Foodies Across Borders

For some time now, my favorite beer has been Mill Street Brewery’s Tankhouse Ale. The rich, smooth taste is truly the nectar of the gods. Today though I decided to pick up their seasonal six pack which is a mix of the Toronto micro brewery’s finest. Right now I’m enjoying a Belgian Wit, which is a wheat beer flavoured with orange an coriander. It is bright and cheerful, with a nice citrus aftertaste.

I may not switch from Tankhouse Ale, but I can see myself picking up a case or 5 this summer.

If you are in Toronto, it is great fun to visit the Distillery District and stop by the brewery and enjoy a great meal while you are there.

I was pretty stoked and curious to see this at our local LCBO…an Ontario Stout!  I’m talking about Hockley Valley Brewing Company’s Hockley Stout.  I love the tag on the can…”It pours like liquid midnight.”

 Just go buy it.  It’s a really great pour – beautiful coffee aroma is what I got, and a bit of that on the palate too.  I just love stout when the weather gets colder, and the fact that an Ontario brewer is producing the “black delicious” is really exciting for me.

Cheers,

Mooby

Nothing better than an ice cold keg of Upper Canada Lager!

Chili for Saint Patrick’s Day? It’s not green, so what gives? Well, the February issue of Bon Appetit has a great looking recipe for Beef & Dark Beer Chili. I’d been eying the recipe for a few weeks & then figured with a pint of Guinness it would make an almost Irish meal. Ok, I know it’s kind of twisted logic, but it works for me. At least the jalapenos are green! Believe it or not, the local LCBO was out of Guinness on St. Patties day, so we had to settle for Smithwick’s instead. Life is tough!

I spent the afternoon putting this big pot together and resisted the urge to taste until all the ingredients were together. The smells while building the chili are incredible. Once everything is assembled, the chili is fantastic. The spices, jalapenos and chipotles give just enough heat, which is countered by the sweetness of the bell peppers. This chili will likely become a staple around here.
Read the rest of this entry →

Mmm…beer: Review of Innis and Gunn Oak Aged Ale
So, this is available in a few select restaurants and liquor stores (aka happy places). It seems to be quite a rare find, and oh man, it’s worth it.

Apparently it’s aged for a total of 77 days – 30 of those are in oak barrels used to age single malt. The balance is in a “marrying tin where these flavours infuse and fall into perfect balance.” The perfect beer? Not so fast, my Homer-esque friends. This is a strong beer (6.6%) with HUGE flavour – it tastes like Caffrey’s that has had an insane bartender drop a shot of Lagavulin into it. Yup, the single malt essence comes through in a big way for me – that means you can’t be quaffing this all night. It’s like drinking a huge fat Cab or Chardonnay – it needs a little somethin’ somethin’ to go with, ya know?

That said, I can see having one or two of these Scottish badasses for a little apres, in front of the fireplace. Beautiful, huge flavours (I get the single malt as well as honey) and a lovely velvety mouth feel. Not a lot of carbonation makes it slide down that much nicer…drool…

If you can find this, I recommend this – sell your kidneys if you need to, you won’t regret the tradeoff.