Results tagged “beer”

The success of and interest in Toronto breweries has taken off as the push to eat and buy local food has branched into the beverage industry. With big names like Steam Whistle and Mill St. battling it out with emerging brands like Great Lakes, the industry is seriously booming in this city.

Based on these ad campaigns for two of Labatt's top-selling brews in 1960, we surmise that 50 was targeted to men who indulged in a healthy round of log rolling/jumping or other potentially fatal tomfoolery while downing a few stubbies, while IPA was intended for the alpha male who wanted no distractions, apart from watching his favourite sport, while indulging in his favourite beverage.

Reader Ian Simpson sent us this photograph, yesterday, of a newly installed billboard for Bud Light at John and Adelaide streets. It reads: "Torontonians aren't cold. Not in August, anyway." The ad, of course, is a direct response to a Coors Light billboard in British Columbia, which announced that that company's beer was "COLDER THAN PEOPLE FROM TORONTO."

Feel like everyone is getting a bailout except you? Brian Morin, chef and owner of beerbistro, is doing his part to change that with his "beerbistro bailout." For two weeks now, Chef Morin and his staff have been randomly selecting at least one table per day to be “bailed out” at his popular restaurant and bar at Yonge and King. When bill time comes, instead of a cheque the server brings a bright pink piggy bank topped with a lit sparkler and stuffed with cards saying that dinner and drinks are on the house.

As Maclean’s reported last week, alcohol sales at large Canadian retailers were up seventeen per cent this past October in comparison to October 2007, while the Globe and Mail reported in December that the sale of high-priced liquors, such as champagne and ice wine, were way down. This isn't surprising: when times are tough people tend to hit the cheaper bottles a little harder. But sales of inexpensive liquor aren't just up at retailers—in order to save money, more and more Torontonians are making their own booze or turning towards Toronto's on-premise beer- and wine-making establishments.

According to the Canadian Press, the Ontario Government and the LCBO secretly raised the minimum price of a case of twenty-four bottled beers last month, from $24 to $25.60. The price hike, which has already come into effect, was not an economic decision, but rather part of the LCBO's 1993 decision to enforce social responsibility. Apparently, a 24 for $24 was just too much for us to handle.

The big breweries may have the money to throw away trying to convince Canadian drinkers that consuming this or that brand is a patriotic act, but Ontario's craft brewers—with names evoking heritage and local lore—enjoy greater credibility as local institutions. Likewise, the big breweries may dominate the Beer Stores shelves, but they can't come close to the province's endless selection of distinctive microbrew cream ales, amber lagers, porters, or Belgium-style wheat beers. Nor can they match the smaller brewers' reputation for quality and award-winning tradition. To celebrate the best that these smaller brewers offer, online voting has kicked off for the sixth annual Golden Tap Awards.

Happy Family Day! Happy, that is, unless you're part of the seemingly endless parade of business owners, executives, police officers, parents, people who have to work today, cynics, bitter old men, or plain old ne'er-do-wells in general who believe that Family Day is going to ruin life—and, more importantly, the economy—as we know it. Well, buck up, kiddo. It's just not that bad.

Each week, Torontoist shows off the most interesting, creative, and cool submissions to our Torontoist Flickr Pool. We're especially partial to photos that show our city in a new light, highlight a recent event, and remind us why we live here. Join the Flickr pool and show us what you've got.

We've already taken a look at a few local seasonal beers, and the reigning champion is still Great Lakes Winter Ale, which some have described as tasting like sitting beside your fireplace during a snowstorm.

It might be time to cut back on the brews. Fox News is reporting that old beer fridges, which one in three Canadians keep in their houses, are remarkably inefficient and "contribute significantly" to global warming.

Photo by Greg Clow from Flickr.

Each week, Torontoist shows off the most interesting, creative, and cool submissions to our Torontoist Flickr Pool. We're especially partial to photos that show our city in a new light, highlight a recent event, and remind us why we live here. Join the Flickr pool and show us what you've got.

Photo by kstashuk.

Summer: the official season of barbecues, cottages and having a nice cold beer. To honour the finest microbrews in the GTA and Ontario, The Bar Towel is once again asking for the public to vote for the 2007 Golden Tap Awards and have a voice in who should go home with one of the eight coveted awards.

This week, the biggest news in movies is that Warner Bros. has decided to stop all advance promotional screenings of its films in Canada, in attempt to stem the flow of pirated movies from Canada. Yo ho ho! Unfortunately, they’ve likely decided that Canada is a hotbed of disgusting movie pirates on some pretty wonky data. Though apparently there’s no law against recording movies in a theatre onto a camcorder in Canada, which is kind of crazy.

As the weather starts to get lovely, a band name has never seemed more appropriate. The Long Winters are playing a free show tonight in two hours and there are still (apparently) forty tickets left that they can give away. (We originally read about it on Chromewaves but were waiting to hear if there were enough tickets left to let our readers know.) If last October's show at Lee's was any indication, tonight's performance should be absolutely spectacular.

On Tuesday, Wireless Toronto (everybody's favourite community wireless group) held its very first Hacknight.

Happy December Torontoist readers!

The -ists this week had politics on the brain. And what goes better with politics? Partying-- that's two great tastes in one. Oh, and Kevin Federline...can't forget about Kevin Federline. That's three great tastes in one.

The big story today is the three dead found on 1he 19th floor of the Delta Chelsea. Police were called in around 4:30 am and discovered the bodies of two men and a woman, all had stab wounds. The floor has been sealed off but the hotel remains open.

We trust you all know about Beer Hunter, that delightful Googlemaps mashup that lets you search for sweet, delicious beer. But sometimes what you really need is Canada's other national drink. Yes we're talking about the caffeine and sugar concoction known as Tim Horton's coffee.

If there's one thing that defines Toronto in the summer besides the sound of gang-related gunplay, it's festivals, and this weekend is a big one. With a bunch of major events going on, it's easy to overlook the smaller celebrations.

7-Do a rain dance. Bring on the rain with a wacky dance and then step outside to cool off. If we're lucky, the rain will do us some good.

Say, hypothetically, you were given $25 a week to buy popcorn and beer. Finding beer is relatively easy, as it's only sold in bars, the Beer Store and LCBO. But popcorn?

While Cinq-A-Sept is the traditional cocktail hour, Huit-a-Onze is all too often the time dedicated to "running out the door to check if the liquor store is still open."

On Tuesday night we took in Marsha Lederman's interview with the hilarious David Rakoff (we just finished his latest, and you should too) and Jonathan Safran Foer. Both fellows were witty and articulate, deftly turning Lederman's occasionally awkward questions around into well-spoken, thoughtful answers. Rakoff discussed his recent acquisition of American citizenship, but explained that he feels less like an American and more like a New Yorker, especially now that America is over its brief sympathy for New York and back to thinking of it as a "nest of pervs." Foer stopped the proceedings at one point to charmingly announce that he had just noticed that he'd stepped in dog poo and felt it best to draw it to everyone's attention so that no one thought he'd let out a nasty. We were especially taken by his stripey socks, until we noticed that he was wearing an identical pair the next day. Perhaps he should pay a visit to Chocky's before the festival is over.

Beer in the summer! From douchewhistles to Steam Whistles, Torontoist always has you covered. With respect to the latter, the Steam Whistle brewery is celebrating five years in the biz with a few worthy promotions. Taking a break from our winter selections, Steam Whistle could become the beverage of our summer with their new sustainable beer cup. The bio-plastic cup (pictured) contains no petroleum, is made from 100 per cent renewable resources and takes only about 48 days to break down in commercial compost.

If David Miller hosted a talk show, this week's theme would be "20-minute Make-Overs." Except instead of people who watch television all afternoon, the participants would be Toronto's parks. Miller is urging Torontonians to "join their neighbours for the citywide clean-up, which will take place on Friday, April 22 (Earth Day)." Various clean-up bags are available at Beer Stores, Pizza Pizzas and Parks and Recs Community Centres.