alexis29

Hey there,
We are living in Oakville near to Toronto, Does any one know where I can get a nice pint of John Smiths nearby.... or even a can of it? does anyones local lcbo/ beer store stock it?

thanks

Oakvillian

not seen any John Smiths (but I wouldn't look for it, especially), but at the LCBO up by the Superstore at Trafalgar and Dundas last Saturday I picked up a few cans of Abbot Ale, some London Pride, and a couple of Hobgoblins to feed to my neighbours at a Labour Day party - there's usually a good selection of ales on offer. I also tried a couple of local brews: Tankhouse Ale (Mill St Brewery) and one from Sleeman which I think was the Upper Canada Dark Ale, both of which went down well (but I didn't try those until quite late in the day, so can't give a dispassionate review!).

Late in the evening we did a sort-of-blind (in that it was too dark to read the labels properly!) taste test of Glen Breton, Canada's only single-malt whisky, against a couple of Highland and Speyside malts. It knocked the socks off a bog-standard Glenfiddich, compared favourably against middle-of-the-road malts from An Cnoc and Glenlivet, and was only really noticeably not as wonderful as a rather fine single-cask Balvenie that one of my neighbours produced. Wasn't fair to compare against the Bowmore or Talisker on the table, since the Western Isles produce such a distinctive taste. Give it a go!

iaink

A nice pint of John Smith???


I dont recall that such a thing ever existed.


The great thing about centralised alcohol control is they have a website to tell you whats available. Its not on the LCBO or Beer store sites, so you might have to try something pleasant instead

Oakvillian

quite.

printer

John Smiths beer, double cream, coronation street, multipack crisps, marmite, melton mowbray freakin pies!!!!!!!!

Welcome to Canada where the above is all forbidden.

destinationnovascotia

Nothing there I'm gonna miss then. Well, maybe the double cream for the Christmas trifle.

Mr Lee

A quite superb beer.

Only discovered it recently and very glad I did.

Another one for you admirers of proper beer to look out for at your local government controlled alcohol outlet is Sinha stout from Sri Lanka. It's about 8% abv but goes down extremely easily and is Reinheitsgebot material if the label is to be believed. Great stuff.

Forget about John Smiths mate.
It was never the same after Courage bought them out anyway.

dbd33

Since you're in Oakville give Cameron's Auburn a try. It's good and very local.

Oakvillian

I will - thanks for the recommendation.

Novocastrian

And from a little further north, King Bitter on draught, brewed in Nobleton and locally distributed.

PeterF

I went to a 'British' bar in Montreal once, to watch some footy. They had all sorts of beers not seen in the UK for many years.

Double Diamond being one.

The biggest dissapointment is Newcastle Brown Ale, they only sell it in cans or on tap (tap!!!).

Mr Lee

I've seen it in bottles, albeit small (330ml) ones in the LCBO.

The draught stuff isn't too bad. They sell it at the Village Idiot pub on Dundas in Toronto if I recall correctly.