Saturday, March 03, 2018

Sampling the best of Toronto Winter Brewfest


What was probably bad news for organizers of Toronto Winter Brewfest was good for those of us who attended on Friday night.

There were noticeably fewer people in attendance than on the same night last year, which meant either very short or no lineups to sample the 150 craft beers on offer from about four dozen breweries — and more opportunities to talk beer with the people serving them.

And since I spent most of my time at the two large multi-brewery bars largely tended by volunteers, it was heartening that they were given some background information about what they were serving and allowed to taste them so they could provide recommendations. That hasn’t always been the case at this and other beer festivals I’ve attended where there are volunteer bartenders.

I had a VIP pass that allowed me into an area where I could snack on free popcorn, so I didn’t partake of any of the food being served by TDots Naansense, Delight Bite, Sul Irmaos Smokehouse, Pappas Greek, North Shore Pie Co. and Sausage Party.


My focus was beer and I sampled 19 of them.

My favourite was Flying Monkeys Live Transmission milkshake IPA. The well-hopped ale has 6.3-per cent alcohol by volume (ABV) and registers 60 on the international bitterness units (IBU) scale. Lactose sugar, grapefruit, orange peel and coconut white tea are added to the basic beer ingredients. It’s gold in colour and pours with a frilly white head. Once in your glass, it has a very rich aroma and flavour. It just arrived in LCBO stores and I look forward to picking some up so I can enjoy it as much at home as I did at Brewfest.

My second favourite was Block Three The Legend Belgian saison, an eight per cent ABV, 40 IBU farmhouse ale that pours hazy gold with a fluffy white head. Even with the addition of brett, it’s more fruity than funky and is very easy drinking and finishing.

A close third behind the top two was Beyond The Pale Cosmic Latte, a 5.5-per cent ABV traditional stout brewed with blonde ale malts, oats, coffee and cacao nibs. Blood Brothers Guilty Remnant White Chocolate Stout is one of my favourite beers of the moment, and this slightly sweet stout has some similar qualities and is almost as good.

While IPAs accounted for the bulk of my sampling, I also had two wheat beers, a bock, an eisbock, a sour and a Belgian-style tripel.

Here are the other beers I drank, ranked from most to least favourite, at Brewfest on Friday night:

Cowbell Vintage Renegade Series cinnamon cardamom tripel
Small Pony Barrel Works They Go Up! sour aged in oak barrels with Montmorency cherries
Dominion City Sunsplit American IPA
Gainsbourg Blanche de Chelsea witbier
Le Prospecteur Tete de Pioche #85 IPA
Gainsbourg Serie Road Trip double IPA with Simcoe hops
Cowbell Renegade Series black currant bock
Stalwart Dos Jefes American IPA with grapefruit and vanilla
Stray Dog Shaggin’ Wagon New England IPA
Bicycle Craft Freedom Machine barrel-aged cherry pale ale
Orleans Brewing Wild Wild West west coast IPA
Oast House 2018 Eis Bock Eisbock
Flora Lady Friend IPA
Beyond The Pale Whiskey Blood blended whiskey IPA
Founders Centennial IPA American IPA
Perth Citrus Wheat wheat ale

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