A Quick Thought on St. Patrick's Day

Ok, no links or anything here, just a quick write up. St. Patrick's Day has come and gone since I last posted. I always watch in fascination at how the local media covers it. Most of it of course is the standard green beer, let's all promote a day of getting hammered sort of variety, blah, blah, blah. This year did little to change that opinion, but it did seem that a few articles tried to write something decent, whether it was profiling the new Irish Heritage House in Scarborough (today's Toronto Star), giving us a history of St. Patrick himself (Globe and Star on the 17th), or highlighting this summer's grand opening of the famine memorial park at Bathurst Quay (ok, one link). There were even some glowing reviews for an Irish film featured here a little while ago, The Wind That Shakes The Barley, which is playing at a few theatres across town and in Scarborough (let me know if you want to see it at the Scarborough AMC, I have connections there). Kudos to those writers who tried to go beyond the accepted stereotypes...

What did I do? My buddy and I hosted our annual house party. We had a great turn out, 30+ people, and we went through 80L of Mill St. beer, including their tasty Cobblestone Stout. No lining up at pubs, no public vomiting, just a really good time with great friends, some who I had not seen in a while, good beer and the odd old Irish tune in the background. That's a good day.

Je5

Jeff's Top 102 Beers - #101

Neat looking beer, eh? This is one of those beers I would never have remembered having if it were not for ratebeer.com. I've only had it once - after the Spring Cask Beer Festival at Volo last year. I happened to be sitting around after the fest and I started chatting with Stephen Beaumont, Canada's leading beer writer (he is also involved in Beer Bistro's fantastic beer menu), and Nicholas Pashley, author of a very very funny and informative book regarding the quest for the perfect pub and Toronto's beer and pub scene over the years - Notes on a Beermat. Good chaps. Anyway, Stephen had brought along a bottle to share with Ralph, owner of Volo, and they were nice enough to share it with me. This was it. My notes from ratebeer:

Bottle. Dark purple, no head - very still looking. Incredible aroma of grape, black currants and plum. Wow. Complex fruity taste - lots of fruit noted in aroma plus vanilla and a big alcohol punch. I have no idea how else to describe this beer except that it was immense and complex and very enjoyable. Thanks for sharing!

This is one of those beers I could never have imagined myself trying say 6 years ago, yet alone liking. But there you go, know I can dig a gigantic 10% Fruity Belgian Quadrupel as interpreted by a good American Micro Brewery.

Availability? Not here, not even at the beer bars; maybe down in Buffalo at the good beer shops. And speaking of good beer shops, we now have a little less distance to cover, as Niagara Falls, NY, now features a Consumers Beverage Store, which has a great beer selection and even fills up Growlers of good micro beer. Now to get it over the border....