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A little under a month ago I was sitting in Chaucer’s in London, Ontario with a group of beer writers and Matt Brown. Matt is the mayor of London and I’m afraid I made a bad impression by referring to him as “your worshipfulness.” It was the third stop on […]

And in Every Town

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There’s always something a little dispiriting about a delivery you’re not expecting showing up at the apartment when you’re out of town. All you can really do is buzz the guy into the building with instructions to leave it in front of your door and hope that the neighbours don’t […]

Beer and Food: Estrella Damm Tapas Journey

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(ed. note: This is longer than usual. It is hard to have a discussion about nuanced topics in short form. If that’s what you’d like, Buzzfeed is looking for 12 Readers Who Can’t Believe What Happened Next.) You may have noticed that when they announced the changes to Ontario’s beer […]

LCBO 12 Packs and Grocery Store Sales

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The Cicerone Certification Program announced today that it will be introducing a level of certification between Certified Cicerone and Master Cicerone. The press release was worded in a rather interesting way of whose nature I am dubious. It reads: Previously, the only way for a Certified Cicerone to advance in […]

Fun With Numbers: Sums and Sommeliers Edition

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I tweeted the following yesterday: Dear Brewers: Remember to register your trademarks internationally. It doesn’t cost much and prevents you looking stupid later. With the amount of coverage that’s been going on about Blue Moon coming to Canada under the sobriquet Belgian Moon, you’re probably wondering why that happened. It […]

That Old Belgian Moon – Why You Should Register Your ...

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One of the things that I’m always fascinated by is the development of beer culture in non-North American markets. If you look at the United States and Canada, the narrative is all too familiar because it’s something like 30 years old. There have been problems with regulation and with monopolies, […]

Irish Beer at the Toronto Festival of Beer

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The Background When you get right down to it, the job of a critic is to tell you whether something is good or bad. Most of the time, I’m able to convey that information in prose. I don’t often use numeric ratings because that has always struck me as inutile. […]

Review: The Wild Beer Co. Ninkasi

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One of the best things that Michael Jackson ever did was give the world Belgian Beer. Not the Belgians, of course. They already had Belgian Beer. I’m pretty sure that the Dutch and the French were aware of it as well. What Michael Jackson managed to do was invest Trappist […]

Stift Engelszell Gregorius Trappistenbier

If you approach on foot from Dohme Ave, the aroma outside the Muddy York Brewing Company is actually that of baking cookies. Located in the same neighbourhood as O’Connor Bowl and the Peek Freans factory (and perhaps more importantly the factory outlet store for those of you interested in attaining […]

Visit: Muddy York Brewing Company

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The Background Underdog’s Brewhouse is located in Oshawa and has been in business since some point last year. I know this because I’ve frequently seen them at festivals. They are unmistakeable with their bright yellow signage. Owned by Jeff and Eric Dornan, they seem to have taken the Steam Whistle […]

Review: Underdog’s All or Nothing Hopfenweisse