PRESS RELEASE: SOBDL BEVY BEERFEST 4 – TORONTO ISLAND

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday May 9th 2017

Toronto ON: The Society of Beer Drinking Ladies are gearing up to host their 4th Lady Craft Beer Festival. This event will be their 34th event and will take place at Gibraltar Point on the Toronto Island on Saturday July
8th 2017. To meet ticket demand (the last three festivals all sold out very quickly) organizers have launched two sessions: 1-5pm & 6:30-10:30pm. There will be approximately 800 tickets available for each session with general admission and ‘Very Important Beer Drinking Lady’ (VIBDL) premium passes available for purchase. Tickets go on sale Tuesday May 9th at 11am at
www. islandladybeerfest.eventbrite.ca

“We have always been eager to throw an event on the Toronto Island” remarked Jen Reinhardt, co-founder and operator. “There has yet to be a craft beer festival on the island and we can’t wait to create a unique summer festival for our community of women.”

All Ladies Beer Fest at Evergreen Brickworks on March
31st, where over 1200 ladies drank beer in support of the CWF. Photo by Jeannette Breward at The Good Local.

The Island Lady Beer Festival will feature all Ontario craft breweries and cideries, local food vendors and a Women’s Artisan Market. As always, a portion of festival ticket sales and all donations made at the festival will support the Society’s organization of choice, The Canadian Women’s Foundation.

General admission tickets will include 4 drink tokens, 5oz tasting glass, a ‘Morning After’ hangover gift bag and a chance to try a unique Bevy Brew crafted exclusively for the festival. VIBDL premium passes will include a boat shuttle with welcome beer, 8 drink tickets, a swag item, ‘Morning After’ gift bag, 6.75oz tasting glass and more.

Volunteer applications are now being accepted. Visit http://www.ladiesdrinkbeer.com/volunbeer to apply. For media inquires email media@ladiesdrinkbeer.com. For general questions e-mail info@ladiesdrinkbeer.com. Check out http://www.ladiesdrinkbeer.com for more information and to join the mailing list. Follow the adventures of the SOBDL on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @ladiesdrinkbeer.

The Society of Beer Drinking Ladies is operated by Erica Campbell, Jaime Dobbs, Jen Reinhardt and their crew of Volunbeers. The SOBDL creates exciting and inclusive events and festivals for women around the city of Toronto. The events continue to grow, garnering it North America’s largest gathering of beer-drinking ladies. A full merch line is also available at http://www.ladiesdrinkbeer.com/swag-shop

Cheers!
SOBDL crew

The 2013 Golden Tap Awards

On Wednesday, September 18^th beer enthusiasts and industry folk from all over Toronto gathered at BeerBistro for the 2013 Golden Tap Awards. I was fortunate enough to be able to make it down from Kemptville to attend as not only The Beer Gypsy but as a contributor for Taps & Ales.

The Golden Tap Awards is an event recognizing great craft beer achievements in Ontario. Now in it’s eleventh year, the categories have grown since starting in 2003. Voting is free and open to the public. With this awards event there are no nominees – leaving it open to vote for any Ontario brewery.

The 2013 Golden Tap Awards consisted of nine awards as well as five Editor’s Circle awards (which are separate from the main voting and are determined by a selection of Bar Towel members and associates.)

Doors opened at 5 and we arrived shortly after, there was a fair amount of people and obviously as the night went on the room began fill up. The Golden Tap Awards had two components, the tradition of having an all-Ontario craft beer festival as well as this year between 5pm-8pm there was an opportunity to take part in a casual food & beer pairing.

The food & beer pairing consisted of six courses.

1. Great Lakes Crazy Canuck paired with Citrus Salad
2. Bellwoods Grizzly Beer paired with Duck Confit Tart
3. Muskoka Mad Tom IPA paired with Butter Chicken
4. Black Oak Ten Bitter Years paired with Wood Smoked Wings
5. Indie Alehouse Jump the Shark paired with Chocolate Sour Cream Brownie
6. Amsterdam Autumn Hop paired with Autumn Spice Ice Cream

The award ceremony started at 8pm were founder Cass Enright took stage to present the winners. I live tweeted the ceremony but if you missed the tweets you can find all the list of the 2013 winners here.

While I was there I had a chance to meet up and chat with a lot of people. Cheers to Hoptomology and Jordan St.John, it was a pleasure to finally meet you both. I also had a chance to sit down with Robin Leblanc, The Thirsty Wench. Great chat all around, stay tuned for the interview to be posted early next week.

My beer highlight of the night? There was so much good beer there it’s hard to pick favourites but after drinking over a dozen samples… I narrowed it down to my favourite being Autumn Hop Harvest Ale by Amsterdam Brewing Co. (5.6%) A beautiful beer and from what I heard with it paired with the ice cream, it was absolutely incredible. (Unfortunately I’m not allowed to eat ice cream *insert sad face here*) It poured a beautiful golden colour with a generous amount of head. Aromas of sweet caramels and bold earthy hops (leaning towards pine notes.) With first the sip a moderate bitterness is upfront following into a smooth caramel malt finish. Slight bitterness, a crisp hop finish, just enough malt. Honestly I’m so happy I picked up a bottle at the brewery before I left the Toronto area.

– The Beer Gypsy

UPDATE: Watson’s Mill Craft Beer Event

It’s almost time for the Watson’s Mill Craft Beer Event! So here’s a brief low down on what’s going on and all the exciting updates! To refer to my previous post about the event click here.

When: Friday, July 12th – 7pm to 10pm
So far 10 craft breweries confirmed and they are still waiting on a couple others.

Confirmed Breweries:
Beau’s All Natural Brewing Company
Kichesippi Brewing Co.
Cassel Brewery
Barley Days Brewery
Hogsback Brewing Company
Nickel Brook
Broadhead Brewing Company
Mill St.
Turtle Island Brewing Co.
Mad Hatter Brewing Co.

**of the 10 confirmed only Mad Hatter will not have beer to sample.

Brewers Corner: 3 brewmasters confirmed as of today for the Brewer’s Corner: JP Fournier (Turtle Island), Josh Larocque (Broadhead), and Justin Murray (Mad Hatter). With one other potential brewmaster to confirm later in the week.
A sampling of Chef David Godsoe’s proposed menu includes: cheese and charcuterie; scallop taco; duck perogie; compressed melon (Unfortunately I only have the extremely brief description)
*possible changes could be made to menu.
Admission Ticket & Sample Tickets: On sale at Watson’s Mill in Manotick for $30. With the cost of admission it will include five 4 oz samples redeemable at any of the brewery stations. (Additional sample tickets will be available for purchase at the event.)
Entertainment: Live jazz music provided by the Swamp Water Jazz Band.

Hope to see you all there!

Watson’s Mill, 5525 Dickinson Street, P.O. Box 145, Manotick, Ontario, Canada, K4M 1A2
Telephone: 613.692.6455