Matty keeps us all on the... Level

This was the picture I had to beat. Curtis snapped this at
the cottage and Matty gave it a Level 104. No, that's not a
branded Lake of Bays Brewing glass. But he had found
an old cottage glass with paddles painted on it, poured his
Paddle On Session IPA into it and *bam* a Level 104 pic!

I'm not even sure I noticed the first few times Ottawa Matty did it. In the grand scheme of the vast universe known as Twitter, it could have passed by, completely unnoticed.

Still, it didn't. Eventually, we started noticing and, well, now it's become this big competitive monster thing. But in the most fun and friendly of ways. Because that's how Matty (and the rest of us) roll.

Ottawa Matty has been scoring our beer pictures. Actually, he has been for a while now. So what's the big deal?

Just this. Whereas we ALL post beer pictures ALL the time, things have been altered a little. Now we're actually thinking about our pictures. Putting some effort into them. I mean, our Ontario Craft Beer brewers put a lot of effort into their product. Now because of Matty, some of us are now putting a little more effort into how we represent that same product on social media via the use of photography.

Some people have always done this, most notably Drunk Polkaroo. I remember Lady Polk telling me once that she'd see him set up a beer for a picture and instantly belly-flop onto the ground to get just the right angle.

"I. Am. A. Golden. God!" yells Ottawa Matty... from the sanctity of
his children's pool. This was last Saturday and I saw it while I was at
work. Knowing Matty was doing a little Day Drinking, in the hot sun,
no less, I hatched my brilliant plan to nab the high score in his Photo
Scoring contest. Did it work? At the moment, you are reading the
words of the Highest Score Holder. That can all change... in a flash.

Barrie Beer Brother (and our favourite soldier boy) Hago has always done likewise. In fact, at Canadian Forces Base Borden, where he still plies his trade, Hago has actually taught Photography classes. During his last stint overseas, Hago was not armed with a rifle. (Well, maybe he was. Probably was.) No, any shooting he did involved a camera as he went over to take pictures, acting as an Official Photographer for CFB Borden, I believe. (Trust me, if I'm wrong, Hago will correct me.)

But the rest of us? Meh, put it on a flat surface, take a quick pic and post it on Twitter. No muss, no fuss - here's what I'm drinking at this exact moment.

At some point, Matty started scoring them, adding comments such as, "Level 82 glassware combo. Bonus points for scenic setting and weathered deck." A "Level XX glassware combo" simply means you're drinking a beer with a branded glass from the brewery whose beer you're drinking. Like I said, I didn't even notice at first. I have a lot of brewery glasses now. In fact, the last time Beer Bro Glenn stopped into Casa Donny (we were off to see Avengers: Endgame on opening weekend and man, it was one crowded shit-show), it was the first thing he noticed. I have little doubt I was briefly his hero... well, until Tony Stark showed us both what real heroes do. Glenn and I have gone more the "Thor gets fat" route.

While my picture "Lake of Bays Peach Paradise... meet peach, pair of
dice" elicited moans from Jackie and Emma, the brewery's social media
pros, it scored high marks with Judge Matty. And he has the final word. 

So I started paying attention to his scoring. Know your judge! He definitely likes pictures of beers in a branded glass, meaning simply if you're drinking a Great Lakes beer, you'll get higher marks if it's in a Great Lakes glass.

So that became Rule #1 for this contestant: Brand that shit up! Then I noticed he seems to prefer outside shots - background foliage, a scenic poolside, wooden decks and the like. (Know your judge!) In fact, I scored very well with a picture of a Cameron's Brewing 12 Mile India Pale Lager, not just because it was Cameron's glass but also sitting upon a "weathered deck." Weathered would be a charitable description of my deck at the moment.

Oh for crying out, Curtis. You're killing me here! When he
posted this Brassroots Brewing's Darkwood Blackberry
Saison picture yesterday, his Level 122 score nearly took me
off the throne. If he had used a Brassroots glass (which I
don't think exists yet), he would have blown me out of the
water. BUT I'M WATCHING YOU, CURTIS!! Don't think
I don't know you're lurking in the bushes, ready to pounce!

And the final Know Your Judge tip? Know his favourite breweries. Living on the outskirts of Ottawa, he has a ton of breweries he loves up there. But outside Ottawa, his biggies are Baysville's Lake of Bays Brewing, Kingston's Spearhead Brewing and Oakville's own Cameron's Brewing. He, no doubt, has many more. These are the ones I've recently noticed.

But I was only sort of paying attention until one day, Huntsville Bucket List IPA Brew Crew member Curtis (@BeerFromCanada) scored a Level 104 for his picture up top of the Paddle On Session IPA. It was, I believe, the first picture to go triple digits. No, it didn't have a branded glass but he somehow found on old glass in the cottage cupboard with paddles painted on. There was some mention of having to fight mosquitoes to get his shot so I'm sure bravery points were tacked on. Hmm, Curtis had now proven that Judge Matty wasn't afraid to go over 100.

So I started posting more and more pictures, paying heed to exactly what was being said in the judging. (See "Know Your Judge!" above.) Got a few Level 100s but more importantly, discovered relevant criteria for his higher scores.

This "rose between two thorns" is Amanda from Spearhead Brewing,
who caught up with Matty and Joel at the recent Orleans Beer Festival.
I warned her that associating with such unsavoury gents could be very
damaging, she nonetheless braved it out. (And Amanda, both guys told
me how fantastic you were that day. So maybe they're not so bad, eh?)

So I waited. And plotted. And schemed. The high score must be mine!!! (If this all seems a tad obsessive, may I just say... guilty as charged.) 

Last Saturday, I saw my opening. While I was at work, Matty had posted pictures of himself drinking Lake of Bays Peach Paradise Milkshake IPA in his kids' splash pool. Day-drinking? Perfect. I would have his judging at its most vulnerable. He has previously admitted that his judging was a little looser after a few wobblies. (Know your judge!)

So I lined up my photograph accordingly, using all the tenets of, well, Know Your Judge, and came up with a brilliant (if not slightly sneaky) photo. One of his favourite beers, two branded glasses, outside props, a lame Dad Joke and a weathered deck.

Curtis here is the Newman to my Seinfeld. Hmmm, actually
given the way I schemed and weaseled my way to a Matty
high score, I'm actually the Newman here. But Curtis, your
pictures? "They're gold, Jerry. GOLD!" Never mind "Know
Your Judge." You gotta know your "Competition" as well.

As you can see above, I lined up a Lake of Bays Peach Paradise Milkshake IPA in a branded glass, had another branded glass filled with peach chunks and beside it, a pair of dice. Drawing Matty's attention to it, I noted, "Lake of Bays Peach Paradise meet... peach, pair of dice."

And I waited. Joel was on it quickly. "Level 200!" he declared. Not long afterwards, Lake of Bays social media pros Jackie and Emma weighed in, as well, with a GIF of Fozzie Bear doing a facepalm. You see, here's the thing. My little play on words was basically a Dad Joke. You know who winces at Dad Jokes? Teenage daughters, as well as those in their 20s. Jackie and Emma fall into the latter category. But you know who LOVES Dad Jokes? Other Dads. Guess what Matty is? Know Your Judge!

Soon Matty saw it. His response? "Level 124 glassware combo. Multiple glassware bonus, weathered deck, canned peach (peach emoji). Peach dice (dice emoji). +6 bonus unlocked." Holy crap, I thought, a Level 124. No one's ever gonna beat a 124.

Cameron's Brewing director of sales for LCBOs,
TBS and grocery sales is my man, Kyle Riddell,
who texted me to pop by because he had a little
surprise for me. Turned out to be a BIG one! I was
not expecting Cameron's Jurassic IPA or their
Skeleton Crew Evil Genius Session IPA to be out
for a few weeks yet. Wrong again. However, we're
still a couple of weeks away from Skeleton Crew
Knucklebone Bone IPA. And just like that, our
friends at Cameron's will have THREE IPAs out.

That is until Curtis scored a Level 122 yesterday with his photo of Brassroots Brewing's (contract brewed out of Sawdust City Brewing at the moment) Darkwood Blackberry Saison. Damn you, Curtis, that's way too close!!! And he even did it without a branded glass because Brassroots doesn't even have those yet. That's like one of the main criteria. He has that and we're talking Level 150.

So I must remain ever vigilant now. It's not just Curtis, either. Sudbury Danny, Nepean Beer Store Bro Ben, Ottawa Joel, Linda Beer, Stittsville Jeff and many more... well, they're all framing their beer pics fancier and more scenic-like these days, asking Matty for scores. Level 124 will be surpassed soon. Things are about to get creative - and maybe a little cray cray - with craft beer pictures this Summer. Should be fun. Matty, you opened one helluva can of worms. Hope you're up for it, brother!!!

Okay, Oakville Boy Donny (that would be me - honestly, I'm the only Donny in town, though we do have a lot of Chads and Brads) was pretty jacked to get a text today from Kyle Riddell at Cameron's Brewing today. Seems he had a surprise for me. It wasn't a subpoena so, you know, that's always good.

So I pop on down as I have a day off and it's just three minutes from my place. And there they were. Two new IPAs - the Cameron's Jurassic IPA and the Skeleton Crew Evil Genius Session IPA. Well, hot snot, Doris, put the church clothes on the children and let's go!

Well, I totally boned up the whole Skeleton Crew connection with
Cameron's Brewing in my last blog, suggesting the brewery was
connected to another in Wisconsin. It's not. Skeleton Crew is the
new wing of Cameron's where they're going to do experimental and
wild stuff like sours, IPAs, what-have-you. Did I mention they're
just three minutes down the hill from me? Happy, happy, joy, joy.

(Yeah, I have no idea what I mean by that, either.)

Okay, I learned a couple of things. First of all, Kyle is a busy dude with over 1,700 accounts to keep track of between the Beer Store, the LCBO and the grocery stores. I took 10 minutes of his day away and felt guilty. (It's cool - beer washed away the guilt. Pretty quickly, too. Actually, it might have been gone when I was behind the wheel of my car. Who really knows?)

Holy frijoles, they hit the jackpot with these two. Kyle mentioned he had enjoyed something of a Evil Genius Session IPA run last night and he looked bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I'm not surprised. At just 4.5% and 34 IBU, this has some awesome fruit on the nose and a huge resiny pine on the back end. Hello, New Hockey Beer!! The Jurassic IPA, well, whoa! Mango, grapefruit on the nose, light pine on the back end, 6.8% and 68 IBUs. Welcome to the hophead big leagues, Cameron's! Great day for Donny! But Scooby Doo Gang, that's it, that's all and I am outta here! Until next time, I remain...

When Adam from Beau's popped in...

"Holy crap, it's THAT GUY!" says Adam from Beau's. "Holy
crap, it's THAT GUY!" says me. I was pleasantly surprised
when Adam from Beau's popped into my Beer Store a couple
of weeks back. He stopped in with their new Mix-Four, a very
cool gift. The Mix-Four has a couple of newbies in it so yeah,
I wanna piece of that! Their session IPA and Helles Lager are
part of the new pack, as well as Full Time IPA and Lug Tread.

I was working in the back of the Beer Store one day recently when my young coworker, Jordon, our senior part-timer, came back to fetch me.

"The Beau's rep, Adam, is here and is asking for you," he said. "Do you know EVERY craft beer rep?" 

Well, actually, no, I don't. Like not every craft beer rep in the Province. There's a bunch. But I most certainly know the ones that circle my orbit here in the GTA. The ones up in Sudbury or over there in Ottawa? Not so much. But I'm sure they're very cool. Just like Kelly from Saskatoon. Sorry, other Las Vegas tourist from Wisconsin, yes, I know I'm from Canada but no, I've never met Kelly. But I hear she's lovely. There's like 33 million of us. I'm happy if I can keep track of 100. Or even 50.

So anyways, I come out to meet Beau's Rep Adam, knowing full well I don't know a Beau's Rep named Adam. Except I did. You see, while he's not my Beau's rep, he's a Twitter friend. A few days prior, I had posted a picture of Beau's new Good Time Session IPA as part of a big session beer afternoon I had that weekend.

These were the two from the new Beau's Mixed Pack that I was the most
eager to try - their Good Time Session IPA (which I had enjoyed once
before) and most especially their new Helles Lager. Both Wellington and
Muddy York Brewing make exceptional Helles Lagers so I'm always very
happy to see a new brew join the ranks. Summer-Time is Helles Time...

So Adam hopped onto the conversation and chatted away about it. I love it when a brewery rep or their social media pros or even on rare occasions, the owner themselves hop onto our Beer Twitter Brew Crew chatter because, hey, they know their product better than we do.

My thinking is - and my high school teachers would concur - if you can teach me anything, well, that's quite an achievement. Where craft breweries have a significant advantage over high school here is that I actually do want to learn more. Algebra? Yeah, not so much. (Also, four decades later, still haven't used it in real life, much as I predicted all those years ago.) So I had a great chat with Adam before he had to move along and deal with actual customers!

Released a couple of Summers ago, Beau's Full Time IPA made a big
splash in Ontario. As per their usual modus operandi, all natural and
organic ingredients, ending in the brewery's traditional result. Tasty!

But before he left, I got a parting gift of the new Beau's Mixed Four. Okay, the good news first! The company has shifted away from their traditional four-packs of 600-ml (20 ounce) bottles to a more convenient four-pack of 473-ml (16 ounce) cans. Why is that more convenient? The cans fit better in my fridge than the bottles. How does this affect you? It may not. I am primarily more worried about my convenience, rather than yours. Get over yourself. (Joking. Or am I?)

Okay, the even better news now? The pack has two new beauties in it that I think you may really enjoy. (Well, okay, I did. Once again, get over yourself.) As well as the traditional Lug Tread Lagered Ale and Full Time IPA, joining the ranks this time is their new Good Time Session IPA and Helles Lager. So how were the two newbies? Pretty damn good. In the case of the Helles, great, even.

Back when Beau's switched from these 600-ml bottles to 473-ml cans for
their Full Time IPA, I had one thought. Looking up to a top shelf in my
Beer Store cooler, I saw that we had one box of the bottles left. So then I
figured, well, no one's gonna drink those if we have the cans, which oddly
would have been true. So I bought the last dozen. And then I drank them.

The Good Time Session comes out in a Summer that is stocked hard with new session craft beers. Seriously, you can't move two feet without tripping over another good one. *Looking around* Okay, maybe that's just my room. That said, it holds it own over some serious contenders. Some beautiful citrus on the nose of this 4% brew and nicely tangy on the tongue.

The Helles Lager has some serious competition, as well, in the form of Wellington Helles Lager and Muddy York's Gaslight Helles Lager. These two beers are my Helles Bar of Distinction. You're either over them (none yet) or under them. Once again, Beau's proves that they're willing to play with the big guns here. Their 5% Helles is all straw and lemon on the nose, sliding nicely down the throat. Doesn't beat the other two but, man, it hangs in beautifully against some serious players in the Helles Division.

Here's my man, Robbie Levin, with my little big guy,
David, not too long ago at Cameron's Brewing here in
Oakville. I messaged Robbie a few days ago to ask him
a question and found out that he had moved to Barrie
to be closer to his daughter. I didn't know. But man, I
sure applaud that! I believe family always comes first. 

Anyway, it was great to meet Adam. Always fun when you finally meet someone you've talked to a bunch of times on social media. Afterwards, he noted that between my hair and his beard, we could combine to do a great Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar. Well, I hope he can sing. I sure can't.

And speaking of Do I Know Every Craft Beer Rep In Ontario (since that's how this all kicked off), no, I don't. I also know Sales Managers and in a few cases, owners.

Case in point. Went into work early one day last week so I could grab some Harvey's (next door to my Beer Store) before my shift. A guy inside Harvey's is waving at me like a man on fire. I thought, "Hold on. Is that... ???"

It was. Cameron's Brewing Man With A Plan (and also their sales manager) Clint. Haven't seen Clint in a while. But always great to see him. He's one of these folks whose enthusiasm is infectious. Not a bad thing for me to catch a whiff of on my way into work, to be frank. I usually don't bring my own. And because I believe there are no coincidences in this universe, I had talked to my Cameron's guy, Robbie, just the night before, only to find out that he left the brewery back in March, moving to Barrie to be closer to his daughter. To me, as a Dad myself, well, that's damn cool.

From no IPAs to three IPAs within a few weeks. Cameron's Brewing will
release its Jurassic IPA (right) very soon and will be following it with two
IPAs that they're brewing up here on behalf of Skeleton Crew Brewing,
out of Onalaska, Wisconsin. On the left is Skeleton Crew Evil Genius
Session IPA (4.5%) while in the centre is Skeleton Crew Knucklebone
IPA (6.5%). All of these images came from the LCBO search website.

There is a young fellow with Clint named Matt. He's Robbie's replacement so yeah, he has his hands full.

So Clint introduced us, telling Matt that I'm this big social media guy (ehhh, not really true) and a big Cameron's supporter (okay, very true.) I consider Cameron's to be one of the more under-rated breweries in Ontario. I also have a feeling that's about to change. Big time. And man, some craft beer lovin' people in the Sudbury, Guelph and Ottawa area are in for some Oakville-style treats very soon!

Clint told me some big beers are coming down the pipe from the brewery. What, I smiled, you mean the new Jurassic IPA and the two you're making for Skeleton Crew Brewing?

Cameron's Brewmaster Jason Britton: "I call
this little ditty Donny Stay The Hell Away From
Me Because I'm Brewing Your Damn IPAs."
Well now, that's music to my ears. Thank you!

Pointing to me, Clint turned to Matt and said, "See what I mean?" Actually, I was told and simply confirmed it with Rona, the Retail Manager at the brewery. A friend had found it on a Twitter site that I think is called LCBO Finds.

This means I can finally stop harassing poor Jason Britton, the Brewmaster at Cameron's. Look, I'm not saying the guy runs into the Employees Only brewery section at the south end of the facility every time he sees my car. But I will say this. He absolutely runs into the Employees Only brewery section at the south end of the facility every time he sees my car.

So coming up (within a few weeks) will be Cameron's Jurassic IPA, which is 6.8%, 68 IBUs and loaded with Citra, Summit and Simcoe hops. The two they're brewing up here for Skeleton Crew Brewing out of Onalaska, Wisconsin - the 4.5% Evil Genius Session IPA and 6.5% Knucklebone IPA - I have no details on as of yet. But I will get deets soon. Well, so long as I see Jason before he sees me. However, Clint told me Matt would be dropping some off to me at the Beer Store, probably this week so you'll all know soon enough. But Scooby Doo Gang, that's it, that's all and I am outta here. Back soon with a funny story about how Ottawa Matty's scoring of beer pictures, well, it turned into an actual thing! And you will never guess who the reigning champ is. But until then, I remain as always...

That Lucky Raptors Beer...

Somewhere during the Eastern Conference finals against the Milwaukee
Bucks, I was drinking New Belgium Fat Tire Amber Ale and when the
Raptors kept winning, I declared it the Raptors Lucky Beer. However,
during the pivotal Game 6 when the Raptors won, I had to drink the
Creemore Boundless IPA because I was trapped in a Molsons bar for a
high school reunion. The Raptors won so I was torn as to which beer I
should drink for the NBA Championship against Golden State. Yikes!

Pro athletes are, by their own nature, superstitious. If they put their equipment in a certain order and the team wins, then you can be damn sure they will repeat the process for the next game.

Those of us who watch the pro athletes are not superstitious. We're just enthusiastic.

Until we become superstitious. That happened very quickly to me during the Toronto Raptors' successful run to the NBA championship.

To be honest, I have no idea what beers I was drinking when the Raptors beat the Orlando Magic four games to one, winning the quarter-final. Ditto for whatever I was drinking during their full seven game push past the Philadelphia 76ers - the one that ended on "The Shot" by Kawhi Leonard, a buzzer-beater that bounced off the rim four times, dropped in and sent us to the Eastern Conference finals against the Milwaukee Bucks.

This photo, taken by Sandi Richardson, organizer
of our White Oaks SS Reunions every Summer,
shows me on the right during the dying seconds
of the Raptors win over Milwaukee that sent us to
the NBA Championship. I have a 'tell.' If I am
touching my face in any way, I am totally nervous.

I honestly didn't start paying attention to what beer I was drinking until well into the Eastern Conference Finals because at that point, luck comes into play for your sports team. And in sports, luck rides fast upon the coat-tails of superstition. 

Okay, those first two games against the Bucks, we got trounced. Like easily. So we're down 2-0 in the series. At about that time, New Belgium's Fat Tire Amber Ale lands in my Beer Store. This is a beer I've had several times during my Las Vegas trips because I love a good red ale as a day starter. However, the American version is brewed out of their Fort Collins, Colorado brewery while up here, it's brewed by Steam Whistle out of their Von Bugle Brewing facility in Etobicoke. So I grabbed a six-pack of it from the Beer Store for Game 3. The Raptors win it in double overtime. So I figure, "Hmmm, maybe it's a lucky beer" and buy more for Game 4, which we won again to even the series. Another sixer for Game 5. We win again so now we're up 3-2 and just one win away from going to the NBA Finals.

And then for Game 6, the fates intervene. I have my annual White Oaks Secondary School reunion at an Oakville sport bar called Monaghan's. They have no Fat Tire there. What the hell am I gonna do now? I'm without my Lucky Raptors Beer! 

I gotta admit that I like our version of the New Belgium Fat Tire
Amber Ale a bit more than the American version from Colorado.
Found theirs to be a touch more bitter while ours slides down like
tasty red ale, a style I thoroughly enjoy. (That makes me a rarity.)

Well, it's a Molson's bar so I gotta call a quick time-out from the bench. Viewing their taps, I see they have Creemore Springs Brewing's (owned by Molson) Boundless IPA. Well, it's not Fat Tire but at least it's an IPA, right? That's gotta be kinda lucky.

So was Boundless an outstanding IPA? No, sir. But it was far more tasty than any of the alternatives in a Molson's bar. I remember as at previous reunion there, they had the Mad & Noisy India Pale Lager (also Creemore... so Molson) on tap and I was perfectly content with that, as well. Being owned by a macro doesn't necessarily mean your product is gonna suck now. There's still some solid Creemore and Mill Street beers out there that I will happily drink. I'm a Beer Geek, not a Beer Snob. Long story short, while I'm drinking the Boundless, the Raptors win to clinch the Eastern Conference. Now I'm curious about the beer. So I Google it as I'm sitting there in a daze over the fact the Raptors are going to the NBA Championship.

In the end, during the NBA Championship, I switched to Lake
of Bays' Starboard New England IPA after a Game 2 Raptors'
loss and rode it until We The North won the whole damn thing.

Okay, it's exactly 5.1%, which explains quickly how I ended up drinking 10 of them during the six-plus hours of the reunion, which included the game. It bills itself as "hop forward." Well, let's be a little more honest and just say "hop inclusive," instead. But I can guarantee you this. Like all craft beers, it's all natural ingredients with no adjuncts because I woke up the following day without a hang-over. Fuzzy as hell? Oh hell yes. I mean, 10 beers? I don't do that anymore. But no hangover. You can function on fuzzy. This would be a decent crossover beer for a macro drinker to brag he or she had finally drank an IPA.

Regardless, this puts me into a bit of a dilemma. What do I drink during the NBA Championship? The Fat Tire that got us most of the way there? Or the Boundless that sealed the deal? So I got a sixer of Fat Tire and drove up the street to another Beer Store to grab some Boundless singles. (My store doesn't carry them. But the other store? Huge craft beer selection.)

Look, even as an employee, I never push the Beer Store as
"Your Craft Beer Destination" or anything silly like that. I'm
a "Brewery first, LCBO second, Beer Store third" realist. BUT
if you need any one craft beer in bulk, such as I did with Lake
of Bays' Starboard IPA, look at the TBS price breaks for six, 12
or 24. Again, most don't seek craft beer in bulk but when it's
the Lucky Raptors Beer, well, you're gonna need A LOT of it!!

So I started with the Fat Tire and stuck to it through Game 1. Raptors win. For Game 2, same two beers - Fat Tire first, Boundless ready on the bench. Well, things are even through to the half but in the third quarter, the Warriors just exploded. The Raps tried to claw their way back, I crack my Boundless in desperation... but it's too little, too late. Series tied at one and man, the Warriors are looking dominant!

Well, I gotta switch beers to shake things up but to what? Then I remembered not only the fun we had at the Huntsville Brewhouse but how much Lake of Bays' Starboard New England IPA the Huntsville Brew Crew drank during our IPA Brew Day and also how much we bought on our way out the door. Dozens of them. Hmmm, that was kind of a Good-Luck-Chuck day for us. We helped make a beer, were treated like royalty, I only got hushed about seven times (which sounds bad but actually is on the low side for me.) The whole day rocked and man, did we feel lucky!

So how did I feel going into Game 3 with an untested Lucky Raptors Beer? Please, you know me. I was as cool as... okay, totally nervous as shit.

And then... well, I'll be damned. In Game 3, we didn't lose a single quarter and cruised to victory, pushing us up 2-1 in the finals. More of the same in Game 4, using Starboard as an anchor! (You see what I did there. Nautical theme? Like Tyrion, I drink and I know things.) We were behind at the half and this time, it was OUR turn for that huge third quarter. Suddenly, we're up 3-1, one win away from the NBA Title Crown.

Here's (from left) Ottawa Matty, Nepean Beer Store Bro Ben and Ottawa
Joel at the recent Orleans Beer Festival. I mean, all of us were thrilled to
see the Raptors win the title but Ben? Man, this guy has been a diehard
since they started 24 years ago. I'll bet if we raided his closet, we'd even
find one of those old purple Raptors' jerseys in there. So while I was
happy for Toronto, Canada, the rest of us, I was most happy for Ben...

So that's two Raptor wins for my new Lucky Raptors Beer, both of which came in Oakland! I hashtagged that #MiracleAtOracle.

Game 5 was mired with controversy. There was an uncalled foul against Marc Gasol at the end of the game that would have put him on the foul line with two shots and insured a potential Raptors' win. Golden State took the game by one single point. Hell, the NBA apologized for the missed call the next day and many of us in Canada were wondering if the fix was in. That the league wanted the American squad to come away with the eventual victory.

So now, I had a big decision to make. Do I switch Lucky Raptors Beer as I did after the Game 2 loss? As stupid as this sounds, it actually weighed on my mind. I waited a day to make my decision. What beer could step in?

Another beauty of a cartoon from David Buist, Hamilton cartoonist and
artist. Once again, liberally cropped for my format (sorry, brother), he
drew this last night before today's big victory parade in Toronto. Nice!

In the end, I stuck with Starboard for two reasons. Number one, we didn't lose so much as have victory taken away from us due to shoddy officiating. (Nice to know the NHL isn't the only one.) And Number two, Starboard already won two games in Oakland already (well, the Raptors helped a little) where Game 6 was being played so to me, that was proof it had the right stuff.

Well, we all know how this Cinderella Story ended. We won by four points, Canada gets its first ever NBA championship (just as the Blue Jays did in MLB back in 1992-93) and for once, a somewhat fractious country was completely united and celebrating for one common like-minded goal.

Until the federal election, at least. But if I can just say one thing. As my high school friend Aruna pointed out, tongue firmly in cheek, it took a group of immigrants (there are no Canadian Raptors) to pull our country together as a unified force. Take that as you will.

But to Jackie, Emma, Tim, Rob and Darren at Lake of Bays Brewing, take a damn bow. Yeah, sure, Kawhi doesn't know what I'm drinking but it's sports... and superstition rules over all. Back soon with big Cameron's Brewing news. But Scooby Doo Gang, that's it, that's all and I am outta here! Until next time, I remain...