Oh boy oh boy. Where to start? Cask days is the epic cask-only beer festival hosted at the Mighty Bar Volo. Every year in October, as the outside air hits cask temperatures, brewers from all over Ontario and Quebec fill casks with their finest brews, many which are one-off creations, and send them to Ralph and Co at Volo. This year, to fulfil the growing demand, Cask Days became a month long event, with activities at a variety of different locations. The main event, though, is the three day festival at Volo. And that is where I found myself Saturday afternoon, having a ticket for the 4-8pm bracket.
This year I was greeted by the usual crowd, and a beer list featuring 56 casks. 56 casks. I was also pleased to find that my commemorative glass (which you need to buy for $5 to get samples in, though you can use the same glass throughout the weekend) was a pint glass, not a snifter. Nice one. Julian was pouring at the Ontario East table, dressed as either Flavour Flav or the Whiz. Even he wasn’t sure. Having given no thought or attention to much of anything, I took a glance at the casks and ordered a Durham Blackeye. It was so nice, I decided that this would be my MO for the rest of the day. No big plans, no particular order. Just picking what I saw and accepting recommendations. Andrew Bartle said I should get the Great Lakes Tenish Anyone? Triple IPA, so I did. Another epic beer. I just looked over my facebook posts to pick my favourites, but I was going to list most of them anyways. So here, in rough order, was my day in cups:
- Durham Blackeye IPA
- Great Lakes Tenish Anyone? TIPA
- Beau’s Nightmarzen
- DDC Alban Elved Harvest Ale
- Volo/Charlevoix/Biergotter viva la vita cocoa.
- Charlevoix La Vache Folle ESB
- Volo/Biergotter V
- Black Creek Bourbon Barrel Stout
- Great Lakes Miami Weissendunkel
- Benelux Cuda IPA
- Black Oak Transvestite Tipple Pale Ale
Yeah, it was that good a day. Standouts: Tenish Anyone? was pretty crazy, but still very drinkable for a 10% 100+IBU India Pale Ale. DDC Alban Elved Harvest Ale was an amazing session beer, especially in cask format. If I had a local bar that served it, I would probably not come home often. The Black Creek Stout was the big hit for me. I’ve only had Black Creek twice, and both times was happy with the beer, but never blown away. This Stout totally rocked. Heaps of Bourbon, vanilla and oak. Just amazing. I hope they decide to make it regularly. The Miami Weissendunkel, the big brother of Miami Weisse, was just as awesome as expected. Hoppy and spicy with a nice bit of yeasty goodness. And finishing the evening with a Black Oak product was amazing. The Transvestite Tipple had a huge dose of pineapple, in both the nose and taste. Nice clean hop to finish. Just massively cool and drinkable.
If you’re wishing you were there, but missed it for whatever reason, get yourself down to Volo tonight. It’s $5 pint night, and they’re finishing all the leftovers. And watch http://www.barvolo.com for more info on next year’s Cask Days, as well as their other frequent events.
Thanks to all involved, it was an amazing day.
