Review: Winter Craft Beer Festival

Steamwhistle's summer craft beer festival was very well organized and respected (and added to) the craft beer community in Toronto. So when the press release regarding their Winter Craft Beer Festival landed in my inbox I immediately added it to my calendar. I have been excited about this beer festival for literally months unfortunately my husband (who never has to work weekends) had to work the weekend of the beer festival but I managed to find a pretty good replacement in the form of a food-centric friend. There isn't much better than craft beer and food related conversation!

It was a pretty chilly Canadian winter day but the beer flowed freely (well most of it! There are a couple of frozen keg lines) and the hot cider (discovered via bathroom line gossip) really hit the spot. I also drunk bought a charred 8 dollar grilled cheese. (#noregrets) The festival was well organized once again! Tokens were pre-sold (in dime bags) in the line. Bathrooms were very nice. Water coolers abounded. Heaters and wood fires helped warm people up. Everything was where you would expect it and all needs were anticipated. There was apparently also indoor warming stations/bathrooms but I am too Canadian to require that!

My favorite beer was Neustadt's Everard Dark Mild. The nuttiness was really apparent, even through the chilly weather. I'll have to give it another – room temperature – go to offer any more insights into the taste. 

 

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Review: Toronto's Festival of Beer

I received free entry into last weekend's Toronto Festival of Beer as part of their Social Media campaign. This allowed me to skip the entry line and have access to an exclusive Social Media Tent (ohhh fancy lady!) The event was heavy on the pilsners and lagers, wildly disorganized, and only really worth it because of the free entry. (Entry tickets were prohibitively expensive!) 

 

While there was 'an app for that' there were no printed maps for us non-smart phone people (or even worse – us Blackberry people!) The individuals working the 'exclusive' Social Media Tent had absolutely no information regarding locations and after several questions (and helpers) I was sent off with a 'good luck with that'. The worst part is that I remain worried that I missed an entire aspect of the event because I did not have a printed map!

The confusion continued as I discovered that the coupons handed to me at the Social Media Tent were not, in fact, the drink tokens required for beer. I stood in line to purchase the correct drink tokens only to discover that drink tokens were only sold in quantities of twenty – encouraging and ensuring maximum drunkenness! (God forbid that we actually savor the beer at a beer festival!) After the right amount of cash was procured I stood in line again to purchase the drink tokens, after leaving the window I realized that I still had no idea how many drink tokens were required for a drink!

The ratio of beer to token was one of the only satisfactory aspects of the event (although I think this was mostly a consequence of a small tasting glass!) Oh and the beer was okay too! The twenty drink tokens allowed me to sample any and all beers of interest to me and even left a few extras to return to the favorites.

Overall this event was more satisfactory than Cask Days – but only because last year's Cask Day ran out of beer by Sunday!

The Small Print: I received free entry into this event. I did not promise a positive review. The opinions presented are my own.  

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Review: Toronto Garlic Festival

 

Years ago I found a flier for a garlic festival. It was placed on the refrigerator and marked on the calender. I looked forward to it for months but as the date approached I realized that I would be unable to attend. I originally thought I would be unable to attend this years Garlic Festival so I was elated when plans changed and I was available for the festival. I was so pumped that I sang 'GARLIC FESTIVAL. GAR-LIC FEEEESTIVAL' for an hour. My husband was less than impressed – both with my singing and with the overall notion of a garlic festival.

The festival was held at Evergreen Brickworks and tickets cost $10 at the door ($8 in advance). There were quite a few venders, a few food vendors, and a few fun events like talks and a garlic breath contest. The tickets are overpriced for the size, breadth, and variety of the event. I would not advise buying food tickets until (and unless) you are hungry because some food can be purchased without tickets. Additionally, the number of food venders was low and the choice was pedantic. The venders had a good variety of approaches to the garlic theme included garlic art, farmers, hot sauces, and sweets. However there were a few venders at the garlic festival that did not sell anything garlic related!

The festival was not without merit (even if it did not live up to 5 years of mental hype) because I learnt a few interesting things about garlic.

I discovered a new form of edible garlic. (pictured) When garlic reproduces it sends out edible garlic scapes. At the end of the scape is the bulbils which is edible. It can also be planted and will grow into a head of garlic. I think this form of garlic was the cheapest at the festival (some fancy types of garlic cost $5 a head!) This information, the bulbils pictured, and the garlic I bought at the festival came from Simon d Boer from Langside Farms Limited. 

The other interesting piece of information I gained was from Liz Lambrick of Busy Liz's Farm Shop. There were many edible products on this table, but by far the most interesting was the garlic fudge! She even told me the secret. Because it was given fairly freely I will share it with you! Make regular fudge, when the fudge is cooling squeeze a whole head of garlic into the mixture. The fudge will be hot enough to caramelize the garlic but not so hot as to cook out the flavor. The resulting garlic fudge is indescribable (but in a good way!)

 

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