeah, pretty much. Turns out a contractor had quoted him exactly that amount! (Damn, Dan and I are good!) But included in that was some bizarre consultation-supervision fee of $27,000, which, I guess meant the contractor paid himself first before the workers. (I don't really know.)

In the end, John figured out that a handful of brewery workers and personal friends could do it for much cheaper. So that's what they did. And lemme tell you this for free. For my money, it looks like professionals did the work.

John Romano working the smallest meat cutter in the
history of things that cut meat. He told me it was the
one he used at home and that he might had to get a
bigger one if they were cranking out meat and cheese
trays in the Tap Room. That would be a wise investment

"I knew how to do the (really nice wood) flooring and I knew how to do the wall tiling," he told me. (You can see the tile behind him in the pic of him at the meat-slicer.) In the end, the total bill after a few weeks of labour - $150,000 all in. Half price. The ultimate craft brewery DIY project. And it looks awesome.

But a quick side-story before I get back to the Boys Afternoon At The Tap Room. While my man, Charles, is still my Beer Store's inside Nickel Brook sales rep, meaning he calls us and sees what we need every weekend, we also have an outside travelling sales rep, who goes to all the customers - Beer Stores, LCBOs, bars, everywhere - to make sure things are running smoothly. Our present rep, whose name eludes me (I met her only once over a year ago), is off on maternity leave. Filling her shoes is the Golden Horseshoe rep, Meghan Bell. She popped into my store so instantly, we started talking about the Tap Room. Meghan casually mentioned that John brought in a special friend to assist. "He had this buddy who's really good at this stuff come down from somewhere way up north to help him and everyone else." (Thank you, Meghan. You da best.) Busted, Johnny. You brought in a Renovation Ringer! 

About a week before they opened but I want to draw your attention to
lights, which have been stylized to look like the Nickel Brook "atom"
logo. You see those rings on each? They've been collected from the many
bourbon-wine barrels that have come through the brewery. Brilliant!

(Actually, it's gonna be hard to chirp him on that. If you can get your own personal Mike Holmes in, you do it.)

Getting back to the story at hand, when I returned to Dan at the bar, he had been joined by Bill, also from Craft Beers Blog and before long, Steve from Southern Ontario Beer Boys caught up. One of us finally noted, hey, let's take a table over there, which we did. In the end, we were sitting right in front of John and his meat-slicing adventures.

So within minutes, John had come to greet our table. None of the other three had met him before. They were in for a treat. Now, despite the fact I warned him that we were a table of beer bloggers, John did what he always does - hit the "on" button while ignoring the "edit" button. And man, did we learn a thing of two.

Well, I'm not gonna stop into Nickel Brook and walk out empty-handed,
am I?  No. So I grabbed four-packs of Wicked Awesome IPA, Headstock
IPA, Lost In Orbit Session IPA and Immodest Imperial IPA, as well as a
hella sexy new IPA glass. Young Charles has been urging me to do so...

It seems the Romano's are sitting on a pretty sweet parcel of land. You see, they are just to the west of the Burlington GO Station. And what developers are trying to do is snatch up all the land around GO Stations to build high-rise condos. Condos within easy walking distance to the GO Train. Young couples will snap those up quickly, I suspect. So we found out from John what the lands adjacent to him went for. The brothers, who own the property, are figuratively sitting on a gold mine when it's time to pack up and move operations into their future St. Catharine's brewery.

As for the big move, no exact timeline yet but within the next year or two.

Their Cheeky Bastard Stout has been their big
Movember fund-raiser with 25 cents from each
can sold being pledged to the men's health
movement. I heard they were sitting at about
$1,000 so far so that's 4,000 cans sold this month.

We also inadvertently found out who's been contract-brewing their core line of beers while they sort out the new brewery issues. As you know, Collective Arts was doing it but that deal fell apart. And since the Drury Lane brewery is jammed, cranking out Funk Lab recipes, someone had to brew the core line-up - Headstock, Naughty Neighbour, Equilibrium ESB, Wicked Awesome, etc. So when John mentioned the core line-up being brewed elsewhere, Bill simply asked him by whom. And he told us.

Well, here's the thing. That's been the brewery's best-guarded secret for months. Even with all my contacts there, no one was budging on the name. As soon as John named them, I was like, "Uhhh, I'm pretty sure we're not supposed to know that." So John instantly swore us to secrecy. But, trust me, Nickel Brook's core line-up could not be in better hands.

In the end, John probably talked to us for about an hour. I can't even remember all the subjects now, other than to say it was all very informative and entertaining. And through that hour, John's phone kept buzzing. It was his parents as he had promised to be there by X o'clock. He is literally in the same boat as me - taking care of an elderly parent. Well, two, in his case. You do what you gotta do, eh?

Nickel Brook retail manager Rob Nagy mans the
drums with his band, The Saturnines, during the
Nickel Brook 2017 Oktoberfest fund-raiser. So
I'll see him tonight at the big Movember Party!

But before he left, we were talking about the potential condo development since it's already started on the east side of the GO Station so, it's only a matter of time. He pointed out that all these new condos around the GO stations have retail outlets on the first floors, mostly so condo owners could do a quick shop or grab a quick bite when they got home. So it's usually places such as Rabba's Fine Foods, Pizza Pizza, Subway and the like.

He wants to be part of that. He wants a Nickel Brook bar or retail outlet in there. Why? To thank the Burlington community for their years of support and more importantly, keep the brewery's connection to the area alive. "I think that'd be great," he told us. "A satellite place to wherever (we land). But still here in Burlington."

Granted, this is all crystal ball star-gazing at this point. Because they're still here!! And frankly, I have bigger fish to fry at the moment.

You see, Nickel Brook is holding their Great Movember Wrap-Up Party tonight from 6 to 9 pm at the new Tap Room. I made sure I had a day shift just to maximize my Nickel Brook Hairy Face Time! (So, you know... attend.)

You know who loves himself some Nickel Brook? Yupper do,
our man Drunk Polkaroo, shown here exploring last year's
Nickel Brook Mystery Pack. Like me, Polk voted for C, the
New England IPA, which became Wicked Awesome IPA
early this year. Frankly, it was the only choice and won with
ease. Although others got votes, as well. That disturbs me...

There'll be a Best Mov contest, a big Mov Shave-Off, before and after pics and, hey now, food by Dundas eatery Thirsty Cactus. Sounds great, right?

It would be but... well, I'm having Mov issues. You see that sweet stashe in my headshot up top? Thick, brown with distinguished flecks of gray? That was taken five years ago. And while the hair on my head is still the same colour, the stashe, well, it's all gray now. And I want it to show up in pictures, which it kinda won't.

I took my problem to my coworker, Trey, the King of Halloween Costumes, and explained I could go the Just For Men route and make it brown for the night. But I added it would be more fun if I could make it orange or blue. I could even win the contest! Trey, as always, had the answer. "Go to a dollar store. Find a make-up kit for little girls. It'll have mascara to colour your moustache. But it has to be for little girls because it's non-toxic!" Okay, one, how does he know this shit? And two, what the hell kind of toxicity is in adult women's mascara? So I'll see some of you folks tonight at the new Tap Room with my sweet blue stashe, courtesy of my Party Princess Make-Up Fun kit, which cost me $1.50. But Scooby Doo Gang, that's it, that's all and I am out of here. Trust me, pictures to follow. Until next time, I remain...

From Oshawa to Oakville... and back

My boy, David, and Eric Dornan, co-owner of All Or Nothing
Brewhouse, as well as Trafalgar Ale and Meads and Trafalgar
Distillery, strike the common All Or Nothing stance. That of
their boxer cartoon mascot, Cornelius. While the guys set up shop
in Oakville back in 2016, they will soon be headed back to Oshawa.

The first time I met brothers, Eric and Jeff Dornan, co-owners of All Or Nothing Brewhouse was the Summer of 2014 when they attended the Burlington Beer Festival down in Spencer Smith Park on the lake.

Having just created the brewery a few months prior, it was their first public outing and their first ever Beer Festival. Except for a small handful of Oshawa residents, their city of origin, I was among the first to sample what was then called Underdog Hopfenwiesse, their only beer.

Eventually, the "Underdog" had to be dropped as another Ontario brewery was using the name for their pale ale. Rather than fight the cease-and-desist, they took the fiscally-prudent approach and simply used their brewery name as the beer name. I mean, it was their only beer and coming as it does in a bright yellow can, it's not like it's going to get confused with another. But the beer itself, using three malts and four hops, has long been a favourite - a German wheat with some west coast zing.

This would be Eric and Jeff Dornan's rookie card,
their first ever Beer Festival in Burlington on a very
soggy Saturday in Spencer Smith Park back in 2014.

I met the guys again that Autumn on the Toronto Craft Brews Cruise on Lake Ontario - every time I saw these two, water was near - but then it would be two years again before our paths crossed.

That would have a 2016 happenstance meeting in the parking lot of Hopedale Mall in Oakville, the same place my Beer Store was the time. I was on a break and as I wandered across the parking lot, I spotted their All Or Nothing Austin Mini. I stopped to take a few shots with my phone and the next thing I heard was, "Don, is that you?" It was Eric calling out as the pair approached their car. It is turned out they were at a lawyer's office in the mall, signing up the paperwork to take possession of Trafalgar Ales and Meads and Trafalgar Distillery.

The brothers had their work cut out for them, taking over the Oakville establishment. For starters, they had to bring in a canning line as all of Trafalgar's product was bottled. As for the existing equipment, well, let's just say that Trafalgar Ale and Meads was established in 1993 and a healthy portion of the existing vats looked like the original parts some 23 years later.

That chance meeting with Eric and Jeff Dornan back in June 2016, just
after they left the lawyer's office and took possession of Trafalgar Ales
and Mead. Now after two years, the guys are shifting their equipment
back to Oshawa, re-opening their brewery in a discarded Beer Store.

So yeah, work was needed. Lots of work. And the pair did exactly that. Salvaged would they could and pitched the rest. A tour these days shows the fruits of their labour over the past two years. Stainless steel here, there and everywhere. And so much cleaner.

You see, I know this first-hand as my son, David, and I popped in last week to talk to Eric. Just a friendly hello? Well, yes, of course but also a fact-finding mission.

You see, early last week, the brewery announced it would be shifting its operation back to Oshawa in the old Beer Store, located at 439 Ribson Road South.

One of the things that impressed my son the most when
we popped into All Or Nothing was that all the vats had
names. When Eric pointed out the ones named after his
father and grandfather, David's eyes just lit up. He digs
family connections. Plus they're all big, silver and shiny.

So when I tagged my Oshawa friends, notably Beer Bro Glenn and Durham Carpenter of the Year Josh Beaven (it was a one-person competition and I was the sole judge) on the Facebook announcement, response was, of course, resoundingly positive.

After the emergence of four stellar breweries in nearby Whitby - Brock St, 5 Paddles, Little Beasts and Town Brewing - Glenn was thrilled Oshawa was gaining an established brewery in his town. And he was a fan of the new location.

"They closed that (Beer Store) a couple of years ago after building a fancier one in the Costco Plaza, near where I live," Glenn noted. "But every time I passed the old Beer Store, practically daily, I would think, 'There's a cool spot for a brewery.' No lie."

 Josh, on the other hand, said, "I've known about this for a while! Glad it's finally official and announced." The thing is we all kinda knew. It was the "where" and "when" that were the questions. You see, even when they left a small industrial plaza in Oshawa to come to Oakville, the brothers always made one thing perfectly clear. That their loyalty lay in Oshawa.

It doesn't look like much here but... The abandoned Beer Store at 439
Ritson Road South in Oshawa, build back in the 1950s, is actually two
floors, covering over 20,000 square feet. To the right in this picture, if it
wasn't cropped, you would see a driveway down to the lower level. This
is obviously just the front facade. But it's gonna look sweet very shortly.

When I talked to the guys during their 2016 transition into Oakville, they made it clear that their roots were in Oshawa, maintaining an administrative office there. Let's face it - with good reason. For starters, you have two brewery owners making the commute from Oshawa to Oakville, more than a few times a week. That blows chunks. That's 200 km (125 miles) round-trip through some of the worst traffic Canada has to offer.

So even as an Oakville resident myself, I'm happy the guys are making the big move back. Eric told me while the keys to the new place would be in their hands on December 1st, we all know it'll be months before the all-new All Or Nothing is up and running - setting up the vats, proper drainage, electrical work - the list goes on and on. The boys are hoping for a Spring opening. But that's a "without hiccups" scenario.

The present facade of All Or Nothing/Trafalgar on
Speers Road in Oakville. Look a good look, folks,
because it's not going to be here much longer.

In their media release, Eric was enthusiastic about the return to Oshawa, saying, "We look forward to coming back to where our company started and to help further revitalize Oshawa through job creation and large strategic capital investments in the community."

But I was, of course, curious. How much of the old Trafalgar brews would be returning to Oshawa with them? One thing the old Trafalgar Ales and Meads specialized in was... meads (as the name possibly suggests.) A big favourite of the Vikings back in the day, to be certain, but a beverage that never really caught the attention of modern-day society.

Jeff said a couple of the meads would still be created in Oshawa, simply because they do have their fans. And what of the distillery portion of the business, something created by former-Trafalgar owner Mike Arnold several years back?

Oh yes, Eric said, that was most definitely continuing in Oshawa. "A brewery you do for yourself," he told me. "A distillery you do for your grandchildren." (Meaning simply it takes years to established a proper distillery, based on the lengthy production time booze takes to become... well, booze.)

When we first met the brothers, they were adamant they were going the
Steam Whistle route and brewing just one beer - their Hopfenweiss. But
since landing in Oakville, they've added a couple to their repertoire. So
I grabbed a Persistence Czech Pilsner and an America Amber (in a
funny little 296-ml can), as well as a glass while the guys were still here.

And while I believe the brothers' purchase of Trafalgar saw a vast improvement in the quality of the core line-up, the fact is I'm an Oakville boy. So what I believe might seem suspect... that I'm perhaps a homer. If only I could find a couple of expert voices from, say, Toronto that agreed with me. Oh wait, I did.

In The Ontario Craft Beer Guide, a book co-authored by respected beerologists (Spellcheck is telling me that's not a word - leaving it anyway) Robin LeBlanc and Jordan St John looked at the Black Creek Historic Brewery on their Most Improved list.

Hey, look, cartoon mascot Cornelius gets a quote
on the wall at the entrance of the grain silo area.
Also it turns out he has a last name, Das Weisse.
Hold on! That's German for "the white" meaning,
of course, a wheat beer. These guys are so sneaky,

After first looking at the Black Creek brewery, the pair shifts their attention Oakville's way.

"Outside the village, however, the beers are brewed through a partnership with Trafalgar Ales and Meads in Oakville, where the modern equipment yields a more consistent product that can be regularly produced for bars and the LCBO."

But here's the part where the Dornan brothers make an entrance. "With All Or Nothing's purchase of Trafalgar in June of 2016... the beers brewed in Oakville have since undergone a dramatic improvement in quality and consistency as equipment has been updated and methods made more refined. This is excellent news for drinkers of Black Creek Historic Brewery who, for whatever reasons, can't visit the historic brewery and have grown fond of such beers as the Rifleman's Ration, the Pumpkin Ale and their famous Porter."

There you go. If you don't want to take it from me, take it from a couple of pros. We'll keep you updated on their progress as All Or Nothing makes its shift back to Oshawa. But Scooby Doo Gang, that's it, that's all and I am outta here! Back soon with a Nickel Brook update on their new Tap Room. But until then, later, skaters...

A close call on that New England Octopus

This Thursday, October 8 photo was posted on Twitter by Steve, one of
Southern Ontario Beer Boys (@SOBeerBoys). It was the day that Great
Lake Brewing in Etobicoke released this year's batch of Thrust! An IPA.
The beer had just been kegged that morning so yeah, Steve, was singing
its praises. Understandably so. But there was an ominous mention at the
end about a "mystery release" the next day and I was tagged on it. Hmm

I get tagged on a lot of Twitter posts when it comes to Ontario craft beer and breweries, just as I tag a great many others. It's all part of the social media game. If you learn about something great or even something not so great happening, you share that info with your friends.

So when Steve of Southern Ontario Beer Boys (@SOBeerBoys) tagged me on an October 8th post, I naturally took a look. It was a picture of Thrust! An IPA, which had just been released by Etobicoke's Great Lakes Brewing.

That, in and of itself, is solid intel to a guy like me. The beer comes out once a year, I love it and I don't wanna miss it. So honestly, I thought, "Good on ya, buddy. Thanks for the heads-up! Much appreciated."

I was going to wait until Sunday to visit Great Lakes Brewing with this
young fellow named David. But I was warned by Steve that their new
release, New England Style Octopus Wants to Fight IPA would not make
it to Sunday, despite its Friday release. He was right. Gone by Saturday!

You see, Steve and I, as well as Charles, my inside sales rep from Nickel Brook Brewing, all share a kinship. We're all dangerously addicted to the Oak Park LCBO at Dundas and Trafalgar in Oakville. Both Charles and I live five minutes away. Steve passes it every night on his way home from work. And why is that so dangerous, you may wonder? Well, here's the thing. The man in the store in charge of ordering beer goes by the name of Josh. Because that's his name. So he says. He could be in the Witness Relocation Program. We don't know. But Josh brings in some of the best Ontario craft beer into that store. Last week, I walked in to buy my Mom a bottle of wine for a lunch she was going to.

This photo of Hollywood director-producer-actor Kevin Smith
was posted on Twitter by Toronto arcade/bar Tilt Toronto in
early November when Smith was in the city. Sandwiched in
between the taps for Canuck Pale Ale and Octopus Wants To
Fight IPA is Great Lakes Brewing's Tilt Brau Blonde Lager. 

I walked out $65 lighter from the briefest of pit-stops in their craft beer section. Dammit, Josh, you're making a shambles of our bank accounts! (Also, God bless you. You spoil us. Keep doing that.)

Okay, back to Steve's Twitter post. As well as digging the Thrust because it was "Fresh AF!", he added, "Loved this beer and chatting with Cole behind the taps. Psst... he shared a secret about a mystery release tomorrow. You are going to want this! No, really! Especially you @BeerStoreDude. #wow."

So anyway, on Twitter, I'm Beer Store Dude and of course, I wanna know what the mystery beer is. Steve knows my tastes run from hoppy to hoppier all the way up to hoppiest. Turn that Hop Dial up to 11. I'm a simple man. Ridiculously simple, in fact. Moronic, some might say. So, anyway, I ask, any hints?

Well, this is where GLB jumps onto the thread. And by GLB, I mean Troy Burtch, their manager of communications and marketing. So he's their Twitter guy, too.

THIS was the super-secret big deal. GLB
made a batch of their Octopus Wants To
Fight IPA with Vermont yeast, rather than
California yeast, giving it an east coast spin.

Now, Troy, though speaking only for GLB, was an outstanding spokesperson for the entire Ontario craft beer industry on TV during that whole Doug Ford buck-a-beer fiasco. Seriously, he killed it, pointing out how inane it was, though in far more diplomatic words. I would have been all "Does this guy have a metal plate in his head?"

So Troy (as GLB) jumped on the thread and says, "Thrust! An IPA." So his hint was the beer I was looking at in Steve's picture. Helluva hint there, big guy.

I try again, saying, yes, I know Thrust is out. I can see that. About that mystery beer, though? His answer: "Frust! An IPA." Okay, at this point I'm thinking Troy's now just making up words, probably the end result of too many Canuck Pale Ales. (He actually wasn't - we'll get to that in a minute. Although the "too many Canucks" guess is as likely as not.)

The mystery beer is still unknown so I decide to go to sleep. I'll find out in the morning like everyone else. And I did. When I woke up, I clicked on GLB's Twitter and there it was - the mystery release. New England Style Octopus Wants To Fight IPA. Three words. Ho. Lee. Shit. The Etobicoke brewery canned up 2,400 of them (100 cases) for a limited special release. It's the basic Octopus, one of Ontario's most popular IPAs, with Vermont yeast, rather than the California yeast.

Okay, I was under the impression when I landed first in line on Saturday
morning that there were only 10 trays of this left. So I just bought 12 and
frankly, I felt guilty about that. I thought, "I'm wiping out 5% of their
remaining stock!!" Then I saw guys grabbing trays of it behind me and
realized I was being far too "polite Canadian" about it. Happy to get it!

Of course, I don't have to tell Ontario craft beer lovers this was a must-have beer. So I messaged Steve and said I would grab him a couple as I knew he couldn't make it back to the brewery last weekend.

Well, when GLB opened Friday morning, the crafties descended like locusts. Still, I thought, hey, I'm picking up my son, David, after work Saturday and we love a good father-son brewery trip. We'll go Sunday and grab some. By Friday night, Steve alerted me to some urgency on the matter.

Based on what he read on Instagram and Twitter, the New England Style Octopus Wants To Fight IPA was damn near cleaned out by Friday close. He figured from what he had seen that maybe 10 cases or so remained.

Okay, then, change of plans. I didn't work until Saturday afternoon so at 9:30 am, I took my coffee traveler and hit the QEW. GLB opened at 10 am and at 9:55 am, I was first in line. So I was good. I just grabbed a dozen, plus a few other goodies, including Troy's not-made-up-at-all Frust, An IPA and, as I said, Thrust! had just come out so, of course...

So there we go. Scored some of those New England Octos and sitting pretty, am I right?

Okay, what I thought was addled babbling by GLB communications
manager Troy Burtch was an actual thing. That would be Frust! An IPA
in the 1L howler, surrounded by fresh-AF Thrust! An IPA which was
just released on Thursday. Frust is a Thrust hybrid with passionfruit
added along the way. Different colour, different flavour but damn good!

Well, yes and no. I mean, now I have to divvy them up. I had promised Steve a pair. So down to 10. Of course, I have to give Drunk Polkaroo a couple. That's down to eight. Hmmm, I had to think of friends far enough away, that they had NO chance of getting their hands on this so I figured Dan in Sudbury, Beer Bro Glenn in Oshawa, Barrie Beer Bro Hago and hey, of course, Nepean Beer Store Brother Ben.

That left me with four. I'm good with that. I don't need 12. Later, I would find out there was more than 10 trays left. Probably closer to 30. But you know what? It was still gone just past noon on Saturday. So I'm glad that Steve sent me the SOS. Better safe than sorry.

Thrust! An IPA, meet Triple-A Angus striploin steaks!
I thought this would be my last snow-free BBQ of the
 year. Today is still mild enough that another snow-free
BBQ is on the docket. Which GLB beer will be there?
Well, I'm not sure yet. We'll see when it's time to cook!

Now it's interesting because when Polk had his New England Octopus, he posted a video about it, singing its praises. But he also singled me out for getting it to him because he couldn't get there, also praising my wont to share these beers. And that's cool hearing kudos being aimed in your direction... not gonna lie. But the thing is there's a whole core of us that have been doing this for a while. As well as Polk, Beer Bro Glenn goes without saying. He has brought me tons of great Ontario beer, as well as American beers from Stone and others. Stuff from Manantler, Little Beasts and others in his neck of the woods that I would have missed. Barrie Beer Bro Hago is likewise with Redline Brewing, a big favourite of mine in Barrie and oddly enough, 5 Paddles Brewing in Whitby. I think he passes through often for the exclusive purpose of visiting them. And Nepean Beer Store Brother Ben? Holy shit, from Ben, I've received the best Ottawa craft brewers have to offer, including some mind-boggling beers from Dominion City Brewing, a brewery I now believe might be one of Canada's best.

So yeah, I'll include Polk's video at the end because he describes the New England Style Drunk Octopus Wants To Fight IPA beautifully.

I can't believe I've never had a GLB Miami Weiss White Pale Ale
before this past Summer. I mean, I've been at this for over five years
and somehow this has eluded me. But damn, what a great combo of
a great German wheat and a west coast pale ale. Please bring it back!

But when you watch it, remember, every time he says my name, he could be saying his own... or Glenn's... or Ben's... or Hago's. Sharing hard-to-find beers is what we've always done. I think it never dawned on any of us to do anything but that. Not to sound lame but why enjoy a great, hard-to-get beer by yourself when your friends could also be enjoying it, too?

Okay, before I end this, time to let you in on a little secret. Octopus Wants To Fight IPA is not the only established GLB beer that's gonna get the New England Style funky yeast treatment. I know which of their beers is next. And, folks, it's a doozy. You'll be gobsmacked! But I cannot tell you. Okay, for $2.7 million, I will tell you but you have to keep it secret. No cheques. Also don't ask Troy unless you wanna hear the word "Frust" over and over. Anyway, here's Polk's review of the New England Octo called: Sharing Is Caring. But Scooby Doo Gang, that's it, that's all and I am outta here! Share your beers and hey, later, skaters...

Flying Monkeys phases out bottles

While the sun was literally setting on this bucolic scene of
a couple of Flying Monkeys' Smashbomb Atomic IPAs on
Donny's Party Patio Porch this past Summer, it was also
figuratively setting on the use of glass six-packs by the
brewery itself. Suddenly, they just stopped appearing.

When I started this little horse-and-pony show back in June 2013, times were different. For starters, it was June 2013. It's not anymore. Science, what can I say?

But all the craft beers I loved came in six-pack bottles of the 355-ml (12 ounce) size. Nickel Brook's Headstock IPA and Naughty Neighbour APA - six pack bottles. Within a year or so - Collective Arts Rhyme & Reason Extra Pale Ale and Ransack the Universe IPA - six pack bottles. Muskoka Mad Tom IPA and Twice As Mad Imperial IPA - six pack bottles. Amsterdam Boneshaker IPA - six pack bottles. And finally, my first IPA love (and you never forget your first love) Flying Monkeys Smashbomb Atomic IPA, as well as their Hoptical Illusion Almost Pale Ale - six pack bottles. Cameron's - my hometown homeys - not only used bottles for their tasty-ass Rye Pale Ale, they used industry standard bottles, the same bottles drinkers get their Bud and Canadian in.

While we were all donning jerseys or putting hockey sticks outside our
front doors to show support for the Humboldt Broncos, this Twitter
picture shows the gang at Flying Monkeys going the extra step. On April
12, the brewery donated $1 from every 16 ounce pint sold that day to the
Humboldt Broncos and its community in Saskatchewan. That's Andrea
up front in the Michigan jersey while co-owner hubby Peter is back left.

Now Nickel Brook, Cameron's and Collective Arts have long since phased out their bottles, opting instead to package those beers in 473-ml (16 ounce) single cans.

But Flying Monkeys, Amsterdam and Muskoka have still maintained the six-pack bottle format, though all of their offerings are also in the 473-ml cans, as well. Until recently, at least.

You see, the Beer Store I was working at that time was one of those Ice Cold Express stores, where there's rollers of beer, mostly macro, up front and accessible to the public while the remainder of the beer was in the back. (As employees, we all prefer the self-serve model although in all honesty, it can be a bitch to keep fully-stocked.) One of the sets of rollers (out of three) was the craft roller and among the selections on that roller, Smashbomb Atomic IPA was a slotted resident for as long as I can remember.

The way it was on the left. The way it is on the right. Even after
Flying Monkeys phased out their bottles, we maintained their
place on the shelf as breweries buy their spots in the Beer Store.

However, once I shifted to a self-serve store, Smashbomb Atomic had a space on a proper shelf. Until, one day, I noticed we hadn't had any in stock for quite some time. More than a month, at least. And I got curious as I wasn't seeing it in nearby LCBOs, either.

Suspecting the brewery was phasing out the bottles, I presented my theory to co-workers who quickly addressed my concerns with a question of their own. "Are you planning on doing ANY work today?" Not satisfied with their answers (because, no, of course, I wasn't), I turned to customers to express my concerns. Their answers were equally unhelpful as to this mystery. "I don't know who the hell you are or why you're asking me some sort of weird Wizard of Oz question but I'm here for 24 Bud and you are in my goddamn way, asshole!"

Before long, Flying Monkeys Juicy Ass IPA landed in the store, I began to wonder if Smashbomb Atomic was being phased out all together?? I hadn't seen it anywhere. Not in Beer Stores!! Not in LCBOs!! The only thing I could do, I figured, would be to drive to Barrie, barge through the front door of the brewery and demand to know what happened to Smashbomb Atomic IPA!!!

Then I remember that Andrea Chiodo, the co-owner of the brewery with hubby Peter, was a friend and I could simply message her and ask. So now I had TWO good options.

As you can see, both Juicy Ass IPA and Smashbomb Atomic IPA do, in
fact, co-exist in harmony. Also, I will open both and then proceed to
further drink both. Why? Because I'm a goddamn trooper, that's why!!

Drive to Barrie, demanding answers!!! Or message Andrea. That was a tough decision to make but eventually, I opted for the latter as it was the more environmentally-friendly option (less fossil fuel involved) of the pair but that does not at all speak to my general laziness. (It so does.)

And as she always has, Andrea, my favourite ex-pat American, (well, I always really dug Obama so call it a draw) was quick to reply. Yes, she assured me, Smashbomb Atomic was still out there. It wasn't the beer being phased out. Simply the bottles.

"Smashbomb will be available in cans but we will no longer have 355-ml bottles. (Also), yes, Juicy Ass is our IPA du jour."

Back when Flying Monkeys decided to package Juicy Ass IPA, all of us
on Twitter were saying, "Use a donkey! Use a donkey!" In the end, they
opted for one of their funky psychedelic designs but Hamilton artist and
cartoonist David Buist jumped in to incorporate both looks into a label.

"However, we will never stop producing Smashbomb. We still love it! The bottles were not doing well. And the TBS (The Beer Store) seems to be the only channel we still had them in."

Of course, like every brewery, they will still have specialty single bottles, like, for instance, their awesome cocoa-bomb The Chocolate Manifesto Triple Chocolate Milk Stout at Christmas time.

"We will still do specialty beers in a bottle. However, the Krones labeller and the 12-bottle filler have been moved out."

Hmmmm, does that mean those Ice Cold Express Beer Stores with the wonky rollers would no longer have Flying Monkeys on the dedicated craft section. Because I mean, cans... they do not roll so well. Well, sonuvagun, the brewery thought of that, too.

This cardboard six-pack was Flying Monkeys' solution to maintaining a
up-front, in the lobby presence at Ice Cold Express Beer Stores. In the
end, they replaced the six-pack bottles of Smashbomb Atomic. Clever!

"You may notice six-packs of Juicy Ass (out there in Beer Stores)," she said. (I hadn't. My store was getting 24-pack trays of singles.) "It was something we thought we'd try for kicks."

But I guess someone at the brewery planted a little bug in the ear of Flying Monkey sales rep, Eric Uhlemann, as he tracked me down this week - even though I had moved to another Oakville store on Monday. Holding up two single cans of my beloved Smashbomb Atomic IPA, he smiled and said, "I hear you've been missing this." Thank you, Andrea, I heart you guys!

Well, Scooby Doo Gang, that's it, that all and I am outta here. Back soon with more because... just because.

Happy ending to that last story

The only costumes to come into my Beer Store on Halloween
were my co-workers, Josh Raposo and Julian Vetrone. Josh is
dressed up as Paul Crewe, the Adam Sandler character in The
Longest Yard. (Or if you're my age, Burt Reynolds.) and Julian
is, of course, Chucky, right down to the red shoes. (They were
actually pretty sweet kicks.) But Julian's girlfriend is like a
Hollywood-level make-up artist and up close, those stitches in
his face were phenomenal. Raised surface, everything. Wow!

The last one of these I wrote a few days back was a sad story. It was about a beer rep who used to come into my Beer Store. I called her Side Launch Jen and the story was about how she had suffered abuse at the hands of a male within the industry. (The reason I didn't say "alleged" there was that he was charged with assault and pleaded guilty.)

This was about four or five years ago. Now, frankly, I don't care if it was four or five days, weeks, months, years or decades ago. The ideals of what's right and wrong have not changed one iota in that time frame. Not one bit.

However, I did send her a copy of the column since she was the subject matter and also to offer additional support. She responded the same day, saying, "Geez, you made me cry reading that."

Ladies, before I continue, a quick word of advice. When you tell a man that he made you cry, try to quickly explain why. We guys know there are good tears and there are bad ones. And until we know for certain they're the good ones, we are as nervous as hell that they may be the others. And I mean, really nervous! In fact, a second word of advice, if your partner isn't nervous at all which kind of tears they are, get the hell away from him because he's a controlling sociopath.

Back to the story. So Jen and I, well, I guess you could call us business associates. She worked at Side Launch Brewing (has since moved on) and was their sales rep for my Beer Store. I reiterated how much I had enjoyed our craft beer industry talks back in the days.

The folks at Oakville's Cameron's Brewing, just down the hill from my
house, had some fun on Halloween, dressing up (or down) for the day. In
fact, the brewery had a special on. Show up in a costume and you get
eight cans of their product for just $20. Geez, my beloved 12 Mile India
Pale Lager for $2.50 a can? If I'd known, I would have cleaned them out.

And she responded that "You were surprisingly knowledgeable about the craft beer scene... (pregnant pause for comedic effect) for a Beer Store employee." Oh, bazinga! This is the Jen I remember!!!

However, the story has moved along nicely and I'll let Jen tell the rest.

"But to end all this on a happy note, I got through it. I haven't seen the guy in at least a year in person and... (my pause for drumroll effect) I've got a kick-ass husband who is just the best!"

That, my friends, is, indeed, a happy ending! Jen was (and I'm sure still is) always so sweet and friendly that even though we were just acquaintances through work, I cheered my ass off when she told me. I honest to gawd couldn't be happier for her. 

Hamilton artist-cartoonist David Buist strikes again!! This
time, he drew me as Shaggy (aka Norville Rogers - did you
know that because I certainly didn't) from the Scooby Doo
cartoons, given my penchant for signing this off to readers
as the "Scooby Doo Gang." And he has drawn my beloved
shrimp burrito in my hand and everything. David is great!

Okay, further to that last column, one of my high school buddies seemed to take exception to the fact that I said, since I am old, white and male, "I pretty much look like a spokeman for absolute dickheads." I think he took from that sentence that being old, white and male, which he is as well, automatically has racist and sexist overtones. It, of course, does not. For starters, if you've seen me or even seen a picture of me, all I actually look like is the spokesman for every cover of every 1970s soft rock album ever released. Hell, take a look to the right. Hamilton artist-cartoonist David Buist actually drew me as Shaggy from the Scooby Doo cartoons!! (Great job, by the way, dude!) He's the biggest unspoken-but-still-known stoners in cartoon history! Come on, he's always hungry?? Did you miss that?

But given the political divide in the United States and now also in Canada, I get the sense that there is a perception that issues of sexism are squarely on the right. I disagree. If you look at the successful #MeToo movement over the past year and a bit, I'll acknowledge that, yes, in politics, it's certainly seems to be mostly on the right. But let's not forget, those same rampant-abuse-to-women issues were exposed in Hollywood, which tips decidedly to the left in the political spectrum. Putting political name tags on a contentious issue is a foolhardy game at best. Women being abused don't think to ask their abusers how they voted, nor do they care. They just want safety from sexual, verbal and emotional abuse.

And, women friends, when I call #MeToo successful, I mean simply as a starting point only! You know better than I do how far there still is to go. But I guess I'm saying even decades too late, it has at least finally started.

When Karen and I were scooting over to take this picture,
she whacked me on the arm and said, "Dibs on Elvis!"
That's how I had my first-ever transgender experience as
Lady Liberty. The thing is at her height, she would have
needed a foot-stool to reach Lady Liberty so I suspect
New York New York has deliberately set this up so the
ladies get Elvis and the dudes get the statue. It's all cool.

Now when the President of the United States recently declared that "these are dangerous times for young men in America," you wanna know what I thought? Okay, at first, it was "Whatta maroon." Classic Bugs Bunny. But seriously, I thought, "Good! I hope they're scared. I hope they're very scared... right into behaving properly towards women. Because guess what? Women live scared every goddamn day."

But because Side Launch Jen gave us a happy ending early, let me try as well for the actual ending. When I was in Las Vegas last week, I was in the New York New York Hotel and Casino, just drinking a tasty beverage and chilling. Near me was a young couple on the bench seat of a slot. She looked over and saw the cut-out to the left. She said to her boyfriend, "Let's go get a picture!" To which, he glumly replied, "I don't wanna, Karen." Seriously, the dude sounded like Ross from Friends. So I stood up, walked over and said, "I'll do it, Karen, come on!" Big smile as she stands up and we go over. I handed Mopey my camera and say, "Here, take our picture!" (I wasn't asking.) Then the damnedest thing happened. After taking our picture, he was *gasp* suddenly ready to take part. So I snapped off a few on her iPhone, got a hug from her, handshake from him and off they went. 

Squatters Brewing out of Salt Lake City, Utah, was doing
its part for women during the month of October - Breast
Cancer Awareness Month - as they put out pink cans of
their tasty-ass Hop Rising Double IPA and (never got to
try it) Full Suspension Pale Ale. A nickel from every can
sold went to the cause for the month. Good folks here!

Bet she never had to ask him twice for a picture after that. No one mopes! Not in MY Las Vegas! Also, teach men respect and a sense of give-and-take when they're young.

And while my story is a silly, little story, it does prove one thing. Guys, old and young alike, you do have an influence on other guys, your friends to doing the right thing when it comes to women. If you teach young men to act properly towards women, hopefully, they will do so their entire lives. Women have just started their #MeToo movement. It wouldn't suck if we started one on our side, too, supporting them. To show we're all together on this. Abuse is hatred and hatred is wrong. Call it #WeStandUnited, call it anything. I realize beer played only a small role today... but this is bigger. I hope all those young guys at the Beer Store who think I'm really cool (yeah, I don't get that, either) read this and agree. We especially need the young players onboard. But Scooby Doo Gang, that's it, that's all and I am outta here! Thanks to David Buist, I also have a new sign-off. Later, taters!