Gourmet Food and Wine Expo – Now that my head is clear

So if you have been reading my “stuff you need to know” (and you should, otherwise, how will you know?) you will remember I was heading off to the Gourmet Food and Wine Expo this past Thursday.  And you might be wondering why you haven’t heard anything more about it?  Well that’s simple, I’m a busy guy, okay?  Back off.  Seriously, though.  After a busy weekend (Santa Claus Parade, among other stuff), I’m going to finally put thoughts to keyboard.

Okay, a brief history, every November the Gourmet Food & Wine Expo welcomes over 30 000 interested people to the Metro Convention Centre, enticing them with over 1 500 different drinks and foods.  There are demonstrations, tutored tastings, and lots of celebrity presentations.  Tickets are $16 for every day (except the Thursday VIP night, which comes in at $40), and sample tickets are sold in sheets of 20 for $20.  Most beer and wine samples go for 1-3 tickets, spirits from 2-15 (I think 15 was the highest I saw, on a 30 year old scotch), and food anywhere in between.  Food varies from BBQ to seafood to sushi (okay, I realize that’s seafood too) to finger-food and beyond.

So off I headed and descended into the bowels of Toronto (I think, you seem to go down a lot of escalators).  The beauty of writing a blog, is people give you media credentials for events like this, so I got to walk past a significant line-up of people, get my badge and media kit, and walk in a back door.  Eyes peeled for Matt Caldwell (never did find him), Chris Grimley or Jordan St. John, I sought my first beverage of the night.  I took the same approach as Cask Days, and just walked where my feet lead me, and drank whatever was in front of me.  And my first beverage?  The wonderful Stillwaters single-malt vodka.  I did indeed go on to connect with both Chris and Jordan, and we painted the convention centre red.  Or drank a lot, take your pick.

Rather then trying to write about (and remember) everything I had, I’m going to simply run through highlights, okay?

Beer stuff:  I got to spend a good bit of time chatting to both Rob from Beau’s, and Ian from McAuslan, and sipping their lovely beer.  First time I had McAuslan Pale Ale on draught.  I got snaked by Grimley who drew cash faster then me and landed himself the last Beau’s scarf.  Damn, I might have to make another road trip.  I had a pleasant chat with the Sam Adams girls, who were quite pretty and had obviously read the binder on the beer.  I was a bit surprised when they were surprised I identified ginger in the Winter Lager.  I wanted to point out that most of the wine geeks there that evening probably would have picked it out in the nose.  Still, they were sweet and the Winter Lager was quite nice.  Not that I need to say it, but if you see it, drink it, you won’t be disappointed.  The girl from Railway City was super-friendly, and very knowledgeable, though I felt bad that they had somehow been relegated from the brewer’s alley to a Siberia next to a vespa dealer.  I also scored a Guinness shirt, nodded at the Weihenstephaner and Nicklebrook booths, and enjoyed some Creemore and Mill St as well.

If you’re really just interested in beer, you might want to stop here.  I think that would be foolish, but hey, it’s your call.  But stop now, and you’ll miss some pretty cool stuff:

Best food at the show:  While I heard great things about the BBQ, they didn’t have any BBQ Jackfruit, so I passed.  For me, the booth I walked past about 9 times, was Matt & Steve’s Tasty Beverage Company, makers of the insanely delicious Extreme Bean.  These spicy, tequila-infused pickled green beans are beyond epic.  That I plan to buy some jars goes without saying.  Find them and eat them.  I dare you not to adore them.  Rodney’s was there shucking Malpaques for 3 per 5 tickets.  Couldn’t quite match Paddy’s Buck-a-Shuck, but still, a nice way to enjoy some of the delicious Stillwaters Vodka.

Best Wine:  I didn’t drink as much wine as I usually would have, but of the few I sampled, Mud House Sauv Blanc (LCBO #190454) from New Zealand was easily tops.  Fruity, with citrus notes way beyond tangerines, this wine popped some sweet pink grapefruit.  I’m actually craving some right now, and at $15.95/bottle, and available in general stock (not just Vintages), there could be some in my near future.

Best Spirit:  While I loved the Stillwaters Vodka, and enjoyed getting to vote on their label concepts for their whiskey (which I can’t wait to try), my top pick was the lovely Victoria Gin, from Victoria BC.  One of the nicest gins I’ve had the pleasure of consuming, it is much less piney/juniper tasting then your big brands, with a stack of botanicals to round out the flavour.  Leave the tonic or vermouth in the bottle, ignore Hogarth, and just enjoy this spirit that is as lovingly crafted as any local micro-beer (LCBO #118737).

So now that you wish that you were there, mark November in your calendar for next year (or just remember, dudes with silly moustaches means the Gourmet Food & Wine Expo is near), and don’t miss out.  Regardless of your tipple, an open mind and open palate and a sheet or two of tickets will surely lead you to great things.

Thanks to the Gourmet Food & Wine Expo, both for the invite, and for the excellent show.  And also for giving clear support to both craft and international brews.  Cheers!

Incidentally, Jordan and I (the two of the three amigos who don’t have m-f 9-5 jobs to wake up for), went to go to Ceili for Kilkenny’s 300th, but got side-tracked at Duggan’s where we ended up passing the rest of the evening (or at least my evening, I’m not certain that Jordan also went home.  He might have a much stronger constitution then me).  Due to already having used up my review-juju, I will leave reviewing Duggan’s for another day.

Post a Comment

Your email is never published nor shared. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

*
*

Subscribe without commenting