To David: I'll be back

I swear on everything that is wild and wonderful in this world, I thought he was my Father-in-law.

David has Stage 4 throat cancer and is recovering in a Hamilton hospital from recent surgery to remove all his talking bits. I had not seen him since his diagnosis and I really wanted to pay him a visit.

I miss him.

I've known him for more than 20 years and he is a fantastic human being, so when I did a border run for beer two weeks ago (it had been a while), I worked in a visit to the Hammer for the way back.

It seemed like it was going to be one of those days, however. I was late getting started and then I hit traffic on the highway, which was unusual for a Saturday morning and also a little annoying as I had time restraints: I had to be back in Oshawa by 4:30 for work.

I crossed the border without incident and then hit my next snag when I rolled into the Consumer's Beverages outlet on Niagara Falls Boulevard in Niagara Falls, New York. I had two beers on my need list and both of them were absent from the shelves.

Stone Brewing's Unapologetic IPA was a collaboration Imperial IPA that was one of my top beers of 2014 - my  first year in craft beer - and  had been tweaked and re-released August 22 in honour of the brewery's 20 years in business. It  had been out nearly two weeks but had not yet been shipped here, so I was told, anyway.

That sucks. At least they'll have Stone's Citracado, the official 20th Anniversary beer that I decided I must have. But not on this day.

Hell's Bells, man.

I bought some other goodies and headed back to the border, with my next stop Hamilton and my father-in-law's hospital bed.

Grandpa David and the J Man

Which is where my next problem reared its ugly head. I never asked Christian-Ann which hospital David was in because I just assumed Hamilton had only one. Turns out the city has several hospitals and the first one I found - Hamilton General - was not the hospital I was looking for.

I discovered that inside at the nurses station, so I called my ex-wife, who steered me towards  St. Joseph's Healthcare on the other side of the city.

At least it was on the way home.

Once inside St. Joe's I made it up to the fourth floor and David's department. I got buzzed in, but there were no nurses about to ask where I could find dear old David.

So I poked my head in the first room I saw. I found a man who I thought was David.

He looked like David - a lot - and he had tubes running out of his throat, as befitting a man who just endured a total larynngectomy. So I naturally thought he was David.

He looked like he had put on some weight but I attributed that to bloating.

I asked him how he was doing and he shrugged. I asked him if was getting any sleep and he shook his head no. I asked if he was in pain and he nodded yes and I actually considered alerting a nurse when I heard that. I asked him if Lene (David's wife) had been in today and he looked at me funny, and I remembered Christian-Ann telling me he suffered from periodic bouts of delirium, so I didn't give it much thought.

I didn't know what else to say so I put my hand on his shoulder and I stayed with him for ten minutes while making occasional small talk.

And then I said I would leave him to rest and made my way out of the hospital and back to my car.

It was an emotional experience.

On the way back to Oshawa I called Christian and told her about my visit and casually mentioned I thought her Dad had put on some weight. I nearly drove off the road when she said he had lost about 50 pounds.

Oh. My. God.

I told her where the gentleman's room was and she started to laugh, explaining that David's room was on the other side of the nurses station.

I felt terrible and more than a little embarrassed. I had come all that way to see my Father-in-law and I never got to see him.

"Look on the bright side," Christian said, doing her best to cheer me up. "You probably made an old man's day."

I hope so. You hang in there David: I'm coming back to see you tomorrow. For real.

The best part of border runs? Sharing the beer

I may not have found the beers I was seeking in suburban Niagara Falls, N.Y., but I still made out like a bandit with some quality IPAs.

The sheer number of different beers found at U.S. beer stores - especially my cherished IPAs and their friends - is incredible and with all due respect to the LCBO, The Beer Store and various and sundry grocery stores, there's no contest when it comes to selection.

So I found some winners. A six of Ballantine IPA; a six-pack of 60 Minute IPA from Dogfish Head; a six of Tangerine Soul Style IPA from Green Flash; a bomber of Hop Stoopid from Lagunitas (eight per cent ABV); a bottle of Mach 10 (an Imperial IPA from Bear Republic); and because I couldn't walk out of there without something from Stone, a couple of bottles of RuinTen, their excellent Triple IPA.

That would be Paul Thebeerguy, Trevor and me

I was planning on dropping off a care package to Beer Bro Don on the way through Burlington, but we couldn't hook up because, well, time was my enemy, as I mentioned earlier. Sorry Don. (As a consolation, I do have a bottle of Legends Imperial Stout with my face on it, saved just for you.)

So when I got back I messaged Trevor - Everyone's Favourite Cellerman - and told him I had a few 'extra' bottles from my trip and would he like some?

He said he would be at Manantler in 15 minutes.

Trevor is a massive fan of legendary Delaware brewery Dogfish Head - if he had his way he'd kick Brewmaster Sam Calagione into retirement and take over his job - so I made sure he had a 60 Minute IPA in his gift pack, along with a Ballantine and the Tangerine Soul Style.

I had forgotten how delicious 60 Minute (East Coast Style, baby!) could be. Bitter and resiny, with marmalade and tropical fruit and a bit of honey-like sweetness. I could drink this all day and so could Trevor, but he thought the Ballantine was pretty cool as well.

Turns out he has a pal named Ballantine who is actually a distant relative of the Newark, N.J family who founded the brewery (now owned by Belgium's Duvel) way back in 1840.

That IS pretty cool.

I called Paul Thebeerguy next and we met at Buster Rhino's for a trade. My extra (like there is such a thing) Ruin Ten, a 10.8 per cent mega hop monster from Stone Brewing (Escondido, California), for a couple of brews from Paul's recent trip to Ottawa Valley brewery Calabogie: Black Donald, a Stout, and K & P Ale, a British Session Ale.

I'd of done the deal as a gift, but who am I to say no to free beer?

But those beers were for later and we were in a craft beer bar, so naturally we had to raid the new beer fridge, where I found (staying on the Ottawa theme) Bravado, an American Pale Ale from Tooth and Nail Brewing ("sweet, with subtle hop flavours"); and Covered Bridge Brewing's The Lumbersexual, a 3.8 per cent ABV Session IPA that sports one of the best labels I've seen this year. It was also damn good, with a great bouquet of tropical fruit, citrus and pretty flowers.

Paul opted for the Sweetback's Milk Stout from Rainhard (a hard yes to this one) and Rabble Rouser, a 6.8 per cent piney IPA from Tooth & Nail.

Lots more great beers in that new beer fridge. The rest will be for another time.

The Calabogie beers were enjoyed at home and for the record, the Black Donald tasted of roast graham cracker and minty freshness and was unlike any Stout I have ever had. And still very tasty. But the real winner was K & P Ale, which was "smooth and nutty and just a little bit sweet," which also describes my former wives. The best (and only) British Session Ale of my life.

Remember Kindergarten? The teacher was right. Sharing is good.

Cheers!

We are Legends

"A lot of legends, a lot of people, have come before me. But this is my time." Usain Bolt

The Olympics are over, Bolt, so step aside. Now it's my turn.

I am a Legend. Says so right on this bottle.

And it's not just me: there are six of us who have their faces plastered all over four different labels of Manantler Brewing's newest brew, Legends Imperial Stout.

It was a wonderful gesture from the Bowmanville boys and I can tell you I'm over the moon with this. I've told every one I know about it and  I've even taken to telling total strangers. "Look at this man! My face is on a bottle of beer!" I shout, and they respond by saying things like "cool" and "awesome" and "excuse me, but this is the women's washroom, sir."

And I had no idea they were doing this.

Trevor messaged me Saturday morning and said I should pop in to the brewery sometime after four and said no more.

Real mysterious.

Yes indeed. That is my mug
on that bottle of beer

So I went at the appointed hour, where I found a half-dozen people milling about the cash register with bottles in their hands, and I craned my neck to see what was on the label. And a few craned back with looks that said, "there he is. It's that guy" or something.

And then Trevor brought me a sample (tasty), a handful of labels with my mug shot on them (wait, what?) and finally, a bottle.

I didn't know what to say. I even forgot to bro-hug him. 

As Trevor put it, it was the brewery's way of thanking the "regulars" who were "the real legends of Manantler."

By putting our faces on bottles of a nine per cent Imperial Stout.

The idea came from Trevor and brewmaster Jim, and they started with 25 people before narrowing it down to the final six.

And I made the cut? I asked. "You made the cut," Trevor answered.

I'll let Trevor explain the thought process behind the naming of the beer.

"This ... was inspired by the six - of many - Manantler regulars on the label who, in our eyes, are the real legends of Manantler. Without their relentless pursuit to quench their thirst with anything we make, we wouldn't be where we are."

I think there's something in my eye...

"Thanks for continually trying to empty our fridge, for bringing everyone you know to the brewery, for making awesome BBQ sauce with our suds, for mentioning us in (almost) every blog you write, for taking pictures we couldn't`t capture in a million years, but most of all, thanks for being our friends."

The Legends

"Cheers, this brew is for you!"

There's definitely something in my eye.

My fellow Legends include Amanda and Josh, a local couple who come into the brewery at least once a week. "They love our beer and they tell all their friends about it.," enthused Trevor. "And they make BBQ sauce out of our beer."

There is also Dave Hughes, a retiree who comes in almost every day. "He always has a big smile on his face - I mean, look at that face! - and he spends his entire pension on our beer. We think."

And there is Jeremy and Michael Clay. "Jeremy is a professional photographer and has done a lot of promotion for Manantler," Trevor noted. "Michael is a die-hard Root of All Evil fan."

(Jeremy is also a pretty good smack-talker. When I asked Trevor to make sure to save a few more of the bottles with my face on them - I bought just two - Jeremy was quick to point out that the "Jeremy Clay bottles" are in short supply, "due to sheer sexiness.").

For the record, Legends Imperial Stout was most excellent. Roasted coffee on the nose and coffee, bitter chocolate and a touch of licorice on the tongue. Smooth and rich and delicious.


And now if you'll excuse me, I have to go back to the brewery to buy five bottles for my mother.

Step aside Swamp Juice - Octopus is back!

"I have some good news," the lovely Samantha said to me at Buster Rhino's last week. "If you can finish this keg of Swamp Juice, there's something I know you like next in line."

"Octopus?" I said, a huge grin making its way across my face. "I thought that was done for the year."

"We have one left. A small keg. But you have to finish the Swamp Juice first."

No worries. Swamp Juice is a blend of IPAs and Pale Ales (generally) released on a semi-regular basis by Toronto's Great Lakes Brewery, a two-time Canadian Brewery of the Year and one of the world's finest producer of IPAs and their friends, in my legendary,  albeit humble, opinion.

Octopus Wants to Fight IPA

This batch, #28, is a mix of Octopus Wants to Fight IPA (my Mid-Summer Beer of the Year), Canuck Pale Ale and Sunnyside Session IPA and clocks in at 4.8 per cent ABV. It smells like Octopus (wonderful) and while lighter in body, it is heavy on taste and is delicious.

But I was going to need help to finish the 50 litre keg and I put out a distress call on Facebook, asking for volunteers.

The call did its job as Samantha said sales of Swamp Juice have been brisk. And I've done my part: I've been back three times since.

The keg appears to be almost done as it is getting cranky and prone to rude and obnoxious behaviour. I popped in today for a quick one and while Sam was filling my glass the tap gurgled and belched and kicked back a sudsy shower for her enjoyment.

I tried to suppress a laugh ( I did ask her if she was all right) and she announced that it was the third time that had happened today.

I think we're all ready for the next Great Lakes Brewery keg in line.

Cheers!

Good vibrations and The Hip too at the Clarington Beer Fest

It came in hot, with a blazing sun greeting the early patrons, and it went out wet and wild when a mini monsoon forced an slightly early end to the musical portion of the festivities.

But in that time between, the Clarington Craft Beer Fest, held August 20 behind Manantler Brewing in downtown Bowmanville, was all about the chill.

A few brewers (and radio personalities) certainly felt it when they hit the drink in the Dunk the Brewer event (always a big hit at beer fests), but that's not the kind of chill I'm talking about. There's a relaxed atmosphere - an aura, if you will - that is ever-present at Manantler Brewing (especially around brewers James and Chris and Everyone's Favourite Cellarman Trevor) and that mood just naturally became part of the beer fest.

But don't take it from me: listen to another brewer.

Sean, the founder of William Street Brewing in nearby Cobourg, has known the Manantler team for a few years and he raved about the atmosphere at the festival.

"These boys are great, they really are," he said. "There's such a wonderful, relaxed vibe here."

William Street was my second official stop on arrival, as Sean brought Wheat King IPA, which is a) an IPA and b) named after a Tragically Hip song, so it was  a no-brainer for me. Except when I joined the line everyone (okay, the trio of beautiful and clearly influential women standing in front of me) was going on about the Orange Cream Cycle beer and I got that instead, figuring I better snap this up before it was gone.

It's a beer fest. You gotta get your good thinking in early.

The Orange Cream Cycle was orangey, vanilla-y and tasty. Thank you, ladies.

But before that visit I was at the host's booth, manned at the time by both Chris and Trevor, to try Old Man's Paddle Pantry, a beer brewed for the festival with pals 5 Paddles and Old Flame breweries and Matthew Chellew of brewer's supply store Brewer's Pantry.

OMPP, a Belgian-style Spiced Table Beer, was dark and spicy and extremely sessionable at 3.8 per cent.

Trevor and Chris at the Manantler booth

There was an unofficial stop before the OMPP as well, as I came on the scene a little early and started the day downstairs in the tasting room with a Steady Horse, a Session IPA that I loved last year and had been tweaked a bit for this year's version with the addition of Eldorado hops.

I enjoyed my first Steady Horse - 2016 version - a couple of days prior, and got a free brewing lesson from Trevor at the same time.

"Most beers we don't brew that often are changed each time," he said. "They're ideas. We can't guarantee the same hops will be available and even if we could get them they don't always taste the same each time. The malt profile will usually stay the same but the flavour profile will change."\

For the record, Steady Horse (4.5 per cent), was just as juicy and delicious as always.

Back on ground level and the festival, I eventually returned to William Street for the Wheat King IPA, which tasted of citrus and cereal and tropical fruit, with a little hazy wheat flavour as well. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this beer go towards the Gord Downie Brain Cancer Research Fund, so drinking this beer was a win-win for me. Also, my crack research team (Google) discovered the song (🎵Wheat Kings and Pretty Things...🎵) was playing on the  radio when Sean proposed to his wife.

Awwww....

William Street's tribute
to the Tragically Hip

Sean also had an announcement to make as he was pouring this for me.

"This is my last beer fest. I'm retiring," he said solemnly.

He did later clarify his statement, noting that this was his last beer festival as a brewer. With a background in sales and marketing he decided it was time to hire a brewer to do most of the heavy lifting while he concentrated  on sales.

He will still brew from time to time though. (I asked.)

I hit up Beau's All Natural next where I found myself chatting with David about the family brewery's decision to sell shares to employees. Did you get in on this action, I asked?

"Oh yeah. I'm good for my retirement," he  said with a grin before adding he was part of the family. "My cousin is the boss."

I tried the Patersbier, a 4.7 per cent Belgian-style ale that is part of their Farmhouse Table series. It was decent, but I had my eye on another of the Van Cleek, Ontario (Ottawa area) brewery's Farm Table beers: the IPA.

This has become one of my go-to beers lately, partly because it is cheap ($4.55 for 600 ml at the LCBO) but mostly because it is damn good.

I'll get to it later, I  said to myself.

I paid a visit to Church Key Brewing as well. This Campbellford, Ontario brewery (#5 of 12 things to do in Campbellford - Trip Advisor) has been friends with Manantler since the beginning as it was there James and Chris brewed their now retired  Pursuit of Abbeyness beer while the Bowmanville facility was under construction.

The early crowd at the Clarington Beer Fest

I enjoyed Church Key's Pale Ale and pronounced it most excellent.

And then I was out. I had plans for later that afternoon and I also had to finalize my evening. I was coming back to the Beer Fest, which ran until 10, but I wasn't going to miss the final-ever Tragically Hip show, scheduled for 8:30 that night.

Similar thinking was going on in the minds of most Canadians, as the concert, live from the K-Rock Centre in the band's hometown of Kingston (less than two  hours east of us on Hwy 401) and live on the CBC for the rest of us, was simply the biggest thing going on in Canada on this day.

A strategy was therefore in order (though I was already breaking my rule about not doing any hard thinking after a beer fest had begun), but that would have to come later.

So I did a walkabout at the Clarington BluesBerry Festival - going on at a closed-off downtown Bowmanville a couple of blocks away the same time as the beer fest - with the highlights being a blueberry butter tart from KCC Catering (delicious) and an authentically cool jazz trio (Ray Charles, meet Joe Cocker) doing a soulful rendition of Sweet Georgia Brown.

After a stop at the Third Floor Loft in Oshawa to re-charge my batteries, I picked up my son Matt and we headed to his buddy (and new daddy) Tiy's place, where I chilled with his pals for a bit (having friends from childhood is cool, but when they're all awesome people to boot, that's priceless) before leaving them to their Hip viewing plans and returning to the beer fest.

Astronaut Beer from Manantler

I found the festival in full swing (I missed brewmaster Jim's turn in the dunk tank, damn the luck) and headed straight for Old Flame, the one brewery I missed earlier, for their Blonde, an easy-drinking Helles lager.

I paid a return visit to Manantler next, where I found festival organizer-extraordinaire Tasha gushing with delight over the turnout, and enjoyed a Roberta Blondar Blonde Ale, or Astronaut Beer, as I call it, as well as a wild boar slider or two from Three-Six Kitchen & Lounge.

I also spent some time chatting with Matthew and his trusted assistant Jess (who also moonlights as the bar manager for Buster Rhino's in downtown Oshawa) and the lovely and talented Ashley (a former Buster Rhino's bartender) at the Brewer's Pantry booth.

Matthew and I talked about our mutual love of the Hip and with showtime fast approaching by this point, I went inside and settled by the screen, watching the Olympic coverage and drinking another Steady Horse.

It turned out to be an excellent decision, as a few minutes later all hell broke loose outside and volunteers, musicians and roadies started coming in with equipment as the heavy rains hit the festival.

Huh. Maybe thinking after beer festivals have begun really is the way to go.

When the U.S. Women's 4x400-metre relay team took to the podium at 8:30 (Hip time!) and the last notes of the Star Spangled Banner drifted off into the ether, I thought that was the perfect segue to go live to the concert, that most Canadian of all things.

Alas, they were late and it was more Olympics for five minutes or so before I went back outside, figuring technical difficulties was going to delay my Hip experience. The scene at the fest was slightly chaotic, as the festival-goers were doing their best to escape the rains.

The beer was running out anyway, as I found out when I went back to the Beau's booth to find the Farmhouse IPA keg empty. "All gone. Sorry," was what I heard from David.

Damn.

So I went back downstairs to learn the Tragically Hip show was on after all, and I had missed the first two songs.

Double damn.

But as the melancholy refrain of Wheat Kings greeted my ears, all my worries faded away and I stayed in the bar for a few songs, enjoying At the Hundredth Meridian and In a World Possessed by the Human Mind before I made my way out.

It had been a fantastic beer fest and a wonderful day, but I decided the best place to see the rest of this show was from the comforts of home.

I'm hip to that.

The Hip and Gord Downie say farewell

Did I just hear that?

Did I just hear three, count 'em, three encores?

Gord Downie at the ACC August 10

I did hear three encores, and to quote the man himself, "I never heard that before." And as it was at the end of the final concert in the Tragically Hip's long and legendary and oh, so Canadian existence, it seemed somewhat appropriate.

The Hip embarked on a abbreviated Canadian tour this year to promote their very likely final album, Man Machine Poem, and to give fans one last opportunity to see them and front man Gord Downie, who had been diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer earlier this year.

It was the last show, held at the K-Rock Centre in Kingston, Ontario - the band's hometown - that attracted most of the attention, though the tour built momentum throughout its run, and it became something of a uniquely Canadian phenomena.

Nearly 12 million people - I am going out on a limb and say the vast majority were moose-kissing Canucks - watched or streamed that final show, with 27,000 viewing the concert on the big screen outside the venue in downtown Kingston.

That's a lot of love for Gord and the boys.

I've been a huge Hip fan for more than two decades but I've only seen the band three times. I had a chance to see them in Ottawa in their early days - '89 or '90 I think - but I foolishly passed on the opportunity. So it was in Barrie at the Live 8 concert in 2005 when I had my first live Hip experience (just a three song set, but it included New Orleans is Sinking: the greatest song in rock 'n roll), and I watched them in Oshawa at the GMC a few years ago.

So when tickets went on sale for this year's farewell tour I snapped up a single (after two days of trying - damn you, ticket scalpers!) for the first of the three shows at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

And on a Wednesday after work (officially declared Tragically Hip Day in the city) I headed into the Big Smoke to get my Hip on. I stopped at my folks' place first, and after crushing a couple of Coors Lights (oh yes I did!) with my childhood pal Gary in the old neighbourhood, I took the subway to the show.

(Riding the subway is dusty work, so I stopped downtown at Beer Bistro to sooth my parched throat with a couple of really tasty Bronan IPAs from Niagara-on-the-Lake's High Road Brewery. Because man cannot prepare for a Tragically Hip show on Coors Light alone.)

The atmosphere inside the ACC was electric and extremely emotional, with a demographic that skewed towards the under-30 crowd and was overwhelmingly white, with both observations quite surprising to me.

The opening number was The Luxury, an obscure song from 1991's Road Apples, but the shiny faces in the crowd got the rest of the body parts up immediately and by the time Little Bones (also from Road Apples) rocked through the speakers the crowd was in full voice.

And we never sat down for the rest of the night.

The Tragically Hip

I'm not going to review the entire show in this forum - that's been done a thousand times already by a thousand other people - so I'm just going to tell you that it was an experience I'll never forget. At times the crowd of 20,000-plus was singing louder than Downie, and there were tears streaming down over tears as fans contemplated seeing them for the last time.

By the time Poets came on -  the fifth song of a two-part encore - we were all drained.

Ten days later, after arriving home following the Clarington Beer Fest, my heart would be touched again as the band put the finishing touches on the tour on home ice in Kingston.

The Hip didn't play New Orleans is Sinking at the August 10 show I attended (they played it at the other two Toronto dates), but it made an appearance in Kingston, kicking off the first encore in style.

As I mentioned at the top, the band played three encores and Downie worked in a short speech on First Nations' living conditions with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the house. The band played 30 songs in total including nine - nine! - in the encore alone, finishing with the classic Ahead by a Century, from the 1996 release Trouble at the Henhouse.

I went to bed happy that night.

Cheers!






















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