Ah, the Pretzel. So soft, so salty, so delicious. Aside from a cheese and cured meat platter, it’s one of my favourite companions with beer. So it was a thrill to be invited to Kitchen Canada and attend a workshop on how to properly make an authentic, German pretzel, with suggested beer pairings by the…
Author: Robin
2014! New Sights! New Sounds! New Beers!
Argh. Yes. Hello! Hi! Hi. Happy 2014! A brand new year with glorious, nearly infinite possibilities! My holidays were pretty wonderful. Spent them all at the family cottage in Muskoka with only mobile internet for basic e-mail/social media needs and that was it. I ate a lot of food, consumed a lot of tea, started…
Dark Ontario Beers for Dark Ontario Winters
Well, if the shortened days, snow, and respectable low temperatures are anything to go by (and I think they are), it would seem that winter is finally here. This means a lot of things. Coffeeshops are switching to peppermint everything, stores are playing Christmas songs to cause a kind of insanity among the public, and,…
Premium Near Beer – A Look at Quality Non-Alcoholic Beers
WAIT NO COME BACK TRUST ME READING THIS WILL BE WORTH IT. Okay, let’s get this out of the way, first. Non-Alcoholic beer get a bad rap. You know it, I know it. We’ve all tried it at one point or another, went to a store, got a little curious about a Beck’s non-alcoholic beer…
Barkeep, Another Course – The Canadian Craft Beer Cookbook
Longtime readers of this site along with anyone who has known me for like, five minutes knows that one of my most enjoyable activities is cooking. Additionally, finding ways to cook with beer is another interest of mine, although I should say that beyond an excellent cake recipe, a weiss pizza crust, BBQ sauce, and…
“The Cider Geeks Are Excited” – Canadian Beer News & The Rhino’s Fall Beer & Cider Fest
Last year I went to a Winter Beer festival that I considered one of the most refreshing festivals I’ve attended. It was pretty low-key and casual, but featured an incredible selection of new and interesting beers. It was in a wonderful space as well, which allowed people to sit down or walk around talking to…
Cask Days 2013
Two years ago I went to my very first beer festival at Hart House, part of the University of Toronto campus. It featured, if I recall correctly, somewhere around 50 casks, mostly from Ontario, and the reception was impressive with several hundred people showing up. This was the first time the festival had expanded from…
Pumpkin Ciders – A Gluten-Free Guest Post by The Celiac Wench
Commercial ciders, for the most part, suffer from a common problem—they’re incredibly sweet. You might be wondering why you’re hearing about cider on Robin’s beer blog—and why Robin was just referred to in the third person. Let me shed a little light on that subject: Hi, I’m Caroline. I have celiac disease. It’s a super…
Make it Schnappy: Bierschnaps
So, full disclosure, I had originally written this post a few months ago with the intention of it going up on another site. Unfortunately, due to editorial problems it was left on the shelf. After breaking my ties with the site, I then decided it would be such a waste to keep this post sitting…
Toronto Beer Week 2013
Man, even though my Toronto Beer Week ended a bit early and I didn’t go to nearly as many events as some people did, I find myself still wiped out a week later. For those not involved, Toronto Beer Week is similar along the lines of Canadian Music Week, Fashion Week or the little known…
The Thirsty Wench 