I Survived the Bachelor Party...Barely

4 days to go until the big day (I'm getting married on the 17th). Everything is starting to fall into place. The DJ is booked and ready to go, the photographer is ready to shoot, table arrangements are complete, the beer menu has been selected, and most importantly, I survived the bachelor party.

Back on October 3rd, a bunch of my buddies came down from Orillia to meet up with friends here in Toronto to embark on a five pub, pub crawl through Toronto, stopping at Mill Street, C'est What, 3 Brewers, Granite, and the Victory Cafe. We started at 3:45pm and it was light's out by 2am - good times.

It Begins
After cracking open a couple of beers at my place, a group of us headed west down Queen Street on the 501 streetcar to Parliament before walking down to the Distillery District to visit Mill Street, our first stop. We got there right at the 3:45pm start time and headed to the back of the large pub for pints of Oktoberfest, Tankhouse, ESB, Pilsner, and more. The servers were exceptional, very quick and speedy and gracious, as they brought out enough food to feed a small army. We were whisked away by Simon (retail store employee) to the brewhouse for a quick tour and sampling (btw - the 2009 Barley wine is tasting damn fine).

Out the door and on our way to C'est What, our second destination. We arrived shortly after five and headed straight to the bar to get our hands on some of the left-over beers from the Fall Festival of Craft Brewers that took place the night before. We met up with a bunch of other people who had been to Volo for the Dieu du Ciel event and the total number of pub crawlers jumped to 28, each provided with a t-shirt with all the names of the pubs.

After getting through a number of pints and giving away a bunch of brewery t-shirts, everyone was rounded up and we headed off to the 3 Brewers for more food and pitchers of the brewed on site beer. I wish I could say that I thoroughly enjoyed the newest seasonal, Harvest Season 7 Grain Ale, but I can't really remember it. I do remember saying I enjoyed it, so I'll have to get back to sample some before it's gone for good. Platters of wings, flamms, and nachos were delivered to our table and we played some toonie tosh and watched the Leafs fizzle in the first period.

Onto the subway after two hours at the 3 Brewers and off to the Granite. We occupied the front of the pub while there was a large wedding reception taking place in the back. Ron Keefe was there to greet us and we provided his crew with t-shirts to wear for the rest of the night. I wish there were some pictures taken. I remember a Best Bitter Special, one of my favourite beers of all time, and a Hopping Mad, which at this time was probably into the teens for pints consumed. I love going to the Granite and the out-of-town folks thought it was a pretty cool place.

To end the night we got back to the subway and headed to the Victory Cafe in Mirvish village. We managed to fit the remaining soldiers into the snug on the left of the entrance and the group proceeded to sing happy birthday to a group in the corner. This got us going and Oh Canada was sung next. I wonder what it sounded like? After a couple more pints the guys thought it was time to send me home before I crumpled to the street, so off in a cab it was. I survived!

It was a great night with lots of good solid craft beer and some of the best pubs in Toronto. Everyone was well behaved made it home safely, which is always a bonus. I would to thank John Bowden and Great Lakes for the t-shirts and cans of Devil's Pale Ale they donated, Jon Graham and Cameron's for also donating t-shirts, and to all the owners/operators of the pubs mentioned for allowing us to crash your location.