Mr Lee, I'm missing points 2,3 & 4 as well. For point 1 you can substitute the Purbeck Hills and Dorset Coastline for Wales but I take your point!
I'm in Alcona, not a million miles from you. If you fancy a meet up for a pint, I know of 2 good pubs in Cookstown (roughly halfway between our locations? not consulting a map...) that would fit the bill and have some decent(ish) beer!

Meanwhile, enjoy the time with baby - it goes really fast!

I don't really understand this complaint about the lack of decent beer. On our block we can get handpumped Wellington County or Fuller's ESB as well as various reasonable gassed beers, London Pride and Sleeman for example. The Beer Store doesn't have much in the way of beer but the LCBO has quality domestics such as Cameron's and decent imports such as Sam Adams'. What type or brand of beer are you so missing?

Trinidad, by any chance?

That could be because YOU LIVE IN A MAJOR CITY?

Im afraid that hand pumped english cask beers are something of a rarity out in the sticks. Bottled doesnt quite cut it either. Bottles of Old Speckled Hen bare remarkably little if any similarity to the real thing in a half decent english pub

Still, when in Rome and all that...Ive no problems drinking local stuff like Church Key or more commercial stuff like Sleemans.

I agree that some of the domestic beers aren't too bad. Wellington you mentioned, I quite like their stuff. As for having it on draught? Well it's having mates to go to the pub with to try them in the first place!
Also, there's an obsession with serving darker, more flavoursome beer too cold. Without wishing to sound too much of a CAMRA type anorak, for me it needs to be cool not cold for the complexity and flavours to work.


Okay, I'll get me coat.

THAT, AND THE NOVA FISH BAR, IS THE RECENT FOR LIVING ON THE BLOCK. I agree that rural Ontario is backward in this regard, it is no lie to say that there's better beer in rural Utah, still one could venture to the city now and then.

Alliston isn't a million miles from Schomberg, the pub in the old grain elevator there keeps King (well, they would it's part of King City). The darker King is a pretty good beer and, if you don't like it, the cafe next door can sell you a wonderful lemon meringue pie so the trip's not completely wasted. I'd avoid that English pub in Alliston though (name forgotten, south side of the main street) they have poisonous pies.

Okay - might have to check it out.
The pub in Alliston is the Winchester. Not been in yet, but then again, I'm a bit of a Billy no Mates at the minute.

Jonthe lad - I might just take you up on that offer. Which is the Cookstown pub you were thinking of? I remember seeing one, the Gandy Dancer, on my trips through there - advertises "warm beer" doesn't it?

We're in Schomberg both days of most weekends. Post here or pm if you're interested in late afternoon beer with people who smell (of horse, it's acceptable to the natives).

I was in there on Sunday, believe it or not, covering an Irish breakfast meeting for a local paper. Yes, it advertises 'warm beer and bad food'! I confess I have never had a pint or a pie there! However, there were about 60 peopleof Irish and/or some sort of UK heritage there that morning.

Tucked away around the corner from the Tim Hortons on the west side of Cookstown is the Guzzling Goose which I HAVE drunk in on a couple of occasions. It has a good atmosphere, beer is ok and the locals seem nice enough.

In regards to missing UK beer - well, the tinned Old Speckled Hen is much better than the bottled stuff. I miss beers from my local brewery, especially Summer Lightening (heaven to taste), 49er, Old Thumper, Abbot Ale etc. However, I must admit that in Barrie, the Robert Simpson Brewing Company make one of the most beautiful tasting beers I have ever had! Well worth a try...

Mr Lee, send me a PM if / when you fancy meeting up and we can work something out.

Cheers!

In the near on 2 years I've been living in Canada, the only occasion I have had enjoyed a pint of 'real' cask conditioned hand pumped beer was at dbd33's local on my last visit to TO. (I also got to enjoy dbd33 and his American's company which was definate further bonus ) Regrettably out here on the Rock, real ale is not to be found. Nor, in Halifax although my searches there have by no means been exhaustive. Reasonable bottled ale can be found...(NS Liquor stores do imported British beer, Black Sheep et al) but disturbingly enough this summer I have mainly been drinking Keiths IPA. And last week having bought six cans of blue star to use one for beer can chicken, I got rather more enjoyment than I really ought to (being a Camra type beer snob) out of the remaining 5. Getting Canadianised I s'pose......

Anyway, I would encourage Mr Lee to take up dbd33 on his offer. And I would ask dbd to be less smug about the availability of decent pint!

AX

Looks like Mr Lee is spoiled for choice! Maybe we should try and organise a 'Northernmost GTA' meet up sometime? There are people in Newmarket, Barrie and Bradford etc. on these boards who also might be interested (?)

Thank you for your kind words, Mr. AX. Said American is barbecuing in a big way for tomorrow night; you're more than welcome to come by for some 30 hour smoked hog. I know my days on the block are numbered, I'm being inexorably dragged into the country, so I'm gloating about draught while I can. Still, even in a rural setting one can improvise, as in the case of the lunch pictured.

I expect we'd attend if it was on a weekend.

Well that's a very decent invite. However, apart from the distance twixt here and there, tommorrow night,I hope to be eating some pan fried cod, freshly caught by Mrs AX who is heading out at sparrows fart tommorrow with one of her uncles to do some fishing. Near Dildo Island.

Next time I'm in town though....hmm, now I need to turn my mind to valid reasons for business trip to ON