Last time it was spring and by the time we locked down people had been wearing masks on the subway for a month. Ontario was shaking off winter, brushing the snow from its shoulders and the salt from its boots. Rumours began to circulate that parts of the George Brown […]
Yearly Archives: 2020
I’m scrambling along the sidewalks outside Old Street Station in London because it’s happened again. What was the name of the pub? I can’t remember offhand, and that’s why I’m frantically pushing the cursor on Google Street View, exploring the side streets north of the Royal Artillery Company. There are […]
On Autobiographical Memory
Periodically, I’ll log into Twitter in order to check in on events. That’s an obvious untruth. Like everyone else in the 30-45 demographic, I’ve probably got an instance of the app running on my phone and desktop every minute of every day in addition to facebook, instagram, and gmail. We’re […]
Beer, Baudrillard, and Bell Biv DeVoe
3 (Ed. Note: I was bored and TPL has access to ProQuest. This is long. I’m not sorry for it.) A friend of mine is good with computers. Periodically he’ll shovel me the sales figures for the LCBO on the three listed White Claw products. I’ve tried White Claw and it […]
Anatomy of a Trend: White Claw and Mike’s Hard Lemonade
As of today, I’ve been doing this for a decade. In some other timeline, I had a trip planned to Montreal to celebrate. I started writing about beer in Montreal on a trip to Mondiale de la Bière to build a portfolio to get into brewing school. I thought it […]
What Did I Learn?
3 One of things that you swiftly realize as a beer drinker during a situation like we’re currently experiencing is that beer is usually not about beer. It’s about people. We’re all worried about the livelihoods of people who own breweries and restaurants, and rightly so. As a life’s work they’re […]
In Which I Don’t Go Anywhere
13 At the beginning of February, Matron Brewing put a piece on their website about the hop industry in Ontario. It’s a well written piece that talks about the difficulties that people have been facing over the last several years in scaling up their hop yards within the province. It hit […]
Some Thoughts on Ontario Hops
2 It’s been heartening over the last couple of weeks to see adjustments to the way that the beer industry functions go into effect. It just goes to show that reform has always been possible, although the alacrity with which some moves have been made will require a little thinking time […]
Contract Brewing in the time of Corona
Perhaps you’ll recall that a few weeks ago I wrote a piece about the state of the beer industry in Ontario in 2020. I would not blame you if you didn’t remember that because it has been a busy few weeks here in existence. You probably own either all of […]
What the Government Can do to help save the Beer ...
1 In the mid-afternoon downtime, the taproom feels practically solemn. Down the steps from King Street in the brightly lit strip across from Roy Thomson, Mascot Brewing seems an odd fit for the neighbourhood. At least, it does until you realize that all the other tastes are catered for. I keep […]