Last Friday, starting at 9 a.m., the LCBO made 150 bottles of Samuel Adams Utopias beer available to the public, with another 60 orders held for liquor licensees. Made from a blend of various batches of beer, some aged for up to 18 years, and weighing in at 27 per cent alcohol, the brew has achieved cult status. Indeed, as Crystal Luxmore explained last week in The Grid, 1,675 people entered last year’s lottery to win one of a mere 70 bottles.
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Latest batch of Samuel Adams Utopias beer sells out in under an hour—at $115-per-bottle
’Wich Craft: how the city’s ice cream sandwiches stack up
(Image: Christopher Stevenson)
Ice cream sandwiches have become the city’s chicest sugar rush, proving there’s no junk food too humble for the gourmet treatment
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Rare beer coming to the LCBO for $115 per bottle
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It’s either the height of pretentiousness or the tastiest beer ever to come out of Boston. This November, Samuel Adams Utopias is hitting LCBO shelves with an expected price tag of $115 per bottle. The American import (banned in 12 states for its 27 per cent alcohol content) is made of a blend of several strong beers that have been aged for up to 15 years in casks that once held bourbon, port or cognac. The process of blending the beers has been likened to the making of a fine brandy. Also like a fine brandy, it’s rare: only 40 bottles of the brew will be sold here.
Nine highlights of Toronto’s first ever Beer Week
Perhaps the only thing Torontonians seem to love more than patio season is the beer they drink on patios. Well, the thermometer may have dipped, but the organizers of Toronto Beer Week see no reason why they should stop slinging suds. In an homage to all things frothy and foamy, 45 bars and restaurants have banded together to celebrate the first ever Beer Week—a showcase of craft beers and foods.
Below, our Beer Week preview, with our best bets for the best ways to get tipsy from now until Sunday (the full schedule is here).
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Just Opened: Camp 4, the Ossington alternative
Turn off your bright lights: Camp 4 (Image: Jon Sufrin)
When the Ossington strip is too packed to go bar-hopping (or even to open new bars), it’s time to spread the party elsewhere. For the owners of Camp 4—named after a rock-climbing base camp at Yosemite—that means Dundas West: close enough to still be part of the Ossington scene, but far enough away to give hipsters some breathing room.
Camp 4 is a bar in transition as it tries to accomplish the not-so-small task of differentiating itself from such nearby hot spots as the Communist’s Daughter and the Dakota Tavern. An ardent dedication to simplicity permeates, right down to the cocktail menu. Patrons can sip three takes on the old-fashioned (bourbon, rum or tequila, $13), while the whiskey-heavy liquor selection is refreshingly free of anything fluorescent. “There’s not going to be any Hpnotiq,” says co-owner Joseph Tanner. “No blue drinks.”
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America’s best coffee, unilingual DineSafe rules, World Pasta Day
San Francisco's Blue Bottle Coffee Company comes recommended by GQ (Photo by Roshan Vyas)
• In its November issue, GQ travels the States to pick America’s best coffee shops. Blue Bottle Coffee in San Francisco scores high marks for its siphon coffee (it should—the machine costs $20,000), along with famed L.A. and Chicago coffee house Intelligentsia. Bizarrely, the article ends by negating everything it has already stated, telling readers to simply “shut up and drink it.” [GQ]
• In the wake of the Ruby Restaurant closure, BlogTO questions why the guidelines for the city of Toronto’s DineSafe program are offered only in English. The garbage disposal calendar comes in various languages, as does the city’s official newsletter. Even the TTC offers 70 languages on its switchboard. What gives, DineSafe? [BlogTO]
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Beer banned at Jays games, organic food sales decline, Jews protest at the LCBO
Beer-free benches (Photo by ConspiracyofHappiness)
• Watch out for the seventh inning kvetch: the Rogers Centre has two beerless Jays games (and one football match) coming up, thanks to a temporary ban on booze. One game-goer, who bought almost 600 seats to a no-tipple event, is livid that tickets were sold without warning. [Toronto Sun]
• Manischewitz may seem a curious flashpoint for Middle Eastern politics, but police broke up a demonstration outside an LCBO where pro-Palestinian Jewish activists were announcing their boycott of Israeli kosher wine. We don’t think a friendly drink will solve this one. [UPI]
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Parkdale’s new festival, Beerbistro’s free meal giveaway, Starbucks’ breakfast deals
What goes into ethical meat? (Photo by Luis Ramirez)
• Consumers are willing to pay much more for ethically produced meat, but who really knows what the label means? Here, a look at what goes on before the meat hits the counter. [Toronto Star]
• Two thousand people attended the funeral of George Koutroubis, the owner of Six Steps restaurant, who was found dead on February 22. [CTV]
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