Tag: The best beer I’ve ever had

The best beer I’ve ever had: Doug Lounsbury

Posted on by Ben

As part of an ongoing series, The best beer I’ve ever had, I put the call out to other beer folks and ask them to detail their “best beer” experiences for me.

For today’s installment, Doug Lounsbury shares his (illegal) story. Lounsbury is one of the founders of the Georgetown Craft Beer Festival , now in its third year and taking place Saturday Sept. 16th, from 11-6pm.

This story might not be politically correct, as my best beer memory actually came at very young age.

When my father was in his mid 30s, he decided to move away from the city and give farming a shot. I was born a few years after this transition.

In the early 70s, when I was young, rural living was much the same as it is now. It meant early hours and hard work, with friends and neighbours helping each other out; especially at harvest time. My father had pigs, corn, and hay and it is hay that that led to my best beer memory.

In late summer, all of our neighbours would move from farm to farm assisting in the harvest. The hay was in bales and the men would follow the tractor and trailer, throwing the bales into neat stacks. Every man was needed for this backbreaking job and so who was left to drive the tractor? Well, at all of five years old, that job fell to me. My instructions were simply to keep the steering wheel straight and, on the turns, someone would jump up and maneuver it for me. I’m not entirely sure how many times I got to do this, but it is ingrained in my memory for one important reason: Beer.

When we were done I remember we all gathered in the shade and everyone had a Labatt’s Blue. I was having water, but I distinctly remember my dad let me have a taste of his beer.

I remember it being cool and bubbly.

To this day, whenever I finish working in the garden or cutting the grass, I have a cold beer and it brings me back to those days. Of course, these days it’s usually Steam Whistle, not Blue.

The best beer I’ve ever had: Mark McEwan

Posted on by Ben

Previously I’ve asked “beer folks” to talk to me about memorable beers for my ongoing series, The best beer I’ve ever had. Recently, I put the call out to chefs and restaurateurs to detail their “best beer” experiences for me in hopes of exploring the important connection between food and beer.

For today’s installment, Mark McEwan shares his story. McEwan is the Chef/Owner of North 44, Bymark, One, McEwan and Fabbrica. He is also the author of Great Food at Home and Fabbrica, the star of The Heat and Head Judge of Top Chef Canada.

Mark McEwan

For the past three years, my executive assistant Jordie, executive chefs Andrew Ellerby (One, Fabbrica, McEwan), Brooke McDougall (Bymark), and I head down to Barbados in November for the Food, Wine and Rum Festival.

The four of us work for 12 hours a day prepping items for their main event, called Ambrosia, where 1200 guests enjoy appetizer offerings from six international chefs and six on-island chefs at the polo club [i.e. the ridonkulous Lion Castle Polo Estate.~ Ben.]

We are known for showing up at the prep kitchen with a great playlist, speakers, and cold Banks beer to get us through the days of 100-degree temperatures inside the non-air conditioned kitchen. Continue reading “The best beer I’ve ever had: Mark McEwan” →

The best beer I’ve ever had: Jay Meyers

Posted on by Ben

Previously I’ve asked “beer folks” to talk to me about memorable beers for my ongoing series, The best beer I’ve ever had. For the month of July, I put the call out to some of Toronto’s best chefs, restaurateurs, and bartenders to detail their “best beer” experiences for me in hopes of exploring the important connection between food and beer.

For today’s installment, Jay Meyers details his best beer experience. Meyers is the head mixologist at Hudson Kitchen.

Jay Meyers

The best beer I’ve ever had was during the summer between my first and second years of university. A bunch of my friends and I fixed a week up at a cottage near Kearney in early August. There were very few of us who had moved away from our hometown and even fewer of us who had any responsibility.  One of those days up at the cottage started with a conjoined paddleboat and floating dock, anchored in the middle of a lake with a bag of beer tied to the anchor, and ended with a Huntsville parking lot dance party and a brief but pleasant conversation with the OPP. Continue reading “The best beer I’ve ever had: Jay Meyers” →

The best beer I’ve ever had: Justin Cournoyer

Posted on by Ben

Previously I’ve asked “beer folks” to talk to me about memorable beers for my ongoing series, The best beer I’ve ever had. For this month, I put the call out to chefs and restaurateurs to detail their “best beer” experiences for me in hopes of exploring the important connection between food and beer.

For today’s installment, Justin Cournoyer  shares his story. Cournoyer is the Chef/Owner of Actinolite, where the menu changes according to what’s in season and the result is a dining experience that prompted The Globe and Mail’s Chris Nuttall Smith to dub Actinolite”one of the most essential places to eat in Ontario, if not in Canada.”

Mikkeller

Most days, there just isn’t enough time. As a chef, restaurant owner, husband and father, downtime is not something I’m used to. Most of the week I’m in the restaurant, and when I’m not, my thoughts often wonder back to it. What do I need for service tomorrow? Is the fish going to come in on time? What’s going to break down today? That’s why it’s important to make the most of the time you do get.

Such was my thinking last summer before the restaurant shut down for a much-needed vacation. With my wife stuck at work, I decided to take my then three year old son, on an impromptu adventure to Copenhagen. It’s easy to get trapped into the daily routine of service, and to lose the inspiration one needs for creativity. I wanted to soak in as much food culture as I could, to experience the delights of Amass, Relae, and Manfreds. To recharge really.

And in between seven course tasting menus and weird natural wine, came Mikkeller. Out and about on a single rented bike, Toby and I would stop in for a midafternoon tipple, then return again after dinner. In the same glass as his father, my son would have the fresh-pressed apple juice they made daily. I would make up gibberish and tell him it was Danish. He’d speak it back to me.

As for the beer, the one I remember best is the Vesterbro Spontanale, an unfiltered lambic on tap that summer. It was sour, with loads of grapefruit, rhubarb, and lemon. Of course it could have been a Blue Light, for all I cared. Just to spend time with my boy, half a world away from the pressures of the restaurant, was enough to make everything taste sweet.

This summer, as we close for vacation, I won’t be making the trip again. I’ll be welcoming the birth of my second child. I suppose whatever I drink that night is likely to taste just as sweet.

The best beer I’ve ever had: Jim Koch

Posted on by Ben

As part of my ongoing series, The best beer I’ve ever had, I put the call out to other beer folks and ask them to detail their “best beer” experiences for me.

For today’s installment, Jim Koch shares his story. Jim Koch is the co-founder and chairman of the Boston Beer Company, the producers of Samuel Adams. 

Jim Koch

To date, I’d estimate I’ve had more than 21,000 beers so as you can imagine, choosing the best one is a real challenge. There was the time I enjoyed Samuel Adams Boston Lager at the top of Mount Aconcagua (the highest point in the Western Hemisphere), the beer I brewed for my daughter’s wedding – Samuel Adams Noble Pils, and countless other beers enjoyed with family and friends over the years. But if I had to choose, I’d say my favorite beer was my very first Samuel Adams Boston Lager. Continue reading “The best beer I’ve ever had: Jim Koch” →

The best beer I’ve ever had: Fabian Skidmore

Posted on by Ben

As part of my ongoing series, The best beer I’ve ever had, I put the call out to other beer folks and ask them to detail their “best beer” experiences for me.

For today’s installment, Fabian Skidmore, bartender at Danforth craft beer staple, The Only Cafe, shares his story.

coleman

Ah, the things we do to get us through university.

I spent a lot of time digging holes, painting walls, cleaning things, chopping veggies as quickly as I could while ducking and dodging flying pots and pans originating from unstable, drug addled chefs.

One day, I even helped re-wire a house.

Continue reading “The best beer I’ve ever had: Fabian Skidmore” →

The best beer I’ve ever had: Sam Corbeil

Posted on by Ben

As part of my ongoing series, The best beer I’ve ever had, I put the call out to other beer folks and ask them to detail their “best beer” experiences for me.

For today’s instalment, Sam Corbeil, Brewmaster at Sawdust City Brewing Company, shares his story.

DraftBeerBar 

I‘ve drank a lot of beers in my day. Many of them have been fantastic and entirely memorable, but the “Best Beer I’ve Ever Had” was completely and utterly unmemorable. The beer itself was more of a catalyst in a pivotal moment in my life–a bit player in a larger scene. Maybe a long time ago, I used to know what type of beer it was but like a smell that conjures up a distant memory, this beer lives only in the cavernous recesses of my sub-conscious. Deep regression hypnosis may be the only way to dig it up. Also, the actual type of beer is some what unimportant, it’s the fact that beer was present at this moment in my life that is more to the point.

Okay, let me set the scene. Continue reading “The best beer I’ve ever had: Sam Corbeil” →

The best beer I’ve ever had: Erica Graholm

Posted on by Ben

As part of my ongoing series, The best beer I’ve ever had, I put the call out to other beer folks and ask them to detail their “best beer” experiences for me.

For today’s installment, Erica Graholm, Brewer at Steam Whistle, shares her story. 

zombiedust

I‘m really lucky, I’ve had a lot of beer “moments” in my life. Trying my first Weissbier in Germany 10 years ago is the earliest one I can remember. I didn’t know beer could taste like that!

It’s the experience that turns a great beer into a beer moment though, and I’ll even go one step further and suggest that the experience is heightened when there is an element of surprise involved. Don’t get me wrong, trying five different versions of Bourbon County Stout at a tasting led by the brewers at Goose Island last year was absolutely incredible, but I knew I was in for a great time when I bought the ticket months earlier.

I was in Chicago on vacation the year before and my partner told me the one thing we absolutely could not miss was a visit to the Three Floyds brewpub about 45 minutes outside the city. It seemed like a long way to go and transportation was an issue since neither of us wanted to DD. I had tried one or two other Three Floyds beers before and was under the mistaken impression that the reputation of the brewery was a bit inflated. Continue reading “The best beer I’ve ever had: Erica Graholm” →

The best beer I’ve ever had: Jeff Broeders

Posted on by Ben

Recently, I shared an occasion that had me considering the emotional connection one can have with a beer-drinking experience when I wrote “The best beer I’ve ever had.” I put the call out to other beer folks and asked them to detail their “best beer” experiences for me for a series aptly titled, The best beer I’ve ever had.

For this entry, Jeff Broeders, Niagara College Brewmaster and Brewery Management Program graduate and head brewer at The Indie Alehouse, talks about his best beer experience.

(A few things should probably be noted here: First, Jeff was hesitant to nail down a best beer and emphasized repeatedly this was a best beer “experience,” second, the post below is the result of a conversation that was transcribed from a shitty recorder and recalled from an evening of more than one beverage at Jeff’s place of employment.) 

I don’t really have a “best beer I’ve ever had,” I have a lot of great experiences. For me, really any time that I can go to a brewery and chat with a brewer, that’s a great beer experience.

I mean you can’t beat that. When you go taste a beer and talk about the process, that’s the best possible beer experience, you know? Chatting with the brewmaster who made the beer, drinking it out of the tank, having them explain where it is in the process, what it really is that you’re drinking and what they plan on doing with it. That for me is the ultimate beer experience.

Honestly, that’s why I like to think I made the best decision of my life three years ago getting into this business. For me, being able to sit and talk about a beer is priceless. When you sit with someone who knows beer, the beer’s always going to taste better.

But if I had to pick a single moment, I definitely had a moment with the Monk’s Cafe Sour Ale.

That small bottle was my introduction to sours, and I love sour beer.

It was just around the time I got into craft beer, and I was in Buffalo at Premier Gourmet and I just happened to buy it. It was one of the few microbrews I bought while was there and when I drank it, I was like, “Holy shit.”

Sour beer just doesn’t taste like normal beer and it opened my eyes in terms of how complex a beer can be.

That beer cost me $400–because I went back about a month later and bought every single sour beer that Premier Gourmet had.

$400.

I love sour beer.

The best beer I’ve ever had: Robin LeBlanc

Posted on by Ben

Recently, I shared an occasion that had me considering the emotional connection one can have with a beer-drinking experience when I wrote “The best beer I’ve ever had.” I put the call out to other beer folks and asked them to detail their “best beer” experiences for me for a series aptly titled, The best beer I’ve ever had.

For this entry, Robin LeBlanc, aka The Thirsty Wench, a home-brewer whose beer blog was a recent finalist in Saveur Magazine’s Best Food Blog Awards in the Wine & Beer category, talks about her best beer experience. 

Back in 2005 or so, long before I even knew the words “craft beer,” I was a second-year film student with no social skills (as opposed to what I am now–a beer writer/photographer with minimal social skills).

My brother Sean wasn’t doing well. Well, he never did well in his life, as he was born severely disabled; scoliosis, collapsed lung, cerebral palsy; he had quite a list of things to deal with, but let’s just settle on “severely disabled.”

Despite that, I should point out that he was one hell of a kid; always full of smiles and attitude. He also had a way with the ladies. Anyway, something came up with him that required immediate surgery. For most people this would have been a walk in the park, but because of Sean’s other problems,it proved risky. He had never had an operation before and the doctor wasn’t sure that he’d survive the operation. And even if he did, we were told, there was a risk that he wouldn’t be able to be taken off of assisted breathing. We were told to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

Terrified and worried, we met the surgical team and said what we hoped wouldn’t be our final goodbyes to my brother.

Hours went by.

It was nauseating. Terrible. There was no way to make that time go any faster. Try reading a book? Too worried to get past a single sentence. Try to talk to family? It only went to the subject at hand and back in to worried silence. I walked around the hospital for a while and talked on the phone to a few people. Mostly though, I just sat in the waiting room with the other families who were worried sick about their kid’s surgery. When we reached the time that the surgery was supposed to be done, I was already at the door of the waiting room. Some time passed by before Sean’s surgeon showed up saying the operation went well, but he wasn’t out of the woods yet, as the breathing tube was still in him and there was still a chance that he wouldn’t breathe independently.

Before we had time to tense up over that, not even a full half hour, a nurse came up to us and told us that Sean had fought to get that damned breathing machine out of him and he was breathing steadily on his own. He was in ICU, but he was going to be totally fine. A collective sigh of relief from the family could be heard throughout the hospital and soon we were laughing. After a while my mom, who knows Sean’s medical details like the back of her hand, decided to stay with him through the night just in case the nurses and doctors needed some information. Dad and I started heading home.

On the drive back to our home in Scarborough, my dad noticed that The Feathers Pub was coming up and decided that a celebratory drink was in order. He pulled over and we went inside. My dad thinks he had Ardbeg Single Malt (his difficulty recalling the specific scotch likely due to the fact that Feathers has one HELL of a single malt selection) and I, not a Scotch drinker, ordered a Guinness.

We got our drinks, toasted to my brother’s strength and good health as well as the phenomenal staff at Sick Kid’s Hospital, and commenced with the quaffing. And I’ll be damned if that wasn’t the best beer I ever had.

After the events of the day, it was nice to sit down with this beer and know that things would be alright.