“The Mississippi Delta, is shining like a national guitar/ I am following the river down the highway through the cradle of the civil war…”
Picture this: you were part of one of the most popular duos of your generation. Parting ways with your partner at the height of your popularity, you go on to be a massive solo act, but a decade later things have lost their shine. “Predictable”. You’re not really winning any new fans. So what do you do? Hopefully, you can pull off what Paul Simon did in 1986, when he released Graceland. One of the best albums of the 1980s it was simultaneously fresh and exciting, and familiar. Blending styles, partnering with other artists (and indeed introducing some, like Ladysmith Black Mombazo, to the World) and employing classic Paul Simon lyrics, Graceland is possibly one of the best “comeback” albums of all time.
And that is what The Loose Moose on Front St. has done. They have released their own Graceland.
For those not familiar, The Loose Moose is a fairly big bar, right on Front, just west of York/University. Pouring beers since 1989, it’s long been a favourite of folks heading to the Skydome or ACC for sports or events, and also with the after-work crowd, given it’s proximity to Union Station. Owned and operated by SIR corp, it was a reliable place for food and drinks, but was certainly not a craft-beer destination. This was immediately impressed upon you walking in, by their incredible chandelier. A long hanging fixture featuring hundreds of Corona bottles, as well as Jose Cuervo and Tobasco bottles. It was amazing, but definitely set the mood, in terms of beer.
But change was in the air. Damon Kestle was brought in as the new general manager. A Brit who had long experience in bars, and also cask beer and cider festivals in his native England, Damon was interested in honing things a bit. Funny enough, I was actually there at “the start”, if you will. Last year, while I was working with North American Craft, Claude Lefebvre (NAC’s president) reached out to Damon and the Loose Moose, to host an NAC festival. All of NAC’s products would be available, and the attendees would vote for their top picks. The top beers would be featured for 3 months on draught. I can’t remember which ones went through, but I seem to recall Welly RIS, Hops and Robbers, and something else.
To be perfectly honest, when Claude first told me about it, I was somewhat skeptical. Again, the Loose Moose wasn’t really what I would have considered a bar to ask to host a craft beer event. But the ripple effect from that event is still being felt. It turns out the craft beers that got featured from the festival sold well. They decided to keep a few craft taps. As part of the image of the Loose Moose is being a Canadian bar, having some legitimate local beers made good sense. Then the brass decided it was time to renovate the downstairs space, The Antler Room. Part of the change-over included adding multiple new lines for more craft beer. And that went really well too. So much so, that when the discussions about renovating the main upstairs bar started, adding 20 lines via kegerators to fill-out more craft beers was part of the plan.
And the line-up now is just amazing. Their fixed taps range from the usual suspects (Canadian, Bud Light, Coors Light, 50, Stella, etc) to some respectable “bigger” craft things (Steam Whistle, Creemore Premium and Kellerbier, Keith’s Cascade Hop Ale, and Boston Lager), to decent Euros (La Chouffe, Fuller’s ESB, and Leifmans Fruitesse). But their “Swing Taps” is where things really get fun. Because of their size, Damon explained, it isn’t really possible to have constantly changing taps, so the swing taps change every 6 weeks or so, but they’re staggered, so that every two weeks or so, there will be something different.
When I was in, the swing taps were: Unibroue Blanche de Chambly, Denison’s Weissebier, Unibroue La Fin du Monde, Silversmith Black Lager, Beau’s Lug Tread, Church Key Brewing Irish Red, Black Oak Nut Brown, Muskoka Cream Ale, Lake of Bays Crosswind Pale Ale, Stone Hammer Oatmeal Coffee Stout, Sawdust City Ol Woody Alt, Cheshire Valley Robust Porter, Kensington Augusta Ale, Publican House Eight or Better, Spearhead Moroccan Brown Ale, Great Lakes Pompous Ass, Muskoka Spring Oddity, Double Trouble Hops and Robbers, Wellington Terrestrial India Brown Ale, Sawdust City Lone Pine IPA, Amsterdam Boneshaker IPA, and Nickel Brook Bolshevik Bastard RIS.
Even better than that line up? The menu organizes them in ascending order by IBU, includes the ABV and style (if not noted in the name), and has pricing for pints, pitchers and 3oz samples. The bottle menu again has some predictable bottles, but also a variety of stouts from Sawdust City, Red Racer IPA, Peche from DDC, and some Great Lakes PX stuff.
There is no doubt, the Loose Moose is serious about their beer selection.
In addition to the new beer selection, the renovations opened up the space quite a bit. The Corona chandlier is gone (in storage, I hear), and many of the walls have been opened up to the original brick walls. Much of the wood from the demolition was reclaimed and worked into decorative panels. While there is some level of nostalgia and simplicity in much of the design, there are modern elements as well. I was in mid-day so it was fairly chill and quiet. It would be easy to sit with a friend and chat, and while away the day. I’m sure that it is elbow-to-elbow before a Blue Jays game, yet with plenty of high-tops and a really really long bar, they can likely manage the crowds. The Antler Room downstairs also features a stage where local bands play Thursday-Sunday nights, which apparently draw excited masses.
Long tables and high-tops make for sociable drinking
The food menu also got an over-haul. I don’t know what it was like before, though Damon said it was mainly pub suspects like wings, nachos, burgers, etc. Now it pulls together bar favourites like sliders, wings, and fish and chips, and brings other offerings to the table, like a taco plate (I had three lovely fish tacos which were perfect with my Lone Pine IPA, and made either a fairly moderate snack, or a light meal), coffee crusted ribs, burgers in various incarnations and decent sandwiches. There are single apps, plates for sharing, lighter fare like salads and full-on dinners. They have resisted the temptation to try to appease every taste, and the menu is varied, yet concise, with less than 30 items, depending on how you count (“tacos” is one thing to me, but you can get them 4 different ways). I will definitely be going back for a dinner there.
Lovely tacos
So, great beer, comfortable interior, live music and good food. The makings of a great bar, but every truly great bar has it’s own quirks. One of the Loose Moose’s is the 197 Stein Club. On the face of it, it’s simple. You can order your beer in a one litre stein, but only if you’re part of the club. A $10/year membership gets you your very own gold-numbered stein that lives on display behind the bar downstairs in the Antler Room. You get a little leather key fob with your number on it, and any time you are in, you get really big beers at a good price. But there’s more to this than meets the eye. Lots of bars have some type of loyalty program; the 197 Stein Club has a heart of gold. You see, all the proceeds from the club go to paying Willie Nelson’s owed back-taxes. Seriously. And just in case you’re wondering, no, there are no memberships currently available (I already tried…).
The Red-headed Stranger
Pretty well the whole time I was at the Loose Moose, I kept thinking “I just can’t believe this”. It seemed too good to be true, somehow. How could this big downtown bar have made these changes? Damon kept telling me more things that they’ve either done, or are about to do, and I would just shake my head and smile. I asked him if there were any more festivals in planning. He said there absolutely was. For instance, he’s thinking of bringing in “some” casks for the weekend of Toronto Festival of Beer. I asked what “some” meant, like 4-5 pins? Nope, like 12-15 firkins. And he is pretty sure he’ll sell them out.
Watch out for them, they are doing big things. And get down there, either as a stop before heading to a game, or as the final destination. If your work place is looking to have a party, and you are worried you will get stuck in an out-of-the-box bar serving only cold yellow brews, buy some doughnuts for the organizer, and gently nudge them towards the Loose Moose. They are already seeing success from the change-over; keep supporting them, and who knows what the next big bar to open their minds and lines to great local beer will be?
