Toronto beer

[Flamebuster]

Hello all,
I will attending the firefighters convention in Toronto later this month and wonder what pubs, breweries and/or local beer I should try or should avoid.

[cattersley]

Hey, here are some great breweries:

- Mill St. Brewery in the old distillary district so there is alot to see and do, organic lager, and stock is a must try.

- Steamwhistle Brewery across from the CN Tower, makes a fantastic pilsner, a great tour!

- Amsterdam Brewery across from Old Fort York, they are very friendly, I used to work there acutally. They usally have alot of beer to sample, up to 4 - 6 at a time or more!

- Granite Brewery on Eglinton Ave. East, the make traddtional cask ales British style, there beers are fantastic, alot of choice on tap.

- The Espinade Beer market, and the Beer Bistro have a selection of hundreds of beers from around the work.

Enjoy Toronto eh! Cheers...

[Flamebuster]

Thank you, I will try my best to visit all of them!

[chazwicke]

I can second the recommendation for Granite. It has been a long time since I was up there and several of the old brewpubs / breweries I used to visit are gone or gobbled up by bigger brewers. Upper Canada comes to mind as does Rotterdam.

By the way The Granite Brewpub in Halifax, Nova Scotia is better than the Toronto one. I think they are owned by 2 brothers and both are good.

[Chris St Mary]

I might be able to add a couple to that great list.
Smokless Joe's on John St. north of King always has a great selection. Be warned that it is a VERY small bar that fills quickly, but worth the inconvience.
If you want a great selection of bottled and canned beer (to drink in your room or take home) from Canadian micros and imports, The LCBO at Queen's Quay can't be beat. They have a whole beer section that has just about any Canadian Micro and a bunch of imports that I've never seen this side of the border.
Enjoy!

[Chris St Mary]

I almost forgot! C'est What on Front St. is also a great place for good beer, single malt scotch, single barrel bourbon and real good food. Try making it there for a meal. You won't be sorry.

[Flamebuster]

Thank you all, I especially like the recommendation from Chris St. Mary "good beer, single malt scotch, single barrel bourbon and real good food. Try making it there for a meal. You won't be sorry."

Besides beer and wine I also enjoy an occasional single malt and bourbon and good food is appreciated by everyone. We have planned out a visit to several wineries after the convention but I think I will make “C'est What” a dinner stop one night. Thanks!

[rogue]

“C'est What ?” Is indeed worthy a visit.

[thekulman]

Yes, C'est What? Has extremely good bar food. It's not the fanciest place in the world mind you, and it's very near the Beer Market on the Esplinade (International beers).

[Flamebuster]

Hello all, I am back from Toronto and had an opportunity to try a few of the local brews (Seelman lager, Steam Whistle, Alexander Keiths IPA, Molson and a house ale at Smokeless Joes.)

I wasn’t too impressed with Canadian beer. Seelman was ok at best but nothing great and at $11 for a six pack way over priced. The Steam Whistle was much like a light beer; little flavor and lots of carbonation. Molson was similar to Michelob or any number of other lightly flavored pilsners. My favorite was the Alexander Keiths. This was at least along the lines of a Micro beer with good balance and nice malt. Nothing special mind you, but a good everyday ale you wouldn’t get tired of. The house ale at Smokeless Joes was awful. Way to sweet and not balanced at all. But in defense of the bar girl she warned me but I wanted to try it anyway (you have to try it to know, right?). Smokeless Joes was a cool little beer bar and sitting outside on the sidewalk watching the people go be was very interesting. They have a huge selection of bottled and caned beer and the girls are not only very pretty but also knowledgeable about the beer.

I wasn’t able to visit C’est What because it was closed the night I went and a couple of the other places were a little far from where I was staying. But from what the girls at Smokeless Joes’ said, and they are Canadian, Canada isn’t a great beer country; but the people were friendly and the weather wasn’t bad, so all and all a good trip.
:)

[markaberrant]

Originally posted by Flamebuster
Hello all, I am back from Toronto and had an opportunity to try a few of the local brews (Seelman lager, Steam Whistle, Alexander Keiths IPA, Molson and a house ale at Smokeless Joes.)

Sounds like you tried the blandest, worst examples of Canadian beer.

[thekulman]

With all due respect I don't believe that waitress knows what she is talking about.

There are lots of great Cdn. beers, unfortunately you tried the more commercial ones.

Sleemans was good but turned from a micro to a macro years ago. Their Cream Ale and Silver Creek Lager are average at best. Recently purchased by Sapporo (Japan).

The beers from Upper Canada brewery are good (now owned by Sleemans coincidentaly). Upper Canada Lager and Rebellion are my favorites from them.

King Brewery is another geat micro you should try. Creemore Springs Lager is in my opinion one of the best Lagers bar none. Try one against a Sam Adams Boston Lager and I know which one you'll pick.

In Toronto the Amsterdam has great beers (the Nut Brown Ale and the Blonde come to mind) as does the Granite Pub (although I haven't been to the latter myself yet).

The only commercial beer I like is Richards Red - but on tap, it's not the same in a bottle.
Unibrue and St. Ambroise (both from Quebec) are another two great breweries with unique beers.

I apologies that you only had our commercial offerings. I liken it to me going down south and basing an opinion after having drank Miller and Coors.

Steam Whistle is all hype. Their beer taste like "brew on premise" extract beer as far as I'm concerned.

Alexander Keith's is alright, but again - made for the mass market, it's not hopped near enough for a real IPA.

When/if you are back in TO, please try some of our other offerings.

[bludrgn]

I would say that you missed quite a few of our better micros on your visit. A pity that you missed Mill St. There Tankhouse ale and Coffee poter are not to be missed (IMHO). Steam Whisle has never impressed me much. However on your next visit you might want to try anything from the Scotish Irish brewing company (usually on tap at Cest what or the beerbistro on King st. )- they are not a Toronto Micro they are from outside of the Ottawa area however I believe they are a good example of Ontario micros. Their IPA make Keiths look like the mega-swill it is. I have been disappointed by the offerings from Upper Canada in the last few years, they lack the personality they once had. I might as try any of the ales from Trafalgar in Oakville (again not quite in Toronto proper.) There Celtic and Irish reds are both quite nice however their meads leave a little to be desired (well they are friut braggots really). Great people though and and a nice brewery tour.

Mill St. Brewery http://millstreetbrewery.com/
Scottish Irish Brewing Company http://scotchirishbrewing.ca/
Trafalgar Brewery http://www.alesandmeads.com/

[Flamebuster]

Thanks for the recommendations. I will certainly give them a try if I am ever in that area again. I will also look for them here in SoCal, we have a couple of good liquor stores that carry imports and micro's from all over. It is exciting to try something from afar, although it is disappointing when you find one you really like and it is only on the shelf for a short time.

I once had Goose Island Christmas Ale and loved it! However, Trader Joe's only carried it for a short time and then never carried any of Goose Island's other beers; which I understand are excellent as well.

I must admit, I was a little surprised to not see a better selection in the down town area. Although, being in the tourist section of town perhaps it is better business sense to offer the standard Coors, Bud lite, etc. And given Coors is now partnered with one of the Canadian brewers it makes sense.

I guess given Canadian's UK roots and cold weather I was expecting something a little more a long the lines of English ales, porters, etc., instead of the light brew favored.

Oh well, it is a great city and beautiful country. We are sure to return if not for the beer than for the people (who were very nice) and the beauty of the country.

PS: A friend’s wife is from Toronto and she suggests we skip winter. She assures us that 72 degrees and sunny is better beer drinking weather than Toronto's average winter temp. :)

[chazwicke]

I've been selling off most of my beer shirt collection on Ebay. I've sold about 60 or 70 so far and I've got more to list. Many have been from Canada or Toronto. Granite from Toronto and Halifax, Upper Canada Publican, Gritstone from Niagara Falls, and a couple of others. I currently have a Niagara Falls shirt and a Rotterdam shirt listed and I recalled this thread. Here are a couple of links:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=019&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=290103213453&rd=1&rd=1

and

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=019&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=290103205115&rd=1&rd=1

If anyone is interested.