PIE

Pie (499 First Street, Collingwood)
705-293-3900
Hours: 11:30 AM - 10 PM daily.

After a great experience at the other location in Barrie, I decided to go for some more after-snowboarding (okay, so I've been holding on to these pics for a while) Pie pizza (and stein of beer).

Stein of Sapporo

It's a thinner crust type pizza, and it was delicious. Again, I added some sausage to my Kobi pie. I cannot vouch enough for the stein of beer plus Kobi pizza combo. 

Would I return? Yes! Also, Kobayashi has eaten there.

Garrison Brewing Company

Klingon Warnog Roggen Dunkel Ale

Also picked this up at the Halifax airport. I totally didn't realize this was a Star Trek thing. I also read "Warnog" as "Warhog".  

I like the cap. :D 

First thoughts: what is this headless beer I am drinking? Dark and opaque, it looks like Asian hot pot plum juice. Tastes slightly fruity with a slightly bitter/clove aftertaste. It was okay, but I probably wouldn't get it again. 

I just wanted to know what victory tastes like. Spicy? I didn't notice that.

Upstreet Craft Brewing

Upstreet Craft Brewing (41 Allen St, Charlottetown, PEI)
902-894-0543
Hours: 12 - 12 daily.
cheers@upstreetcraftbrewing.com

What's a trip to the East coast without some craft beer? We walked into an empty place at around 10-something p.m. on a Sunday night. Our bartender was really chill in true Maritime fashion. 

Settled in with our flights of beer

I think Jo and I agreed that the favourite was the Rhuby Social. It was fruity? I can't remember now. I also liked the Top Stamp honey brown lager and the Barnone IPA. I thought it was pretty cool that they had a tap dedicated to featuring other brewery's beer. Craft beer seems like such a friendly scene.

Board games

That's a lot of Catan. Giant Jenga!

Would I return? Sure. None of the beers were amazing, but there was a couple I liked. The vibe is cool in that it seems real laid back, and there are things to entertain you e.g. board games, pinball machine. Our bartender seemed to have no problem with us playing Jenga at the bar. They also have pretty decent hours.

Total damage: approximately $24-something for two flights of beers.

North Brewing Company

Farmhouse Ale (Halifax Nova Scotia)
7.5% ABV

 Picked this up at the Halifax airport, and it is pretty delicious. Darker in colour than I thought it'd be, it tastes a whole lot less bitter than I imagined as well. The bitter comes a bit after, but not in abundance. I like the deep colour. Hold it up to the light, and you'll see the reddish glow that looks pretty nice. The head is quite pouffy.

There's an unexpected fruitiness to it as well. Goes down easy, and high alcohol content (not noticeable in taste) for a beer. It is a bit creamy-tasting. Ingredients are simple, and look at that: "fair traide organic raw sugar"! If that doesn't immediately make you feel better about drinking it, then you're not a hipster. 

Would I purchase again? Yes. It's quite nice overall with simple ingredients that are listed. High alcohol content is a plus for me. Good job, Halifax.

Total damage: Around $6-something for 650 mL? 

Whisky Beer

Okay. Innis and Gunn original and J. P. Wiser's hopped whisky are both awesome products on their own, but combined... well, shit. It's magic. Innis & Gunn has this strong vanilla flavour and Wiser's hopped whisky has this chocolate taste that intensifies when mixed with other things. So magic is the product. That's the math I'm going for. And when I love two things separately, and they come together, the result is simply DAMN AWESOME! 

I heart whisky. I heart beer. I super heart whisky beer! 

This is dangerously delicious. Like, get me drunk every day dangerously delicious. I might just be tipsy right now.

Innis & Gunn White Oak Wheat Beer

Because I am brand loyal, I had to try this.

It's a bit sweet, kind of nutty (like cashews?),  a sort of orange peel taste, not very hoppy, and I think it's pretty delicious. I like it better than the toasted oak. 

Innis & Gunn Toasted Oak IPA

I got this because I am brand loyal. And it was on sale. Anyway, hoppy/bitter, but not disgustingly so. Toasted? Can't really taste it. Faint citrus taste. 

Would I get this again? Probably not. It was just to try. I'm trying my fourth bottle now. There's nothing amazing about this. Innis & Gunn Original is still my favourite. 

The Fry

The Fry (6012 Yonge Street, Toronto)

(416) 546-0483

Spicy rice cake with seafood

It couldn't have been that spicy because Renée could eat it. I'd say it's more like mild. There was shrimp, there was mussel, there was cheese. I enjoyed it. We also got the small fried chicken, which was basically half a chicken, cut up, battered, and deep-fried. It came out with two small sauce cups: one with salt, black pepper, and sesame seeds, and another with a sweet, spicy, red sauce. The chicken seemed like it had just come out of the fryer as it burned my mouth when I shoved the first piece in. Texture-wise, the crispiness was perfect. I would've liked some seasoning in the batter, but the salt accompaniment was good enough for me. Renée and I both agreed that the little salt dish was necessary and helped complete the taste. 

Something to note: we asked the difference between their crispy chicken and fried chicken. Apparently, fried chicken has thicker batter. *shrug* Also, they only had Sapporo on tap.

Would I return? Yes. Their beer/soju and chicken combos are not listed on the website. And I wouldn't mind trying their other flavours of fried chicken. With ample beer. Banchan includes pickled radishes (YUM!), salad, corn, and coleslaw. I quite enjoy the Korean chicken and beer thing. It's a thing! Prices are... on the website.

Portland Beer

High off our Maine Brew Bus tour, we decided to grab a random collection of beer to try back at our hotel. We paired our beer with blue cheese and buffalo wing XX popcorn from Coastal Maine Popcorn Co. 

Ballast Point grapefruit sculpin: Thought it'd be sweet, but it was kind of bitter, and too hoppy. 

Allagash Saison: I do not remember, but I guess it was okay if I made no bad notes about it? 

Hitachino Nest Japanese classic ale: Very woody taste, and enhanced the blue cheese flavoured popcorn greatly. 

Ram Island iced Tea Mead from Maine Mead Works: Sweet, but has that very American iced tea taste. Enhanced the spiciness of the Buffalo XX popcorn. We enjoyed this very much, as we all agreed to buy and share it when we had tried it at the brewery. 

As for the popcorn from Coastal Maine Popcorn Co., it's flavoured popcorn; what can go wrong? It was pretty fun seeing which beers would bring out which popcorn flavour. 

Beer and popcorn time antics with Jo post to come. 

Innis & Gunn

Innis & Gunn

I think this might be my favourite brand of beer. For a while, the LCBO was selling the rum finish and irish whiskey finish flavours, so I decided to try them before they stopped selling it.

Whiskey finish: manly, woody, not as sweet. There's a strong flavour, and a slight coffee taste. It has the highest alcohol content of the three at 7.4% ABV. It's okay, but not my favourite.

Rum finish: less sweet and a bit more alcoholic tasting than original. I might prefer it to the original since it is less sweet.

Original: vanilla hint, goes down easy. It is the most sweet-tasting of the three, and has a lighter colour. 

As I was drinking all three bottles simultaneously, I thought they went great with Cheetos. :D

Innis & Gunn Rum Finish

Innis & Gunn

Tried this for the first time. It made the Dos Equis I had afterwards taste like ass. This beer tastes like whiskey in beer format. It is delicious! I would definitely drink it again.

Anderson Valley Bourbon Barrel Stout

Malty of malt!

So much malt flavour.

Super dark in colour, and easy to drink, I would go for this again. 

6.9% ABV. Cheers to Casey for bringing this across the border!

Beau's & Bridgehead

No. 9 Winterbrewed Coffee-Amber Ale.

I'm not going to lie... I bought this because of the funny-looking abominal snowman character and because the bottle said, "winter". 

Jo: Smells like coffee.

Me: Tastes like coffee.

Jo: With a Coca-Cola aftertaste. 

That pretty much sums it up. It was pretty good; I liked it. It had minimal alcohol taste, and very strong coffee taste. 

Pie

Pie (34 Commerce Park Drive, Barrie, Ontario)
705-725-9663

Megan and Brandan introduced us to this place, and they mention that they've never ordered anything and not liked it. Sounds good to me!

I got this after 8 p.m. special that included a stein of Sapporo (or Sleeman) for $9.50 and a Kobi 3 pizza pie that comes with it for free! 

This picture really doesn't demonstrate the sheer monstrosity that a stein of beer is. The best part was not knowing what a stein of beer was and then being pleasantly surprised at the hugeness of it. The hand-tossed,  wood-fired pizza is also quite large. It hangs over the plate a bit. Each additional topping to the pizza was $2, so I added some spicy sausage. It's good sausage.

I thought it was a pretty decent deal when I thought it was a pint of beer... then the comically large beer mug that was taller than my face came out. :D Comically large!!!! It was suggested to me that I drink it with two hands or get a straw. What made it all the better was that it was sapporo and not Coors water. The pizza crust was super thin, and it was entertaining to occasionally watch the guys at the front toss them up into the air while making the dough. Also entertaining were the random, old music videos projected on to the wall behind us. 

Would I return? YES. STEIN OF BEER. It's a really good deal. The pizza was good. I enjoyed the flavour of the sausage and the thin crust. Brandan also mentioned that their dessert pizzas and pasta dishes were good, so I will have to try those next time. 

They also sell frozen pizza pies. Each package contains two pizzas for about $14. Two packages of frozen pizzas (4 pizzas in total) is $25.

Total damage: $12.74 (pre-tip) for my Sapporo and Kobi pizza with one additional topping.

Waterloo beer

Waterloo Amber Seasonal Collection

Jo says I'm pro-Canadian beers. Maybe... or maybe that's just what's cheaper in Canada. :P

Anyways, saw this on the shelf, and decided to go for it, being my Canadian self.

I like that colour. So pretty. Tastes very flavourful. It's a bit bitter, but I like it. Smells... malt-y. It's marked as "strong beer" and at 6.8%, I guess it is. It's not exactly smooth, but I find it drinkable. That's the best description I can come up with right now... not everyone's going to like it, but I don't hate it.

Would I get it again? Sure, why not. I support Canadian products and this beer is okay by me. It would go well with spicy wings. Though in general, I remember liking their dark beer more. 

Total damage: $2-something + tax at your local LCBO. 

Muskoka Cream Ale

Muskoka Cream Ale

Smooth. So smooth. 

It's a little heavy, so I can't drink too much of it, but it's definitely smooth. Slightly sweet, goes down easy. It feels like a meal on its own though.

Would I get it again? I might. I feel that it tasted better from the bottle I had the first time around though.

Total damage: $2-something at the LCBO.

Kokoya

Kokoya Korean Restaurant (5515 Yonge Street, Willowdale, Ontario)
416-221-2002

Outside of this place, there's a sign that says "beer and chicken". I like both those things, so we decided to go for it.

The lady that greeted us was super friendly and very helpful. She briefly showed us the menus and invited us to ask her questions if we had any. Their Korean specials menu (what I call the menu from Korean restaurants with the alcohol and food combos) actually had English on it - bonus points! We were curious about what "half and half chicken" meant and she explained that it was half fried chicken and half spicy chicken.

Half and half chicken (combo with 5 bottles of Molson Canadian)

I liked their triangle plates and how they presented our giant chicken. The fried chicken was super crispy, and the spicy chicken was also super crispy and sweet. Both types of chicken were not dry at all, which I really appreciated. Nothing makes me more angry than dry chicken. The only thing that was that if you ate the red chicken first, the other kind tasted a bit bland since it wasn't as sauced up in flavour. The lady came back with some pickled white radishes and explained that the sourness of it went well with the sweet and spicy of the chicken. 

The complimentary sides included this mystery mashed ball. Usually in other Korean restaurants, it's mashed potato mixed with stuff, but this was sweeter and orange. 

The salad had a creamy type sweet onion dressing, which we enjoyed. Halfway through our meal, we were offered another dish of salad. I thought that was nice.

Would I return? Yes. (Super crispy + moist) chicken + beer = good. The lady that worked there was super friendly. We had fun watching and commenting on the Korean music performances on the TV. The Korean specials can substitute the 5 bottles of beer for soju or a pitcher of beer. The prices seem comparable to the other restaurants in the area. It's a bit dark and small inside, but we were a small group on a weekday that didn't have a problem with that. Washrooms are single stalls and clean. Parking seems non-existent unless there's two spots in the back, but there's free street parking on Yonge after 9 p.m. One last thing that should be mentioned is that I don't remember seeing many non-chicken items on the menu, and most stuff looks like it's meant to be shared. This place really is mostly for chicken and beer/soju.

Total damage: approximately $23 for my share of the chicken and beers.

Beer Bottles

Wow, this blog has been sort of World of Neglect recently... food stuffs to come!

FREE BEER

(On the street around Queen Street West and Peter Street, Toronto)

I've heard talks of free beer being handed out around downtown Toronto for the past two weeks or so, but I haven't come across such a magical location. Until today. Walking along Queen Street West, we spotted a medium-sized queue of people. Instinctively, I knew it was going to be good. I was right. Free Alexander Keith's (with a valid 19+ photo identification)! 

It's a double pack! :D

I know they were giving away free Keith's last week too in celebration of Alexander Keith's birthday, and I guess the celebrating didn't end. I've also heard previous talk of free Carlsberg and Stella Artois within the last two weeks. What is going on? 

Anyway, that double pack made my day. I don't know what the usual time for free beer is, but I was there around 6:30 p.m. and the wait was less than two minutes. 

Drinks Drinks

I think the Brut is my favourite from Korbel. It's got that champagne fizziness, and it's sweet, but not tooth-achingly so. 

It's also fairly cheap and tasty for fizzy wine.

Steam Whistle has a bitterness to it that might take some getting used to. It's light, and has a bit of an earthy taste to it. As I sit here drinking it (after a couple screwdrivers), it's not bad. I can see how it can be refreshing on a hot summer day. I'm still a fan of darker ales, but it isn't bad. 

Total damage: free for me thanks to Casey (for sharing the Korbel) and Jess (for sharing the Steam Whistle)! Cheers!