Foiled! supplies dwindling, send help...

In a fit of panic last night-yes, I realize it was day one-I drank one of my 4 bourbon barrel aged Great Lakes Porters. A tactical mistake? Perhaps. But I was feeling celebratory.

This morning, I awoke wondering what would happen if nothing new that's awesome and dark and special occasion-y comes out for awhile. What will I do? Supplies are dwindling.


Beer cellar contents (Ontario):

-3 Great Lakes 25th Anniversary Bourbon Barrel Porters
-1 Great Lakes 25th Anniversary Robust porter
-2 Great Lakes 25th Anniversary Belgian Saisons


eep!

But, in the midst of my morning panic, an angel in the form of a drinkvine.com email: Your local lcbo has 24 Russian Gun Imperial Stouts in stock. wait, what?? already? This will be perfect, I thought! A perfect way to start building my Ontario-only beer cellar! So your intrepid reporter hightailed it over to his local 'bo, where his intrepid beer guy looked confused, checked the back, checked the invoice... There was no Russian Gun. Not for a while. It was all a mistake. A horrible invoicing mistake.

Anyway, I ended up buying some Amsterdam Boneshaker IPA and some Flying Monkeys Cascadian Dark Ale, both of which are very good Ontario beers I highly recommend. Unfortunately, they're not cellar beers. That cellar is where my challenge for the next year will lie.

Here we go: It has begun...

The "yes" pile

ok - here we go. It's begun. Yesterday, I pledged to only drink Ontario beer for the next year. Today, I start taking action.

My fridge contains the following hencetoforth contraband:

-1 Green Flash IPA.
-2 cans of Red Racer.

I will drink them first. And that's when it will really begin.

My fridge also contains:

-Black Oak 10 Bitter Years, a very nice ONTARIO double IPA available at the brewery only. Luckily, it's a stone's throw from Great Lakes Brewing - when I swing by one, I'll swing by the other. This will be very handy for me over the next year. I will make that trip more than once, for sure. You see, neither 10 BY or Great Lakes REAL rare gems are available at the lcbo, so you have to swing by the breweries. PLUS: you get it extra fresh.

-1 can of Great Lakes Brewing Crazy Canuck. Thinking, next time I swing by the brewery, I'll buy the freshest can of this I can find, and do a side by side with this can that's been sitting here for awhile.

I also need to start thinking about stockpiling good stuff for winter: Imperial stouts, triples, quads, belgian strong ales, etc. We don't make much of this stuff in Ontario, and when we do, it's usually at the brewery store and it sells out real quick. I need to be smart about this.

For example, last saturday, Bellwoods had a high gravity bottle sale. I didn't go. Now I regret that decision. Also: last week, Amsterdam sold some bottles of Barrel Aged Tempest (an Imperial Stout) and a Golden Ale at the brewery store - they sold out in 22 minutes.

I'm going to need to be vigilant, and strike when the opportunities arise. Fingers crossed for more Tempest soon.

When the opportunities arise, I will strike. Like a cat. Like a beautiful cat.

For the next year, I will drink only Ontario beer

Goodbye, my sweet precious. Goodbye.

It's with a heavy heart, and a sense of foreboding, that I drink this Hibernus, and that I write this blog post. My keys are wet with the tears of trappist monks. Goodbye my sweet Belgians, goodbye...

It all started earlier this week, amid furor over IPAs and their freshness. Folks were complaining (as beer folks are wont to do) about some out of province beer at the lcbo. Saying it was past its due, that it had lost its lustre. The hops weren't fresh. I bought it and I thought it was ok. Tasted really like most IPAs we get around here. To be honest, I didn't really put much thought into it. Another beer checked off the "to try" list. 3/5. Neither offensive nor inoffensive. And that was that. Or so I thought.

But then something else happened. Great Lakes Brewery released their Bourbon Barrel Aged 25th Anniversary Porter - a beer I've wanted to get my grubby little paws on for home use for ages (ok, it hasn't been around for ages, but you get my drift). They put out a few at the brewery store, and I hightailed it over to get while the getting was good. I bought some, but they also had an IPA called My Bitter Wife. They tend to do fantastic IPAs, so I bought some of those too, seeing as I was all the way across the Gardiner.

That night, I cracked open My Bitter Wife. It was a revelation. It put most other IPAs I've had to shame, mainly because the citrusy hop flavours were so juicy-so vibrant-so fresh. And I started to think about it-Could it be that those other IPAs, those IPAs I buy at the lcbo that have been sitting around for months USED to taste like this? Could I be tasting a hollow shell of what those IPAs used to taste like. Because, seriously, this was in such a different league of flavour it wasn't even close. I don't know the answer because I haven't had most of them fresh. But I do know that the difference between the My Bitter Wife I had and many of the other IPAs I buy can be likened to eating local fruit in season and eating fruit imported out of season. The vibrancy, the juiciness, the freshness. Have you had blueberries from loblaws in the middle of winter? bland. rubbery. but you eat them because they're there. You don't complain.

I don't want that. I want fresh. This brings me to my point.

I've [gulp] been looking for a focus for this blog for awhile, and I think I've found it. I've [gulp] decided to make a vow:

For the next year, I will only drink Ontario beer.*

This will be tricky (read: really really hard)-we don't really do belgian styles. Most of the really good stuff is only available at brewery stores. But I want to give this a go. Think of it sort of like a 100 mile diet for beer. I want to support local. I want to drink fresh beer. And I want to chronicle it all for you, my loyal reader. I want to find out if Ontario beer can sustain me. Is there enough variety, enough flavour? Only one way to find out.

Wish me luck. MUCH more to come.

*This vow excludes beer that is already in my cellar (not much). I'll be drinking that until it [gulp] runs out. Then I'm in trouble. Also: I will drink beer from outside of Ontario if it is free, because it is a sin to turn down free beer, everybody knows that.

Oh Lordy. It's Toronto Beer Week

Sleep well, my precious flower.

I promised I'd be back - and I am. I'm a man who keeps his word. A strong man. A handsome man. A man who used to hurry a lot. Who used to worry a lot. Who used to stay out 'til the break of day.

No more. Usually, bedtime is 9:30-10. 11 tops. I have a kid to raise. A house to maintain. Supper to make. Writing to get done. A job to do.

But this week might be different.

Oh Lordy, it's Toronto Beer Week. The best week of the year to be a craft beer lover in this big beautiful city. Stumble into any craft beer bar this week, and you'll be stumbling into little hives of mutual craft beer admiration filled with tireless barkeeps and beer folks and local beer nano-celebrities. But those titles don't matter this week. What matters this week is what they all have in common: they all love craft beer. And they're all in this together for the love of craft beer.

So, please, if you read this blog, and you live in Toronto, stumble into your local craft beer joint this week. See what's up. Drink what's there. Support local. Support good beer.

Even better, do some planning. The schedule of events is available at torontobeerweek.com. (It ends September 22) Find an event that looks good and go to it. Expand your boundaries. Take a subway across town to a bar you've never visited. Try a beer you've never tried. Try a style you've never tried. Go to an event that sounds weird. Pony up to a bar and talk to a publican. Just, whatever you do, support the folks who work real hard to put real beer in our mouths. And, like I've said many times, the better they do, the more choice and the better beer we get. Might I suggest you give Funk Night a try? That'll push some boundaries, for sure.

But enough about them - whose blog is this anyway? Back to me.

I know what you're all asking: But Pierre, what events will you be going to for craft beer week? Well, I'm not the night hawk I used to be. And that, combined with a sick baby at home who wakes at least twice a night and a certain two night New Year running concurrently, makes me say "Oh Lordy, it's Toronto Beer Week."

So I can't be planning ahead, but there are a few events I really have my eye on. I'll probably end up going to two of these events (Which ones, though, I'm not sure (the suspense is killing you, I know!)):

-The Rock the Danforth Pub Crawl Tonight (it's going to be really, really good. Don't worry about not knowing anyone, by a few drinks into it, it won't matter much). It start at 5:45 at 417 and works its way east towards my house, to Brass Taps, the Only Cafe, Morgan's on the Danforth and Sarah's Cafe and Bar. It's being run by Great Lakes, Sawdust City and Bar Towel.

-The other events are at the Only Cafe:

Tuesday, Great Lakes beer is taking over the taps with one of the best tap lists I've seen in a LONG time. I quake just thinking about it. Actually, wait - dont' go. You wouldn't like it. It'll be lots of farmhouse ales, bourbon barrel porter and other beers with WEIRD names like Dirtbag. Sounds yucky, right? Good. So it's settled, I'll go, and you guys won't.

On Wednesday, Sawdust City has a tap feature. I like them very much, but am still waiting to see what goodies they're bringing. They'll also have a moustache competition which, if I go, I'll win. So it's probably better for you if I don't go.

Check out the Only Cafe's beer week stuff here: http://www.theonlycafe.com/theonly/tbw.html

Anyway, that's just me - go out. explore. make some friends. drink some beer. go. go now.

I'm back

How do you like my dining room table now?

Hey - so first off, an apology.

I've been away from this blog for too long. I've still been obsessively and creepily checking my page views, and I can see many of you are still checking this site. I've neglected you. You've come back and I've been off galavanting. I've been ignoring you, my fine beer brethren (I stole that line).

I've been off travelling the world of craft beer - making my own discoveries - and keeping it to myself. I've been kissing and not telling.

And for that, I apologize. And I promise, I'm back.

So where have I been? Where HAVEN'T I been? I've been to Quebec and back-a fine adventure into the wonderful world of les micros.

I've been to New York City (same thing there).

Mostly, I've been working. You see, after many years as an in-house writer/editor/communications dude, I took the plunge and started my own writing/editing business. And despite my wild fantasies of sitting around, blogging and sampling beer in my underpants all day long, I've been working. Hard. (Editor's note: to be clear, the beer is not IN my underpants in this fantasy, but I am drinking beer WHILE in my underpants.)

It's been great, the best decision I could have made. But it's kept me away. I'm stable enough on my feet now though to return to the blog. And the time is perfect, what with Toronto Beer Week right around the corner.

So I will return, soon, with a post about that. In the meantime, my apologies for this half-post. Most of all, my apologies for being away.

Thanks for still being here.

Shameless plug: Need a writer or editor????? check out my site: pierrelachaine.ca