I went for the pub and decided to try the food...
Stepping Lightly
Tue, 01/10/2012 - 17:01
You didn’t go to the bar looking for problems. You had a taste for some Jägermeister, was all, and maybe a bit of catching-up time with your buds. Before long, you found yourself on the dance floor rocking out and doing the white man’s overbite with the best of them.
And that’s where trouble found you.
New research suggests that the dance floor — not the bar or outside the men’s room, say — is the place most likely for a fight to break out in a large drinking establishment. The study, undertaken by scientists at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, reveals that some 20% of the most harmful incidents take place on the floor, with another 13% spilling out in its close proximity.
All told, researchers made more than 1,300 visits to 118 Toronto bars and clubs over the course of two years....more
Cask Ale: A Return to Tradition
Tue, 11/01/2011 - 11:19
Ask the guy spinning platters on his old turntable what kind of beer he drinks, and don’t be surprised to learn that his taste for the old fashioned and authentic extends to his refreshments. Cask-conditioned ale, or “real ale,” as its most enthusiastic fans know it, is beer served in its natural state: without pasteurization or the injection of unnecessary carbon dioxide.
The appeal of cask ale is obvious: its taste benefits dramatically from the fermentation process that continues, right up to the point that it’s making its golden path down your throat...more
Canadian Brewing Awards Hops to Conclusions
Wed, 10/05/2011 - 09:11
The sudsy celebration that is the Canadian Brewing Awards has come and gone for another turn through the calendar pages, and a northwest-style India pale ale from BC has emerged as 2011’s pick of the pubs. Fat Tug IPA, produced by Driftwood Brewing Co., was named beer of the year in this annual contest that invites breweries from across Canada to submit their wares for consideration in 31 style categories.
This year’s event—the ninth—is being lauded for its efforts to cast a wider net than in times past. Previously criticized for its Toronto-centric positioning and apparent partiality to breweries based in Ontario, Quebec and BC, organizers of the 2011 contest undertook an outreach campaign to attract contestants from further afield....more
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Beer
Tue, 08/16/2011 - 08:14
It’s summer. Time for a beer. ’Nuff said.
Well, not exactly. There are always more words to be spilled about this exquisite elixir. Here are some of them.
• Beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage in this country, in terms of both volume and dollar value. But, says StatsCan, suds gave up some of its market share to wine in the last year.
• In 2010, Canadians drank some $9 million worth of beer. That’s 58 litres a head, or more than 44 of those big-ass milk jugs for every citizen. Per-capita beer sales have dropped dramatically from their 1976 peak of 115.2 litres.
• Moosehead is the Canada’s largest fully Canadian-owned brewer....more
How to Become a Wizard: Pinball Joints in TO
Thu, 06/30/2011 - 13:52
Pinball is the sexiest game, what with all that fingerplay and thrusting of the hips. In recognition of same, here’s where you can get your tilt on in this city.
The Only Café, 972 Danforth Ave. A new pinball machine shoots into this two-storey watering hole every month to placate regulars who’ve beaten the high score and are looking for a new challenge. Currently on offer? James Cameron’s Avatar.
Motel, 1235 Queen St. W. This dimly lit, sparsely adorned Parkdale bar has among its no-frills offerings a single pinball machine that as many of the patrons claim to be rigged as do addictive....more
Lowering the Bar
Tue, 06/14/2011 - 15:52
This one’s the subject of wild speculation, mostly, and not a lot of scientific fact, but the notion that a communal bowl of countertop bar snacks might contain traces of urine surely has a germ of truth to it.
In one study, trace amounts of 27 different people’s pee were found in a bowl of bar nuts.
Think about it. The guy’s at the bar, yuckin’ it up with his buds, when nature calls. He heads for the WC where he, er, takes matters into his own hands. Thus relieved, and anxious to get back to the main-event festivities, the guy returns to his seat. And digs those hands he didn’t wash right back into the bowl....more
Wedding Pop
Thu, 04/28/2011 - 09:12
April is the month of the Royal Wedding, and if that ain’t occasion for a serious tipple, what is?
It’s why a whack of British breweries have jumped on the horse-drawn bandwagon with special-edition releases of beers and ales that commemorate the blessed event. To wit, the following innovative invitations to soak in the suds:
• Prince of Ales (ha!), available for £2 a pint for just two weeks from Young’s Brewery, is said to be “full bodied” with a “clean, bitter taste, balanced with sweet malty, fruity notes and a distinctive dry-hop aroma.”
• Royal Wedding Ale, a limited-edition, one-off miracle out this month from Adnams Southwold, is the latest in a long tradition of royal-wedding-inspired beers from this brewery...more
Nightclub & Bar Show Ties One On
Wed, 03/23/2011 - 13:26
The 2011 Nightclub & Bar Convention and Trade Show rocked the Las Vegas Convention Center in the second week of March, with some 600 exhibitors on hand to showcase what’s on tap for next season’s bar scene.
A slew of attendees—34,000 strong—included club, bar and restaurant bigwigs, and such dubious celebrity types as Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino and Dave Navarro, all there to sniff out the latest and greatest in pub fare and, no doubt, to partake of exhibitors’ generous sampling programs.
Bearing such exotic names as Lixir, Vivid High Roller and Cougar Juice, a preponderance of vodka and tequila suppliers topped the bill this year. Booze boasting of triple...more
Bye Bye Liver Delivers
Thu, 02/17/2011 - 09:01
What better way to celebrate the delicate art of being Canadian than hoisting a pint glass and having a laugh? Bye Bye Liver: The Drinking Play invites spirited locals to do just that with a new theatrical experience that explores those dual pleasures in a barroom theatre.
The Hard Rock Cafe, at 279 Yonge St., plays host to this Chicago original, launched there five years ago to give actors’ desire to drink on stage legitimacy. Toronto seemed an obvious expansion city, says creator Byron Hatfield. “They’re both on the lake, both have amazing pub cultures, both have long bouts of winter darkness which we use drink to alleviate.” ...more
Picture This
Mon, 02/07/2011 - 09:37
So let’s say you’re a gal or a fellow who, having enjoyed a night of refreshments and frivolity at a King West bar, are just now stumbling into the night. And let’s say one of your buddies perks up with the modern lament that, alas, no one came equipped with their PowerShot to capture the evening’s merriment for the subsequent enjoyment of all.
Fear not, contemporary partier.
It could be that your own municipal government is looking after all of your visual capture needs for you.
Toronto police chief Bill Blair recently announced that he wants to up the closed circuit television surveillance activity on city streets, and nominated the area west of the already-buzzing King West Entertainment District as a site of particular interest for these extra eyes....more
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