Is it Christmas? No, it's better. It's beer festival season!

What does a date that never was, the love of family, good pals, smoked meat and beer - lots and lots of beer - add up to?

Good times, my friends. Good times.

Saturday was a day that had been marked on my calendar for a while: the Durham Craft Beer Festival. With thirteen vendors and loads of beer choices, it was guaranteed to be so much fun I had to buy two tickets.

Surely a smooth character such as myself would have no problem finding a date, right? Maybe if I had remembered to ask somebody more than a few days before the event that might have been the case, but you know, planning and all that.

I did ask my friend Wendy, but as she had been away from work that week with back issues she had to beg off. So I moved on to my second choice, number one son Matt, but he was headed to Lakeview Park with my lovely (and already talented) granddaughter Josie. Number two son was up for the honour as well, but Cam said he had a headache.

I think I've heard that a few times before.

So I went solo, arriving shortly after the festival opened at noon and after saying a few hellos (the first person I talked to was Wendy's nephew Matt, who was working his Brewer's Pantry booth) I headed straight for Great Lakes Brewery where I found ... no IPAs. No Thrust! I did discover the bright side (there is always a bright side with beer) as I sipped an OCB Collaboration beer and chatted with our friendly neighbourhood GLB man: Octopus Wants to Fight IPA, a deliciously juicy grapefruit-mango-pine bombshell that I love, will be back in production soon.

So there's that.

I hit up our hosts next, as Buster Rhino's was pouring Bellwoods beer and Theresa was pouring me  a Roman Candle IPA. Then it was Sawdust City - a favourite of mine at these affairs - to try their Golden Beach Pale Ale, a refreshing and tasty 4.5 per cent session ale.

(I also discovered the story behind Princess Wears Girl Pants, the Gravenhurst brewery's unique entry in the Belgian IPA category. Ben, our Sawdust City rep, told the story of an effeminate friend of brewmaster Sam, who one day showed up wearing capri pants. And a beer was born...)

Another Sawdust stand-by - Lone Pine IPA - was next, followed by my first visit to Manantler Brewery of Bowmanville, where I sampled a Wakatu Me pale ale, part of their single hop series of ales. Citrus, melon, lemon and delicious.

And then I was gone, because man cannot drink all day in the hot sun by oneself. And because Josie, the most adorable 10-month old human on the planet, was waiting for me down at Lakeview Park.

Turned out to be a bigger family affair than I imagined. There was Matt and Josie; Matt's girlfriend Marissa and her two cute little ones; the J Man and his mom Christian-Ann; and my oldest grandchild, Allison.

A happy hour or so later the smell of barbecue coming from the west was too strong and I joined Christian, Jake and Allison for a trip to Whitby for Ribfest.

One of Ontario's best golden ales

Now I know it may be sacrilege to leave Buster Rhino's - home of the best ribs in town - to go to Ribfest, but family first, you know? And the ribs (as well as the pulled pork and pulled chicken) were amazing.

But there is only so much smoked meat I can eat and when the beer back at the festival (or the voices in my head) started calling my name I had to leave my family to let them work off the calories on the midway rides.

I called my pal Steve. "You wanna be my date?" I asked, coyly. "Ummm..." was Steve's reply. "There's free beer in it for you."

"Well, why didn't you say so?"

Back to Oshawa I go and we found the festival party in full swing. I found Manantler again - with the booth manned by my pal Chris this time - and enjoyed The Citra Situation, another of their single hop series and one of the best golden ales I have ever tasted. Yum.

Steve, meanwhile, was faced with a lot of tough choices, being a drinker of commercial lagers when he is drinking beer at all. We were at the Stone City (Kingston) booth and I was trying to steer him towards their 12 Star Session Ale (tasty) to ease him gently into the craft beer world.

Nothing doing. He went for their wheat beer, the Windward Belgian Wheat. And liked it. A lot. "I could drink this all day," he said, happily.

We made a few rounds of the festival - I had Into the Shade, a very tart (almost sour) saison from Cameron's, a 10 Bitter Years IIPA from Black Oak, the 12 Star Ale from Stone City, more Manantler (Amarillo Lollihop), more Sawdust City (Skinny Dipping Stout) and maybe one or two more, though at this point my but my notes were starting to get soggy so I'm not sure.

A refreshing burst of grapefruit in every sip

Steve tried a few other beers as well - I remember Mill Street Organic Lager - but he kept going back to Stone City and their Windward Wheat. I think I may have a convert.

I also ran into a few buddies at the event, including my old Domino's pal Gord, who bought us a few beers because that's what friends are for, right?

Nice to see you Gord.

But all good things must come to an end and we eventually ran out of tokens and I took my date home for a nightcap or two. Steve made his way home after that and I managed to kick off my shoes before passing out on my bed.

Next time I'll go to the festival with a woman and see if it ends any differently. Probably not.

***

The People's Choice Award at the festival went to Old Flame Brewery of Port Perry (the lineups at this booth were quite long), while silver and bronze went to the breweries I voted for: Sawdust City and Manantler, respectively.

The number of beers sold was up about 1,000 to 11,762 while overall attendance was up just a tad to about 1,500. Our host for the day, Darryl Koster, said the increased beer sales could be attributed to the low turnover rate. Last year there were a lot of patrons who came to see what a beer festival is all about, drank five tokens worth of beer and left, he said. This year? "They were here for the long haul."

***

I will make it two weekends in a row at beer fests when I invade Burlington and Beer Bro Don's pad (AKA Donny's Beer & Grill) for the Burlington Beer Festival on Sunday.

This will be a much bigger affair, with some 40 or so breweries represented and we have VIP passes, so I'm really stoked. I just hope Don, who will be attending both days, will still be alive when I arrive. I have faith, Don.

Ruination 2.0 and Stone can do no wrong

A trip to Burlington is not complete  without a 45-minute detour to the border and the nearest Consumer Beverages outlet for some Stone (Escondido, California) beers, and I expect there will be some choice IPAs on hand as Stone is celebrating all things hoppy this month.

There are a few special releases I'd like to see but I would be happy if there was only Ruination 2.0. This is the Imperial IPA that has replaced Ruination, which is the beer that established Stone and the San Diego area as the centre of the IPA universe.

I loved the old Ruination. World class. The new version is better. Here's what I said on Rate Beer:

A gorgeous hazy orange pour with a piney-grapefruity aroma. Then bam! A ton of hop flavour. Apricot, tangerine, pine, red grapefruit and caramel malts. A little floral something going on too. Just as sticky as the original but with more fruity pizzazz. Complex as shit. I like it better.

It's right up there with Immodest (Nickel Brook) as the best beer EVER. It's that good.

Stone can do no wrong.

Cheers!