Heartless Girl

Tag: beer

23
Oct
2017

Goose Island Toronto Brewhouse

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Goose Island fans, you’re in luck! The Goose Island Brewhouse is now open and brewing beers in Toronto along with delicious eats. The massive space (18,000 square feet) has ample seating, including a patio in the front and back of the restaurant.

The decor includes nods to Chicago with black and white subway tiles. Sections of the walls are made with aged bourbon barrels that they use to brew one of their most popular brews, and it looks beautiful.

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Goose Island encourages their guests to learn about their beers and the brewing process. In addition to being a restaurant, the space is also a functional brewery. You’ll find up to 7 beers fermenting at once, and they have several giant 1500 liter tanks in the space. Guests can interact with the brewers as they work on a tank. Almost all of the beers brewed here are re-imagined specifically for the Toronto market.

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There's also an original Banksy! — There’s also an original Banksy!

There’s a small garden in the back where they grow their own hops as long as the weather permits. The growing season for hops starts in May and they’re harvested in September. Next year they will be able to brew a truly local triple hops beer.

“We’re thrilled to bring Toronto beer lovers the Goose Island favourites that they already know and love, along with outstanding new locally made brews,” said Bernard Priest, Head Brewer, Goose Island Toronto Brewhouse. “Since coming to Canada in 2013, Goose Island has been warmly welcomed by Canadians. We’re very enthusiastic about the experience we will deliver in partnership with the Bier Markt Esplanade, re-establishing its roots and being a part of the community.”

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There’s a retail store where people can buy T-shirt, hats and growlers of beer. Speaking of beer…. the pub will serve Goose Island’s classic brews along with new and
innovative styles developed by the local brewers. The bar features 12 draught taps, many of which will constantly rotate. Rare brews from Chicago will be featured for special occasions. Flights of beers will be available. Want to see what’s on tap? Check out the website before heading down.

Executive Chef Kevin Maniaci and Chef de Cuisine Shawn Jackson are passionate about beer and understands the nuances of pairing food with beer. The menu features local ingredients and in some cases, Goose Island brews.

The Low & Slow Reuben Sandwich $16 is filled with brisket that’s been cured in-house for 6 days then smoked for 6 hours with sauerkraut. It’s super tender and packed with flavour. The sandwich has Swiss cheese, Russian dressing and house-made mustard on light rye.

The Chicago Sausage Dog $15 is a Goose Island Matilda-infused sausage, topped with house mustard, vine-ripened tomatoes, shaved onion and hot peppers.

General Tso Cauliflower $12 Cauliflower flourettes fried crisp and tossed with house-made General Tso sauce. Really delicious!

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Bern ‘The Brewer’s’ Sharing Board $28 has features aged 18-Month Prosciutto di Parma, Bier-Cured Pastrami Salmon, Crispy Brussel Sprout Leaves, Pacific Rock Cheese & Bavarian Pretzels with pickle jar and house-made mustard. My favourites were the freshly baked pretzels and the Pacific Rock cheese. Yum!

See the entire menu here.

The Goose Island Brewhouse is located at 70 The Esplanade, Toronto ON.

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08
Feb
2017

Goose Island Gillian: A complex beer for wine lovers

categories: Beer, Drinks, Food

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I’m usually not a beer lover, but I’ve found the first beer that I can say that I love! Gillian is Belgian style farmhouse ale for wine lovers. This sour ale is brewed by Goose Island and it’s only available as of today at the LCBO Summerhill location or online!

So, what makes this beer so special? Like wine, Gillian is aged. Gillian starts as a farmhouse ale that is then put in a barrel with 40 pounds of fresh local strawberries from a family farm in Michigan and Belgian wild yeast. The beer goes through a second fermentation in the barrel for 2 weeks, and then rests for 2 months in neutralized red wine barrels. (more…)

20
Jul
2016

[Win it!] Toronto Festival of Beer Tickets

categories: Beer

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Calling all beer lovers! This weekend, a delicious festival of beer hits Toronto. The Toronto Festival of Beer takes place on July 22 to July 24th at the Exhibition Place.

Not only can you get over 333 local and imported brews all weekend long, but the festival has upped their food game. This year, Toronto’s Festival of Beer welcomes over 16 chefs and over 13 food purveyors.

The Grilling Tent at Toronto’s Festival of Beer is presented by Club House La Grille in partnership with Labatt Breweries of Canada, Thirst for Knowledge Inc., Broil King, Ted’s World Famous BBQ, and curated by Afrim Pristine of The Cheese Boutique.

Food purveyors include: Campagnolo, Fidel Gastro’s, MELT Grilled Cheese, The Pie Commission, Queen Margherita Pizza , Hot Bunzz Street Cuisine, The County General and more.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.beerfestival.ca

I’m giving away a pair of tickets for you to experience the festival yourself on Sunday July 24th! Enter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

22
Apr
2014

Goose Island Dinner at the Bier Markt

categories: Food, Restaurant

The Bier Markt invited me to a Goose Island Dinner with Goose Island Brewmaster Brett Porter and Bier Markt Executive Chef, Michael Cipollo.

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17
May
2013

Summer at the Bier Markt

categories: Food, Restaurant

It’s officially summer at Bier Markt! They kicked off the season on a sunny day with a perfectly timed patio party. I love going to the Bier Markt, and the Front Street location is a favourite of mine. I actually like going to the Bier Markt for the food. Shh, I’m not much of a beer drinker!

On tap for the evening were four new biers from their spring and summer season. Hop Mason IPA, Houblon Chouffe IPA and Hasseroder Pilsner (exclusive to Bier Markt)

To be honest, I’m not much of a beer drinker. I prefer very fruity, sparkling cocktails and wines. (My favourite beer is Fruli, which is basically more fruit than beer.) So I won’t get into specifics, but I liked the Hasseroder Pilsner the best. It was light and refreshing.

Now on to the food! Their executive chef, Michael Cipollo, experimented with Bier Can Chicken using 4 different types of beer. The chicken was so moist and tender.

The sausages were my favourite. The Wurst BBQ featured inventive flavours like Ontario Pork & Orange Zest, Lamb Merguez and Breton Pork & Fennel sausage. The pork and orange zest sausages were surprisingly flavourful. The orange flavour really came through- not something that I’m used to tasting in meat. More, please!

King Prawns, fingerling potatoes and apple salad.

Another favourite from the evening were their Rosti Croquette. I don’t think that this is new to the menu, but it was the first time I was tasting it. It was so good and practically melted in my mouth. It consisted of shredded Yukon potatoes, Beemster Classic cheese and creme fraiche.

Hungry? Visit the Bier Markt website to find the location nearest to you. I pretty much plan on spending a good portion of my summer hanging out on the patio and trying out their brunch!

18
Nov
2011

Say Cheese & Say Cheers: Black Creek Pioneer Village Beer Workshop

categories: Events, Food, Wine

Last night, I went to Say Cheese and Say Cheese at Black Creek Pioneer Village for the first time. (Full disclosure, I work closely with BCPV) I haven’t been back to Black Creek since I was in grade 6! So it was a unique experience. The beer workshop is hosted by the lovely Julia Rogers, cheese society member and all around awesome person.

The tour started off with one of Black Creek’s cheerful animators leading us around the village. Each person was assigned a character card, and we learned a lot about what the beer scene was like in the 19th century. The principal beer makers were women! They made beer for the whole family. Also, women could only own property if they were widowed.

After learning a bit about everyone’s characters, we traipsed into the mill. We took a look at barley and other things needed to make beer. Barley looks like coffee when it’s all ground up! Barley also is what gives beer it’s colour and most of it’s flavour.

After the tour, we headed down into the brewery and pub. Julia had arranged a nice selection of Canadian cheese and beer.

The first pairing was St. Albert’s Cheddar and Black Creek India Pale Ale. This cheese was my favourite! It was medium textured and creamy. It’s available in various stores, and also at Pusateri’s fruit market. Black Creek IPA is made on site and is available at the LCBO.

The next pairing was Lankaaster cheese from Glengarry Cheese. It was an hard aged cow milk cheese, and reminded me a bit of Parmesan. I liked it. It was paired with Creemore Springs urBock, a strong German lager, from Creemore, Ontario. A great ale for winter.

Next up was C’est Bon Chevre, which I enjoyed. This goat cheese was from Transvaal Farm in Saint Mary, Ontario. It was light and delicious! One of the things that I loved about this event was hearing stories about the cheese maker. This particular goat came from Riverdale Farm! And now it’s happily living on Transvaal Farm. The cheese was paired with a festive fall Pumpkin Ale from Great Lakes Brewery, in Etobicoke.

(PS: These sweet potato “root chips” were delicious! And made in-house. )

Mouton Rouge was next, a raw sheep milk cheese from Ewenity Dairy Co-op, in Fergus, Ontario. This cheese wasn’t my favourite. It was supple and a bit gritty. This cheese was paired with Black Oak Nut Brown Ale, made at the Black Oak Brewery in Oakville! This brown ale goes well with meat and bitter chocolate.

Last but not least was Celtic Blue Cheese, a creation from Glengarry Cheese, in Glengarry, Ontario. This firm cow milk cheese was served on a dollop of strawberry jam. The contrast between the sweet jam and nutty cheese was perfect. This was paired with a whopping 10% beer, Trois Mousquetaires Imperial Baltic Porter, from Les Trois Mousquetaires in Brossard, Quebec.

All in all, it was a fantastic experience! This was the last session for the year, but more workshops will happen in 2012, and each pairing is different!