126. Thunder Bay and Toronto, Canada, February 2011

A trip to see Avril's family and friends in Canada allows manifold opportunities to sample beers and pubs that would not normally be sampled. After a few pub-less, although not beer-less, days settling in, we arranged to meet Avril's friend Pam for lunch at Gargoyles which is a restaurant/bar in Thunder Bay. They have live bands in there in the evenings but as this was a Monday lunchtime, it was a bit quieter. The pub was in a large shop unit with a high ceiling, and there were lots of seats of various styles. I had seen a sign for Rickards Dark which I had not tried before, but they only had Rickards Red with which I had to make do. It is one of those red ales, full bodied with a strong caramel flavour. Quite nice actually. Later on in the trip however, when we went to the Keg with Moe, Lois and Ernie, I did get to sample the Rickards Dark. They seem to describe it as a porter although I think it might actually be more like a mild. I will concede though it's got a sweet and slightly coffee taste and I favoured it over the Red. The Keg is a good place to go, particularly to eat especially if you are hungry, but drinking there is just as pleasant and they carry a good range of drafts. Avril had the Rickards White which was a very pleasant wheat beer kind of ale, without the soapiness that others have.

In February it is very cold, and it is the ideal time to ski. We popped over the border to Minnesota to do some skiing at the Lutsen Ski Resort. Despite it being bitterly cold, we thought that a cold beverage was in order at lunch time, so we went to the Summit Chalet on Moose Mountain. As I recall, they only had standard lager on tap, if at all, but they did have some interesting bottles in the form of Limenkugels Honey Beer, New Belgium Fat Tyre, New Belgium 2 Below and Summit IPA which despite being bottled were very good with interesting tastes and definitely the best choice. After a nice lunch we decided to go out and brave the weather for some more skiing. That evening we stayed in Duluth, but as it was cold and we were tired we stayed in. The following day we travelled back to Thunder Bay and on the outskirts of Duluth, I had the opportunity to sample the beer made at Fitgers, although as this was only a flying visit just a half was called for. The variety was good and there were many flavours, but at lunchtime you often don't want a complex and flavoursome beer, so I went for a stout out of the hand pull pump. I also had a sample of chilli beer which I was glad that I did not have in quantity.
View from Summit Chalet on Moose Mountain, MN View from Summit Chalet on Moose Mountain, MN
Thermometer, -20C/0F, Summit Chalet on Moose Mountain, MN Duluth Lakeside view from hotel balcony, MN

A bit later on we decided to stop at the world renowned pizza parlour Sven and Ole's in Gran Marais. This was mainly for a food stop and as it was so early there were not many people there so we had the restaurant to ourselves in which to enjoy a very nice pizza. A man was opening up the bar area at the back of the restaurant so I decided that it would be churlish not to put this one on my list and so helped myself to a swift half of something that was evidently not particularly obscure as I have not taken the trouble to write it down. A welcome stop nonetheless. The following day we went to the Port Arthur Curling Club with Lois and Ernie. This is a most interesting place, as you can sit and drink whilst watching curling matches taking place, something that I have never done before. They also do some very good and well priced Chinese food and whilst the selection of beers is not huge, they are well priced and the environment within which they are consumed is quite cosy and friendly.
Beaver House, Gran Marais, MN Beaver House, Gran Marais, MN
Beaver House, Gran Marais, MN

It had now reached Friday night, and an event that had been in the calendar for some time was a trip to the Outpost, the pub at Lakehead University, with a number of Avril's friends to see the band April Wine play. This was a really rather enjoyable evening and we took advantage of the cheap beers and cocktails available. The selection focussed on a selection of bottled/draft domestic beers, which was probably the most appropriate selection given that we were at a loud event. I worked my way around the bottles, instead of some of the shots that were being consumed although as some of the bar staff couldn't understand me, we actually ended up with some quite odd things anyway. After the gig had finished, some of us went onto the Rockhouse, a large nightclub kind of establishment in the middle of the city. It was still quite early when we arrived so we tucked into offerings such as Molson Canadian. Eventually the place filled up and became noisy but by that time we had to go home. Still a good place to spend some time though.
April Wine Concert, Lakehead University, ON

It was almost time to leave for Toronto, but one last beer could be had at the Airport Cocktail Lounge, Thunder Bay Airport. As one would expect from a small airport, it was quite expensive and not visionary in its range. It was also not helped by the barman who was nowhere to be seen for a while. Nevertheless, there was something quite endearing about it and it conjured up images of jet travel in episodes of Columbo for some reason. On the same day, we met up with Keith and Winston, and went for dinner at some sort of Korean Barbeque place. We'd not done this before and it was actually rather good, and Winston did a sterling job of cooking the food that was brought out. Some beers were consumed, but as there was no beer only option, it can't be rated.

Toronto has a couple of beer specialist pubs and we decided to visit them both. The first was the Bierbistro which had what can only be described as an outstanding array of beer available from all over the world. The draft selection concentrates largely on Canadian/US craft beers taking in all styles and flavours, although there are a few foreign offerings like De Koninck which was superb. There are at least 100 varieties of bottle in the cellar too. The downside is that the beer is not cheap, so when ordering it is wise to split the beers or go for a sampler so you can test lots. They are normally quite strong so this helps from that perspective too. We ended up staying far longer than intended and had a few nibbles to go with our ale. The interior of this place is very fine indeed with a line of stools facing a nice big window allowing people to watch the world go by, and also some tables towards the back for proper dining, and all of this is in a splendid room with a high ceiling. The toilets were excellent too. We also had the pleasure of talking to a very helpful barman (John?) who seemed to appreciate our appreciation of beer, and stayed with us for a couple after his shift had finished. He also managed to comp us some food which was a bonus!
Bierbistro, Big Screen, Toronto, ON

Eventually we decided that a change of scene was in order and we moved to another establishment specialising in beer, the Biermarkt. this was not quite as good as the Bierbistro, as it was more like a very dark and very large pub, although quite pleasant in its own way. The beer menu was very extensive and we sampled a lot of it, but it was felt to be lacking some of the really obscure ones of the Bierbistro, and the staff seemed generally less knowledgeable. We had a very nice dinner though, and enjoyed the beers, but as soon as we found ourselves sampling Desperado we realised that it was time to go. If you want the 'bar' experience, this might be the place to go; if you want class and quality sampling then head to the Bierbistro.

The following day, we returned to the Bierbistro, and again were greeted by our helpful barman, whilst we waited for Pam (who was on a work trip) and Keith (who works in Toronto but is not a big beer fan) to join us, and we had a couple more to drink. This time we left determined to have a more restrained evening and made our way to the Keg, at the Esplanade in Toronto. As is customary with all Kegs, it is very plush inside, and this one was immaculate, but the service seemed to be a bit snotty. I tried prime rib for the first time which was very nice, and all washed down with a few more Rickards.

We saw Keith again on Wednesday 16th February. Whilst arranging our meeting point, Avril and I decided to make a stop at the sumptuous Royal York hotel in the middle of Toronto. In the mall that runs through the basement of this hotel there is a good bar called Pipers. It was reasonably busy, dealing with a load of people who had just finished work, but we managed to get a seat at the bar, and have a drink. I chose something like a mild which was actually rather good. Although it has no external windows, the interior is quite nice and it is furnished quite traditionally, although one might have trouble staying for a whole evening. Nevertheless, ample for a pint or two on the way to somewhere else. After meeting Keith, we went for a meal at East Side Mario's which is really a pizzeria, although there is a bar area for those exclusively wanting drink which looked OK. We however benefitted from some of their extremely well priced food, and also washed this down with a bit of Rickards which was rather nice. There was still time for a bit more, and after a bit of a look around, we settled on a visit to the bar in the Marriot on Bloor Street.

On the final day we decided to take in a couple more pubs before going to see Avril's cousin Stephanie. After a considerable walk we found the Mill Street Brewery, to the east of the city. The brewery is in a very large building in quite an interesting area, and one which in mid afternoon was pretty quiet although was also filled with the nice roasted barley smell which is characteristic of such establishments. Just as well that it was pretty empty though because our barman was very less than attentive and offered no interest in assisting us with our ale selection. They actually had a quite a few on, about 10, but we had tried some of them in bottles before, so the choice was that bit better. Stock ale and ESB were amongst the offerings, and tasted quite nice. A couple of more continental influenced beers were also tried. Time was marching on and a few more punters were approaching, so we decided that further service might be impossible, so we headed off, to Stephanie's, via the Biermarkt and Pipers of course.


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Dan Lovegrove
dan@doctor-lovegrove.com

Last updated 20th August 2011.