Craft Brewers Conference Adventure Pics - Part 1

At the World Beer Cup reception.  These are just some of the leftover beers from the judging.  Scooped a 2006 Barrel Aged Speedway Stout, Tree Double HopHead IPA, St. Feuillien Saison, Nogne-O Imperial Stout, Stone Sublimely Self Righteous... and more.

The sign out front of Clark Street Ale House, a Chicago landmark.  We grabbed out pints of Founders Diablo de Noche (a huge Black IPA), Southern Tier's Matt and Phin's ExtraOrdinary Ale, and headed out back to their patio to drink with the dogs....

Stone Brewery co-founder Greg Koch and I at the Stone/Nogne-O/Jolly Pumpkin collaborative dinner.  The face - check out Koch's twitter hash-tag (#gregface) to see what it's all about.

The bar at the State & Lake hotel bar near the entrance to the rail line.  All the kegs are stored underneath the bar and are showcased by the clear glass.  The State & Lake was our last stop (bar #15 for us) and had great deals on flights of beer from all over the US.

Here we have John Bowden from Great Lakes Brewing Co. and George Eagleson of F&M Brewery at The Local Option who were congratulating some woman on her birthday.  Don't you love the shirts?  "Proud to be a Canadian Craft Brewer" (some are still available)

And.....the draught menu at The Local Option.  Still drooling.

More pictures will come soon!

Coors Light Disses Toronto

I picked up a copy of the Metro this morning and saw the headline Toronto the Cold with a picture of a Coors Light billboard. I did the first thing any fan of craft beer would do - I turned the page without reading the story. I just figured it would be another marketing gimmick about mountains turning blue or Coors introducing a new cold-filtered lime based light beer in Toronto.

However, a colleague came into work and asked if I read the article and pointed out the real message on the billboard: Colder than most people from Toronto. I live in Toronto. Should I be offended? I'm not, I think it's pretty funny actually and Coors accomplished exactly what they wanted to by putting up this poster; getting people talking about it. Although, I would rather see another slogan take its place - Colder than, ah... who cares.

The Toronto Star has the story and comments are pouring in and I think it's pretty entertaining to read some of the thoughts posted. There are some people really taking offensive to the ad, going so far as to saying they've purchased their last case of Coors (great, pick up a Stonehammer Light by F&M. A light beer with taste). But the quote of the day belongs to d_c who wrote:

gimme a break!
I might take umbrage if it was actually real beer. But, Coors Light?

Support your locals - drink craft beer!

In Pictures - Neustadt Brewery: Neustadt, ON

I was able to get out of the city for the weekend, heading to Elmwood for a wedding. Looking at Google maps to get a sense of its location, I noticed it was very close to Neustadt, home of Val and Andrew Stimpson's Neustadt Springs Brewery. It was determined that a slight detour was in order to stop in and take a tour of the cellar/tunnel beneath the historic brewery.

The brewery, built in 1859 by Henry Huether, is situated just off the main street in the small village and sits atop on a natural clear spring of water that still flows underneath the brewery to this day. The Stimpson's moved here from the UK in 1997 and purchased the old brewery, which hadn't seen beer produced on-site since 1916 due to the brewery closing because of prohibition.

Due to the timing of the wedding, I couldn't afford to stay at the brewery for too long, but I did manage to get in a self tour of said cellar/tunnels, where Huether once stored his beers to keep cool. The tunnels, as people in Neustadt said, used to run all over the downtown area to supply the local Inns and Taverns; however, they have since been blocked and no there is now no access past the brewery.

Here are some pictures.

After walking down a set of stairs and rounding a corner, this is the first room in the cellar that you enter. Notice the chandelier hanging from the ceiling? It dates back to the start of the original Crystal Springs Brewery - 1859.

This was the entrance to one of the tunnels (turn left at end). Some of the rooms had adequate lighting; this one did not. The girls I was with were a bit nervous about walking through.

Another room with one light. Old beer barrels are scattered in this room and there are some metal artifacts hanging on the stone walls (not pictured).

A bunch of barrels lined up against the wall. The opposite wall was also lined with barrels.

This is an original barrel with the original 'Huether's Beer' symbol on it.

The water. This is one of Neustadts biggest assets. You can hear the water flowing gently as you enter the last room and pictures of Huether pulling up water for his brews runs through my head.

And back out to the front where Val was busy selling their products to a bunch of locals. The Big Dog Porter was available in cans for $2.65.

**

On Saturday August 15th, Val and Andrew will be opening the doors to the brewery for an open house, leading people on a brewery tour and taking people on the underground adventure to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the oldest operating brewery in Ontario.

Guided tours of the brewery, cellar/tunnels and the spring run from May to September on weekends only and cost a mere $5. Individuals are encouraged to call ahead to book the tour in advance. Group tours for up to 10 people can also be arranged. Call ahead to book.

Picture of the Month

Picture of the month belongs to Grand River Brewing Co.'s brewmaster Rob Creighton who had this snapped at GR's first tasting of the year.  Here's Creighton and GR owner Bob Hannenberg addressing the sold out crowd while they sample various winter warmers.

What a beautiful brewery, so rustic and rugged.

I Won A Prize

I was debating whether or not to enter Alan and Jeff's annual Yuletide photo contest this year as I had helped get them some prizes. However, right before the deadline I decided that it wouldn't hurt to toss in some pictures, besides, I felt that some of the photograph's I took over the last year at certain events were quite good.

So I entered, and I'm glad I did. I ended up winning a prize, 11th prize to be exact. My winning picture (above) was taken at Volo during their 4th annual Cask Days Festival and the hand belongs to Denison's owner Michael Hancock as he was pouring some of his delicious Dunkel into a glass for a waiting customer. I didn't think it was the best one in the pile, but hey, I won't complain.

According to Alan's list of prizes, that correspond with the list of winning photo's, I am the recipient of a free lunch at the Stinking Rose Pub in Campbellford, ON and a tasting for four at John Graham's Church Key Brewing Co. Stinking Rose is also owned by John Graham, so the two go hand-in-hand. Getting out to the Stinking Rose and Church Key for a visit to do some profiles have been at the top of a list of things I wanted to do, so the prize works out great for me.

Check out A Good Beer Blog to access and view the hundreds and hundreds of beery photographs that were submitted from all over the world. A big thanks goes out to Alan and Jeff for their work behind the scenes. This contest is always a good time and the pictures are all wonderful to peruse through.

Picture of the Month

George Eagleson, brewer at F&M, dunks his head deep into a bushle of hops at Wednesday's hop information session at the Granite Brewery while beer writer Robert Hughley looks on.

Read about the event here.

Picture of the Month

A seasoned craft beer drinker sampling the ales - Hart House Craft Beer Festival and Pig Roast

Check out that tie!

Picture(s) of the Month

Good man pouring a Stonehammer Dark Ale -Victory Cask Festival

Granite Best Bitter Special and Cascade Hops at Victory Cask Festival

Picture of the Week

Sam Calagione, owner/operator of Dogfish Head Brewery, gets mobbed by the guys last night at Beerbistro's Dogfish Head 9 course beer and food pairing.

Left to Right: Mike Laba (Cameron's), Jason Ellesmere (Cameron's), Sam Calagione, John Bowden (Great Lakes), Jason Britton (Cameron's), Carter, Jon Graham (Cameron's) and Cass Enright (Bar Towel)