Find your local breweries

Today, I'm taking a little pause to reflect on my Ontario beer odyssey so far. And you're in luck, I'm going to impart a little bit of wisdom. Have a seat, this will be mind blowing. 

Here's my advice for you: Find your local craft breweries, and get your beer straight from the source whenever possible. It's the freshest way to get your beer--no languishing in warehouses before getting to you. You'll also have the pleasure to see the place your beer was made and, if you're lucky, you might get to meet the folks that make your beer, chat them up. No cold soviet era like storehouses, real people make real beer. And that sense of community is what makes getting into craft beer so much fun.

In addition, at least at my local breweries, they often save the best stuff for the brewery store. Many brewers sells their big market stuff through the lcbo, but save their small batch goodness and seasonals (this is the real good stuff) for the brew store.

Without these brewery stores (props go to Great Lakes and Amsterdam so far...), I'd have a pretty long year ahead of me. Instead, over the past week, I've been able to get an Imperial Russian Stout, an Imperial Black IPA, a Vanilla Imperial Espresso Stout, and a smoke beer which otherwise would have been out of my reach.

To find your local breweries, a good place to start is the Ontario Craft Brewers website. Check out their brewery map here: http://www.ontariocraftbrewers.com/breweriesMap.php (Note that there are other craft breweries in Ontario that don't belong to OCB).

If you're in Toronto, BlogTo recently wrote a piece on their "top 10 non-Beer store beer stores" in Toronto. Check it out here: http://www.blogto.com/eat_drink/2012/11/the_top_10_non-beer_store_beer_stores_in_toronto/

Of course, the lcbo has its place, and, when paired with your local breweries, can help create a fulfilling craft beer experience for you.

Uh oh. Mad Tom's here - and he's even madder.

Muskoka Brewery's Twice as Mad Tom IPA has hit lcbo shelves. I've been a bit fan of the original Mad Tom since it first came out, it's one of our very best Ontario IPAs (in my humble opinion), and was one of our very first widely available IPAs. 

And now, with Twice as Mad Tom, Muskoka is once again filling a huge void in the lcbo's inventory: a locally brewed double IPA. 

This is going to make my year of Ontario beer even more enjoyable. Double IPAs (DIPAs) are one of my favourite styles, and I was sweating there for awhile that I'd have to drive out to Black Oak Brewery for their 10 Bitter Years every time I wanted one. Now I just need to drive five minutes to the lcbo for a top notch DIPA. 

This DIPA is much different that 10 Bitter Years though (neither better not worse, just different).

It clocks in at 8.4%, and, while very hoppy, it generally eschews the punch in the face hop attack of many DIPAs for a more layered, flavourful approach-to wonderful effect. This citrus is there, in fine juicy form, and the malts back it up nicely. Don't get me wrong, dude's hoppy. But dude's deep too. Like, Jordan Catalano deep. 

I like it. Try it.

Amsterdam moves into my neighbourhood. Angels sing.

So, it's November 1st. The day we've all been practising for.

Amsterdam is now officially all moved in to their new digs in Leaside. This is great news for my Ontario beer quest. One of the best breweries in Ontario is now a 7 minute drive from my house

Most excitingly, they also have a new run of Tempest Imperial Stout at the brewery store-I highly suggest you hightail it over there because it won't last long. This is a very special beer--one of those beers that people cut out of work early to get  their hands on before it's gone. One of those beers that people leave their jobs to start their own writing/editing businesses so that they can work from home and be ready to drive over to the brewery at a moment's notice for. I can't stress this enough: Go get it while it's available. I mean it so much I'm going to underline it: Go get it while it's available. 


If you miss it, it should also be at the lcbo (for the first time) imminently, in very limited quantities (you might want to ask your local "beer guy" or "beer girl" if your local lcbo is getting it and, if they are, whether they could put a few aside for you.)

Holy Smoke: Another void filled in Ontario beer

Things are happening quickly in Ontario beer. Things are accelerating. Each month--each week even--my year-of-Ontario-beer challenge is turning from "I have to drink Ontario beer for a whole year??" into "I get to drink Ontario beer for a whole year!!"

There's much on the horizon that I'm interested in, much happening this week even, but that's for a different post. 

This post is meant to tout another hole filled in our scene: Church-Key's Holy Smoke has hit the lcbo. Until now, we've been very underserved in the Scotch Ale department (A dark, sweet ale) AND in the Smoke beer department (think charcoal BBQ.... mmmm.....). Holy Smoke is a sort of hybrid of the two-A scotch ale using peat smoked malts.

I know a lot of people who don't like smoke beer, but I like it a lot. Be warned, though: this 6.2% ale is NOT a session beer. There's a lot going on and it can tire out the palate, so I recommend splitting the 650 ml bottle with a friend. Unless you're the kind of person who can pound back scotch all night long, then be my guest. 

Count this ridiculously handsome beer blogger happy to see this addition at the lcbo. Give it a chance.

Prayers answered... Storm's a brewin'... (Amsterdam Tempest)

So far, this whole "I'll only drink Ontario craft beer for a whole year" thing has been pretty tasty. I've spent a lot of time on the Gardiner, driving to Great Lakes (for some Deliverance, Ernie Wit and Saison du Pump-all awesome) and to Black Oak (for some 10 Bitter Years and some Oaktoberfest-also real good).

And I think that's what life will be like this year. After all, the good stuff you usually have to get from brewery itself.

So I was overjoyed to hear that Amsterdam Tempest, an imperial stout I've been dying to try for ages but haven't been able to get my hands on, is being released next Monday, October 22. And not only that, it'll be in the lcbo (in limited quantities). From what I've heard, it's the best imperial stout in Ontario, and seems to be right down my mouth puckering 100 IBU alley.

I was so happy to hear the news that I cracked into the dwindling supply of imperial stouts that remain in my cellar. If I can get my hands on a few of these bad boys, my ontario craft winter won't be so barren after all.