Beer of the Week - Barnstormer Brewing Flight Delay IPA

In this month's Beer of the Month package, there were three cans of Flight Delay IPA from Barnstormer Brewing in Barrie, Ontario.

Barnstormer Brewing started brewing in 2013, and opened their retail store in December of that year. Planned as a brewpub, the restaurant part opened later on, I found the restaurant receives great reviews for its pizza.

On this season on CBC's Dragons' Den, the owners of Barnstormer make a pitch to the five dragons. It has yet to air, It should be interesting to hear Dragon Manjit Minhas' take on their operation as she is the the co-founder and co-owner of Minhas Breweries.

The brewery is themed after the aviation industry of the 1920s and 30s. I like the can and how the stats about the beer are displayed on aircraft dials. I also love the flight themed old style labeling.

And the beer?

Flight Delay IP pours a golden colour with a full white head that takes it's time to settle down. Citrus really comes through in the aroma.  I love west-coast IPAs, how they are so citrusy and bitter and this one does not disappoint. The first sip starts with some citrus, then the bold bitter citrus follows and stays throughout the finish.

This is a really enjoyable beer that I hope to have again. I can picture an overnight stay in Barrie sometime this summer, with dinner and beers at the microbrewery restaurant.

Good luck in Dragons' Den!

Beer of the Week Stats

Beers Profiled 309
Breweries 277
Countries 45

A Very Important Loss for the Toronto Rock

Teena and I were at the Toronto Rock game tonight.  It was a rematch of the 2015 NLL Championship series when the Toronto Rock lost to the Saskatchewan Rush. It was a win the Rock really needed as their record was a disappointing 3-7 but they still had an outside chance to make the playoffs.

As usual, Scotty Newlands did a terrific job on the Canadian national anthem.

Opening face-off.

The Rock scored in the first minute of the game but then quickly found themselves down 3-1. Here's some action from the game.

The Rock were down 3-2 at the end of the first and tied it up in the second. Iggy was hopeful and worked the crowd.

Then it was time for the Toronto Rock Cheerleaders.

Toronto took quite a few penalties in the first two periods and found themselves down 7-4 at the half.

At the half, the kids came out. For the last minute of the game, they let all the kids onto the surface. It was fun to watch.

The Rock came back in the fourth period to tie the game 9-9 with just 2:15 to go in the game. Tim and Gillian loved it!

The Toronto Rock Cheerleaders thought the Rock could do it.

 The Saskatchewan fans in front of us thought the Rush could do it.

Iggy thought we could do it.

But the Rush fans were right and scored to take a 10-9 lead with just 26 seconds to go. After an empty net goal, things got rough.

Once it was over, they all shook hands, as usual.

And as usual, we cheered our team as they saluted us.

The loss put us in dire straights about making the playoffs. It was a close game and a fun game but the loss hurt. The only reason the game was really as close as it was, was because Nick Rose (ROSIE!) made so many great saves to keep them in the game.

The game stats.

The next home game is April 9 against New England. They play Vancouver in between. The Rock desperately need a winning streak.

Book Review - Triumph at Kapyong

I admit that I don't know much about the Korean War which was fought from June 1950 to July 1953 or Canada's role in it. This why Triumph at Kapyong interested me so much.

April 24th, 1951,was a lonely, moon-lit night in Korea. On a godforsaken hill, a few hundred surrounded Canadian soldiers waited for the fight of their lives to begin. Soon, Chinese communist troops in their thousands, swarmed around them, plunging straight towards the Korean capital, Seoul. These Canadians were all that blocked the way. This is the story of the first battle by Canada's first soldiers in the Korean War: the 2nd Battalion of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. These volunteers were straight from Central Casting: truck drivers, construction workers, kids just out of high school, and bored farm boys. Outnumbered and outgunned, this people's army of amateurs beat off some of the toughest troops on earth. This battle that's become a legend takes its name from a nearby peanut-sized village: Kapyong. It's become a mythic Canadian story, except this is mythology that is real.

The book is well-written and focuses on many on the main Canadian personalities who participated in the battle. It follows the "Princess Pats" unit from its miserable voyage across the Pacific from Canada, then across the hills, mountains and valleys as they headed towards the North Korean Border.

Author Dan Bjarnason does an excellent job of putting the reader into the middle of the major battle. He also does a great job in explaining why many Canadians are unaware of our participation on the Korean war. As it was a police action and not a declared war, many Canadians ignored what was going on over there, while it was even happening.

Bjarnson finishes up with a chapter on who won battle medalsand an excellent account of one man who didn't and the prejudiced reason behind it.

Kapyong is such a heroic Canadian victory, a story of hundreds standing off thousands, and this is an excellent account of the battle.

Garth Brooks in Concert in Hamilton

Teena and I headed to Hamilton to see Garth Brooks in concert at the FirstOntario Centre (the old Copps Coliseum). It was the first of five shows in Hamilton. We parked across the street and had supper and a couple of drinks at The George Hamilton, the city's oldest pub, which we both enjoyed.

We arrived at the arena when the doors opened. Teena wanted a teeshirt but the size of the other fans wanting one too was incredible!

 

Teena gave up and headed downstairs to get one and she said there was hardly a person there.

Brett Kissel, from Alberta, opened the show. I really enjoyed his stuff. His music was quite lively.

Brett was followed by Karyn Rochelle, who is the usual opening act for Trisha yYarwood.

What was very cool was the announcer called out it was five minutes to Garth Brooks. With a minute to go, the countdown hit the screen on stage but about every five seconds an image would come up about the city. This was my favorite!

Garth time!

And out he came!

 

 

The River got the lights in the crowd going.

Garth on the screen over the stage.

 

Trisha Yearwood came  out to do a duet with Garth, then performed a set of her songs. She has been married to Garth since 2005.

 

 

She finished with She's in Love With the Boy and they did the Kiss Cam during it.

I put the camera away and enjoyed the rest of the concert. When Garth did the "revised" version of Friends in Low Places, I had to record it.

I really enjoyed the concert. Teena did too. Garth puts so much energy into his shows and knows exactly how to work a crowd. It was a great night! We both said that if he came back to the area we would be clambering for tickets as soon as they came out.