CestWhat.com News

Our locals go head to head with the Americans

Thu, 4 Mar 2010 13:57:20 -0500

Craft beer supremacy: Canada or U.S.A.? This was the question posed in a blind tasting on Wednesday March 3, 2010, a mere three days after the Canadian hockey team defeated team USA for Olympic gold.

The contest was certainly a contrast of styles. The local squad relied on balance through all lines while the Americans were counting on an aggressive style packing enough bitterness to fuel a Town Hall meeting.

Once the cups were on King Pilsner scored early. Brooklyn Lager and Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA turned the tide in the Yankees favour in the middle stages. Late in the contest Barley Days Wind & Sail Dark Ale tied things up for the Ontarians. We were going to overtime. However, neither Rogue Hazelnut Nectar or Steve's Dreaded Chocolate Orange could gain advantage for their team. It was all tied up and going to a shoot-out. In head-to-head match-ups the Americans outscored our locals 122 to 100 and took the first Craft Beer Cup.

Canadian coach, George Milbrandt, summed things up saying, "I knew we were in tough. We lacked the depth that taking the full national squad would have given us. I'm proud of the class that our lads showed. Hopefully we can bolster our line-up with some of the great talent from Quebec next time and bring the Cup back to Canada."

The full table of results can be found here

Recipe For Success?

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 10:53:43 -0500

Our annual menu review is underway and the lads in the kitchen are busy testing out the next great ethno-clectic sensation. Check out the specials menu the next time you visit. Chances are you will have an opportunity for a sneak preview of coming attractions. Please take the time to give your server feedback on the feed.

If you are in possession of a time-honoured recipe that you would like to share with us, please e-mail it to us. We may try it out on some unsuspecting people just like you.

The Yankees Are Coming

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 10:47:34 -0500

While the American brands have taken over our domestic mega-beer market our craft brewers have not had much competition. Recently we have seen more craft beer migrating north. Could this be the end of our micro-sovereignty? In what could shape up to be a rematch of the World Junior Hockey Championship, we are pitting four southern invaders against four local brews in a blind tasting on Wednesday March 3, 2010. Can we withstand the onslaught of Brooklyn, Dogfish Head, Rogue, and Southern Tier or will we drunkenly capitulate? Is there any middle ground when the Yankees are coming?

Advance tickets are available for $20 (all-in) here

Best Blended Scotch?

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:18:21 -0500

Wednesday January 20, 2010 a packed house was eager to answer the question: What Is The Best Blended Scotch? From the smokey Teachers Highland Cream to the subtle J&B Rare, the ubiquitous Johnnie Walker Red (our current offering) to the pricey Chivas Regal opinions were easy to solicit even when tasting "blind".

Once the names were revealed one thing became clear to our tasters: Chivas Regal was generally not appreciated at any price. While a number of people expressed surprise at how well the Johnnie Walker Red had scored it was not ranked first by anyone. However it was not ranked last either and once the scores were compiled Johnnie had come up the middle to end up with the highest median score.

When you consider that a bar standard scotch should appeal to a wide range of tastes and not be too distinctive or off-putting it seems that Johnnie Walker Red was a good choice for our rail after all.

Check out the table of scores here

Results from the 21st Annual Fall Festival Of Craft Breweries

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:43:55 -0500

Forty-six brews, thirty-three breweries, hundreds of people.

We were jam packed with beer enthusiasts at C'est What on Friday October 2, 2009 for the 21st annual Festival Of Craft Breweries. As usual, the only thing attendees were able to agree on was that it was a good time. As far as agreement in the matter of taste there was less unanimity. There were many perfect tens awarded and as many "I'd rather drink out of the Don River" zeros. Most scores fell happily in between with twenty-five of the beers reaching the plateau where most festival-goers would seek them out for purchase.

Six finished with median scores of 8 Mike Duggan's IPA #9 (cask), McAuslan Pumpkin Ale, Durham Black Katt, McAuslan Vintage Ale, Wellington Imperial Russian Stout, and Waupoos Peach Cider. The most sampled beer was the hop filtered Flying Monkeys Hoppopotamonkey. The beer that provoked the most disagreement in scoring was Black Creek Porter which was brewed over an open fire with no electricity and served warm 19th Century style. For every complimentary score it received a brickbat like "No wonder the pioneers are extinct."

For those of you that are statistically inclined, it was our busiest festival ever: we sold 5829 samples in four hours and fifteen minutes when we had to stop sample sales due to a shortage of eco-cups, up 20% from last year. That amounts to about one sample served every three seconds. About one-third of the samples were rated with the second version of our simplified festival rating system. Those that took the time rated an average of fifteen samples. There was some discussion about the merits of the new score sheets with "early adopters" and traditionalists in equal numbers.

The table of results can be found at http://www.cestwhat.com/tasteresult/festival2009.asp

Whisky Tasting

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:41:03 -0500

Please join us on Wednesday November 4 for a tutored tasting of three fine single malts. Glenmorangie Original, La Santa, and Quinta Ruban single malts will be sampled with some backgound and expertise provided by a representative from Glenmorangie.
For tickets please go to http://www.cestwhat.com/asp/events.asp?ID=1268

21st Annual Fall Festival Of Craft Breweries

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:46:22 -0500

The time has come to embrace the cooler weather and the advent of pub season with C'est What's annual Fall Beer Festival. Dozens of breweries and even more brews to choose from in sample sizes. The line-up confirmed to date is:
Amsterdam: Oranje Weiss, Oktoberfest
Big Rock Warthog (bottle)
Barley Days Dark Ale
Black Oak Oaktoberfest (cask)
Beau's Lugtread Lagered Ale
Church-Key Scarlet Pilsner
C'est What: Al's Cask Ale (cask), Big Butt, Hazelnut Chocolate Ale, Coffee Porter, Homegrown Hemp Ale, Caraway Rye Beer
County Cider: Peach Cider (bottle)
Creemore Urbock
Denison's Dunkel
Mike Duggan's #9 IPA (cask)
Durham Black Katt
F&M MacLean's Pale Ale
Flying Monkeys Hopapotamonkey
Grand River Highballer Pumpkin Ale (cask), Vienna Lager (cask)
Granite Double Hopped IPA
Great Lakes: Pumpkin Ale), Devil's Pale Ale (cask), Red Neck IPA (cask)
Heritage Harvest Lager
Hockley Valley Dark Ale
King Unfiltered Dark Lager
MacLean's Brown Ale (cask)
McAuslan: Vintage Ale (bottle), Pumpkin Ale (bottle), Cream Ale, Oatmeal Stout
Mill Street: ESB, Oktoberfest
Muskoka Dark Ale
Neustadt 10W30 (cask)
Niagara's Best Drummond Dark Ale
Nickel Brook Maple Porter
Pioneer Brewery Black Creek Ale (cask)
Railway City Dead Elephant Ale
Steam Whistle Pilsner
Trafalgar Hop Nouveau
Unibroue Ephemere Cassis
Wellington Imperial Stout

Book 'em Adam

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:25:00 -0500

C'est What is now busy writing a new chapter in it's twenty-one year love affair with Toronto's indie music scene. The club's music booker for the past decade, Crispin Giles, has moved on to The NXNE Music Festival. In Crispin's place will be long-time indie music darling Adam Faux who will bring his enthusiasm for all things cool and local to the job. Aside from having a great ear for music, Adam has been playing C'est What since the early nineties and has some interesting life experiences that we are sure he can put to good use here:

Adam Faux was born in Toronto Canada to a eccentric designer and proto hippie sculptor. He spent years living in geodesic domes and 28 sided houses and even a real farm house, and attended the Ontario college of Art at the tender age of 5. Okay, he ran around the halls for a year or so while Al Faux taught, and around Maggies Farm (an o.c.a.d campus, 69-72) while hippies got their freak on. By the age of 16, Adam had left home and was living in the heart of Toronto's art and music scene, on Queen west. His first mohican was administered by Pete Lawson and Handsome Ned, and his first real job was "kitchen slave" at Yofi's restaurant on fabled Baldwin Street, a mecca for vegetarians and green haired punk rocks. While At Yofi's, Adam met John DesLauriers of the "10 Commandments" and "l'etranger", and hassled him until finally forming "Pigfarm" in the mid-eighty's.

There was in the mean time, a stay in Mexico hunting iguanas and fishing commercially near isla mujeures, and a residency at Paris north station in France, as well as "street level existence" in 9 other countries in Europe, ending in England, where he recovered from a Grecian motorcycle crash, having his broken fingers set by a widow whose husband had died that day, on the Greek island of Naxos.

Pigfarm recorded and performed from 1985-1994 in various forms throughout Canada and the United States and charted number 34 on the college music charts in America (after they had broken up for the first time), and held top honor on most Canadian university radio stations at at varying times, and enjoyed a publishing deal with peermusic world wide during which time Adam delivered Whitney Houston's diamond award for the BodyGuard soundtrack to New York, and held up the train at the U.S. Canada border because immigration didn't believe the dread locked and messy lead singer was telling the truth... about the contents of the box......

The "Lost Dakotas" list Adam as a founding member on wikipedia, and the "Urban Decay Group" appears if you google long enough; Andy Stochansky, Cyrus Sundar - Singh being key members... Adam counts among his most memorable accomplishments, working with Michael Snow (Canadian Hotshot Artist, see walking woman) on "the Audience" a massive sculpture at Toronto's Skydome, producing and/or recording and playing on Kyp Harness's breakthrough "the Floating World" and "All her Love", and recording/ mixing on the gemini award winning film "The Film Club" directed by Cyrus Sundar Singh, doin' the same plus playin' on the award winning doc "the Jews of India" by the same director, and including producer Vanessa Laufer. Adam has in one way or another had video's rotated on Much Music, CTV, and CBC among others. Been the focus of the Dini Petty show(CTV), swinging on a star (CBC Radio), Much Music's 'the wedge" and countless other newspaper, tv and periodical features.

Presently, Adam's focus is with a gang of disparate characters, "Exploding Band". Adam Faux, Jesse Capon, Curtis Faux, and Pete Fusco make up the live and recording band. Jake Chisholme, Brandi Disterheft (guitar and bass respectively) play on 3 tunes in the exploding band's recorded repertoire. Michael Philip Wojewoda appears on two tracks pounding the skins, and John Deslauriers plays bass on "The Same Great Gasp". Adam produced, co-wrote and performed on the "the Fourway Flashers" debut 2007 pop rock release, and is occasionally jazzing with fundamentalist pop players "The Tiny Specks".

Check out our music booking page for more info on how to get a show at C'est What.

Results from the 5th Annual Spring Festival of Craft Breweries

Fri, 5 Jun 2009 18:09:17 -0500

5th Annual Spring Festival Of Craft Breweries
The best of forty-two

Hundreds of beer lovers of all shapes, sizes, and sensibilities gathered at C'est What on Friday May 22, 2009 for the fifth annual Festival Of Craft Breweries. True to the basic nature of taste, our intrepid samplers didn't agree on much. Individual scores for each brew would, more often than not, run the gamut from zero to five. One thing that nearly everyone who tried it agreed on was the superb qualities of Denison's Weissbier which was the only entrant to garner a median score of the top mark, five. Other notables were the Grand Church-Key Stout, River Russian Gun Stout, Wellington Russian Imperial Stout, Mystique Cider, C'est What Hazelnut Chocolate Ale, Mike Duggan's IPA No. 9, Durham Hop Addict (cask), and McAuslan Vintage Ale which each had a median score of four. The most sampled beers were Flying Monkeys Hoptical Illusion and Mill Street Lemon Tea Ale.

For those of you that are statistically inclined, we served 3860 samples in the five hours, up 83% from last year's Springfest. That amounts to about one serving every five seconds. The simplified rating system seemed to work with 44% of samples scored compared with 14% the year previous.

The full table of scores can be found at http://www.cestwhat.com/tasteresult/springfest2009.asp

Lindsay Veh Returns

Fri, 8 May 2009 10:31:08 -0500

Results From The Chardonn-eh Challenge

Fri, 8 May 2009 10:29:44 -0500

Which wine region is making the best value Chardonnay? We put this challenge to you in a blind tasting between the two Ontario products that we carry on our list and well known examples of comparable price from France, California, Argentina, and Australia on April 28, 2009.

Our tasters gave the thumbs up to the Santa Rita Reserve, which finished first. It showed delicate, nuanced winemaking without any excessive oak aging or over-ripe fruit. The runners up were the two Chardonnays from our own backyard the Silver Peak and the unoaked Henry Of Pelham. The French example finished a disappointing last. Although these results may be no surprise to the growing legion of people who appreciate new world wines, it may still shock the Euro-centric traditionalists. The new millennium would seem to call for new attitudes towards wine.

Full table of results:http://www.cestwhat.com/tasteresult/chardonneh.asp#results

5th Annual Spring Festival of Craft Breweries

Fri, 8 May 2009 10:27:28 -0500

The snow is gone, the tulips are blooming, and it's time for our 5th Annual Spring Festival of Craft Breweries.

While we don't have the entire line-up confirmed as of yet, we should have around forty interesting flavours available to try in sample sizes.

For those with BADD (Beer Attention Deficit Disorder) notable newcomers for the festival are: Amsterdam Big Wheel Amber and Spring Bock, Barley Days Summer Light Ale, Black Oak Chocolate Cherry Stout (oak cask), Brick Waterloo Wheat, Churh-Key Stout, Creemore Keller Beer, Durham Hop Addict (cask), F&M Maple Red Ale, Flying Monkeys Hoptical Illusion, Grand River Russian Imperial Stout, Granite Peculiar, Great Lakes Orange Peel Ale (cask), King Unfiltered Pilsner, MacLean's Bitter (cask) and Dark Mild (cask), McAuslan Vintage Ale and Mystique Cider, Mill Street Peche Belgian Wheat and Black Tea Lemon Ale, Muskoka Hefe Weiss, Neustadt 300 (cask) and Texas Tea, Nicklebrook Bitter (cask) and Juniper Saute, Okanagan 1516, Rail City Amber and Blonde, Stratford California Common, Trafalgar Black Creek Dark Ale and Oak Aged Dry, Unibroue Chambly Noire, and Wellington Russian Imperial Stout. As usual, there is no admission charge. Samples are a loonie each.

As usual, there is no admission charge. Samples are a loonie each.

Multi-track Recording

Fri, 8 May 2009 10:25:47 -0500

Our long awaited digital multi-track recording facility is in place. In addition to streaming our shows online, all of the magical moments are now also recorded for posterity.

We will be undertaking a major overhaul of our website over the summer to you to access more of the great music from C'est What.

Five Irish Whislies - Results

Fri, 8 May 2009 10:22:27 -0500

If there were any doubts about the ability of Irish whiskies to match the breadth and depth of flavours exibited by their Scottish cousins, it has been dispelled for those that participated in our tasting on April 7, 2009.

Vanilla, carmel, smokey, earthy, peaty, oatmeal, grassy, fruity, green apple, and melon aromas gave way to tobacco, leather, cereal, nutty, heather, honey, medicinal, and spicy flavours. Fortunately these traits were not found all in one whisky otherwise our tasters would have had great difficulty with their score sheets. As it was, there were four that had a median score of over twenty out of thirty with Tyrconnell and Connamara Peated Single Malt topping all others at 24.

In short, if you are looking for something to perk up your coffee have one of these on the side so you can savour the flavour.

The table of scores is located at http://www.cestwhat.com/tasteresult/sixirishwhiskies.asp.

Five Irish Whislies

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:11:46 -0500

The next instalment in our educational series, The Importance Of Grain, features five recent releases from the Emerald Isle. Connemara Peated Single Malt, Greenore single Grain 8 yr., Inishowen Peated Blend, Locke's Single Malt 8 yr., and Tyrconnell Single Malt.

Tuesday April 7, 7 p.m., $20, tickets are available at http://www.cestwhat.com/asp/events.asp?ID=1158

Whiskies Of The Eighties

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:53:22 -0500

Canadians have made great strides in the art of fermentation over the past few decades but when it comes to distilling we still have a thing or two to learn. In a tasting of well-aged whiskies from Scotland and Canada it was apparent that the visiting side had the advantage. All of the single malts finished with median scores of twenty-two or more (out of 30) with Glenfarclas 21 topping the chart. The highest domestic whisky was Canadian Club 20, well behind at sixteen points. It should be pointed out that the Canadians were less than one third of the price of the Scots, so there may be an argument for value, if not snob appeal.

Twenty-one: C'est What Comes Of Age

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:48:16 -0500

The superstitious among us dread the occasional confluence of a Friday and the 13th day of the month. Our experience at C'est What provides anecdotal evidence that the number thirteen is actually quite lucky especially now that we have made twenty-one (February thirteens). Besides, who could really be afraid of Fridays?

It was February 13, 1988 when we first opened our doors to the public. C�est What continues to offer good value and is a leader in the decidedly uncrowded, but growing, craft beer market. Increasing interest in local products is catching up to our vision of �true local flavour�.

Our many years in business has seen us survive many up and down cycles - C�est What has stood the test of time. One of the reasons our business model endures is that we never stand on our reputation. We always strive to become a better place for our customers and employees. You will never see C�est What become worn and tired as we are always looking forward, re-inventing ourselves, and making physical modifications to the restaurant to keep things fresh.

Our current focus is on energy efficient lighting and fair-trade, local, and organic supplies for our menu. You can keep up to date with all things C�est What by subscribing to News or Events and Artists RSS feeds.

Darren Hastings

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:46:20 -0500

February Beer Update

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:43:25 -0500

There is never a dull moment taking care of our draught menu. With our local brewers continuing to produce new flavours and seasonal offerings the sheer number of products can make our jobs difficult at times. One hundred and nine different brews rotated through our thirty-five taps last year. A turnover ratio that would be a challenge for a Fund Manager. You won't hear much in the way of complaints from us about this situation - after all someone has to do the taste testing. All of this adds up to more selection and more fun than a trip to the ice cream store.

Currently we still have a little bit of the F&M Stonehammer Coffee Chocolate Stout on cask, Neustadt's Casked Double Fuggled will be back at the end of this week. In the next couple of days we will make room for County Durham's Red Dragon on cask and will follow that up with a fresh batch of Iron Duke from Wellington. Denison's Dunkel and the Weizen Bock from Church-Key are on tap now and we are looking forward to the Green Tea Ale from Great Lakes.

Indications Of A Good Beer Bar

Fri, 5 Dec 2008 17:01:39 -0500

Most of the details that go into pouring a good pint are hidden from the customer, so it generally takes a little bit of sleuthing to find out how serious the establishment is about their beer.

Most of the �enhancements� you find from the bigger international companies are just gimmicks. When ever you see colour changing glasses, digital temperature readings on the taps, etc. you can be sure it was dreamed up by a marketing guy and not the brewer.

Of course the easiest sign of a good beer bar is their menu. A thoughtful, balanced selection is a good indication. A bad sign is when all of the brands come from one company. This means that the sales relationship is not based on quality but based on perks or a corporate relationship. In this age of mergers and acquisitions it is not always apparent when things come from the same company even when the beer is from different countries. If there are no offerings from local craft brewers, the establishment is ignorant of anything that isn�t advertised on TV � not a recommendation for their expertise.

Does the bar have a walk-in cooler to store their beer in? If you see full kegs in the hallway on the way to the washroom you know the beer is not being stored properly. Beer is a fresh food product and needs proper, refrigerated, storage.

Line-cleaning is important, but just about impossible to get an honest answer about. Ask what gas mix is used to dispense the draught. If they don�t know, it says something. A nitrogen/carbon dioxide mix, sometimes referred to as �beer gas� is the best. Compressed air is the worst.

Unless a glass rinser is used, the glass should be dry before it is used. Wet glasses will still have traces of chlorine from the washing process. The chlorine will affect the aroma and head retention of the beer.

If they sell pitchers and/or have uniforms designed to show off the waitresses cleavage the pub is not about beer, it�s about gluttony.

Of course, the more experience you have in tasting beer, the better you can let your tongue decide.

There you are, a few things to look for in a good beer bar.

Gas In Draught Beer

Fri, 5 Dec 2008 16:46:55 -0500

Gas is used in two very different ways in draught beer. Just to be clear, I am referring to the gas before consumption not after...

In conventional, modern, draught systems gas is used to pressurize the keg and force the beer out of the tap. Three gases are commonly used: compressed air, carbon dioxide, and a nitrogen-carbon dioxide blend.

While inexpensive, air is the worst choice for beer pressurization as it is comprised of about 21% oxygen. Oxygen will oxidize the beer in short order, leading to a change in the flavour profile. The carbon dioxide that is in solution in the beer will gradually be lost to the head space in the keg as the beer is dispensed, further changing the flavor of the beer as it loses its fizz.

One cost-effective method of preventing the beer from oxidizing or going flat is to use carbon dioxide to dispense. The problem with carbon dioxide is that the longer a keg is hooked up to pure carbon dioxide, the more CO2 goes into solution in the beer leading to a fizzier product and changing the essential character of the beer.

A more expensive but more effective method is using a blend of carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Nitrogen is an inert gas that makes up 78% of our atmosphere and will not chemically interact with the beer. The theory here is that you mimic the composition of atmosphere by putting 75 to 80% nitrogen in the mix and replace the oxygen normally found in the air with carbon dioxide. In practice two blends are used: a 75/25 or 80/20 blend for "nitrogen dispensed" beer (like that famous Irish stout) and a blend with 50 to 60% nitrogen for more conventional brews.

So, how does all of this relate to cask beer? Well, cask beers are dispensed either by gravity - basically opening up a spigot on the cask and letting the beer pour out or a hand-pump - a piston that is operated by hand to extract the beer from the cask. In either case every drop of beer that comes out needs to be replaced by air, otherwise you will create a vacuum in the cask and the beer won't flow. Of course letting air into the cask means that the beer comes into contact with oxygen, a bad thing. The alternative here is to use the same sort of gas that you would use in a conventional keg system to fill the head space in the cask, but only at atmospheric pressure so that it doesn't push the beer out of the cask. A protective "blanket" of gas on top of the beer. One of the charms of cask ale is its lower carbonation level, which is why you want to avoid using CO2 as your blanket, it would end up in the beer creating fizz where you don't want it.

At C'est What we use three different gas mixtures 55/45 and 75/25 nitrogen/carbon dioxide for our keg beers and pure nitrogen for our cask blanket or breather. We believe these are the least intrusive combinations and let the beer shine like the day it was kegged or casked, days later.

CASK! Challenge Scores

Fri, 5 Dec 2008 16:41:37 -0500

No surprises were to be found at our CASK Challenge on Tueday November 18, 2008 where we compared the kegged and casked versions of the same brews. This is not to say that people didn't enjoy the fine beer it's just that we were definitely preaching to the choir: All cask versions scored higher than their kegged siblings except for the Black Oak Pale Ale which had identical marks for each version. One has to wonder what would have happened in a blind tasting, but that will be another evenings work.
Brewers Charles McLean, Ken Wood (Black Oak), and Bruce Halsted (Durham, C'est What) all talked about the finer details of the "real ale" process. Notes On a Beer Mat author and CASK stalwart Nick Pashley did a fine job filling the spaces between sips with his abundent wit.
Oh, by the way, our Coffee Porter finished first. Although, to be fair, we have to mention that it also finished second last. Go figure...

Leaner And Greener?

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:42:18 -0500

We have been steadily working to green C'est What over the past couple of years. Initiatives to reduce our energy consumption, make use of recycled and compostable products, and buy more local, organic, and fair trade products are well underway.

In partnership with GreenTBiz we are a pilot site for the use of LED light bulbs to replace our halogen bulbs at about one quarter the energy consumption. We have already converted much of our incandescent lighting to CFLs.

Our bathroom tissue and beverage napkins are now 100% recycled and chlorine free. The take-out containers are now plant-based and compostable.

Through Mountain View Estates we have sourced high quality organic, fair trade coffee, espresso, dark hot chocolate, and teas. Our use of butchers at The St. Lawrence Market means that we are not dependent on factory processed meat.

Our annual food menu review is almost "ready for prime time". Here is a sneak preview of what's new:

Antojitos - It's out with the black olives and in with the Chipotle.

Melange et Tu - A combo appetizer plate for those who can't make up their mind. Tortilla Chips, Antojitos, Quesadillas, and Chipotle Garlic Melt.

Green Party - A vegan friendly salad of mixed greens and seasonal veggies with a savoury topping of marinated chick peas and raisins.

The Hogtown - A chef's style salad of mixed greens and seasonal veggies topped with bacon and your choice of cheese

Rainbow Coalition - It's basically the tried and true Mango Chicken Salad but we will use ripe, seasonal fruit instead of always relying on the fickle mango.

Falafel - You will now have the option of turning it into a Falafel Salad.

Green Curried Noodles - You can add calamari as well as chicken to the vegetarian rice noodles base.

The Staggering Pig - Smoked pulled pork in a chipotle and red wine reduction served on baguette au jus.

C'est Brule - Home baked custard dessert.

We're aiming to have all of this ready for you by this weekend.

20th Festival Of Small Breweries Results

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:22:04 -0500

It seems that this craft beer thing is finally catching on. On Friday October 4 2008, at our 20th Annual Festival Of Small Breweries, hundreds upon hundreds of interested folks decided to join us for an evening of tasting, talking, (and spilling). We often had to resort to a line-up to stay within a safe capacity.

About half of the forty brews avaialble were in for just the Festival: Amsterdam Oktoberfest, Big Rock Black Amber, Black Oak Wasabi Brown Ale, Grand River Highballer Pumpkin Ale, Great Lakes Pumpkin Ale, Midland Beer Works Georgian Bay Dipper, Granite Hopping Mad, King Hopped-up Un-filtered Pilsner, Nickelbrook Oak-aged Kriek and Sahti Juniper Beer, Neustadt Elderbrau, Railway City Iron Spike Copper Ale, Scotch Irish Coporal Punishment, Okanagan Pale Ale, St. Ambroise Pumpkin Ale, Trafalgar Smoked Oatmeal Stout, True North Altbier, and Mill Street Witbier.

In all, 4935 samples were sold (that's about one every four seconds). The voter turnout was also up as 16% of the samples were rated (up from 14% at the Spring Festival). Not quite election sized numbers but the contented citizen tends not to vote.

The top four finishers were: In first for the third time in the past four festivals, Durham Hop Addict with a median score of 41 out of 50 followed by McAuslan Pumpkin Ale (40.5), C'est What Hazelnut Chocolate Ale (39.5), and Unibroue Chambly Noire (39.0).

You can view the full table of results at http://www.cestwhat.com/what.asp#beer

CASK! Challenge

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 09:26:00 -0500

C'est What and CASK have put together a tasting to compare the relative merits of hand-pulled cask ale and the more typical gas dispensed beer. We will be serving five sample pairs of craft brewed goodness for your consideration:

C'est What Coffee Porter, Black Oak Pale Ale, Granite Best Bitter, McLean's Pale Ale, and Wellington County Ale. A brewer or two will be on hand to explain the differences in style and production.

The beer flows Tueday November 18 at 7 p.m. Advance tickets are available at http://www.cestwhat.com/asp/events.asp?ID=1059

RSS Feeds

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:38:30 -0500

Keeping up with our connected times, we have set up two RSS feeds to keep the eternally curious up to date with all things C'est What. The first, C'est What News http://www.cestwhat.com/rss/news.xml, keeps you up to date with our propaganda so you know when there is a new beer on tap or can be edified by one of our stories or rants. The second, C'est What Events And Artists http://www.cestwhat.com/rss/music.xml, is for the music fan notifying you of new events, shows, and performer biographies.

If you don't yet know what a RSS feed is, check out the very accessible Google RSS Reader at www.google.com/reader.

Festival Of Small Breweries

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:06:50 -0500

C'est What's 20th annual craft beer festival takes place on Friday October 3, 2008 from 5:00 to 10:00. There will be well over three dozen of the best brews Canada has to offer in sample sizes at a loonie each. The beers confirmed for the festival are:

Amsterdam - Oktoberfest, Pommegranate Wheat
Big Rock - Black Amber
Black Oak - Wasabi Brown Ale (cask)
C'est What / Durham - Caraway Rye Beer, Chocolate Ale, Coffee Porter, Sierra's Excellent (Summer) Ale
Denison's / Cool Brewing - Denison's Weissbier
Durham - Hop Addict, Witbier
Grand River - Bumbleberry Wheat, Hannenberg Pils, Highballer Pumpkin Ale (cask)
Granite - Hopping Mad
Great Lakes - Pumpkin Ale
King Brewery - Unfiltered Hopped-Up Pilsner
MacLean's / F&M - MacLean's Pale Ale (cask)
McAuslan - Apricot Wheat, Cream Ale, Pumpkin Ale, St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout
Midland Beer Works / Hockley Valley - Georgian Bay Dipper
Mill Street Brewery - Oktoberfest, Organic Helles Bock
Neustadt - Elderbrah (cask), Scottish Pale Ale
Niagara's Best - Blonde
Nickelbrook - Oak-aged Kriek, Sahti Juniper Beer
Railway City Brewing - Iron Spike Copper Ale
Scotch Irish / Heritage - Corporal Punishment
Sleeman - Okanagan Pale Ale
Steam Whistle - Pilsner
Trafalgar - Smoked Oatmeal Stout
True North / Magnotta - Altbier
Unibroue - Chambly Noire, Don De Dieu
Wellington - Iron Duke (cask)

A Short History of Canadian Wine

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 12:59:28 -0500

By: Mark Hutchison

Wine has served as the bookends of Canadian history. The first Europeans to set foot on the new found land were the Vikings led by Leif Erikson, who looked at the vegetation growing and announced; �VINLAND�. 500 years later Jacques Cartier found red grapes growing on an Island in the St. Lawrence, which he promptly named Ilea de Bacchus after the Roman God of wine. Wine in Canada has grown from such humble beginnings, a mere glint in a thirsty explorer�s eye to a thriving world-class industry.

The business of wine in Canada began with Johann Schiller of Cooksville (now Mississauga). He was the first to commercially produce and sell his own wine in Canada around 1811, but had little financial success. Later on in 1864 a group in the same area established the Vine Growers Association. The Association was granted a charter by the Parliament of Upper and Lower Canada. Meanwhile, on the west coast, B.C. had their own Father of Wine, Father Charles Panosy. Vines were planted at the Obate Mission he started in 1859 near modern-day Kelowna. J. W. Hughes planted the first commercial wine grapes in the Kelowna area in the late 1920s.

From these very humble beginnings the wine industry in Canada had many obstacles to overcome. The biggest obstacle was from the temperance movement, which grew strong enough to force Prime Minister Sir Wilfred Laurier to hold a referendum on prohibition in 1898. The majority voted in favour of prohibition but was �not large enough to warrant passing a law�. The Laurier government�s position didn�t deter the temperance movement, which successfully made the Alcohol Laws a provincial issue. Eventually prohibition was enacted through provincial laws during the first twenty years of the 20th century. After only a few years all provinces repealed their own prohibition laws but the effects of prohibition was long lasting. The Liquor Control Board of Ontario was established 1927 to sell alcohol under heavy government supervision. The wine industry across Canada was heavily stifled and Ontario didn�t grant a license to open a new winery until 1975.

In 1975 Donald Ziraldo obtained the first license to start a winery in Ontario since 1930. The new winery was named Inniskillin. This was a monumental benchmark in the Canadian wine industry. It opened the doors for many more wineries to start up in the good growing conditions of the Niagara region. This also marked a time when there was a global push for higher quality wines.

Another serious obstacle to the new wave of quality winemakers was the success of the established industry in marketing lighter sparkling wines such as �Baby Duck�. In 1980, Baby Duck was downgraded from a wine to a �refreshment beverage� but it�s status as an icon of Canadian wine quality lives on to this day with many consumers.

The following decades marked many changes in the Canadian wine industry. Expo 86� held in Vancouver highlighted the lack of quality wines from B.C. and after the 1988 vintage the provincial government paid to have two-thirds of the vineyards ripped out and re-planted with higher quality vinifera vines. Ontario was undergoing a similar transformation. Measures were enforced to increase the quality of wines and stay competitive in the new more open market of post NAFTA Canada. With the new emphasis being placed on quality, the Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) was set up in the late 80�s as a way of guaranteeing the appellation, grape variety, vintage and quality of Ontario wines. These standards were enshrined in law in 1999 by the Ontario government.

While Canadian wines, such as Ice Wine, are beginning to be critically aclaimed abroad it is domestic sales that still fuel this growing industry. Canadian wine sales have grown to over 40% of the home market. From it�s humble beginnings, Canadian wineries have began to produce wines that measure up to the promise that Leif Erikson and Jacque Cartier foresaw.

Story contest winner

Wed, 6 Feb 2008 21:44:43 -0500

With Valentine's Day just around the corner (curiously, now followed by Family Day) we couldn't resist giving the following story the nod for favourite C'est What memory.

"My name is Ian. On March 17, 2006 I responded to a "smile" from Eleanor on LavaLife. Our e-mails conversations, and subsequent phone conversations showed us to have the same goof-ball sense of humour, a love of the outdoors and physical activities, as well as many other things in common. We were so enthusiastic to meet that we did so at our first opportunity, March 20th, 2006, at C'est What.

We stayed at C'est What until midnight (a couple of bottles of wine and a broken glass later) and then spent 2 hours talking in Eleanor's car. After going our separate ways, we spoke again for an hour once home and then again the next morning. We've never stopped and have been together every since and expect to be together for the rest of our lives. We are "Life Partners" and have come to believe in the old clich� "soul mates".

C'est What is where is started and your establishment occupies a warm place in the hearts of both Eleanor and me."

"Where there is no wine, there is no love." - Euripides

Twentieth Anniversary

Wed, 6 Feb 2008 21:39:55 -0500

To celebrate the occasion of our twentieth anniversary, we are throwing a big bash on Wednesday February 13, 2008.

There will be no Miami Vice re-runs but there will be 1988 pricing in effect on food and selected beverages, special one-off brews, and swag give-aways every hour.

Since this all happens the day before cupid has his way, the music is following a "What's Brewing In Your Heart" theme with some of C'est What's favourite musicians, both past and present, playing songs of love and heartache throughout the evening.

Confirmed performers include: Arlene Bishop, Adam Baillie (Club Treehouse), No 0ry Man, Sarah Burton, The Flints, Laura Repo, Cyrus Sundar Singh, Noah Zacharin, and Adam Faux with The Exploding Band (and guests from the various bands he is in/has been in).

The fun starts at five and continues through until past midnight. No cover, pick up your invite at C'est What.

Story contest

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 19:32:42 -0500

Two short months from now, on February 13, 2008, we will be celebrating our twentieth birthday, so it seems appropriate to reminisce a little. If you have a story or anecdote related to C'est What, write it up and send it off to us. All authors will get invited to the anniversary party and the winner will receive a commemorative personalized C'est What hockey jersey.

The deadline for entries is Monday January 7, 2008 so put your holidays to good use and get creative. We will publish a selection of stories in our next e-news.

December additions

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 19:31:44 -0500

We now have 20 Bees Cabernet Merlot 2006, Chateau des Charmes Sauvignon Blanc 2006, and Pelee Island Gewurztraminer Reserve 2005 available by the bottle.

New brews for December

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 19:28:01 -0500

At C'est What we like to think that we have a timeless quality, are an island of calm, an oasis in our fast-paced world. As relaxed as we like to be, our menu is always full of new and interesting things.

Since the last e-news we have seen Amsterdam Oktoberfest and Grand River Galt Knife Lager come and go and now have the Grand River Jubilation Spiced Ale, Neustadt Big Dog Porter, Nickelbrook Maple Porter, Black Oak Nutcracker Porter, and Great Lakes Winter Ale taking a turn. A special one-off Neustadt Decade Cask Bitter is just about finished and will make way for Wellington Imperial Stout on cask in the next couple of days.

We are on the second batch of our Caraway Rye to which a little more caraway has been added and an altered hop schedule has given it a cleaner finish. Look for a new batch of our Hazelnut Chocolate Ale in a week or so. It has been tweaked to give it a little more backbone behind the luxurious dark chocolate flavour.

Our complete beer list featuring forty-eight craft brews, is available online. Our in-house version has extended information and an ingredient list is available for those concerned about specifics.

October changes

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 13:28:13 -0500

Our much beloved Le Grand Shepherd is back on the food menu. Next week we will be offering a meatier version of the Porter Beef Ribs sourced from the St. Lawrence Market - a carnivore's delight of which Mr. Flintstone would be proud.

If you thought that the Shepherd and Ribs couldn't be topped for decadent and comforting consumption, think again. We are days away from launching the Beer Float, dessert nostalgia for the over nineteen set. You will have your choice of Hazelnut Chocolate Ale, Coffee Porter, or Oatmeal Stout topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and a bright red cherry. Yes, you will have to drink your beer with a straw.

New to wine list in October

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 13:27:20 -0500

We welcome a new Niagara winery to our list, Harbour Estates. We will be featuring their fruity and accessible Vidal/Chardonnay and a well structured, good value Cabernet by the glass.

New brews for October

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 13:25:57 -0500

The restless quest for (true local) flavour continues with the addition of Church-Key West Coast Pale Ale, Maudite, Mill Street Oktoberfest, Durham Hop Head (cask), Black Irish Porter (cask), Black Oak Nut Brown Ale (cask), Great Lakes Double Pumpkin Ale, and the return of St. Ambroise Pale Ale to our craft draught line-up this month.

Re: 19th Annual Festival Of Craft Brewers

Sun, 7 Oct 2007 19:41:20 -0500

County Durham swept the top three with Durham Hop Head, C'est What Caraway Rye, and Durham Hop Addict finishing ahead of the pack, all with median scores of 37. The Hop Head was inadvertently tasted "blind" as it's tap label was switched with the Scotch Irish (Helen) Kellertrubes Lager for the duration of the Festival.

Full details are available at http://www.cestwhat.com/tasteresult/festival2007.asp

Re: 19th Annual Festival Of Craft Brewers

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 21:35:38 -0500

New for the festival that are confirmed so far: Church-Key Flanders Brown, Grand River Highballer Pumpkin Ale, Mill Street Octoberfest, Trafalgar Black Bullet, Black Irish Porter, Trafalgar Smoked Oatmeal Stout, County Durham Hop Head (cask), Stratford Bohemian Lager, Taps Vanilla Bean Wheat, Barley Days Wind & Sail Dark Ale, Great Lakes Double Pumpkin Ale, Neustadt Shonet Pale Ale, Granite Ringberry Ale, Black Oak Maple Nut Brown (cask), Nickelbrook Barley Wine, Nickelbrook Maple Porter, Nickelbrook Organic Belgian White, King Un-filtered Dark Lager, McAuslan Raspberry Ale, and Scotch Irish Zwickelbier (cask).

Of course, we will be showing off our own new brews: Hazelnut Chocolate Ale and Caraway Rye Beer.

19th Annual Festival Of Craft Brewers

Sun, 9 Sep 2007 20:22:44 -0500

Our annual event to kick off "Pub" season will feature fifty brews from Upper and Lower Canada's leading Craft brewers. From Pale Ales to Peppermint Porters there will be something new for all palates and preferences. Details will be posted as they are finalized.

The event runs from 5:00 to 10:00 on Friday September 28. There is no admission charge, samples are a loonie apiece.

Cheers, George

Quote Contest

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 10:37:13 -0500

We're always looking for a well-turned phrase extolling the virtues of what has been referred to throughout the ages as the "Water Of Life". Share your favourite quote(s) with us and we'll enter you in a contest (one entry per quote) to win a pool party for you and a dozen of your closest friends (two hours of billiards at two tables with appetizers). Entries must be received by Friday August 3 to qualify for the draw.

Lindsay Veh

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 10:33:05 -0500

Lindsay was born in Toronto and studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD). She paints watercolours, pen and ink, acrylics, colour markers, dried flowers and greeting cards.

She will be displaying her watercolour and acrylic works at SHOW Gallery for July, FAIRVIEW Library for August and C�est What Restaurant until end of September.

She has not given up her day job.

Summer Menu

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 10:25:50 -0500

In our quest to offer the ultimate in Toronto comfort food, Maurice and Laverne have whipped up a few new treats for our menu.

A couple of Asian influenced noodle dishes in the Red Curried Noodles and the Green Curry Broth Noodles (vegetarian or with chicken) will raise the temperature a little in our air-conditioned oasis. Breakfast is now possible all day long when you order the St. Lawrence Peameal (Market peameal bacon with a fried egg and melted cheddar on a toasted bun).

Our California Greens salad has come a little closer to home with the addition of some seasonal crunchy vegetables as a Garden Salad. Salad dressing choices have improved with the addition of Sesame Ginger and Raspberry Orange vinaigrettes. After a nineteen year run, the Sex-In-A-Pan, Safe Sex, ...Better Than Chocolate pudding is replaced with the Cookie Monster, a bowl of vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate drizzle and shards of homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. The Calamari is now saut�ed in KLB Raspberry Wheat Beer and herbs.

The picture of our Moroccan Stew (above) is taken from a review on blogto.com

Mid-Summer new brews

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 10:20:54 -0500

You can't offer over one hundred draught beer choices annually on thirty-five taps without embracing change. New in the coming weeks are the Grand River Ploughman's Ale and a couple of special C'est What brews: Hazelnut Chocolate Ale and a re-vamped Rye Beer with a hint of caraway.

Springfest Results

Tue, 5 Jun 2007 19:38:17 -0500

With a dozen brews new to our establishment on tap that evening we reached the "century" for featuring over one hundred different draught beers in the last year. As it turns out, we had representation from twenty-three different brewers at the Festival in the form of three dozen beers.

In all 1810 samples were purchased and about one-third were rated. Perhaps it was the warm weather, but the shear number of tasters that didn't have the energy or inclination to fill in a tasting sheet was notable. At last year's Springfest 45% of samples were rated. It seems that we hosted a particularly critical bunch this time around with the average score coming in at 34 out of 50, a full three points below last year.

* For the second Festival in a row, Hop Addict from Durham Brewing finished at the head of the pack with a median score of 42, the only brew to break forty. Durham's Hop Head and Hockley Valley Stout finished with scores of 38.5 and 38 respectively.
* Only sixteen of the thirty-six beers were rated by enough Festival goers to qualify for "Best Of The Fest".
* The Most Curious award for the most tasted beer, goes to Church-Key for Catch Her In The Rye. Close behind was Black Oak's Lemon Pepper Cask Ale.

You can find the full table of results at http://www.cestwhat.com/tasteresult/springfest2007.asp

Spring Festival Of Craft Brewers

Thu, 17 May 2007 09:51:39 -0500

It's spring, when everyones fancy turns to... beer. We are happy to reciprocate these feelings with another installment of our semi-annual homage to fermented barley on Friday May 25 from 5 to 10 p.m.

Over the past year we have served eighty-nine different fine Canadian brews on our thirty-five taps so why not find a few more and reach a "century"?

Twenty-two different brewers will be represented at the festival. Some of the notable newcomers to our taps include: Church-Key Rye, Mill Street Wheat and Stout, Magnotta Wonder Weiss, Muskoka Hefe Weiss, Nickelbrook Maple Porter and Green Apple Pilsner, Durham Hop Head (cask), Neustadt Scottish Ale (cask), Barley Days Dark Lager, Niagara Honey Brown, Heritage Maple Lager and Organic Best Bitter, and Hockley Valley Stout. As well, on tap for the event are recent additions: King Pilsbock, Griffon Rousse, Walkerville Lager, Amsterdam Spring Bock, Granite Summer Ale, Blanche de Chambly, and Great Lakes Orange Peel Ale. As is this isn't enough, fourteen of our regular favourites such as C'est What Coffee Porter, St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout, and Denison's Weiss Beer will be available for sampling.

Three ounce samples will be availble for a loonie each, admision is free.

New Brews In April

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 10:11:19 -0500

New to our draught beer list are: Great Lakes Orange Peel Ale, King Pilsbock, Nickelbrook Apple Pilsner, and Walkerville Lager. Neustadt 10W30 and F&M Stonehammer Dark (cask) have returned to our taps.

Menu renovations

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 19:15:33 -0500

Every autumn we try to take a long look at our food offerings to make sure they continue to match our stellar selection of beer, wine, and spirits. Well, it's a bit past autumn (we've been busy with the physical renovations) but we have come up with one of our most exciting menu changes in years.

Our theme of great value multi-cultural comfort food will be enhanced by the addition of a heart stopping Poutine, tasty vegetarian and Jerk Chicken Roti, authentic Tourti�re, exotically spiced Moroccan Stew, a Spicy Coconut Stir-Fry, and Shrimp Spring Rolls. The long-time stalwart Chicken Satay moves over to the appetizer menu and the Calamari goes from the deep fryer to the saut�e pan in garlic, white wine, and herbs.

Give the new items a try and let us know what you think - we think that you will be as pleased as we are with these new twists.

March beer list additions

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 18:41:48 -0500

New to our draught beer list this month are: Tilted Kilt Scotch Ale (Amsterdam Brewing), Granite Bitter (cask), Wellington County Ale (cask), and Big Dog Porter (Neustadt).

Latest additions to beer menu

Sat, 10 Feb 2007 14:09:39 -0500

New to our draught beer list are: Eisbock (Niagara Brewing) and Great Eastern Pale Ale (Ste. Andr�). During the coming weeks we expect to see Black Oak Double Chocolate Cherry Stout (our first shipment will include a casked version, the remainder will be filtered and kegged), a cask of Durham's Blak Katt Stout, and the casked version of F&M's Stonehammer Dark.

We have re-formulated our Mild Brown Ale so that it has a more traditional alcohol level (3.4%) while retaining it's full roasted flavour.

George

19th Anniversary, February 13

Sat, 10 Feb 2007 14:04:55 -0500

There are not a lot of nineteen year olds that can claim to have changed the world. Not in the Joan of Arc epic kind of way but in the making a difference in your community kind of way. C'est What and it's loyal customers can lay claim to that kind status. Before we throw out an arm slapping ourselves on the back let us explain by using some examples:

Craft Brewed Beer. There are now over thirty craft brewers in Ontario and dozens of friendly purveyors of their products in Toronto. When we started out there were a handful of brewers and not a single micro-friendly pub.

VQA Wine. When our local vintners formed the VQA, there was an entire generation of wine drinkers who wouldn't touch anything but French wines. We were the first establishment to embrace Niagara wineries by serving their products exclusively. Now the most exclusive and expensive restaurants in Toronto all serve VQA wines.

Food. In 1988 pub food was almost exclusively burgers, wings, and nachos. While there are still more than few of those kind of places around there many notable places that have followed C'est What's lead to offer great meals inspired by our multi-cultural city.

Music. We have always supported local musical talent. This is not an effort that would be considered on any corporate business plan but has a value that far exceeds the bottom line. Thousands of performers have been treated with respect and been given a professional helping hand while showcasing their talents here. More than a few have turned into international success stories, but the best news is that the local music scene is thriving.

Major cultural contributions or just one big string of coincidences? We'll let others pass the judgement but we'll make the claim.

George

18th Annual Festival Of Small Breweries

Sat, 25 Nov 2006 14:18:49 -0500

Our 18th Annual Festival Of Small Breweries on Friday September 29, 2006 put a special emphasis on the hop. With twelve of the thirty-seven brews showcased of the Pale Ale style. Used to add bitterness and preserve beer, hops are also known to have a pacifying effect. It was with the advent of hop use in beer that the expression "brewers droop" appeared in the English lexicon. It was a relaxed evening where conversation trumped most efforts at applying scientific rigor to the proceedings - 707 samples were rated out of the 2028 served.

� The very hoppy, Hop Addict from Durham Brewing finished at the head of the pack with a median score of 42.5 out of 50. McAuslan's Raspberry Ale and C'est What's Hazelnut Coffee Porter (brewed by Bruce Halstead at Durham) were runners-up with scores of forty.
� Of the dozen brews that finished with a higher than average score of 36 or more, five were of the pale ale style.
� The Most Curious award for the most tasted beer goes to the perennially interesting breweries Black Oak and Scotch Irish with their Wet-Hopped Cask Pale Ale and Casked Tsarina Katarina Imperial Stout respectively.

Complete details are available online. http://www.cestwhat.com/tasteresult/festival2006.asp

George

Cask Ale Dispensing System

Sat, 25 Nov 2006 14:16:08 -0500

One of our renovation projects over the summer was a completely new cellaring system for the five cask ales that we offer. Our "real" ales are refrigerated at a cool cellar temperature of about eight degrees from cask to tap including the piston of each "beer engine". We have also installed an aspirating valve (also known as a "cask breather") so that the space at the top of each cask that is evacuated when beer is dispensed is filled with a mixture of 75% nitrogen and 25% carbon dioxide (the same mixture that pushes "nitro" tap beers like Coffee Porter and St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout). This prevents the beer from coming into contact with air and oxidizing. The 75/25 gas mix has a low enough carbon dioxide level to prevent it from carbonating the beer. By comparison, the mixture that is used for our more conventionally dispensed brews is 40% nitrogen and 60% carbon dioxide. These products need more carbon dioxide to maintain their higher level of "fizz".

Aside from the technical improvements to the beer conveyance systems, the display on the bar is worthy of "kid-in-a-candy-store" status.

George

Rising From The Ashes

Sat, 25 Nov 2006 14:14:43 -0500

What was our smoking room (until it was outlawed by legislation put forward by our own M.P.P.) has been transformed into more customer space. We've added another fireplace to this cozy room and a 42 inch high definition flat-screen plasma TV which is great for the big game or maybe your next business meeting or presentation.

George