Jingsamichty

Indeed, you don't maintain a figure like that from drinking a gallon of Ol' Pit Head every day.

Anyway, I'm sitting on my balcony in Germany drinking a few alcohol-free Franziskaner Weissbiers in the sweltering early evening sunshine... one eye on the football, one on BE and the other on my holidays tomorrow... off to Cordoba, Jerez, Cadiz and Seville. Ole!

Canuck74

magnumpi

JamesM

We were still paying 80 pence at the Man Met Student Union for a pint of Boddington's in the late 90's.

Oink

Somewhere when I was younger I remember drinking eight pints of lager and getting a packet of Bensons all for 15 quid.

bgpz

The Winking Judge in Hamilton has Fullers on cask every 3-4 months or so (not just London Pride, I've seen others over the years).
Some of the best cask stuff I've had this year has been from Clifford (also in Hamilton). Occasionally at the Judge, they had a few on at Because Beer (a great little beer fest in Pier 4 park).

Toronto types may have heard of Cask Days. Tip: swerve the Fri/Sat sessions (which are getting overpriced, full of "beer bros", and generally not as well run as previous years) and instead pony up $15 for the Sunday afternoon one which is far more chilled and they're pouring far more generously as it's the "get rid of it all" session.

So much great beer - and, at last, cider - being produced locally (at least, in my part of Ontario). That said, I've been blown away with equally great stuff in BC and QC (honourable mention to Quidi Vidi in St John's, NL - well worth a visit, and a great way to spend a tactical "free" 23-hour layover in YYT if that sort of thing floats your boat )

Partially discharged

This is a good one from Hamilton

https://untappd.com/b/fairweather-br...de-ipa/2185393

Collective Arts make some great beers..not sure about the cask lineup.

I was on a wine tour recently in Niagara and we went to Bench Brewery and some of their beer was not bad although the food was better.

bgpz

Fairweather is probably my favourite these days (declaration of interest: they kindly let our home brew club brew on their premises when we did a brew for Cask Days - cripes, three years ago... time flies).

I'm not aware of Collective Arts doing much (if anything) on cask; they're very much focused on their (frankly pretty aggressive) expansion plans, that include distribution to the UK amongst other territories. A friend of a friend takes care of the SW England distro. I was in Bath back in March, and had one of the first kegs of State of Mind (RIP - now replaced by the, IMO, highly inferior Hazy State... but haze sells to beer bros *sigh*). It kicked inside two days, and was very well received.

Bench do more sours (which isn't to everyone's taste, so feels right to give fair warning). Didn't realize they do food at the brewery. Some UK friends visiting right now may be heading that way tomorrow, I'll let them know (as they were thinking about hitting Bench).

If you're in the Niagara area, definitely check out Niagara College. They offer one of the only degree programs in brewing in north America (more applied than Siebel in Chicago, IIRC Olds in Alberta launched a similar program after the NC one was launched). The brewmaster/prof in charge is a Brit called Jon Downing, who's lived in St Catherine's for the past couple of decades and consults to breweries all over the world. Great guy, really knows his stuff, and has very much driven the success of the NC program from scratch as I understand it.
The college has a brewery store on site (just off the QEW) and the teaching restaurant is worth considering. As it's final year students, keep in mind there are some minor missteps, but overall is very good value for money (and you can do a flight of wines that includes ones made by the students on the viniculture program).

caretaker

Atlantic Xpat

No. Just, no....

Paul_Shepherd

Im inclined to agree with you there old bean.....must be for the Canadian yuppie market....

That said British breweries are at it too! My cousin sent me a pic of some Porter that was on in one of the watering holes... it was called "Stay puft" It was...... get this........ Marshmellow and Irish cream Porter!!! ....it was actually served with 2 marshmellows floating on top!! NO!!.. just no!!

CanadaJimmy

Finally bought a case of this recently - it's pretty good! It was just under $8 at Superstore, which for 12 cans beer I'll happily forego the alchohol content, that's a great deal. Only 3g of Sugar per can too. The taste is somewhere between Molson and Budweiser, so nothing exceptional but perfectly decent.

Also kind of nice to enjoy a beer without feeling sleepy afterwards, and it seems there is more studies coming out saying that all alchohol is bad for you so it's a good way to moderate intake.

Novocastrian

Somewhere between piss and shit? It must be the bollocks.

caretaker

Nah, 'taint.

CanadaJimmy

Well yeah if you're expecting an ale / craft beer experience you're not going to get it from this blonde brew. I'd say it's definitely nicer than budweiser though which I've never liked either.