Category: Beer

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.

Why don’t restaurants give a shit about beer?

Posted on by Ben

Draft Taps

When it comes to food, wine, and spirits, most of the city’s restaurants have things down.

Look to any ranking of the city’s best restaurants and you’d be hard-pressed to find any among them who haven’t taken some time to cultivate a thought-out list of wines. Since arguably the dawn of going-to-another-place-to-eat-things-made-by-other-people, a separate menu or even a fucking table topper with a list of available vintages has been a practically mandatory requirement.

And it has it been likewise well established that the closer and fresher the ingredients restaurants use to cook their meals, the better said meals will be. Indeed, if you’re in a restaurant that isn’t touting locally-sourced ingredients somewhere on their menu, I’d venture that you’re not in a very good restaurant.

So too are virtually all bars and restaurants embracing “cocktail culture.” You can hardly swing a Hawthorne strainer in this town without hitting a muddling bartender who will insist you call them a mixologist while they whip up their house-made honey kombucha with shiso and Horchata.

So why the hell is virtually no one in the city giving beer the same level of respect we snotty Torontonians demand of virtually every other substance we cram in our suck holes?

Well, throughout the next month, I’m fixing to find out. Continue reading “Why don’t restaurants give a shit about beer?” →

Great Lakes Brewery’s Canuck is no longer Crazy

Posted on by Ben

Crazy Canuck

Typically when it comes to beer, my philosophy is that taste is the only thing that matters. And that is true, to an extent, but there’s something to be said for a well-designed label.

Beermakers here in Toronto have, for the most part, embraced some design aesthetics when it comes to the logos that adorn their brews (See my August 2013 blogTO post on the best labels in the city and their stories) and the humble beer logo has evolved into a collaboration of design by local artists, a marketing opportunity for local bands and filmmakers, and all manner of hipster-friendly hand drawn shenanigans. But there’s been one great beer that’s always been left behind and it’s Great Lakes Brewery’s Crazy Canuck. Behold the monstrosity pictured above. There’s multiple maple leafs, a loon, a toque–and for some reason it’s black, gold, and red. It’s fucking hideous. Continue reading “Great Lakes Brewery’s Canuck is no longer Crazy” →

Beer cocktails, delicious or blasphemous?

Posted on by Ben

Rob Montgomery

Beer cocktails are something with which I’ve always had a bit of a troubled relationship.

Presumably they’d be right up my alley given that I like both cocktails and beer, but when it comes to both those wondrous things, I’m something of a purist (a point I’ve touched on briefly once before). That is, I like cocktails of the old fashioned variety–both in name and in style–and when it comes to adding things to beer, I’m generally of the opinion that a good beer does just fine on its own thank you very much so put that fucking fruit down before I break your arm.

Accordingly, the concept of combining the two seemed to me like a surefire way to ruin two good things.

And so it was with some trepidation that I accepted an invitation recently to attend a showcase of beer cocktails hosted by Rob Montgomery, bartender at The Miller Tavern, wherein Rob would be unveiling the bar’s soon-to-debut-beer-cocktail menu incorporating beers from McClelland Premium Imports into his libations. Continue reading “Beer cocktails, delicious or blasphemous?” →

Quoted: Steve Abrams on the impending sale of Mill Street Brewery

Posted on by Ben

IMG_3598

If you’ve been around the beer scene in Toronto for any length of time, you’ve probably heard some variation of the “Mill Street is about to be bought out by Molson/Labatt” rumour.

Recently, I heard such rumblings again and this time the source had it that it was “a done deal” and that Molson was simply having their lawyers dot the Is and cross the Ts.

Curious about yet another Mill Street sale rumour, I took an unprecedented step to get to the truth of the matter: I asked them. Here’s Steve Abrams, co-founder of Mill Street, responding to my email about the latest “impending sale” rumours:

Hey Ben,

I can officially and unofficially say no!

These rumours are crazy. Not sure who keeps starting them, but I have my theories!

Thanks for checking in.

So there you go. All cleared up. None of the big guys are buying Mill Street.

Until the next cycle for this rumour in a couple months, obviously.

Fewer beers at events, please

Posted on by Ben

Beer Festivals

As we enter June, we’re essentially entering prime time for summer beer events in and around Toronto (here, for example, is a handy list of ten such events) and while Session Toronto, Cask Days, The Toronto Festival of Beer, et. al, all tout the number of beers that will be on hand as something a badge of honour, I’d like to propose that where beer selection is concerned, less is actually more.

It seems to be a mark of success to show that the number of beers at a festival has grown exponentially from one year to the next. Cask Days, for example, boasted 230 different beers this year from 140 different brewers, up from 150 different beers the year before.

While this sounds awesome, I actually think it’s more overwhelming than it is exciting. You can’t possibly drink 230 beers at one event, even if you were to attend all three days of Cask Days, so quite simply, it’s too much. I know that the organizers of beer events (Cask Days in particular) work very hard to bring in unique and interesting offerings for their events, but with no way of trying all of them, I just find massive beer lists stressful. Continue reading “Fewer beers at events, please” →

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” →

Brad Pitt threw Matthew McConaughey a (good) beer

Posted on by Ben

Pitt

Because we live in a shallow, celebrity-obsessed, drain-circling, increasingly culture-deprived world wherein the things that handsome, famous white guys do on vacation are deemed newsworthy, I am aware of the headline-worthy fact that a few days ago Matthew McConaughey found himself vacation near Brad Pitt and, as a means of saying hello, Mr. Pitt threw Mr. McConaughey a beer.

(To be clear: I’m aware of this “event” because of Google Alerts related to beer and totally not because I troll TMZ for totes hot Khloe and Kim gossip, obvi. lol omg lmfao.)

The “articles” on the “event” seemed to point to the reason each handsome white man found themselves in New Orleans and the various projects that each were currently working on, but few, I discovered, mentioned the only thing I wanted to know about the story once I was aware of it: What kind of beer did these handsome gents exchange? Continue reading “Brad Pitt threw Matthew McConaughey a (good) beer” →

Let’s talk about Butt Beer

Posted on by Ben

BeerButt

I
n case you were not aware, there is a thing called “butt beer.”

No, I’m not talking about pouring beer into your butt (although that too is a apparently a thing–don’t’ Google it). I’m talking about a special kind of beer concoction that a certain Very Large Canadian Brewer creates during their brewing process.

Now first of all, it should be said that my story of Butt Beer comes only from one source and that source speaks about Butt Beer from experience working at said Very Large Canadian Brewery. Accordingly, even though I won’t be naming my source or the Very large Canadian Brewery, please take this tale with a very large disclaiming allegedly. I’m not looking to get sued over something called Butt Beer, OK? Continue reading “Let’s talk about Butt Beer” →

The Friday Link Roundup 5.9.14

Posted on by Ben

The Friday Link Roundup is a feature wherein Ben’s Beer Blog lazily points you to other beery things worth reading on the interwebs this week. BBBFridayRoundup

Strong Beer I wasn’t even aware this was a thing but, according to Cool Material there’s long been a war brewing over who can make the world’s strongest beer. Read how it all went down.
Pete Brown Over on his blog, Pete Brown waxes philosophical on serving good beer and being twattish, as is his wont.
SONY DSC A little while ago, Charles Benoit, the cofounder of organic unaged whisky making Toronto Distillery Co. sounded off on The Beer Store Debate & Ontario’s Policy Quagmire on the company’s blog.
Beer lollipops Because why not, there is Lollyphile! a “San Francisco born & Austin raised candy company” making beer flavoured lollipops. Order yours in IPA, Lager, or Stout.

 

And finally, it’s not beer related, but it’s about drinking and down right Canadian. Here’s Farley Mowat, RIP, on the three cardinal tenets of rum drinking in Newfoundland.

farley_mowat“…The first of these is that as soon as a bottle is placed on a table it must be opened. This is done to “let the air get at it and carry off the black vapors.” The second tenet is that a bottle, once opened, must never be restoppered, because of the belief that it will then go bad. No bottle of rum has ever gone bad in Newfoundland, but none has ever been restoppered, so there is no way of knowing whether this belief is reasonable. The final tenet is that an open bottle must be drunk as rapidly as possible “before all to-good goes out of it.”