We had a good old blabfest in the corner where the bar curves to the front window. I had a Granite Brewery Best Bitter, a beer that served as one of the entry points into the world of craft beer for me back in the mid-80s when it was first brewed at the old Gingers and later at the Henry House down at the end of Hollis Street near the railway station in the south and of Halifax. Lots of nutty and raisiny malt with a whack of pine resiny hops. It was the perfect match for the pulled pork sandwich which was surprising as it was both excellent and in Canada. The raw fennel salad was a bright accompaniment.
Later I returned. I had a good old read of the menu during which time no one bugged me to make up my mind. I settled on a 2005 Tsarina Katarina Imperial Stout from the good folks at Scotch Irish who brought us Sgt. Major's IPA. It was thick licorice and cocoa with minty hops. Fabulous.
The decor is hip trendy, reasonable for a beer bistro, and the prices are as honest as having both the LCBO as your wholesale monopoly and the desire to stay in business selling rarer beers requires. Well worth it as the staff was excellent, relaxed and knowledgeable which matched well with the thoughtful food and and well handled drink. Definitely worth a stop when in the downtown of the Big Smoke.
Comments
Greg Clow - November 10, 2006 12:06 PM
Once again, you come to Toronto and you don't let me know?
You're avoiding me, aren't you? *sigh*
Alan - November 10, 2006 12:53 PM
I know bu t This is why I should never go to Weslakia. This was a 4:45 am up, 5:30 train, 9:00 conference, 12:30 lunch, 1:30 conference, 4:30 beer, 5:30 train, 8:10 home sort of day. But it was very good. We should arrange a Saturday night of C'est What, BeerBistro and Volo tour for the Bartowelers and Good Beer Bloggers. I have led small incursions like that into Syracuse and might be led to participate in some sort of mob mentality attack on the great beers of the world.
Jane - March 24, 2008 4:58 PM
Have you ever thought of getting together with friends and brewing your own batch of beer? I did it [<i>edited for spam</i>] my honey brown came out tasting great. It came out costing us about $3.50 a six pack. We printed off labels so now we have our own beer. It was a good night out and we plan another type next month, maybe oktoberfest and probably a batch of wine too. At any rate it made for a good time as an alternative to always doing pub crawls.