Sunday pub crawl in the Hammer

(With Don and the Polkeroos)

Two days off.

That may sound like a normal end of the work week for many of you (often called, appropriately, the 'weekend'), but for me it was a rare treat indeed.

The last time I had two days off, in fact, was more than three years ago. And that was called a 'holiday.'

Anyway, with Sunday no longer on my schedule at my part-time bar job and with my landscaping boss deciding Labour Day was a good day to stay home, I was free to enjoy my 'weekend' any way I saw fit.

So I called my pal Don and told him I felt the urge to drink a lot of beer, maybe visit a brewery or two, and perhaps make a border run.

Oh, and call the Polks and invite them, would you?

The 'Polks,' would be Robert and Kathryn, better known in social media circles as Drunk Polkeroo and Mrs. Polkeroo. I met this power beer couple just once at the Great Lakes Brewery 30th Anniversary bash earlier this year, but have chatted many, many times on Facebook and Twitter.

Myself and Don (top) with the lovable
Polkeroos at Merit Brewing

Robert is a beer writer and videographer who chronicles his (and Kathryn's) life in beer - as well as his own personal struggles - with extraordinary honesty and insight. Kathryn is active on social media as well and the pair combine to make the lives of those around them better each and every day.

So yeah, Don: invite them.

We agreed to meet up at Merit Brewing, a brand new downtown Hamilton brewery that I've been hearing fabulous things about, with the Polkeroos promising us a mini pub crawl through the mean streets - and now well on their way to being thoroughly gentrified - of the Hammer.

But first, a quick trip across the border into Niagara Falls, New York, because I am genetically incapable of NOT hitting the border if I am within 40 minutes of American soil.

Seeing as I was in a hurry, I dispensed with the better options and hit up Consumer Beverages, a beer store no bigger than a Mac's just 10 minutes from the border.

I filled up my shopping cart with beers from the usual suspects: Ballast Point, Stone, Bell's, Dogfish Head, Green Flash and a whole bunch more - mostly Imperial IPAs - to the tune of $126 US before heading back to Canada.

I made quick time on my way through and I was on the bridge less than five minutes on the way back before my luck ran out. I was asked to pay duty for starters, which is proper but is usually overlooked by customs officials not interested in the extra paperwork. No biggie, though, and $29 CDN later I was headed to Hamilton and my Merit Brewing rendezvous.

And one more picture of the four of us. Just because

About a minute later (thankfully before I got on the QEW), I heard the unmistakable sound of a flat tire. I picked up a nail and probably on the damn bridge, too!

So there I was on the side of the road putting on my spare. At least I was in Canada for this I told myself, and the delay was only 15 minutes or so before I was back on the road again and headed to Hamilton.

I was also very thirsty.

Good thing the highway was clear, else I would have had to pull over and dip into my U.S, stash to stave off dehydration. But thankfully I made good time and was at Merit Brewing's downtown Hamilton digs in less than an hour, where I found both Don and Robert out front to greet me and to guide me to parking.

Kathryn wisely stayed inside guarding the beers.

Merit Brewing is amazing.  It's a huge and inviting place, right in the heart of downtown Hamilton. The bar is open concept style with communal tables, as befitting the collaborative nature of the craft beer scene.

The tap list was long and had not one but two Milkshake beers on it, as well as an IPA, an Imperial Session IPA and a Session IPA, plus a few other delectables.

I love these guys already.

Sixty pounds of fruit loops cereal went into Merit's Fruit Loops Milkshake IPA, and while I found it interesting - though not as interesting as Bellwood's line of Milkshark beers - Don found it ... disconcerting.

The always smiling Tej, one of Merit Brewing's owners

Somehow my pal Don had completely missed the Milkshake IPA craze that swept Ontario this summer and his first stab at the style left him decidedly underwhelmed. It was the texture that threw him for a loop (okay, his pun, not mine), and he proclaimed it was "as odd to me as a pizza having the texture of a salad."

Harsh words from a salad-hating, pizza-loving man like Don, but he quickly softened his stance by saying he actually liked the beer.

It was just the damn 'mouthfeel' that threw him off.

The second Milkshake beer on tap was not actually an IPA at all, but a Milkshake Stout, and that was a new one on me. The Neapolitan Milkshake Stout offered licorice and honey in the aroma with a taste that was seriously like neapolitan ice cream! It was a little sweet mid-palate but finished bitter. Really tasty session stout.

The rest of the Merit lineup this day was stellar. Idaho Beach House was a well executed Session IPA that was far more bitter than the 4.5 per cent alcohol would indicate and Young Rival, the flagship IPA of the brewery, was rich and little sweet with a pungent finish. On Two, their IIPA, was just delicious.

There were other beers on the menu we tried as well, but it's been six weeks and both my memory and my notes failed me when I sat down to write this. Oh well, I could just say they were all awesome.

Or I could just ask Robert or Kat.

But there was more that just beer at Merit. There were ... sausages (I had the lamb andouille), fries (fashioned after the chips found at the HopCat craft beer chain in Michigan) and various snack and sides, including some delicious sourdough bread.

Do they have a lot beer on tap at Rust City? I think they do

It was a long drive. I was hungry, okay?

Tej, one of Merit's co-owners, stopped by to chat as well - it seems Robert knows nearly every one in the Hamilton beer scene - and after a stop at the bottle shop we were off to wander Hamilton's downtown in search of more beer.

Our next stop was Hambrgr, a beer and burger mecca just around the corner from Merit, and we had every intention of sampling their epic burgers (and grabbing a pint or two from their bountiful tap list), but the long wait for a table - which is typical for this place, I'm told - forced us to look for our next adventure.

But not before we lingered by the patio while Rob chatted with his cousin - I swear the man can't walk down the street in the Hammer without running into someone he knows - and I noted with considerable interest Hamilton's effort to revitalize its downtown.

The street - King William - is a bit of a microcosm of Hamilton's downtown. The entire north side of the street is devoted to restaurants and shops with patios - very chic - while the view to the south is an abandoned warehouse in the throes of demolition.

Reminds me of Oshawa, though on a much larger scale. As Pops would say on Luke Cage, "forward. Always forward."

Rust City Brewing

Anyway, we eventually got thirsty and moved on to Rust City Brewing, where there were plenty of tables available, so we got one near the bar. To be closer to the beer, of course.

This place has a great atmosphere and one of Hamilton's best selection of craft brews, as well as great coffee. The brewery part, however, has been delayed - they were supposed to be up and running this month - because of some feet dragging by the local council.

"The current zoning in downtown Hamilton does not allow microbreweries, and although changes to allow brewing are coming it won't be until June that these changes will be presented to City Council for approval," owners Nancy and James Malcom and partner Gabriel Spiegelshrift explained on their website. "This situation has forced us to delay the introduction of our on-site brewing until the near future. Rest assured, we are working on it."

So we'll be back, no?

In the meantime we were forced to settle (!) for some Bellwoods beer: the very awesome Goblin Sauce Imperial IPA (which is finally back in the Bellwoods bottle shop this weekend), the Monogamy IPA with Vic Secret (one of Don's favourite hops) and a mystery, label-less bottle.

I was convinced after sampling it that it was one of their Runes series of beers, but it turned out to be the Monogamy with Mosaic hops. Tasty, but a touch on the peppery side.

A trip to Fairweather Brewing was also on the agenda on this day, but after returning to Merit for another pint and a bite to eat we decided that Fairweather would have to wait for another day.

And another day with Don and the Polkeroos, in a city that is fast becoming a craft beer capital, will be a good day indeed.

Beer O'Clock

This blog has gone long already, not to mention the six weeks between the experience and the writing of it, but I have to mention a few of the beers I enjoyed from the weekend.

Goblin Sauce is another lupulin powder creation from the creative brewers at Bellwoods and it instantly became a finalist for my Double IPA of the year. The aromatics are front and centre, with pineapple, mango and something lighter, like strawberry. It's a big bomb on the palate, with more tropical fruit, resin and pungent hops.

Dayslayer, an Imperial IPL from Stone and Maine

I picked up a bunch of beers from the American side and Beer-Sainted some of them to my pals (who tweeted about it for days). Three of them in particular stood out.

The best of the bunch was, surprisingly, a lager. Dayslayer, which was labelled as an Imperial Pale Lager on the bottle and Imperial Pilsner in the descriptive (I prefer the latter - fancier), was a collaboration brew between Stone (Escondido in San Diego County) and Maine (Freeport, Maine) that delivered toffee sweetness, lemony citrus and a dash of pine. The aroma was fantastic and the beer tasted like ripe citrus and resiny deliciousness met and had a torrid affair.

Manta Ray, an Imperial IPA from Ballast Point (San Diego), was all pine, ripe citrus and dankness on the nose. The taste is candy sweetness with a good lashing of resin.

Finally, there was Passion Fruit Kicker from Green Flash (also San Diego), which was so popular among my friends (craft and non-craft) that I only enjoyed one small bottle.

There was plenty of passion fruit, along with a bit of spiciness. The taste was tart with lemon, more passion fruit, spices and a bit of saltiness.

Cheers!