Please Stop Saying Mouthfeel

Posted on by Ben

Dear Beer Writers,

Please stop saying “mouthfeel.”

Sincerely,

Me

Look, I know “mouthfeel” is a real thing, but let’s just all agree to…stop saying it.

OK?

Let’s let it die.

For the uninitiated, “mouthfeel” is an actual concept used to convey the sensation that food or drinks leave in your mouth and it’s something that’s noted by food, wine, and beer connoisseurs.

It’s not actually a made up douchey, pseudo-concept, as much as it sounds like one, but an honest-to-goodness thing, as is evidenced by it’s inclusion in the dictionary.

mouth·feel

[mouth-feel]

noun
the tactile sensation a food gives to the mouth: a creamy mouthfeel.

See?

But let’s be honest, it’s just a fucking awful word.

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How Canadian is Your Canadian Whisky?

Posted on by Ben

It turns out that the bottle of “Canadian Whisky” you’ve got on the shelf of your bar isn’t really all that Canadian after all.

This weekend I visited Still Waters Distillery in Concord, Ontario, in order to do a little profile of their business for blogTO. In addition to learning a thing or two about how vodka and whisky are made (not to mention trying a few samples), I also learned a little bit about the whisky business here in Canada.

Perhaps not so surprisingly, it’s a bit of a tough go.

Still Waters, it turns out, is virtually the only micro-distillery operating in Ontario; and really, there are only a handful of micro or craft distillers in the whole country. Much like the handful of Ontario craft brewers I’ve come to know in my time writing about beer, Barry Bernstein and Barry Stein, the co-founders of Still Waters, face an uphill battle when it comes to trying to get their products out to the people who drink them. Indeed, given that the craft beer community is so collaborative and supportive, Still Waters arguably faces an even tougher battle given that they’re essentially the only little guys out there right now, so they’re trying to do it on their own. Continue reading “How Canadian is Your Canadian Whisky?” →

Muskoka Brewery’s Hidden Kitchen

Posted on by Ben

Whoever said that you can have too much of a good thing probably wasn’t talking about beer and meat.

Because honestly, last night, at Muskoka Brewery‘s second Hidden Kitchen event held at goed eten, I had absolutely no qualms indulging in obscene quantities of Mad Tom IPA and what can only accurately be described as a shit-ton of barbecued meat.

The event is part of a new series of exclusive foodie evenings capitalizing on the city’s pop-up kitchen trend and is backed by Muskoka Brewery for “the people who are as passionate about food as [they] are about beer.”

Hosting the events is food-scene veteran Ivy Knight, writer for The Toronto Star, Food & Drink, Toronto Life, and The Globe and Mail among others, and editor and co-founder of the fedgling foodie website, Swallow Food.

Food for the Hidden Kitchen events is prepared by buzz-worthy chef Matt Kantor who has a made a name for himself in the city’s culinary scene by forgoing a traditional kitchen in favour of a transient attitude toward cuisine and a savvy approach to social media, perhaps most notably evidenced by his renowned Secret Pickle Supper Club.

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You Should Already Be Drinking: Flying Dog

Posted on by Ben

Flying Dog Logo

Ale has long been the drink of thugs, convicts, rowdies, rakes and other depraved outlaws who thrive on the quick bursts of night-energy that ale brings.

In the 17th century England gangs of ale-crazed fops would often fight to the death in all-night brawls on public greenswards, which terrified the citizenry and left many of the infamous “youngblood horseman” chopped up with grievous sword and dagger wounds… These were the Wild Boys of Olde English story and song, rich sots on horseback who amused themselves in London by riding out at night, ripped to the tits on strong ale, and “popped old ladies into empty booze-barrels and rolled them down steep, cobblestone hills with crazy screams and shouts.”

If you must roll old ladies down hills and you don’t want to pay the bills, try to be nice and clean off their lice with a powerful Road Dog Ale.

~Hunter S. Thompson

 

The good doctor penned the mini quote above, dubbed “Ale According to Hunter,” in honour of the launch of “Road Dog Porter,” for Flying Dog Brewery which was, at the time, brewing beer in Woody Creek, Colorado just down the road from Thompson’s Owl Farm.

According to the legend (or Flying Dog’s website) Thompson and Flying Dog co-founder George Strahan apparently bonded over “explosives, high-powered weapons, politics, football, whiskey, and beer.” In 1996, Thompson introduced Strahan to illustrator Ralph Steadman and, amazingly, Steadman has been doing original artwork for the brewery’s labels ever since.

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Americans Are Doing Beer Better Than Us

Posted on by Ben

America is better at beer than Canada.

It feels dirty to write it and I’m half expecting the RCMP to kick in my apartment door for even uttering such a treasonous notion, but it’s true.

I don’t mean to say that Canadians don’t make great beer–because god damn it we do–I drank a shit ton of great beer just last night and most of it was brewed within 100 kilometres of Toronto. There are amazing brewers in Ontario making amazing beer and there are more new ones every day.

But we barely scratch the surface when compared to our big dumb cousins to the south.

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‘Tis A Fine Time for Drinkin’

Posted on by Ben

While there is, of course, no such thing as a bad time for drinking (Christenings maybe?), this month in particular seems to have aligned the stars for the city’s beer drinkers to provide ample opportunity for pint tipping.

Two notable events are happening this weekend and next at venues that will soon be ranked [Spoiler Alert] among the city’s 15 best bars for beer selection according to the readers of blogTO : barVolo and The Only Cafe.

VoloAt Volo is, of course, the 4th annual three-day tribute to hops that is the Cask IPA Challenge. The event will feature 26 brewers, all of whom have crafted a cask conditioned (unfiltered, aged and served in a cask and poured without CO2 or nitrogen) IPA and will square off tournament-style in blind tastings until there is only one brewer left standing–ostensibly on wobbly legs after three days of drinking Cask IPAs

The fun kicks off on Friday with an IPA Spinoff Challenge, showcasing some not-quite-IPA styles like Double IPAs and Black IPAs before the official tournament starts Saturday. Complete details including the list of participating brewers and the first round bracket can be found here.

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Why are you still drinking shitty beer?

Posted on by Ben

Not so long ago, I started writing about beer on a regular basis.

Initially my involvement with beer was a pretty casual affair, allowing me to pair two things I’ve always loved; drinking and writing.

Though after a few months writing about beer, meeting with local brewers, attending beer events, and drinking great beer, it became clear I was becoming a little obsessed with beer.

These days I spend a considerable amount of my time reading about, talking about, writing about, and of course drinking, beer and it’s my hope this obsession will soon expand into the world of making beer–but more on that later.

So while I currently cover general beer happenings for the Toronto-centric blogTO, I thought it was high time I had my own place to collect my thoughts on all things beer and document the sure-to-be-messy process of learning how to make my own.

And so, given that I have this new forum, I thought I’d use my inaugural post to pose a question to the city’s beer drinkers: Why are you still drinking shitty beer?

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