As regular readers of beer blogs will know, the first Friday of every month is The Session, when we all collectively blog on a specific theme. On the day of July’s Session, however, I will be basking in the glow of being newly wed, relaxed and computerless on a beach in Mexico’s Mayan Riviera. So rather than miss it entirely, I thought I’d simply post a week early. (more…)

It’s small. It’s out of the way. It’s more than just a bit frayed at the edges. But if you ever make your way to Helsinki, don’t you dare miss it. (more…)

Anyone familiar with my writing will know that a common refrain of mine is the complaint over how difficult it is to find places that combine good beer with a food menu that ranges beyond burgers, wings and fries. Not that there’s anything wrong with those foods — that trio pretty much describes my dinner of last night — but sometimes a little creative cuisine is nice, and with it a decent beer or two. (more…)

The theme for this month’s edition of The Session, our beer bloggers day, is beer festivals, and so I thought it apropos to revisit here last weekend’s Mondial de la Biere in Montreal. (more…)

I had a bit of a jolt yesterday as I walked up John Street in the heart of Toronto’s Entertainment District. There, erected just north of Nelson Street between Richmond and Adelaide, were construction hoardings, workmen and welders, and a large banner which read “Coming Soon: Jack Astor’s,” or words to that effect. Ordinarily, this wouldn’t be worth so much as a second glance, except that the structure under what appears to be rather extensive renovations was once home to this city’s first modern brewpub, the Amsterdam Brewing Company. (more…)

I’m just back from Savor: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience in Washington, D.C., and the National Restaurant Association’s International Wine, Spirits & Beer Event in Chicago, two not-entirely-unrelated events that proved to me the future for premium craft beer is indeed rosy. At the former, a sell-out crowd enjoyed many a fine beer with select morsels of tasty cuisine, some in pairings that soared and other which struggled, while at the latter, restaurateurs battled crowds and poor sound systems to learn more about what the future of beer and other alcoholic beverages might hold. Interest in both events was reassuringly high. (more…)

Toronto has been an unusually busy place for beer events of late, with dinners and tastings and such popping up with astounding regularity. One you likely will not have read about elsewhere, however, was a dinner I attended last Wednesday at Morton’s Steakhouse in Yorkville, which is certainly not one of the first locales a person would associate with quality beer. (more…)

Yes, folks, it’s Session time again, and if you don’t know what that means, follow this link and catch up. I’ll wait.

After missing last month’s edition of our auspicious beer blogging Friday, I rejoin this one only to learn that we’re not to talk about beer, per se, but rather the experience that brought us to beer. For me, that’s at the same time simple and complicated. I’ll explain. (more…)

I know this entity is called the “Beer Blog,” but I’d like to invite everyone to take a sojourn with me for a moment or two over to the world of wine. Trust me, we’ll eventually get back to beer. (more…)

Thanks to our friends at Ontario Craft Brewers, the umbrella group for most of the province’s smaller breweries, I now know that Black Oak Brewing will finally be upping sticks from Oakville, the Toronto suburb where it was born, and moving into the Big Smoke. Only just so, mind you, since their new home will lie well west of the Humber, but still within city limits in the area known as Etobicoke. (more…)