Shameless Plugs

An increasingly large number of people want me to plug things related to the Toronto Festival of Beer. Normally, I don’t really do cheap plugs, but the email inbox is groaning under the weight of folks looking for me to talk about the TORONTO FESTIVAL OF BEER and how it […]

The Toronto Festival of Beer 2012: Cheap Plugs Edition

July 25, 2012 in Shameless Plugs tagged Gentle Satire / Steam Whistle Elephant Hat / Ted Reader: Grillmaster Extraordinaire / Toronto Festival of Beer by admin

Sometimes, you’ll have one of those moments where the things that you have learned suddenly snap into place and you’re left talking competently about a subject that you thought you didn’t care about. The second semester at Niagara College was based largely around the scientific aspects of brewing. Of course […]

Green Flash OR At Least I Learned Something

May 8, 2012 in Niagara College / Shameless Plugs tagged Beer For Learning / Craft Brewers Conference 2012 / Gord Slater / Green Flash / Niagara College by admin

I’d like to expound upon an idea that’s been kicking around at the back of my head for a while now. I suspect that it’s a touch inflammatory, so I want to point out to you that it’s not meant as an attack on anyone in particular, but as more […]

Craft Beer Evangelism or St. John’s Wort Unfolds The Mystery

April 6, 2012 in Accounting for Taste / Shameless Plugs tagged Beerzebub / Cameron's Rye Pale Ale / Craft Beer / Craft Beer Evangelism / Marketing / Memetic Evangelism by admin

At some point in the middle of the last month, probably during a week when there were midterm exams, I was surprised by an email about the Ontario IPA Challenge. I knew it was coming up, but usually Volo sort of organizes their events independently and it seemed a little […]

So You Want To Be A Brewer: The Inevitability of ...

April 1, 2012 in Bar Volo / Niagara College / Shameless Plugs tagged Austin Roach / Bar Volo / Niagara College / Ontario IPA Challenge / St. Roach IPA / St.John's Wort Llama Milld by admin

One of the problems with writing a national column has to do with the fact that it becomes pretty difficult to justify reporting on events that are purely local. Sometimes, I’ll see upcoming events that I want to plug, but it’s just not feasible due either to timeline constraints or […]

Beer 4 Boobs

March 17, 2012 in Bar Volo / Shameless Plugs tagged Bar Volo / Beer4boobs / Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation / craft beer and charity / female brewers / toronto by admin

Before I started writing about beer, I worked a job at a publishing company. It was not a particularly fulfilling job, but one of the perks that it had was location. It was located right down the street from Bar Volo. I suppose that at this point, I’ve probably been […]

So You Want To Be A Brewer: House Ales/St.John’s Wort ...

February 28, 2012 in Bar Volo / Shameless Plugs tagged Bar Volo / Gin and Juice / House Ales / Jason Tremblay / Ralph Morana by admin

If you grow up in a house with a pretty decent library, it’s almost a given that you’re going to end up as a reader. My parents are readers, and as they get older, we end up having pretty good discussions about books. Their tastes have diverged wildly over the […]

So You Want To Be An Author: On Writing About ...

February 20, 2012 in Ongoing Projects / Shameless Plugs tagged Elephant Book Company / How to Make Your Own Brewskis: The Go-to Guide for Craft Brew Enthusiasts / Raymond Chandler / Writing about beer / Writing Non-Fiction by admin

On Friday, I was one of the judges for the Stella Artois Draught Masters National Championship at One King West in Toronto. Never having really taken part in an event of that scope before, I didn’t know exactly what to expect going in. In terms of writing about beer and, […]

The Stella Artois Draught Master Competition

October 23, 2011 in Shameless Plugs tagged Beer Pouring / Draught Masters / Standing Around Looking Awkward Next To Beautiful Women / Stella Artois by admin

I’m going to do something a little odd here and use the blog briefly as a platform for a public service announcement. I got into the Niagara College Brewmaster program this year, and that’ll be starting up on the 7th of September. Apparently there are going to be 36 students […]

Calling all Brewing Students

August 20, 2011 in Shameless Plugs tagged Brewing Programs Canada / Brewmaster and Brewery Operations Management / Niagara College by admin

You can learn a lot from awards given out at large beer festivals. You’re not going to learn who the best in the world is. You’re not going to learn who the best brewer is or even what the best light lager is. There’s no true objectivity for the simple […]

Neustadt Springs Brewery & The U.S. Open Beer Championship

July 18, 2011 in Shameless Plugs tagged Amsterdam Tempest / Andy Stimpson / craft brewing / Grand River / Iain McOustra's Giant Noggin / Metaphors I Ripped Off From Raymond Chandler / Neustadt Springs Brewery / Ontario Craft Brewers by admin

St. John's Wort

Beery Musings And Amusing Beers