The 12th annual edition of Toronto's Festival of Beer kicked off last night at Fort York with the Bowmans Ball, featuring a rousing live performance by Spirit of the West, a poker competition with the winner receiving a trip to Oktoberfest in Germany, and of course, plenty of beer.
As usual, the major breweries and mainstream-wannabes were all on hand, serving their interchangeable pale lagers to those with less discriminating tastes, but there was healthy representation from Ontario's craft brewing scene as well. Mill Street took a step up towards the big leagues with their "brand experience" area, featuring live music from a Johnny Cash cover band as well as a set by Mysterion the Mind Reader, and food from their Distillery District brewpub. Perry Mason of Scotch Irish Brewing had casks of his experimental one-off beers Summit Pale Ale and Mental Bob Old Ale alongside his usual brands, and will be tapping several more one-offs over the course of the weekend.
Black Oak Brewing were also there, serving their seasonal Summer Saison along with their flagship Pale Ale and Nut Brown, and today they'll be tapping a special "marmalade" version of the Saison with citrus peel added to the cask. Val and Andy Stimpson of Neustadt Springs Brewery were pouring their Lager and Scottish Ale, with tap handles fashioned from the new cans that should be appearing on LCBO shelves soon. And for the brave and/or foolish, Trafalgar Ales & Meads revealed the third in their VSB (Very Strong Beer) series, a 15% monster called The Black Bullet.
Imports were also pretty well represented, with the highlight on that front being Esprit Agencies with their Beers Of The World booth, where they were pouring Chimay White and Premiere, St. Peter's English Ale, and a couple of others. The Festival is also being used to launch two new imports in the Ontario market: Efes from Turkey, and Weihenstephaner from Germany.
Here's a selection of photos from last night's festivities. The Festival continues today through to Sunday - check the website for details on times and prices.
Steamy (with assistant) chats up the ladies.
Food TV's Kevin Brauch is very happy to be sharing a beer with Jonathon Downing (left) and Val & Andy Stimpson of Neustadt Springs Brewing.
Alexander Keith keeps a watchful eye over one of his serving girls.
Doug Pengelly of Saint Andre Brewing figures out the best way to build a house of cards after you've had a few.
Spirit of the West entertains the crowd.
