tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post981935697473721133..comments2024-03-28T13:20:29.156-07:00Comments on Shut up about Barclay Perkins: Toronto day twoRon Pattinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03095189986589865751noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-82256479599451190482014-06-21T19:24:59.331-07:002014-06-21T19:24:59.331-07:00Ron,
What a coincidence! In early May of 1974, I ...Ron,<br /><br />What a coincidence! In early May of 1974, I stayed at the Hotel Selby during my senior year in high school. I was there along with my classmates in our environmental studies class. At the time it was -how shall I say - a little more nondescript - and cheap. I'm glad to see that the old place has been restored to its proper glory. I never knew Hemingway stayed there. I hope you enjoyed Toronto as much as I did.<br /><br />Ron GrovesAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-52450050673033009092014-06-20T04:27:43.155-07:002014-06-20T04:27:43.155-07:00One other point that I would be happy to be correc...One other point that I would be happy to be corrected on. I think Volo was a coffee focused cafe for the first half of its life. I was first there in <a href="http://beerblog.genx40.com/archive/2006/march/barvolotoronto" rel="nofollow">2006</a>. Bad old days? Was Peter going on again about his fear of malty beer? Crystal malt angst? He may need an interrogation by the man named Maximillian!Alanhttp://agoodbeerblog.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-19179820389739616532014-06-20T04:20:46.196-07:002014-06-20T04:20:46.196-07:00Ron, I see what you mean by needing to come back t...Ron, I see what you mean by needing to come back to visit Bar Volo. :) Nonetheless you did cover quite a lot of ground on this visit. Most of the pale ales/IPAs in town are very American/citrus-heavy, so you did not miss anything really in that sense. <br /><br />The Granite Brewery makes a couple of beers though that are more English in inspiration of which its Best Bitter Special, also called Dry-Hop, is a good example. (Wait, I heard you did get to try that on your visit).<br /><br />This town really needs more English-oriented beers, not porters and stouts, we cover that well, but a good old fashioned English bitter or mild for that matter. Other than that we have it all.<br /><br />Just last night at Volo, sitting outside and facing that same hoarding in the photograph you showed of the tower going up on Yonge Street, I had an outstanding Nicklebrook Winy Bastard. Nicklebrook's Imperial Stout comes in a number of iterations, same plain Jane, some aged in bourbon barrels (this is called Kentucky Bastard), some aged in wine barrels and this one had been aged in a pinot noir barrel presumably from our wine area of Niagara. It had a decided aged note, lactic with some notes of acetic acid, but was outstanding in retaining its rich brown stout character. There was an amazing complexity of flavour difficult to describe, sort of racy/fruity/earthy. I would bet this kind of taste was what some long-aged London porter tasted like and it would be ideal for blending but I enjoyed it on its own, some prefer all-stale, right? <br /><br />GaryGary Gillmannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-61337416791529667272014-06-20T04:15:55.600-07:002014-06-20T04:15:55.600-07:00I am so thrilled that you have grasped the essence...I am so thrilled that you have grasped the essence of TO. Large distances of hop scotching from swell location to swell location. Now that you have seen rural Ontario and the Big Smoke you will have to come to Montreal, the Western Hemisphere's third to seventh coolest city.Alanhttp://agoodbeerblog.comnoreply@blogger.com