News and Event Update

Three quick cask ale news & event notices to pass along:

• Round 2 of Volo’s Ontario Cask IPA/Pale Ale Challenge has been set for the weekend of May 23rd & 24th. starting at 12 noon each day, the 10 beers that won in the first round – Granite Hopping Mad, Publican House Square Nail, Grand River Plowman’s, Durham County Hop Head, Mike Duggan Number 9, Magnotta West Coast, Heritage Scotch-Irish Sgt. Major, Mill St. IPA & Mill St. Tankhouse – will be served in a blind tasting format. There will be no admission charge, and the beers will be sold in 1/4-, 1/2- and full-pint measures while quantities last
• Paul Dickey at Pepperwood Bistro has announced that his Cask of the Month for April will be tapped on Wednesday April 15th, and it’s a Dry Stout. He also notes that in May, his monthly Cask and Feature beers will be tapped at the same time, and they will be an English IPA (draught) and American IPA (cask). “Taste the difference – different yeasts, different malts, different hops.”
• Black Oak Brewing are throwing a party on Saturday April 18th to celebrate the opening of their new brewery in Etobicoke, and they’ll be serving casks of Whiskey Barrel Aged Nut Brown, Double Chocolate Cherry Stout and Hop Bomb Cask Pale Ale, along with regular draught beer and soft drinks. There will also be food, live music and more. Click here for full details.

Cask Crawl Thanks & Cask Dinner Details

CASK! would like to thank everyone who made it out to any or all of the participating pubs for last weekend’s Cask Ale Crawl. Even despite the lousy weather on Friday and Saturday, the pubs reported a great turn-out, with many of the casks running dry by Saturday afternoon. We really appreciate the efforts of the publicans and brewers who participated, and it’s a pretty safe bet that we’ll be holding another Crawl next year, if not sooner.

In the meantime, we’re just a couple of weeks away from our next event: the “Beer For The Cure” Cask Ale Dinner at The Granite Brewery (245 Eglinton Avenue East) on Saturday April 25th. Partial proceeds from the dinner will be going to the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation of Canada, and given the dinner’s proximity to St. George’s Day, it will feature a British-themed menu:

Sausage Rolls
served from 6:30 p.m. on in the dining room
Along with Granite IPA

Granite Spent Grain Bread with Potted Beer Cheese
Matched with Granite Best Bitter Special

Roast beef with a Granite Peculiar gravy,
Yorkshire pudding and a medley of roast vegetables
Paired with MacLean’s IPA

Sticky Toffee Pudding
Served with Grand River Brewing Imperial Stout

The evening will also feature guest speaker Nick Pashley, a silent auction and door prizes. Tickets are $65, and can be purchased by calling 416 462 3788.

Cask Ale Crawl – Print Your Own Passport

Just one more day until the Cask Ale Crawl starts!

As mentioned previously, festival passports will be available for free at the six participating pubs, but quantities may be limited. So if you want to ensure that you have a copy, you can download a PDF version and print one for yourself. Then visit all six pubs, get it stamped at each of them, and enter our prize draw.

See you this weekend!