Beer of the Week - The Beers of Niagara College Teaching Brewery

In the fall of 2010, Niagara College began a Brewmaster and Brewery Operations Management program. It is the first of its kind in Canada. It is a two year program and this past July was the graduating ceremony for the very first students of the program.

I have been following the blog, 600 Days to Brewmastery, by Alan Brown who is a "mature" student in the program and now in his second year. He has a good sense of humour, is a good writer, and I enjoy hearing the day-to-day teachings of the course. There are a lot of math formulas, many which look more like the formula for a rocket fuel than for beer. It's worth reading.

It is a hard program to get into as there is room for only 24 students, so the waiting list is a little long. In its short existence, it has even reaped some awards for the college. This year it took gold for its Butler's Bitter in the bitter category at the 2012 US Open Beer Championships. It was made with items local to the Toronto area to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. I tried it this past summer at the Toronto Festival of Beer and it was delicious.

They also took gold for their Helenboch Beer in the Munchner Helles category and a few silvers. In fact, they placed sixth overall of all the breweries that were in the competition. The students are definitely learning quite well!

Now I see that their First Draft Campus Ale, which took Silver in the English Summer Ale category at the same championships above, and First Draft Campus Lager are now on sale in 6 packs at the LCBO.

Time to give them a try!

I like the bottles which has the labels printed onto the glass rather than a label that has been glued on. 

I'm starting with the Campus Lager, which pours golden in colour with a nice white head. My first impression in the aroma is a little hop note. On the back of the battle is printed "Don't worry, be hoppy", which makes me look forward to my first sip. Of course, there are lacing along the side of the glass as the college would ensure that only malt is used in the making of the beer. After all, this is a craft beer course!

The beer starts a little light in taste but finishes with a nice short hop bitterness in its finish. This is a very nice lager, that I would not hesitate to buy again. In fact, this is going to join my regular lager rotation in my fridge!

Next up is the Campus Ale. Going in I will say that I am not a big fan of summer ales. They seem lighter in taste and hops than a bitter, or pale ale. I will say that I am going in with an open mind.

The beer pours amber in colour. There is a good, slightly off white head. The beer starts a little watery in mouthfeel but improves immediately. This occurs with every sip. It is not a strong tasting ale, the kind that I enjoy, but is a decent tasting beer. There is nothing offensive in the beer, not much in the way of hop bitterness but an OK ale.

The U.S. Open Beer Championships categorize an English Summer Ale as " light straw to golden colored with medium-low to medium bitterness, light to medium-light body, and low to medium residual malt sweetness. The overall impression is refreshing and thirst quenching." This beer definitely fits that bill. It's not a beer that I would buy again, although it's an obviously well-made beer. It's just not a style of beer that I enjoy. Many, I believe, would enjoy this beer and I will have no problem in drinking the rest.

I think it's a great idea for future Canadian brewers to have a school to learn their trade. This college is making some great beer and making the future of the Canadian Craft Brewing industry very bright indeed!

Beer of the Week Stats 

Beers Profiled 181 
Breweries 158 
Countries 37 
Provinces 10 
Territories 1

Death of a Salesman

Today Teena and I saw Death of a Salesman at Soulpepper Theater in the Distillery District.

Usually I would copy and paste in the description of the play here but I could not find one that adequately describes this play to my satisfaction, so I will attempt to describe it myself.

Willy Loman is 63 and his life, once full of promise, has fallen apart. He constantly fights with his favorite son, Biff, can't pay the bills, is unable to drive to his sales calls and drifts off down memory to find out where it all went wrong. He is an angry man, feeling sorry for himself.

His son, Biff, too has issues. Once the high school football star who was about to receive an athletic university scholarship, he loses the opportunity due to a bad math grade that he refuses to do something about. But why? His too is a sad story.

There really are no happy stories in this family. His long suffering wife, Linda, has spent a lifetime trying to raise the kids, keep up the house and be supportive of her downhill heading husband. I felt really sorry for Happ, the womanizing younger son, who is really the forgotten son. He has a steady job and tries his best to bring some optimism to this depressed family but in vain.

I took this play in school, but have never seen it on stage. To read this play is quite confusing, to see it on stage is quite powerful.

There were no poor performances in this production and I thought Joseph Ziegler was fantastic as Willy Loman. His role demands he play the full range of a young, optimistic, excited younger Willy and the older defeated, tired, shuffling Willy.

Although not a happy story, I am glad that I finally had the chance to see it on stage, and extremely glad that it was this production of the classic, that I saw.

"I don't say he's a great man. Willie Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper. He's not the finest character that ever lived. But he's a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. He's not to be allowed to fall in his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must finally be paid to such a person."

Moving Toronto's History - Part 2

Back in August 2011, the old Fox and Fiddle Pub building which stood at 106 John Street was moved across the road. I did a post at the time which showed time lapse photography of the move from one side of the road to the other.

This past weekend it was moved to its new location, a few doors south of where it originally stood. Here is the original location.

The reason it was spared demolition was its historic value to the city. It is one of the last of the style of homes which were built in the city back in the late 1800s. This one was built in 1869.

I found it interesting that they did not line up this building with the old building which still stands.

According to a very interesting article on the move in Urban Toronto, it took just under 4 hours to move the building across the street. This building will be turned into retail space once the new building is built in behind. The article has some great pictures of the move and is worth a read. All the pictures in this post are mine except for the picture of the original pub.

It'll be interesting to see how it all turns out in the end.

One final picture here. The building with the Daniels sign on it has historical value in it too. Once it was the Duke of Argyle and was the site of the Teena's and my very first official date on December 24, 2001. For that reason alone, it is worth preserving.

Book Review - Cooking with Beer: Favourites of Newfoundland and Labrador

I was looking for a recipe book with Newfoundland recipes and came upon this one, Cooking with Beer: Favourites of Newfoundland and Labrador.

It is full of recipes and, yes, each one has beer in it, from just a few ounces to a few cups.  So far I have tried three of them and two have been very good, with Teena wanting me to make them again in the future.  One was just OK. It was an onion marinaded in beer, then BBQed. I think the onion I used was too big so l can take the blame on that one. To me, it uses up too much beer for a side dish, so I would do that one again.

The other two, Eric`s Red Chicken Lyonaisse and the Roast Loin of Pork with Beer, that I made last night were superb!

The author, Gerry Crewe, a native of Newfoundland, was a chef and teacher until he retired. He was named Chef of the Year for Atlantic Canada in 2001 and the same year was also nominated for Canadian Chef of the Year. He was nominated and selected for the Teaching Award of Excellence for College of the North Atlantic in 2004.

He must be friends with the owners of Quidi Vidi Brewery as he has a short section on the history of that brewery and all his recipes ask for Quidi Vidi beer. As I can`t get that beer here, I use the same style of beer but a different brand.

One fault is that the book is not well edited. One recipe told to uncover the pan for the last 20 minutes but never said how long the meat should be in the oven to begin with. Another required 8 oz of beer, but the instructions never said when to use it. It was obvious when, but should have never been missed.

The recipes in the book cover drinks, appetizers, seafood, moose, beef, pork chicken and deserts. A good cookbook with lot`s of fun recipes to try.

Recipe - Roast Loin of Pork with Beer

This is another recipe from the book, Cooking with Beer, Favorites of Newfoundland and Labrador. As it is Sunday and a TV sports day plus Teena will be getting home around 7 this evening and likely hungry after a weekend away in Halifax with her university friends and her sister, I wanted something easy to make.

This recipe looks easy and delicious! Here's what you need.

2 lbs of Pork Loin
1 clove of garlic (I'll use more)
8 oz Honey Brown Beer
1 oz lard (I'll use olive oil)
8 oz Beef Stock
2 Onions Quartered
Salt and Pepper.

As you prepare the meat, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Cut a criss-cross pattern into the loin, then mix the garlic, salt and pepper together and rub it over the surface of the pork.

Brown the meat on all sides in a pan with the lard (or olive oil).

Place in a baking dish. Cover with the beef stock and beer, then roast for 45 minutes.

Then add the onion, reduce the heat to 350 and cook for another 45 minutes. It's your choice if you wish to thicken the juices with flour or corn starch.

I chose not to thicken the juices. The dish was very flavourful and the meat was so tender. I had the onions as a side dish and they too were quite tasty.

Yet another dish that Teena would like me to cook again.

Beer of the Week - The Beers of Gahan House P.E.I.

When I did my first post for the Beer of the Week, I thought it would be great if one day I would have sampled beer from at least one brewery in every province or territory in Canada that brewed beer.

Teena was a great help. I thank her for packing a little lighter than she would have liked to when heading out on business trips in order to have room to haul beer home for me. There were a couple of times she was right at the edge of the bag being overweight.

Friends Jim and Wendy moved to New Brunswick and on their first trip back to visit brought me some beer from Picaroon's Brewery there. Bob from Yukon Brewery couriered some beer for me from there as a present. This summer Teena and I were in St John's, Newfoundland, and visited Quidi Vidi Brewery and Yellowbelly Brewery there. That just left one province untasted.

Prince Edward Island, which we refer to in Canada as PEI.

My friend, Alfred, was there for me in completing my quest. He and his wife, Christine, and a couple of friends were off by car to Cape Breton and PEI for a golfing vacation. While in Charlottetown, they stopped in at the Gahan House Brewpub and I was not forgotten

The email from Alfred was of historical proportions for me!

"The good news is I have 4 IPA, 1 Island Red, 1 Beach Chair, 1 Wheat and 1 Brown Horse for you. I tried them all except the wheat, they are all superb quality beers. Gahan was a 2 minute walk from the Great George Hotel, where we stayed. Their beer was popular, we could order it everywhere, and we did"

So first, a little history about the brewery and the building that houses it.

The brewery is named after John Gahan, a local merchant,  who built this building back in 1880, In 1922, it was bought by the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation and used as a convent until sometime in the 1960s. After that, it became a boarding house.

The brewery was started in 1997 as Murphy's Brewery in another location. Their beer was popular so in November 2000, the company bought the old Gahan House, and renamed the brewery to Gahan Brewery, where it doubled its capacity and also became a brewpub. Alfred said the food there is delicious!

On Tuesday night, Alfred and I met for supper and I came home with PEI beer in hand. Alfred also emailed me a picture of Gahan's and their truck.

So now the time has come. Time to try some beer. I did this over a course of  a few days so I was always starting with a fresh palate. 

Sir John A's Honey Wheat Ale

I am looking forward to this one as in 2011 this beer won the Gold Medal at the Canadian Brewing Awards in the North American Wheat Beer division.

The company puts the packaged date on every bottle and I am happy to see that this one was bottled on September 5th. Fresh beer all the way from P.E.I.!

The beer pours a very light yellow colour with a white head and is quite clear. I can note a little citrus in the aroma. White lacings are left behind as I sip.

When I sip it I find it is little sweet, a little citrusy, and a little bitter at the end but as a whole, much more flavourful than I am describing here. This beer is a great way to start a weekend or would make a great Sunday beer with its 4.5% APV.  This also would be very refreshing on a hot afternoon.

Proof again that there can be flavour in a light beer.A very enjoyable beer indeed! I can see why it won Gold.
Beach Chair Lager

Interesting that this is a Gahan House beer but comes canned, not bottled, and nowhere on the can is the Gahan House name. Instead the can reads Prince Edward Island Brewing Company. If you go to the site, you'll see the same beers listed as Gahan House and the same history. The only difference seems to be that you cannot find this beer on the Gahan site but shows on the PEI Brewing site. Must be a marketing thing!

The beer pours a clear golden colour, with a white head, both very typical for a lager. I find that mostly lagers have the same aroma and this one has that lager aroma. Once again, lacings are left behind as I sip. No corn here, just malt.

This lager has a nice bitter bite to it in the end, not overpowering, but enough in the finish that you know there are hops in here. This is the type of lager that I enjoy. It has flavour, with a short crisp bitter finish. Another well-crafted beer!
Island Red 

Red ales are not my favorite but I like one very once in a while. I love hops and red ales tend to be more malt forward, so that is likely the reason why.

It pours a brownish colour with a red hue to it. There are no hops in the aroma, but a nice sense of malt. The head has a slightly brownish tone. This brewery uses no adjuncts so of course, lacings line the glass when I sip on it.

This is a nice beer. Lots of flavour coming from the malt. I would not say there is any hop bitterness in this, but there is bitterness coming from what I would say would be roasted malts. I enjoyed this and find this one about halfway between a true ale and a porter.

It`s very well-done but again one I would have from time to time if I lived there.

Iron Horse Brown Ale

This beer pours a dark brown colour almost bordering on black. The head is silkier than the others with an off brown colour. Lots and lots of lacings are left on the inside of the glass by this one!

It has an aroma very similar to a porter or stout and when I taste it I feel the same.

This is so well done! Blindfolded I would swear this is a stout. It is very smooth and silky. There is some bitterness coming from the roasted malts. Where in a porter or stout I can sense a little coffee, there is none here, but tones of chocolate do come through.

I could have a few of these any night!

1772 India Pale Ale 

The other beers were great so I can't wait to try the star of the show, the IPA.

It pours a coppery colour with a full, off white head. I can smell the floral hops in the aroma.

It starts smooth and then comes that wonderful hop bitterness. It is not a blow your mouth open bitter, nor is a subtle bitterness, but you certainly know there are hops in this one. My second sip gives the same reaction, smooth to start then a long hop bite in the long finish.

This is the style of IPA which I love. If I could get this here, this IPA would most certainly be a regular in my fridge!

Five beers from Gahan House and all of them are excellent. Thanks, Alfred!

So there it is. It took 180 Beer of the Week posts but now I have tasted beer from a brewery in every province and territory that has a local brewery. Nunavut and the Northwest Territory do not have a brewery but if they do, you know I'll certainly be trying to get a beer from them too!

Beer of the Week Stats 

Beers Profiled 180 
Breweries 157 
Countries 37 
Provinces 10 
Territories 1

Recipe - Eric's Red Chicken Lyonaisse

This is a recipe from a book Cooking with Beer, Favorites of Newfoundland and Labrador. A review is coming in a couple of days.

Chicken, bacon and beer! How can this not be great! I made it tonight for supper.

Here's what is needed

1 whole chicken, quartered
3 1/2 lbs sliced potatoes
3 Tbsp butter
10 oz diced bacon or ham (I used bacon)
2 oz chopped fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme, basil)
1 large sliced onion
2 carrots sliced lengthwise
1 cup red beer (I used Rickards Red)
Salt and pepper

In a casserole dish, put down a layer of sliced potatoes. I used a lasagna pan lined with parchment paper. Then lay the chicken  over top.

Add the bacon, onions and carrots. Season with the herbs, salt and pepper.

Then pour the beer over top.

What do you do with the left over beer? Have a drink while finishing up!

Top this with another layer of sliced potatoes, and pour the melted butter over top.

Cover and bake at 350 F for 1 hour, then remove the cover for the last 20 minutes to allow the potatoes to brown.

I don't know how it looks to you but the taste is fabulous!. The flavours of the bacon and thyme run through the chicken and potato. The beer steamed the potato to a real nice texture. Next time I might use just 6 chicken breasts. I would also uncover the dish for an extra ten minutes..

Teena told me this was a dish she would like me to make again. That is praise enough!

Dragon's Den Newest Dragon?

No, I'm not the newest Dragon in the den but a big fan of the show. You need a heck of a lot more money than I have in the bank to be on the show. David Chilton, author of the Wealthy Barber is the newest Dragon.

This afternoon to the Dragons were on hand to promote the 7th season of CBC's Dragons Den.

 Launching a business is no small task. No matter how big an idea you think you have, it still takes a lot of work and a ton of cash. Enter the Dragons' Den, where aspiring entrepreneurs pitch their business concepts and products to a panel of Canadian business moguls who have the cash and the know-how make it happen. They've all been there themselves, so you better not walk into the Den unprepared. It takes more than passion to convince these boardroom giants that your idea is worth their attention. The Dragons are ruthless and rightly so - it's their own personal money on the line.

Past idea pitchers were there selling their products and in the main atrium were the Dragons. First there was a question and answer period, followed by an autograph signing. I only made it to the signing. All the Dragons seem to have books out and everyone in line seemed to have at least one in hand.

Yes, I did get a couple of Arlene Dickinson.

It was crowded and hard to get good shots but here is Jim Treliving. He is a big guy!

I didn't get one of Kevin O'Leary, except for the panel shot at the top. Here is Bruce Croxon.

And finally Diane Buckner who hosts the show. She actually smiled a lot, I just missed it.

I'm looking very forward to the new season!

Book Review - Full Frontal T.O.

Teena read Full Frontal T.O. and recommended it to me. Her review is here.

The Toronto streetscape: how it looks, lives and changes over time. 

Documented in over 1000 photographs. For over thirty years, Patrick Cummins has been wandering the streets of Toronto, taking mugshots of its houses, variety stores, garages and ever-changing storefronts. Straightforward shots chronicle the same buildings over the years, or travel the length of a block, facade by facade. Other sections collect vintage Coke signs on variety stores or garage graffiti. Unlike other architecture books, Full Frontal T.O. looks at buildings that typically go unexamined, creating a street-level visual history of Toronto. Full Frontal T.O. features over four hundred gorgeous photos of Toronto’s messy urbanism, with accompanying text by master urban explorer Shawn Micallef.

As the book is mostly pictures, it is a quick but very interesting read. I found it fascinating looking at how buildings have changed over 20 plus years. Patrick Cummings, the photographer, has great patience as he returns to shoot the same build from the same spot over a 24 year period.


I found the stores most interesting. Seems there are not many that stay in business over a 20 year period. To see the metamorphosis of these building is very fascinating. Here is just one example from the book which I found online. The building has not changed much but the priority of the company has over the 9 year period.

Shawn Miccallef provides some interesting insight into some of the pictures, especially the somewhat eerie description of Czehoski's on Queen St.

Mr Cummings also has a Full Frontal T.O. Blog which will be put on my blogroll for sure.

If you live in Toronto, you will find this book quite interesting.

Recipe - Cod au Gratin

When I was in Newfoundland this summer, I fell in love with Cod au Gratin.

I only ate it at the end of our vacation but the next time I'm back, I'll be rotating Cod au Gratin with Pan Fried Cod, which I have already made at home and Fish 'n Brewis. Now it's time to try it here at home.

I searched the web and got this recipe from St John's Mom, who also told an interesting story about this dish. It seems that a St John's hotel used to use bread crumbs in this dish but one night they ran out of breadcrumbs. It was a popular dish and they had to do something, so they substituted cheese. The following week when they went back to just breadcrumbs, the people sent it back demanding cheese be added and so Cod au Gratin was born!

Teena found Captain Highliner frozen cod on sale so I'll be thawing and using it instead of unfrozen or as they have in Newfoundland, fresh caught cod. They come 10 oz to a package so I also will be using less than the pound required

1 lb cod fillets
2 tbsp low fat margarine
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 1/4 c skim milk (I'm using 2%)

1 small onion finely chopped
1/2 c breadcrumbs
1/2 c. grated cheddar cheese
1 tsp salt pepper to taste

First you place the cod in greased baking dish. Then melt the margarine in a frying pan and stir in the flour until it's smooth and remove from heat.

Slowly stir in half the milk, then return to heat and beat until smooth and shiny. Gradually add the remaining milk, salt, pepper and onion. Keep stirring constantly until thickened.

Pour the sauce over fish in baking dish. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and cheese.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15-30 min, (I did mine for 20 minutes, then let it sit for 5) or until sauce bubbles and fish is cooked through.When I took it out, the house took on a cheesy aroma.

It was very tasty. The sauce was delicious and the cod was perfectly cooked through. It's not a fishy tasting dish, which I was worried about as I was using frozen, not fresh cod. Next time I would use more cod or less sauce. I also would use proper bread crumbs rather than the prepackaged powdery stuff.

This is a recipe worth trying!.

Beer of the Week - Pugsley's Signature Serives XXXX IPA

I heard that the LCBO was going to feature beers from Shipyard Brewing in their fall release and was happy to see a selection of their brews on the shelf of my local store.

Having heard many good things about this brewery, I was anxious to give them a try. There was a pumpkin beer and a barley wine which didn't interest me and I wasn't in a porter mood. They did have a Pugsley's Signature Series XXXX IPA, though. I love IPAs and came home with a couple of 625 ml (21 oz) bottles.

I'll air this complaint again. If a brewery brews a 9.3% beer like this one is, put it in a regular size bottle. More and more breweries are putting their high octane brews in big bottles. Nice if you're sharing, but if you are having one just for yourself, it's a little much!

Shipyard brewery originally opened as Federal Jack's Restaurant & Brew Pub in 1992 in the seaside village of Kennebunkport Harbor, Maine, and in two years had to expand to a larger location. That year they moved to Portland and renamed the brewery to Shipyard Brewery. It now is Maine's largest craft brewery and the 16th largest craft beer brewery in the U.S. Alan Pugsley, who this series of beers is named after, had just come over from England when he was hired on by Fred Forsley, the owner. He has been the head brewmaster from the beginning when the original brewpub first opened and has been there ever since. Time for a taste!

The beer pours cloudy, as it is unfiltered, and coppery in colour.  The head is an off white colour. There is a very malty aroma to this one and I notice the absence of any floral hops. There are nice lacings left behind on the glass when I sip.

I expected a strongly flavoured beer and this one did not disappoint. It starts with a heavy malt taste which yields to some bitterness in the finish but not much. The heavy malt taste stays with me for a long while.

This is a well-made beer but as much as I enjoy IPAs, this one is not for me. The brewery has a couple of other IPAs and an English bitter that I would love to try. This one though is just too malt-forward for me.

Beer of the Week Stats 

Beers Profiled 179 
Breweries 156 
Countries 37 
Provinces 9 
Territories 1