Picture this: Craft Beer heaven, plus the Only Cafe's Spring Beer Fest

Picture this:

Toronto.

Right now.

You're in a store, looking to buy a little bit of craft beer. The walls are stocked with rows and rows of local goodies.

You're having a few friends over this weekend and want to grab a selection of beer to knock their booties off.

Maybe you'll grab an Imperial Stout for your friend Ginger, you know she likes the style, but you can't decide between Amsterdam's Tempest or Sawdust City's Long Dark Voyage to Uranus or a Wellington Imperial Stout.

Most of your friends, like Atticus, Marnie and Blanket, like a good IPA. So do you. So you'll pick up a wide selection of those: some Cameron's Rye PA, some Amsterdam Boneshaker, some Sawdust City Lone Pine, some Great Lakes Karma Citra AND Lake Effect.

There's this one guy who's coming over, though, he really likes to get punched in the teeth with the hops. Like, really punched. Straight up IPA doesn't do it for Clovis, no it doesn't. Maybe good ol' "Cloves," as you like to call him goodnaturedly, would like a double IPA or three. Maybe you'll grab a sixer of Black Oak 10 Bitter Years for him-give him three, and save three for yourself.

Nice party, good time.

Stop.

Real talk: This store doesn't exist. These people don't exist. There was no party. There was no fun. I made it up.

But despite being a fake scenario, the beers were real. And they were but a few of the delicious craft beers Ontario's brewers are brewing that SHOULD be available to us all. (For more on my thoughts on that, see my last post).

All this to say that if you want to taste the best Ontario's craft brewers have to offer, there is no magical store (but please let there be soon!).

There is, however, the Only Cafe's Spring Beer Fest, which starts tonight. That's where the brewers will be, and they'll be giving samples of their wares (not necessarily the brewers or the beers I mentioned above. Again, I made that up).

So go, and support craft beer, and show 'em all your love and maybe someday soon, with enough support, you can invite Ginger and Atticus and Marnie and Blanket and, yes, even good old Cloves, over to your place. And they'll actually come, because they'll know you're well stocked with the good stuff. And then, my friends, you'll actually have friends besides me. 

For more on the Only Cafe's Spring Beer Fest, visit: theonlycafe.com

An Open Letter to Those Who Make Decisions on Such Things

To Whom In May Concern that Makes Decision on Such Things:

I write this letter to ask, nay beseech, you, on behalf of my taste buds, to loosen the government/beer store bi-nopoly on the sale of beer (heretofore referred to as "my precious.") In particular, my interests lie in growing the Ontario craft beer market, and having local wares more easily accessible.

I propose creating a tri-opoly with three featured players: the lcbo, which would import quality my precious from abroad, and the Beer Store which would mainly deal in "big beer." So far, not much has changed. But now pay attention here, this is the important part: The third opoly would be owned by Ontario's craft brewers themselves (a collective? a co-op?). They would share distribution and set up a series of shops throughout the province that would carry exclusively Ontario craft beer. The benefits of setting up this system are many, but here are a few:

• More business and wider distribution for the Craft brewers. This would help turn the little guy into the bigger guy. 
• Local is good.
• Fresh beer is good too.
• More choice for the consumer (me).
• The environment is good. Instead of hundreds of cars heading out to the country/outskirts of town to pick up their beer directly from the breweries, a few big trucks would deliver it to the stores.
• Maybe I wouldn't miss out on all the awesome limited quantity beers our brewers make because I can't get out to Etobicoke (cough cough 10 Bitter Years cough).
• It would push our outdated liquor laws further into the 20th century, and make us look much less lame to potential tourists.

There are more reasons than this, and more logical arguments too, but I have a full time job and a baby and I'm tired. Perhaps my loyal readers can help fill out this list? There's something that just doesn't sit right with me that it's easier to buy beer from germany than it is from a small brewery in Ontario. I feel much more pride pouring a beer from one of our great local breweries than I do a large brewery overseas. I have no ownership in that. 

I do feel ownership in Ontario's craft beer scene. Let's all work together to help me get my precious into my precious little hands (that last time, precious actually meant precious.)

Thank you very much,

Sincere Regards,

Brau

PS: When you do set up these little shops, please ensure one of them is in East York, a minimum of five blocks from my house. DM me for address details. 

ABOUT A BEER: Lone Pine IPA

The holy trinity: Beer glass, beer bottle, and beer reading

WHAT IS IT? An American India Pale Ale (IPA) with 6.5% alcohol.

WHO MAKES IT? Sawdust City Brewing Co, in Gravenhurst, Ontario.

WHERE CAN I FIND IT? You can find it if you're lucky. Unfortunately for us, this small brewery only brews in relatively small amounts (for now). So that means no lcbo, and no Beer Store. But when you see Sawdust City beer, know that it will be good.

A fresh shipment of Lone Pine recently was delivered to certain finer beer establishments. I can personally vouch for having seen or tried it at Wvrst, Morgan's on the Danforth, Bar Volo, and the Only Cafe. http://sawdustcitybeer.blogspot.ca/ has a complete map of the bars that carry it. Print it, fold it into 8, and keep it in your wallet, you never know when the mood might strike you.

WHAT DOES IT TASTE LIKE? I've written quite a bit about IPAs. This is one of those, but with an emphasis on the bitterness and the piney-ness. And by "an emphasis," I mean that the bitter slaps you right in the face. There's also some subtle (compared to the bitterness) citrus and bread, but they serve to complement the real stars: the pine and the bitterness.

WHEN SHOULD I DRINK THIS? Whenever you can find it. Sawdust City's beers are brewed in small batches and they come and go quickly.

WHAT ELSE?
The brewery makes a series of other beers that also come and go quickly, but Lone Pine is the first that they've made a second run of (this run was tweaked slightly to bring out the bitter. eep!). Long Dark Voyage to Uranus, their Russian Imperial Stout, is worth seeking out as well, though maybe it's not so much a patio sipper at 8.5%. And I might suggest shortening the name to LDV when in the presence of more respectable members of society.

If you follow me on the tweeter, you know that I have a bit of a mancrush on Sawdust City. They're the kind of brewery we need more of in Ontario, with a pioneering spirit and a taste for big flavours. Plus: they're flat out bad ass. These are beers that force this reclusive beer dad out of his nest and into the public, where danger lurks. And that's no small feat.