Craft Beer, Charcuterie and Cheese: 3 C’s at c5

As a beer drinker, I'm often frustrated by the lack of attention and respect that higher end establishments pay to their beer selection. More times than I can count, I've given the choice of two or three pale lagers when I ask for a beer list at a fine dining restaurant, while wine drinkers are often given a list the size of a phone book, featuring vintages in every style and from every country imaginable.

Now don't get me wrong: unless I'm dining at a place that specializes in beer like beerbistro or Volo, I'm not expecting to be offered a vast array of esoteric ales and lagers. But I don't think that a well chosen list of a half-dozen or so good quality beers is too much to ask for. And with so many restaurants now touting their use of local ingredients whenever possible, how about showing some love for our many local breweries as well?

One place that seems to have gotten the message is c5, the restaurant and lounge that sits atop the Crystal at the Royal Ontario Museum. Starting last Thursday, they're running a weekly series of tasting nights that feature a flight of Ontario craft beers served alongside a selection of house made charcuterie and excellent cheeses from the Cheese Boutique.

We arrived for the inaugural event in the series expecting a reception-style event with pouring stations for each of the five participating breweries - Creemore Springs, Steam Whistle, Mill Street, Black Oak and Wellington - and the food distributed as canapés or small nibbles. Instead, we were seated and given full table service, impressively showing that c5 is taking this initiative seriously and not treating beer as a second class beverage.

Each brewery has at least one beer available for tasting, with some offering more, and patrons can choose the ones that they'd like for their tasting flight of four 3-ounce samples. Once the beers were served, we were pleasantly surprised to be offered a watermelon and fennel amuse bouche that cleansed the palate nicely.

This was soon followed by the main attraction: a generous array of charcuterie and cheese. The mouthwatering meat selection featured pork liver pâté, venison jerky, duck prosciutto, cured foie gras, rabbit rillette and others, and the trio of cheeses included Niagara Gold, goat Picobello, and Chèvre Noir. Alongside this heaving board came a selection of crispy flatbreads and some pickles and antipasti.

As we enjoyed the savoury delights, reps from the various breweries did the rounds to answer any questions about their beers. We chatted with the always affable Ken Woods of Black Oak, who noted how happy he was with the event. "The idea and the concept that the ROM and c5 are stepping up for is pretty important. It's a risk, but we're trying to introduce something new to show the versatility of beer. We're all about flavour and the balance in our beers, and we find that they pair very well with food."

To close things off, we were surprised once again with a small dessert plate featuring a mini-slice of homemade Neapolitan ice cream and chocolate cake, garnished with a piece of peanut-bacon brittle as well as the flavour surprise of the evening, candied olives, which had a perfect balance of sweet and salty that had Sheryl swooning.

As a veteran of many beer dinners and tastings, I've seen my fair share of both good and bad ones, but this tasting ranks up with some of the best, especially considering that c5 isn't exactly known as a beer destination. The series continues this week and runs from 6:30pm to 9:30pm every Thursday evening until the end of August. The cost per person for the beer tasting flight and ample food is a remarkably reasonable $25 plus tax and tip, with additional beer available for $7 per bottle or flight. For more information or to make reservations, call 416-586-7928.