Okay, if you’re a beer fan and live in and around Toronto, one would hope you’ve heard of Toronto Beer Week. It’s starting this Friday, with a host of excellent events, and you should definitely plan on attending a fair few. Details on the week and events, etc are here: http://www.TorontoBeerWeek.com. The first day, Friday September 18th, features the ceremonial cask-tapping at Amsterdam Brewery, and later on, the Barrel Bragging Rights event at the Monk’s Table.
Barrel Bragging Rights is an event planned initially by Mike Werner, from A Year of Beer, who later found that Adam Grant from The Monk’s Table had a similar idea. It was a natural fit to have Adam host the event, as aside from being a stellar beer-bar, The Monk’s Table also has plenty of space. The concept of the event is simple in approach: pair a beer writer with a brewer, and get them to make beer. Serve these beers in a blind tasting event, and let the public decide who gets the bragging rights. Adam added an interesting element; he had a bunch of small (5 and 7 litre) oak barrels to serve the beer out of. Some pairs used these to age their beers on oak, while others are just serving out of them. Aside from a bit (or a lot) of taste, these barrels also help with the blind serving.
When I first heard about the event on the 6-month pub crawl for TBW, I was stoked. I immediately callsied Adrian, stellar brewer at Black Oak as my partner, and breathed a sigh of relief when he agreed. Weeks later, he told me he was moving from Black Oak to Great Lakes, and asked if I still wanted to be a team. I’m a huge fan of most of what Adrian has done (Transvestite Tipple, the Pineapple Pale Ale from Cask Days 3 years ago is still one of my favourite beers ever made in Toronto), so obviously confirmed my desire. After the usual difficulty of finding time for a somewhat busy web developer/beer writer and the brewmaster at one of the busier micros in Toronto to get together, Adrian and I connected, and got to the serious work of experiemental brewing.
Some of our hops
As is the case in many such circumstances, our sum was greater than our parts (not those ones, I’m speaking figuratively). From mild mannered everymen, we became a team, which I just now dubbed “The Spectacles”. This being a fairly obvious reference to the fact that both Adrian and I wear glasses, and a slightly less obvious reference to the magnificent spectacle of a beer we were about to produce. It’s also an homage to the moment when, while trying to name our beer, I suggested SpectacALE”, then threw up a little in my mouth due to the horrendously awfulness of that idea. For the curious, we settled on Astigmatic Ale, which I think sounds cool. And much better and less cheesy than SpectacALE. Still feel a little queasy just typing that.
Mmmmmm, Barley
At this point I think all secrecy can safely be forgone, as a) It’s way too late for somebody to steal our idea and make a batch for Friday, and b) We’re probably going to win anyways. Astigmatic Ale is what we’re calling an American Mild; a low ABV, dark hued beer with nicely malty character (including a large qauntity of Maris Otter barley) and an impressive hop selection, both in variety and volume. We introduced some revolutionary techniques to brew it that our lawyer says it’s best not to talk about until the patent paper-work is done. Suffice to say, all you sad-sacks who are still brewing by the old book will be pre-ordering ours on Amazon shortly.
Settling the grain-bed
Know what I like? Hops. Lots of yummy bitter hops. Juicy citrusy piney hops. Mmmmmmm, hops. Incidentally, Adrian seemed keen to throw some serious hops in the brew too. I knew the Spectacles were a dynamic duo for a reason. I can’t tell you exactly what hops we put in, because I don’t really remember, and Adrian was the note-taking side of the duo. I know there was Amarillo, Sorachi and Centennial. I also know there was more. I know I got to measure and add them, which made me feel a little like a scientist. A little. I also did some serious mash-stirring and bucket-of-hot-water-filling-and-carrying. Basically, I was a pro.
Astigmatic Ale will shortly be moved from it’s happy torpedo-fermenter to a 7 litre oak cask, as well as the extra in a regular pin. And you can sample it Friday night, at The Monk’s Table. I must warn you, though: The event is first-come-first-served, so arrive early. Doors open at 5pm, but I would consider getting there a bit earlier than that. It will be worth the wait. It’s $25 for all the samples, as well as access to platters of food. Full details here:
http://torontobeerweek.com/events/barrel-bragging-rights-the-monks-table/
Hope to see you all there!
