Great news from the latest C’est What Newsletter:

Best Year Yet For Variety

Long gone are the days that you could age-date someone by what brand of beer they drank.  Anyone old enough to remember the geezers who seemed to be the only people ordering the stubbies of Red Cap?  There are probably still some cougars out there asking for Dry beer and I’m sure there will be a Lime generation as well but more and more people are choosing not to pigeon-hole themselves into a single beer existence.

In the spirit of a different-beer-for-each-occasion, I have tallied up what C’est What has had on offer over the past year.  The totals are astonishing: 25 different bottled beers, 57 cask brews, and 110 draughts and ciders; 192 in total.

We will be open during the G-20 offering 53 selections for that occasion.  It may just be the best choice we have that weekend…

C’est What has long been a true champion of local craft beer and to hear that this has been their best year ever for variety is terrific.  The beer being produced by the breweries in this province is no doubt on the upswing, as more and more are releasing seasonal beers that are being welcomed by drinkers of all sorts, and C’est What has been there from the very start offering them to customers.

The members of the OCB did a good job with the video as if offers drinkers of Ontario produced beer the opportunity to see some of the people responsible for making the product.  It has been a while since the LCBO released the OCB dvd so seeing something like this, for this industry, is quite refreshing…. even if it is the “I Am” theme again.

From 3pm – 6pm join members of CASK! to sample local real ale, talk beer and have a good time in the company of others.

The Rhino will be pouring beers from:
Great Lakes Lackey’s Caskey American Pale Ale
Black Oak Goji Berry
Scotch Irish Corporal Punishment
Durham County ESB

On one of those days in Montreal Jordan let it slip that he had started a new blog about beer and he gave it the name, St. John’s Wort.  It’s a good read with lots of information, and he’s posting on a regular basis.  I encourage you to click on the live link and head his way to read some of his older posts.

Welcome Jordan!

Will Kopplin, one of the three founders of the pub had emailed a couple of months ago to simply let me know how much enjoys reading my blog.  A follow up email revealed that Opera Bob’s is a craft beer friendly establishment and after logging off the computer I made a note to visit the pub sooner than later.  One a beautiful day back in April I stopped in for a pint after work and while I sat quietly at the bar supping on a pint of Wellington County Ale I wondered how I overlooked it for so long.

Where did the name Opera Bob’s come from?  Kopplin informed me that one of the founders/owners is an opera singer by the name Robert Pomakov.  That simple.

A nice ‘L’ shaped wooden bar greets you on the left when you enter which has 10 bar back chairs to accommodate those who prefer to drink at the bar.  The tap handles, that pour beers from Mill Street, Steam Whistle, Wellington’s, Stratford, Creemore, Flying Monkey’s and Peeler cider, are directly behind the bar and sit atop a brand new Tubular Double Pedestal pass-thru tower.

Opened in 2009, Kopplin and partners decided to go the craft beer route because that’s what they found themselves drinking and they recognized the upward trend the craft brewing industry is experiencing in Ontario.  To compliment their focus on local beers the group introduced a new monthly feature – a guest tap that gets selected with input from staff and regulars.  Startford’s Pilsner was the guest tap for the month of April and Kopplin already had some thoughts about beers he could feature for the summer months.

The rest of the pub is dressed with a collection of nicknacks like beers posters, music posters, sports memorabilia, old beer bottles and trays, trinkets, pictures of regulars and more.  It is nicely laid out though and doesn’t appear too cluttered.

Wooden tables and chairs are weathered and worn, which is exactly what Opera Bob’s wanted as it matches their weathered hardwood flooring, barn-board paneling, and the rustic wooden leather clad bench seating.  It does have a feel of a modern day saloon without the mess of spittoons littering the ground.

Kopplin states that Opera Bob’s is a real local pub.  A lot of regulars live nearby or work nearby and have pointed out to him that having craft beer has helped attract the younger crowd.  The regulars, Kopplin says, “have made friends with the staff,” which I get to witness as a male joins us at the bar and a pint of Mill Street Cobblestone is poured without hesitation or any asking.  The staff know their clientele….. and their beer.

Every so often Kopplin and the rest of the partners bring in a brewer or a brewery representative to do tastings with the staff and any regular who may be present.  Joel Manning, Mill Street’s Brewmaster, has paid visits to the pub to tell staff who to appreciate the different brands on tap and who they go with different kinds of food.  Kopplin believes these educational session are not only good for the staff, but for him as well (always encouraging to hear from a publican).

I didn’t stick around for any food but I’ve been told that Opera Bob’s have a good selection of pizza’s that are prepared in house.  They also have a good selection of sandwiches, a pub staple.  You’ll find live music, sporting events on the two televisions, trivia nights, and drink specials throughout the week.  In the warmer months Opera Bob’s has a clear garage door that opens up to a small street side patio that attracts sun seeking drinkers.

Good pub with good beer for the adventurous and the beginner.

Opera Bob’s Public House
1112 Dundas St. West (1 block east of Ossington)
Toronto, ON 
Hours – 5pm to 2am daily

When I was in Montreal for Mondial de la Biere two weeks ago, Beau’s All Natural Brewing Co. had a booth slightly beside/behind us, giving us the opportunity to chat over the five day festival.  One of those conversations led to a “what’s next at Beau’s?” chat and Beau’s foot solider, Darren Stevens (a guy who knows how to throw a killer party – his business card says that), told me all about their new 12 Pack wooden crates.

This newest initiative from Beau’s is cool.  The cases are made from wood, have handles on both ends, look like old milk crates, and are big enough to fit vinyl records in them when the beer is gone.  They’re even stackable.

They will be available at select Beer Stores soon and will retain for $60.  You can get them at Beau’s retail store as we speak and if you take the crate back to them when you’re done the beer, they’ll hand you back $15.  But really, who would return one of these?

I can picture the stiffs at the Beer Store right now, grumbling to each other every time someone orders a case!  Priceless.

Here is a video that has owner, Steve Beauchesne, speaking with /A\ Morning News news last week.

Day 4
This was the day that the MBiere Contest awards were to be handed out to all the winners of the 5th edition of the tasting.  A group of international judges gathered on days 1 & 2 to judges numerous beers available at the festival and shortly after 4pm the winners where announced in the media tent:

Platinum:
A la fut – Trippe à 3 a la Brett
Gold:
Benelux – Congo
Benelux – Cuda
Broadway – Sein d’esprit
Hopfenstark – Saison Station 55
Le Saint-Bock – Malédiction
Le Saint-Bock – R.I.P.
Le Saint-Bock – Sacrilège
Le Saint-Bock – Sacrilège ultime
McAuslan – St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout
Trou du Diable – La Saison du Tracteur

It was raining a bit in the morning which thinned the early morning crowd but it picked up again early afternoon.  All the Quebec brewers who stopped by the booth kept saying, “You haven’t seen anything yet.  Wait till 5pm.”  Well, by 3pm the place was packed.  And I mean packed.  Each time a glass was dropped the entire crowd let out a deafening cheer, something that would continue all day and all night.

Numerous trip to the exhibitor bar area and our previous session at Dieu du Ciel, plus the previous nights, were catching up to me.  It was back to the hotel and off to bed.

Day 1
My TAPS colleague, Kristina Santone (Assistant Editor) and I packed the new TAPS trailer and headed east down the 401 to Montreal last Tuesday.  Neither of us had ever attended Mondial before and it had been a while for both of us since our last visit to La Belle Province.  Needless to say we were both looking forward to this trip.

We arrived in Montreal shortly after 2:30pm and checked into our hotel (Hotel le Dauphin – great experience) before heading over to Windsor Station to start setting up the TAPS booth.  We had t-shirts, books, TAPS glassware, back issues of the magazine and subscription cards that would be available for purchase over the course of the five day festival.

After setting up we headed back to the hotel to get ready for a night out on the town, but not before sampling Les Trois Mousquetaires newest beer, Imperial Weizen.  It turned out that we were the first people outside the brewery to try it and I throughly enjoyed it.

With no official plan we decided that we’d take a walk north to Benelux – Brassiere Artisanal Cafe for a bite to eat and to sample their beers.  I opted for a sample tray of five beers: Semuta (Saison Ambree), Congo (Belgian IPA), Magnum (Pilsner), Anniversaire 2010 (IIPA), Ergot (Triple Saison Seigle).  I found all five to be very well made with the Congo shining the brightest.

Benelux has a great outdoor sidewalk patio that screams European flair and on the night of our visit it was packed with young and old drinkers.  The inside of Benelux is unique.  Wide open with island bar seating scattered throughout the establishment it felt a little industrial; however, the rustic wooden tables and chairs and the natural light from the floor to ceiling windows helped soften the appearance.

We left Benelux and headed back towards the hotel hoping to find a depanneur  along the way.  After going through the selection at two locations, we left empty handed.  Molson Dry – no thanks.  An IGA grocery store suddenly appeared and ten minutes later we left with two cases of Dieu du Ciel (Corne Diable and a mixer pack).  It was then back to hotel for some much needed rest.

Highlight beers: Benelux Congo, Anniversaire 2010 and Magnum Pilsner, LTM Imperial Weizen

Day 2
Up at the crack of dawn to get organized before the doors to the Windsor Station were opened to the public.  Once the clock hit 11am people started pouring into the festival.  A sign that shows just how popular the Mondial is.  The TAPS booth was busy right from the start as subscriptions and glassware were purchased at a healthy pace.

A number of Toronto drinkers who had made the trip stopped by the booth to say hi, as did a number of subscribers from both Quebec and Ontario.  It was really nice to meet the people out there who are reading the magazine and hearing positive things about the publication offered a good start to the gruelling days ahead.

One of the perks about being an exhibitor at Mondial is the white bracelet you get upon entering.  Not only does it let you skip the absurdly long line-ups to enter, but it also allows you to enter the exhibitor area to put your feet up and to have a free beer.  And when I say free beer, I mean beer from all other exhibitors at the festival.  We were able to try numerous Italian beers, Quebec beers, and a number of US beers.

By 5pm Windsor Station was brimming with people, both inside and outside.  Drinkers both young and old.  Novices and seasoned veterans.  The Dieu du Ciel booth was kitty corner to ours and it was by far and away the busiest of the festival.  We managed to break away a couple of times to head over to try their new stuff and it was nice to see the regular Dieu du Ciel folks behind the bar chatting with their fans.

It was getting close to 10pm, closing time, when we completely sold out of glassware.  Many collectors had stopped by to obtain some for their collection and/or to trade with other collectors.  They were by far and away some or the most popular glasses at the festival.  We closed up shop and headed back to Dieu du Ciel for their American beer night.  Unfortunately the place was jammed and there was no prospect of us receiving a drink or a sandwich within 30 mins so we had to find another place to eat.

Highlight beers: DDC Roggenbier, DDC Pionnerre, LTM Doppelbock, Hopfenstark Post Colonial IPA, and ReAle from Birra del Borgo.

Day 3
We had a volunteer for the start of day three – Jordan St. John of Toronto, who helped us give-away our new TAPS bottle openers.  (Jordan just started a new blog – www.saintsgambit.wordpress.com and he has written about Mondial).  I started the day off with a beer and then another and then another.  Thursday was my day to imbibe and imbibe did I.

The first beer I headed for was Charlevoix’s Dominus Vobiscum Brut where Frederick Trembly, Charlevoix’s founder, happily told me about this wonderful beer.  Stephen Beaumont did a great job of explaining it over on his site go I’ll direct you there to read all about it.  He poured the champagne style beer into its beautiful glass and I happily sipped on it for the first hour of the festival.

After the Brut it was onto some of the beers in the exhibitor’s fridge.  Maui Coconut Porter, New Belgium Trippel, Kuhnhenn Winter Wonder Lager, Hopfenstark Tripel on cask and Brasseurs de Montreal Ghosttown Stout.  The Ghostown Stout, brewed with absinthe, had a lot going on in the nose and a bunch of different flavours on the palate.

Some members of Bar Towel from Ottawa and Toronto came by the booth to introduce themselves and I finally got to meet Mike from the A Year Of Beer Blog.  A number of other beer bloggers from Quebec also stopped by to say hi and some great new contacts were made.  For those of you who can speak or understand French, check out the Bieres du Quebec website.

The long day came to an end and it was off to Brutopia for dinner.  Good food, but the beers we had weren’t very fresh.  The IPA had a cardboard nose and oxidized taste which disappointed us; some of their beers we sampled at the festival were nice though.

Highlight beers: Charlevoix Brut, New Belgium Trippel, Ghosttown Stout, Maui Coconut Porter, Hopfenstark Saison 55, Matt’s Sleepy Time Stout from Beau’s.

Up Next – Days 4, 5, 6, 7 – Large crowds, lost voice, smoked meat.

Let it be hereby known that your friends at CASK! have decreed a CASK! Social to be held on Saturday, June 19, 2010 at the handsome Rhino, 1249 Queen Street West, from 3 to 6 pm.  The usual rules apply: turn up, drink cask ale, chat in a friendly manner to other imbibers.  That’s about it — simplicity itself.  See you there.