Lake of Bays Brewing an IPA

The crew over at the Lake of Bays Brewing Co. in Baysville, ON are working on a new India Pale Ale that they hope to release to the LCBO April 1st.

The young brewery, who have two year-round offerings in their Pale Ale and Rousse, will add the IPA to their seasonal program which at this time only includes their popular Mocha Porter.

Darren Smith, the President of Lake of Bays, told me in an email that the IPA will include Magnum, Amarillo, Citra (dry hop), and Centennial (dry hop) hops and will be packaged in a 750ml bottle (same as the Mocha Porter) and will be available at various LCBO retail stores across the province.

Smith describes the IPA as follows:
Lake of Bays India Pale Ale is a moderately hopped IPA with an emphasis on hop flavour and aroma. It has a pleasing malt character with notes of caramel and roasted barley to balance out the hops. All in all, a refined take on this popular North American style. The aim with the IPA, as with all of our beers, is for it to represent a superb example within the IPA category. This means that we haven't sought to go to extremes with this beer, either in terms of bitterness or alcohol content. It's made to taste damned good, and that's it. Hop bitterness is one thing, but hop flavour and aroma are really what make an IPA enjoyable and distinct. On the malt side, the beer sits at 6% ABV, with some dark roasted malts for colour and flavour, and some caramel flavours too from our crystal malts. This will make it a medium-brown IPA, and provide the needed flavour balance for a beer with fairly pronounced hoppiness.

Smith confirmed that there are a couple of special "sneak preview" casks and kegs of the IPA already making their way out to bars and restaurants across the province, including many in the GTA. As mentioned, the 750ml bottles will hit LCBO as of April 1st and will be around until late September.

"We're excited! This beer is the seasonal counterpart to our Mocha Porter, and we're now halfway to our long-term goal of a seasonal beer for each season," said Smith.

Beer For Boobs T.O. - Series Begins March 25th

The first event in which will be an ongoing Beer For Boobs T.O. series of one-off beers brewed by nine female brewers for Breast Cancer Research will take place at barVolo on March 25th. 

You can get all the information in the press release posted below, it should be noted that the females brewed the first of the beers yesterday (a sour) with House Ales. 

Beer For Boobs: An event in support of Breast Cancer Research

9 Female brewers collaborate to produce one off beers for charity

February 6, 2012 - (Toronto, ON): A group of passionate female brewers from Toronto have come together to produce a series of one-off beers for “Beer For Boobs”, an event at Barvolo on March 25th with the proceeds benefiting the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

During the hours of 2pm-8pm on that day, every beer on tap at Bar Volo will have been brewed by a female member of Toronto’s brewing industry. The Granite Brewpub, Amsterdam Brewery, Black Oak Brewery, Cheshire Valley, and Bar Volo’s House Ales have all generously donated their time, ingredients and pilot systems to collaborate on a special one-off beer to be served only at this event.

Furthermore the 9 females, representing 6 of Toronto's craft breweries, have all come together to collaborate on one special beer to be featured at the event. Truly a one of a kind event, and one of a kind beers, as nothing like this has ever been done in the Canadian beer scene before.

Other local breweries, as well as businesses, who do not have access to or own a pilot system, but still believe in this great cause have donated prizes to be raffled off. This is a ticketed event, and is $20 dollars at the door. All of the cost of the door, as well as the cost of the kegs and the raffle prizes is being donated to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. The event will be catered by Alli’s Fresh Baked.

The Beer For Boobs Name is being used in affiliation with, and under permission from, a non-profit group of the same name based out of San Diego, California. This is inaugural event of what will become a series of events known as “Beer for Boobs T.O.”

For more information, to set up an interview or seek comments regarding the beers being brewed please contact:

Tracy Phillippi
 tmphill@gmail.com or TracyP@blackoakbeer.com
416-364-9643
twitter @craftbeerlady

twitter @beer4boobsTO

The Globe and Mail - Inside Look at a Toronto Breweriana Collector

Today's edition of The Globe and Mail featured a story titled "Through a glass, smartly: Beer today, but not gone tomorrow" that tells the story of Toronto's Larry Sherk, one of Canada's largest collectors of breweriana.

I've known Sherk for a couple of years now, meeting at various events throughout the year, and he has been a great resource for me as I started building my own personal collection of various beer items (Canadian growlers, bottle openers, glassware, ashtrays and trays). I have seen bits and pieces his collection over the years and I can tell you it's impressive.

The story focused on the amount of Canadian beer labels that Sherk has accumulated over his 40 years of collecting and how he just recently donated them to the Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library at the University of Toronto. He has labels from breweries you've probably never ever heard of - labels like Cincinnati Cream Heavy Munchener Beer from the British American Brewing Co. in Windsor, ON.

I ran into Sherk last week at a local event and he told me about the donation, something he's done previously with other items from his collection, and he stated the value was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Well, the paper quotes the library's assessors as saying that Sherk's 3000 labels are worth $125,000 dollars and climbing. That's a nice tax rebate!

Not to give away the whole article, but Sherk's collection doesn't end with beer labels. He collects beer cans (4000), vintage beer trays (some were on display at the Black Creek Pioneer Village brewery centre), coasters, calendars, and a very vast collection of business cards from people in the brewing industry.

Grab the paper version of the Globe to see a couple of the labels. And, 600 or so of the labels can be viewed by going to the Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library Flickr account.

The Ultimate Winter Two-Four: The Grid (Toronto)

When the Toronto Beer Week (TBW) board was looking at the 2011 marketing budget we explored the two largest Toronto weekly newspapers - NOW Toronto and The Grid (the latter was previously Eye Weekly).

The direction, content and fresh thinking at The Grid steered us in their direction, as did their promise of putting together a mini beer guide that would run during TBW. They did one, titled The Ultimate Two-Four, and it was a big success.

One of the many attractions of The Grid is that they have a dedicated writer for beer articles. Crystal Luxmore (Hopped Up column) has ingrained herself into the Ontario beer scene and has done a great job telling the stories about beer news around these parts. In short, The Grid is taking the craft brewing industry seriously and are doing a good job of spreading the word to a whole new demographic. In addition to Luxmore's articles, The Grid will be doing quarterly (seasonal) mini beer guides (like the one during TBW and this Winter one) that focus on the local beer movement.

Yesterday's edition of The Grid featured one of those mini beer guides (The Ultimate Winter Two-Four)  and focused on 24 winter beer reviews. Luxmore also provided some 'winter beer buzzwords', offered some ideas for winter friendly beers that are only available on draught, and takes a look forward at what might be in store for the 2012 Toronto beer scene.

Grab a copy around the city before their gone.

LCBO Spring 2012 Beer Release

Back on January 27th I tweeted an image of the LCBO's Spring 2012 release and then I promptly forgot to post the beers here on the site.

There are a number of great beers in this release, which should, in my opinion, thrill Ontario beer drinkers with the mix of Doppelbocks, Imperial IPAs, Tripel, Sour, and others. And they all come in at great prices. $3.75 for a Westmalle Tripel!

The LCBO plans to roll out this release during the week of February 26, and as normal, some details may change.


LCBO# / Name / Size / alc./vol. / Price
100487 / Schloss Eggenberg Doppelbock Dunkel / 330 / 8.5 / $2.85
260299 / Celt Native Storm Crafted Ale / 500 / 4.4 / $3.65
270389 / Charlevoix Lupulus / 750 / 8 /$11.65
168393 / Olvisholt Skjalfti Lager / 500 / 5.3 / $3.90
270496 / Thornbridge Jaipur IPA / 500 / 5.9 / $4.40
265124 / Southern Tier Unearthly Imperial IPA / 650 / 9.5 / $9.60
676577 / Westmalle Tripel / 330 / 9.5 / $3.75
106237 / Doppel Hirsch Doppel Bock / 500 / 7.2 / $3.85
265140 / Weihenstephan Vitus / 500 / 7.7 / $3.10
210591 / Panil Barriquee Sour / 750 / 9.6 / $14.00
210773 / Norrebro Var Tripel / 600 / 8.4 / $9.50
266031 / Mikkeller Freiser Triple Bock / 750 / 11 / $13.50
209346 / Tree Hop Head Double IPA / 650 / 8.3 / $5.35

Double Trouble Brewing Co. Getting Set To Launch

My good friend Claude Lefebvre, Founder and President of North American Craft, who I've profiled on here before, is getting set to launch Double Trouble Brewing Co. with co-founder Nathan Dunsmore this weekend.

Double Trouble Brewing Co. is currently brewing their flagship beer, Hops and Robbers IPA, at Guelph's Wellington Brewery. Paul Dickey, the founder of another Ontario contract brewery (Cheshire Valley) and brewer of Augusta Ale for the Kensington Brewing Co., is Double Trouble's brewer.

Lefebvre and his staff, which includes recent hire - Chris Schryer of Toronto Beer Blog, have been busy hitting the pavement, spreading word about the new IPA and working hard to get the beer on tap. If you follow them on Twitter or Facebook you'll have noticed all the locations that will be pouring the IPA by next weekend possibly as early as Sunday.

Meet the Beer Bloggers - Michael Gurr

Part Nine of the Meet The Ontario Beer Bloggers

Meet Michael Gurr, the man behind the Gurrback Brew Blog.
Gurr describes himself as a regular guy that works at an internet company who homebrews in his spare time. The level 1 Prud'homme graduate started his blog this past October with posts covering a range of beer subjects from interviews with brewery individuals to homebrewing, event listings to tasting notes. His site is nice and clean with a number of great beer photo's.

You can follow him on Twitter at @gurrback

Describe the moment when you first saw the craft beer light?
There wasn't one particular moment. Like most teenagers I indulged in the usual line up of sugary sweet drinks and macro beer. For what ever reason my favourite was MGD. During my freshman year at university I began to explore European imports. I actually saved the cans and proudly displayed them in my apartment! I think this was really the point where I thought, "hey, there's something different out there".

What made you decide to blog about beer?
In the past year I've become focused on making a career out something I actually enjoy. So many people slog away at a 9 to 5 and the best thing they have to look forward to is a cold beer after work. Well I want to talk about beer, make beer, or in some capacity make a living out of that ideal. To me, blogging is an interesting way to meet people, articulate my thoughts and work towards the goal of someday having a real job in the industry.

How long have you been blogging about beer and how long do you think you'll continue?
My blog has been active since October. In that time I've interviewed a few brewers, learned a lot about the beer industry and met some really great people. I would be foolish to make any grandiose statements about the future of my blog, but I can say that I have no plans to abandon this project in the near future.

What has been the biggest change in the Ontario brewing industry since you started blogging?
The biggest change has been the number of breweries that are now selling great beer in Ontario. I'm not just talking about the new guys - Bellwoods, Kensington, Conductors, Indie Ales, etc. - but also the breweries that have until recently been fairly conservative. Flying Monkeys, Muskoka, Amsterdam, Great Lakes, etc. are all moving into a more "experimental" zone, producing one-offs, casks and lots of tasty stuff that didn't exist a few years ago. No need to covet the US scene; collaboration and experimentation is alive and well in our very own province.

If you could change one time about the industry here in Ontario, what would it be?
I'd love to see a relaxation of the LCBO's grip on alcohol distribution. I don't like the idea of a panel of bureaucrats deciding what beer I can drink (although they have been doing a better job lately). It's proven to be a costly method of business that doesn't really benefit the consumer. There has to be a better way.

What beer book would you recommend to someone looking to learn more about beer?
For all the ridiculous "controversy", I'd say the Oxford Companion to Beer. It covers almost everything you need to know about the subject.

When you're not drinking, writing, or out at the pub, what else preoccupies your time?
I'm a big sports fan - mostly hockey and Grand Prix racing - so depending on what season it is I'm glued to the TV. Throughout the summer I'm at my cottage (internet blackout!) with my German Shepherd, swimming and of course indulging in a few cold beverages.

Best beer festival or event you've attended?
Definitely Bar Volo's Cask Days last year. Ralph and the Volo gang do such a great job with the branding, planning and execution of that event. It's hard to remember that 5 or 6 years ago they were just another bar on Yonge Street.

Name your favourite beer blogging experience.
Through my blogging I've had a number of great beer folks reach out and let me tour their facility, taste their beer and talk shop. Craft Beer is such a cool scene! I can't think of any other hobby that is so grass roots, so relaxed and so eager to educate.

Best time for a pint?
With my friends at a local watering hole, tellin' lies and enjoying Ontario craft beer.

Inside Look - 75 Victoria Ave: Six Pints Specialty Beer Company

It's no secret, Six Pints Specialty Beer Co. will be occupying the former Duggans Brewery location at 75 Victoria Street in Toronto. You've probably heard about it by now.

Toronto Life's Daily Dish first broke the story (publicly) about the new Molson Coors Specialty Beer Division back in early December after a reader sent in an image of the a building permit in the name of Creemore Springs. The speculative article was later clarified somewhat when a story about the plans for the building in the Creemore Echo paper made it's way online. Roger Mittag over at Quench Your Thirst has written about it, as has Jordan St. John at QMI Agency. All the information about the new venture can be found on their sites. And there will be a piece about it in the Spring issue of TAPS The Beer Magazine that will shed some more light on the plans. I have some thoughts on this myself, but I'll reserve them until a later date, once the place is open for business. 

But I want to take you inside the building to show you some of the plans that Six Pints has (many images below). 

In a nutshell, Six Pints will act as a Beer Institute of sorts that will feature a small beer museum and timeline, a beer library, computers for brewing research, growler sales, beer academy and a hospitality training facility. The brewhouse will remain; though a number of upgrades and repairs are currently underway to get them to up to spec. 

But before we begin, here are some interesting notes:

1. Six Pints is using Creemore Springs manufacturer's licence to produce beer here, and sell beer here. Six Pints will not be brewing Creemore Springs brands or Granville Island brands.
2. While Six Pints will be allowed to sell Creemore Springs brands out of the retail store, they will not be able to sell brands from Granville Island.
3. This is not a brewpub. In fact, Six Pints have made it clear that it will only serve food for special events, conferences, beer academy sessions, etc. 
4. Six Pints will be working with some local beer people to showcase beers timeline in Canada
5. Six Pints are still working on the name(s) of the on-site brewery and brands. It was rumoured that they'd like to use some sort of numbering system to help individuals identify which batch they preferred over another, but I believe this is no longer the case.
6. All the renovations are scheduled to be completed in March. 
7. Unrelated to the building, but look for Six Pints to start bringing other Molson Coors products from other markets into Canada - ie. Worthington's White Shield.

Six Pints - 75 Victoria in pictures (click image to expand)

Upstairs - Front Entrance: The brewery will remain on the right (equipment remains as well - needs some work)

Front Entrance - There will be a 'beer timeline' that runs the length of the wall. The timeline will be about beer, not just Molson Coors history

Upstairs - around the corner from the front entrance. The 'beer timeline' will start on this wall and extend around the corner to the front entrance

Upstairs - This is the main bar in left side of the building. There will be displays of ingredients, a fancy (specially designed) draught tower, glassware - From Grain to Glass. Educational bar for tastings

Upstairs - besides the 'Grain to Glass Bar' is the Beer Library. Six Pints will stock a number of beer books on homebrewing, history, tasting guides, magazines, etc. There will be seating here for people to sit down and browse through the books

Upstairs and to the back - right before the doors lead you out to the old patio, there is a small room that Six Pints will be using as a Multi-Purpose Room for conferences, presentations, tastings etc

Upstairs - right side of building: There will be a retail bar for tasting the various beers that Six Pints will be brewing a number of different styles that will be available for tasting and take home consumption. Growlers and large format bottles will be available. 

Upstairs - right side of building: Where the old Duggans bar was, will now be a large beer fridge and coolers

Downstairs - back of room on the left: This will be the home of the Beer Academy. There will be a functioning kitchen, seating, bar area and more. Educational courses and tastings will be held in this room

Downstairs - left side of building: Six Pints' offices

Downstairs - right side of building: Tucked away behind and besides the brewhouse is a small room that will act as the Bottling Room. Growlers and large format bottles will be filled here

So there you have it. A very early inside look at what Six Pints has in store for 75 Victoria Street.

The Only Cafe Winter Beer Fest, Feb 3rd & 4th

I'm looking forward to this event.

On February 3rd and 4th (Friday and Saturday), Toronto's The Only Cafe on Danforth Avenue will be hosting a Winter Beer Fest on their outdoor patio. The event already has a number of terrific Ontario breweries who will be participating, and I'll be there representing TAPS The Beer Magazine - handing out issues, and chatting about the beer industry.

If you don't have anything scheduled for that weekend, mark this into your calendar. It's cheap too! For a 5oz sample of any of the following beers (see below), you'll only have to fork over $1! Solid deal (no cover charge).

The fest, which will be the largest that the longtime Toronto beer bar has hosted (20 different breweries) kicks off at 5pm both days and goes until the place closes for the evening. There will also be live music.

Friday February 3rd
Steam Whistle Brewery
Flying Monkeys Brewery
Sawdust City Brewing
Black Oak Brewery
Creemore Springs Brewery
Railway City Brewing
Cameron's Brewing Co.
Wellington Brewery
Beau's All-Natural Brewing
Brasserie McAuslan
Duggan's Brewery
King Brewery

Saturday February 4th
F&M Brewery
Keep6 Imports-representing Central City Brewing, Dieu Du Ciel & Microbrasserie Charlevoix
Better Bitters Brewing Co.
Sawdust City Brewing
Kensington Brewing
Railway City Brewing
Amsterdam Brewery
Muskoka Cottage Brewing

The Only Cafe
972 Danforth Ave
Toronto, ON M4J 1M1
(416) 463-7843

Getting To Know Sleeping Giant Brewing Co. - Thunder Bay, ON

2011 was a good year for beer drinkers in Ontario. New beer styles, some incredible seasonals, proliferation of cask ale and many new breweries/contract brewing companies opened their doors and introduced individuals to a variety of new beers. Most of the noise took place in the Toronto area with companies like Spearhead, Kensington, Junction, Sawdust City, Indie Alehouse, Gananoque Brewing Company and more opening, and 2012 is already shaping up to be another great year as Hogtown Brewers, Bellwoods Brewery, Snowman Brewing, Double Trouble and a couple others are planning on joining the burgeoning market.

Well, Thunder Bay is getting in on the action as the Sleeping Giant Brewing Co. is hoping to open later this Spring (May) as they're getting set to receive their brewhouse in early March.

There are four friends behind the new venture who secured a building at 946 Cobalt Crescent in the middle of Thunder Bay, and close to both the college and university. The crew took some time to answer some questions I had about the brewery, the beers they intend to brew and how cool it will be to be the only brewery north of the Muskoka's to Manitoba!

Tell us about the Sleeping Giant Brewing Co. Where did the name come from?
The name embodies our area and city that we love. We also find that when other people think of Thunder Bay they visualize the Sleeping Giant. Being the only current brewery in NorthWestern Ontario (NWO), we wanted the Sleeping Giant to be our Ambassador for us and our area.

You'll be the only brewery north of the Muskoka's to Winnipeg - how cool is that? 
Cool. We would love to bring beer culture to NWO. There are difficulties to being isolated and our craft beer market is smaller so we have to work to make it bigger.

Where will the brewery be situated in Thunder Bay? Will you be working on capturing the attention of Lakehead students? 
Geographically, we are in the “middle” of Thunder Bay (946 Cobalt Cres), within walking distance of both our College and our University. We will be looking the capture the attention of Lakehead and Confederation college students. We to look forward to expanding beer knowledge in those groups AND everyone looking for great tasting beer. Our head brewer is already making friends with some Lakehead students and staff who our just starting out in the home brewing game.

There are four of you involved. How did you all come together? 
We befriended each other in our neighbourhood, our kids have grown together and we fostered our beer knowledge and beer making skills together over the past 10 years. We our four besties who want to bring our passion for beer to our community in our next big adventure.

Where are you currently working on your recipe development?
Recipe development occurs in a small 10g homebrew set up. It also comes from course work, reading from the masters and trying new things.

What beers will you be offering on opening day? 
When we start, hopefully we will be able to offer the Elevator Wheat and 360° Pale Ale right away.

Why have you chosen the styles of beer that are mentioned on your website? 
Our picks come from a good starting point for our city. The pale ale is not quite an English and not quite a North American, but takes the best of both worlds into a tasty but not over the top ale. Our stout is loved by many, even people who don't necessary like dark beers. It's an easy drinking introduction to dark malts. The wheat ale is already loved in Thunder Bay and we want to bring more hop forward flavour to it and adjust local beer drinker's palates to more flavour in their beer. We hope to push the taste envelope more with our seasonal and limited editions.

The four founders

Is Thunder Bay ready for beers with bolder flavour?
Thunder Bay is getting ready. Not everyone is thirsty for more taste but we have lots of beer geeks out there who are trying to spread the word. Thunder Bay is also big on local and that will help us.

How has the local support been so far? 
Local support from previous brewers, locally-owned licensees and potential beer drinkers has been great.

Educating consumers will be a big part of your business plan I'm sure. How will Sleeping Giant Brewing go about this?
Our plans for educating people starts with licensees (the folks who will be selling our beer at their establishments), and tours at the brewery. We want to work with local restaurants and charities on pairings and tastings. Our female founders will be starting a chapter of Barley's Angels. We plan on inviting Mirella Amato of Beerology to help share her specialized knowledge. We hope to start a regular column in the local paper to spread knowledge. The best way to educate is to share a pint with potential customer and ambassador at the brewery or local pub. We enjoy that part the most!

Do you have any plans to get your product, once available, into the LCBO or Beer Stores? 
We will have kegs and growlers to start... tall boy cans in the future. Initially we'll just focus on draught and the brewery retail store and look to the LCBO once we start canning.

Check out their Facebook page for updates on the brewery's progress.

Long, Dark Voyage to Uranus - Sawdust City Brewing

Sounds like the title of an adult film...but wait, it's a new beer!

Sawdust City Brewing Co. is getting set to launch yet another beer to the public after successful debuts of their Golden Beach Pale Wheat, Ol' Woody Alt and Lone Pine IPA. The new brewery (contract) hopes to take beer drinkers on an adventure with a Long, Dark Voyage to Uranus, the new name of their latest concoction - a Uranal Imperial Stout.

Sam Corbeil, Sawdust's Brewmaster, describes the beer, which made a secretive debut (with some tweaks) back in late September at the Iron Brewers Competition, as follows:

8.5% ABV, 85 IBU and 2.57 billion SRM, this decadent treat is loaded with rich, sinful flavours of chocolate and espresso. It has a big bitter kick though, so approach with caution… this is not for the faint of heart.

Corbeil only produced 500 litres of the beer, which will start making appearances at select Toronto beer bars starting early next week. For those living in London, ON, you won't miss out. Gambrinus Cafe & Bistro will be getting some sent their way, as will the Griffin Gastropub in Bracebridge.

And, if you haven't had the chance to try some of the Sawdust beers, make your way to The Only Cafe for their Winter Beer Fest (February 3rd & 4th). Corbeil will have some of the Long, Dark Voyage to Uranus, Lone Pine IPA and the Ol' Woody Alt.

Flying Monkeys Tap Takeover @ Gambrinus Cafe & Bistro

If you find yourself in London, Ontario this Saturday (January 28th), head over to Gambrinus Cafe & Bistro to try a variety of beers from the Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery from Barrie, ON as they are doing a tap takeover at the popular beer bar.

The takeover commences at 6pm and will feature the following 17 beers, most of which were created solely for this event and will take up all of Gambrinus' taps:

Little Red – Late-hopped Red #1
Weizen Doppelbock
Galaxy IPA
Test Batch - Pre-Divinity
Imperial Stout
Big Red – Late-hopped Red #2 (Imperial)
Test Batch - Stereovision
Test Batch - Genius of Suburbia (American Wheat)
Milk Stout #1 for nitro tap
Belgian Pale Ale
Double IPA
Rye PA
Beer Geeks Stout
Smashbomb
Antigravity
Netherworld
Hoptical Illusion

There are no reservations being taken and no cover charges.

Gambrinus Cafe & Bistro
130 King Street
Covent Garden Market
London, ON N6A 1C5
Phone: 519-672-0384

Growlers Now Available At Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub

Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub in Victoria, BC are now offering growlers of their beer for take home consumption.

Announced in their latest online newsletter, the oldest independent brewpub in Canada have started a growler filling station at their retail store. The growler will set you back $5 and it will only cost you $10 to $12 to fill it, depending on the style you purchase.

Spinnakers is now offering Original Pale Ale, Nut Brown Ale, North West Ale, Blue Bridge Double Ale.


Here is a short video that TAPS The Beer Magazine shot with Spinnakers co-founder, Paul Hadfield, back in the Spring of 2011. Spinnakers has been in operation since 1984 and produce a number of brands that are available in the BC market. Every day at 4pm the brewpub puts on a new cask and only charges $5 a pint.

How Old Is This Molson's Bottle Opener?

Shortly after I posted about the revolution of beer bottle openers (Jan 7th), I've received a number of emails from readers about helping date some of their own.

There was one in particular (below) that I'll need some help with. If anyone out there can provide a rough estimate of the date for the following bottle opener, I, along with the individual who submitted the images to me, would appreciate it. Please leave your comments in the comment section below, or shoot me an email to troy@greatcanadianbeerblog.com. You can click on each image to see it larger.

Molson Bottle Opener - From Michel in Montreal

The old Molson symbol - Crown atop anchor

Font - Molson's

The whole opener

OCB President Talks Grant Cancellation With CTV News

John Hay, President of the Ontario Craft Brewers (OCB), was recently on CTV News Weekend to discuss the Ontario craft brewing industry and the recent news about their provincial grant/funding being cancelled at the end of the 2011/12 fiscal and not being renewed as hoped.

Waterloo's Brick Brewery was the first to break the news of the cancellation of the grant when they released a press release on January 11th stating that they made the most of Ontario Craft Brewers Opportunity Fund, which was launched by the provincial government in 2008.

The OCBOF was created by the Liberal government as an $8 million, four-year commitment to help support craft brewers in Ontario and the significant economic contribution they make to the province. The province provided the OCB and their member breweries $2 million per year under the OCBOF to be used for marketing, job creation, education and to help create market awareness at the LCBO level.