Great Lakes Brewery have announced the launch of Project X, a monthly event at the brewery (30 Queen Elizabeth Blvd, Etobicoke) that will feature a new and limited cask beer only available for the night. They invite all to become a member and experience these unique and adventurous beers.
Entry to each monthly event will include samples of the monthly cask conditioned beer, 2 drink tickets, and beer-themed food. Admission is only $10, and requires a membership ($10). All members will receive an exclusive t-shirt and membership card.
Held on the second Thursday of each month, the first event is July 9, from 6:30-9:00. Great Lakes staff will be on hand to tour, taste, and talk about the world of beer.
To get on the list, email info@greatlakesbeer.com or sign up in the Great Lakes retail store.
The brewery is a short walk from the Mimico GO Station or a quick bus ride from the Royal York Subway, so please don’t drink and drive!
Categories: events
This Saturday, June 20th starting at 12:00 noon, Volo (587 Yonge Street) will be holding the 3rd round of their Ontario Cask IPA Challenge, pitting the four beers that have made it through the previous rounds against each other to establish which beer will reign as the top Ontario-brewed cask IPA.
The quartet of beers making it through to this round are Mike Duggan Number 9, Granite Hopping Mad, Scotch Irish Sgt. Major and County Durham Hop Addict. The beers will be served blind in quarter, half and full pints, and the votes will then be tallied to find the top two which will proceed to the 4th and final round.
For more information on the previous rounds, see the Volo website.
Categories: events
Victory Summer Cask Ale Festival
Sunday July 12th 2009
12:00 noon
The Victory Café, 581 Markham Street, Toronto
This year’s Victory Café Summer Cask Ale festival will be held on Sunday July 12th starting at noon until supplies last. Continuing the theme of the Victory’s previous cask festivals, this event is a celebration of local traditional cask conditioned ales and aims to introduce new people to these wonderful beers. The Victory Café welcomes anyone who is interested in sampling good quality local cask ale.
There will be sixteen cask ales on offer, all from local brewers. Two casks each of the most popular ales will be available to better ensure that everyone has a chance to enjoy them. The full list of beers will be announced at a later date.
Beer samples will be offered by the half-pint measure, purchased with a beer ticket available at the festival. A selection of tasty food will also be available with the purchase of a food ticket.
Tickets can be purchased at the festival entrance:
$12 – admission, souvenir glass, two half-pint beer tickets, plus one food ticket
$8 – admission, souvenir glass, and two half-pint beer tickets
$4 – additional food ticket
$3 – additional beer ticket
Categories: events
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.
Categories: brewpubs · events · out of town
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.
Categories: events
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!
Categories: events
Here is the finalized list of beers set to be served at the bars and pubs participating in the Cask Ale Crawl on Friday April 3rd to Sunday April 5th (barring any last minute changes, of course…):
Granite Brewery (245 Eglinton Ave. E.)
Granite Best Bitter Special
Granite IPA
Granite Hopping Mad
Mill St. Brewpub (Distillery District, 55 Mill St.)
Mill St. IPA
C’est What (67 Front St. E.)
County Durham Hop Addict
County Durham Hop Head
Grand River Curmudgeon IPA
Grand River Plowman’s Ale
Neustadt Big Dog Porter
Rhino (1249 Queen St. W.)
County Durham ESB
Black Oak Pale Ale
Cheshire Valley Dry Stout
Victory (581 Markham St.)
Compass Starlight Ale
County Durham Signature Ale
Nickel Brook Sour Cherry Ale
Volo (587 Yonge St.)
C’est What Chocolate Hazelnut Ale
Grand River Russian Gun Imperial Stout
MacLean’s Country Organic Ale
Neustadt Texas Tea Stout
As noted previously, the Crawl kicks off at 5:00 PM on Friday and continues all weekend (except at Volo, where they won’t be participating on Sunday due to their Cask IPA/Pale Ale Challenge event). There is no admission charge or schedule, just drop by any or all of the bars to enjoy some fine real ale, and don’t forget to grab a free passport and get it stamped at each location for your chance to win some great prizes.
Also, remember that all of the pubs are accessable via TTC, so please don’t drink and drive!
Categories: events
In his latest newsletter, brewmaster Paul Dickey of Pepperwood Bistro in Burlington writes the following:
The last Cask “Mild” was well received but nevertheless I had to empty 1/3 of the keg on Monday because I was not willing to serve it beyond its prime.
I need your input to make Cask viable at the Pepperwood.
Are you interested in Cask Ales?
What night is best for you?
Is there a particular style you are looking for?
How can this be framed as an event you would interested in attending?
Do I need to be present for this to be successful?
If you’d like to offer your thoughts, feel free to contact Paul with your answers.
Paul has also announced that the cask ale for April will be a Dry Stout, with the date of release to be announced.
Categories: brewpubs · out of town
Cameron’s Brewing have announced the details for the February edition of their monthly “Let’s Drink the Cask” night. Here’s what they had to say…This month’s Cameron’s ‘Let’s Drink the Cask Night’ will be on Thursday March 26th from 6:00 – 8:00pm. Please note that we only have 40 spots remaining, so RSVP’s will have to be sent straight away. If you try to RSVP and get an auto-responder, we apologize, but we are full. If you don’t get a response, consider your RSVP valid.
Also, for this month’s Cask Night, Cameron’s has partnered with the Kerr Street Ministries to help gather non perishable food for their food bank. We encourage everyone to do what they can. We will be weighing the food upon arrival and the person who brings the most food will Win a Cameron’s Keg Party – complete with a draught unit, C02, cups and host t-shirt (value $200)
Cameron’s Cask Nights have become a monthly ritual at the brewery for beer lovers to try a ‘one off’ beer – different from anything they’ve ever had.
The guestlist only event is $5 for admission however, your admission covers a selection of food from Whole Foods Markets as well as a glass of the cask and two additional drink tickets. As well, your $5 admission can be applied to a beer or swag purchase on your way out. Pretty sweet deal.
Cask night is also a great chance to tour the brewery, meet your favorite brewer, talk about the industry and pick up some brewery fresh Cameron’s beer to get you through these chilly days.
We encourage everyone to invite a guest (or a few) to join us. Just indicate how many people will be coming with you on your RSVP.
For any questions or to RSVP email mike@cameronsbrewing.com
To get in the know on Cameron’s Cask Nights, sign up for our newsletter on our homepage.
Categories: events
Volo (587 Yonge St.) have announced more details for their Ontario Cask IPA/Pale Ale Challenge, which is taking place on Sunday April 5th from 12:00 noon to 6:00 PM.
There will now be 18 ales available, as opposed to the originally announced 16, including the following:
Durham Hophead IPA * Grand River Curmudgeon IPA * Mill St. Tankhouse PA * Durham Hop Addict IPA * Grand River Plowman’s Ale * Scotch Irish Sgt. Major IPA * Church Key West Coast PA * Publican House Square Nail PA * Granite Hopping Mad PA * Mill St. IPA * Black Oak PA * Great Lakes Superior IPA * Cameron’s Auburn Ale * F & M Maclean’s PA * Neustadt Double Fuggled PA * Magnotta IPA * Maclean’s Country Organic IPA * Cool IPA (Name TBA)
This will be a “pay as you go” event with no admission charge. The beers will be sold in 1/4 pint and 1/2 measures while quantities last, and there will be food available as well.
Also announced are the beers that Volo will be offering on the Friday and Saturday of that weekend for the Cask Ale Crawl:
Maclean’s Organic Ale * C’est What Chocolate Hazelnut Ale * Neustadt Texas Tea Stout * Grand River Russian Gun Imperial Stout
Details on the beers to be available at the other participating locations will be announced here soon.
Categories: events
Great Lakes Brewery have announced the launch of Project X, a monthly event at the brewery (30 Queen Elizabeth Blvd, Etobicoke) that will feature a new and limited cask beer only available for the night. They invite all to become a member and experience these unique and adventurous beers.
