Birthdays, basketball and better beer with the J Man

I knew it was going to be a good day when the ice-cold darkness of a Pickering shopping mall parking lot served up a pair of fifty dollar bills for me to discover.

But I already knew the day was going to be great because I had big plans in downtown Toronto with my youngest son and a day with the J Man is always an awesome day. Now, with the day essentially paid for, the day was going to be even better.

There was going to be some beer involved - there always is with me, even if I'm dragging Jake around - and there was going to be a couple of birthdays to celebrate, but that was going to come later. First on the agenda was a bit of sports history: Jake's first trip to Maple Leaf Gardens.

Home to 11 Stanley Cup championships - yes kids, the Leafs used to be really good - the Gardens made way for the Air Canada Centre in 1999 and was saved from possible demolition a few years back by Ryerson University and turned into a multi-purpose facility, with a rink, a basketball court, a fitness centre and a mega Loblaws grocery store.

The former Maple Leaf Gardens, now known
as the Mattamy Athletic Centre

We were there for the basketball. Jake has become a bit of a roundball buff of late - the success of the Toronto Raptors might have something to do with that - and he and I sat in the cozy court seats to watch Ryerson, the third ranked team in the nation, outgun the McMaster Marauders of Hamilton, the number four team in Canada, by twenty points.

After a trip back to the car - parked in the heart of the city's Gay Village - to get a few packages (beer and beer-related stuff) we hopped on the subway to Union Station and Toronto's entertainment district for our next stop: dinner.

I hadn't been to The Old Spaghetti Factory since Wendel Clark was still playing defence in Saskatoon but the place was as cool and as kitschy as ever and more importantly, Jake loved it, even though he wasn't keen on the funky spice in the meatballs in his spaghetti and meatballs dinner. My Garlic Shrimp Fettuccine was awesome, however, as was the Boneshaker IPA on the bar list, and a little Italian ice cream was enough to ensure Jake and I both left happy.

Jake and I about to be crushed by carousel
horse at the Old Spaghetti Factory

Sufficiently stuffed, we headed out into the night, past the homeless dudes struggling to stay warm
and alive in the midst of a nasty cold snap - adventures in downtown Toronto can be great teaching moments - and found the Real Sports Bar & Grill, conveniently located metres from the main doors of the Air Canada Centre, which was hosting a Raptors game that night.

Inside were friends Cat and Blair, both of whom were celebrating birthdays that week, their pals Andrew and Randolph, and about a million television screens, including one that was 39 feet wide.

That got Jake's attention.

We didn't stay too long; Jacob being 12 and in a bar and all. But we stayed long enough to watch the Raptors win on the big screen and Leicester beat somebody in English rugby on our personal booth television.

We also stayed long enough to have a couple of drinks - cokes for the J Man, a Hops and Bolts India Pale Lager and a Mad Tom IPA from Muskoka for me - and to give out some presents for the birthday kids: a smuggled Beer Camp Double IPA from Sierra Nevada for Cat and an assortment of brews (Old Tomorrow Canadian Pale Ale and a 5 Paddles Baby Belge) for Blair, plus a few other items.

Beer Camp!

Just before we got up to leave the latecomers - Don and his lovely date Jessica - showed up. As a reward for getting there before I had to go, I got Don a beer gift too (though I can't remember what the hell it was) and I even got him a free beer, compliments of the Real Sports staff who brought me the another Hops and Bolts instead of the Mad Tom I asked for.

So generous I am.

Jessica and I chatted about how awesome our kids are, Jake and I said our goodbyes and we were off once again into the winter night, catching the train back up to College Station to find our car parked a few blocks north on Church Street.

Then it was home to Oshawa.

It's always a good time when I have good friends, good beer and the J Man.

Cheers!

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In honour of international beer writing icon Stephen Beaumont, who spoke at length recently of his love of lists on social media (I may have misinterpreted this so don't quote me), I have a list I want to share: My Top 10 beers I have enjoyed only once.

I miss these beers very much.

The trouble with the list is that since I first jotted these notes down, I've had number one (Moralite from Dieu du Ciel/The Alchemist; a near-perfect beer); number two (Immodest IIPA from Nickel Brook; happiness in a glass) and number four (Instigator from Indie Ale House; amazing deliciousness) a second time.

So rather than expanding the list, I just moved everything up. It's a list of seven now and at the top of the list is Super Guy Imperial Rye Pale Ale from Ottawa's Beyond the Pale Brewery, an awesome, fantastic beer that I had on tap at Buster Rhino's last spring and have searched for ever since. One day.

Truly an Epic Pale Ale

Number two on my list is Epic Pale Ale,  a New Zealand beer I found at Beers of the World in Rochester, N.Y. Fifteen different hops were used during the brewing process and the result is a beer with plenty of 'wow' factor. There's citrus and tropical fruit, along with some pine and floral notes. There's a peppery spiciness as well, making this beer quite different from anything I've had before, and quite tasty. A world class pale ale.

Coming in at number three is Amsterdam's Spring Bock, which considering it's a style that is far from my wheelhouse, knocked my socks off when I tried it. Spring is coming, so I hope to see it again soon.


Black Oak's Break of Dawn is next, and this session beer is  hopped up so much it tasted juicy. Big grapefruit flavours along with some pine and citrus give it a wonderful bitter finish and at just 4.5 per cent it is one of the best session beers out there.

Nebuchadnezzar, a IIPA from Sweden's Omnipollo Brewery, clocks in to the five spot, and as this makes an occasional appearance at the LCBO I may have to take this off the list too. Orange and pine and malt with lingering bitterness. Another great Scandinavian IPA.


The first and only saison I have enjoyed was Brooklin's Sorachi Ace. As this is a semi-regular at my local LCBO it's the nearly $10 price tag that is all that's keeping me from removing this from the one-and-done list. Fantastic beer.

The final beer is Rochefort Trappiste 10, considered one of the world's great beers. It smelled of dark fruit of various vintages - plum, raisin - and tasted of more ripe fruit with  hint of licorice. Sweet and bitter at the same time.

Here's to knocking more of these off the list.

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I have a long list of new beers I haven't reviewed in this space (due mainly to the fact I haven't blogged much in recent weeks) so I will get to three here:

Great Lakes Pompous Ass English (session) Pale Ale - Dark orange pour with a frothy head. Lots of hops on the nose. Hints of pineapple and bready malts with very little bitterness. Mild finish. Very drinkable.

Sawdust City Blood of Cthulu Imperial Stout - On tap at Buster Rhinos in Oshawa. The ’t’ is silent but this 9.5 per cent imperial stout wasn’t. There was plenty of licorice and something I couldn't quite identify. Sour cherries I think. There`s definitely plenty going on here.

Hop City HopBot IPA - Not a hop monster, but I got tropical fruits - guava, maybe - and some grapefruit. Pine and more tropical fruit on the finish. Nice bitterness, though it doesn’t linger. A good IPA that gets a little better each time I drink it.

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And finally, congratulations to legendary Montreal brewery Dieu du Ciel for their Aphrodisiaque Stout, which was ranked number one in the world for 2014 by Rate Beer reviewers. Considering Rate Beer's fans are overwhelmingly American, that is quite the accomplishment.