Join us at the Toronto Festival of Beer

I know what you are thinking ... "where in the hell is Toronto, Texas"?  No, no you silly goose, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Your second question is ... "why in the hell would I want to go to a beer festival in Canada"?  Fair question, let's discuss:  The Toronto Festival of Beer held on July 24, 25 & 26 is the largest beer festival in Canada featuring many, many beers that neither you nor I have tried.  There will be live music by several bands including Naughty by Nature.  There will be Poutine (basically French Fries covered with gravy and cheese. Pure evil and the perfect drunk food).  Lastly, my gut tells me that Toronto in late July will be slightly cooler than Dallas in late July.

Having been to several, many, tons of beer festivals around the U.S. we can tell you that the beers at every festival are virtually the same at every venue.  You see the same brewers hawking the same products at every show.  Not that we don't like American beers, oh no don't get us wrong, we adore American brews, but sometimes, don't you want to try something different?  There are over 60 brewers, many, or even most that we have not heard of before, serving more that 300 different beers we are quite sure that there will be something new.

Flights now at time of publishing are running around $500/ person but are sure to change, though which direction I cannot say.  C'mon, take a trip with us and enjoy the great beers and the nicest people in North America.

Toronto Festival of Beer
July 24, 25 and 26 at Bandshell Park in Toronto
http://beerfestival.ca/

Beer Review - Buffalo Bayou Figaro, Figaro, Figaro, Fiiigaaaro

Buffalo Bayou Brewing Figaro, Figaro, Figaro, FIIIGAAARO Quadrupel - 11% ABV

I like big beers and I cannot lie (now try getting THAT out of your head) and Buffalo Bayou Brewing makes some damn big beers.  In fact, we have not had a single beer from them that wasn't way over the top.  The second part of the equation is that none of them have sucked, either.

This beer could have been really over done.  Quadrupels usually have the strong flavors of dark fruits and figs as a by-product of the brewing process.  The addition of Turkish figs could have made this one undrinkable, but instead they surprised us with a bit of a background sour note to balance the sweetness.  The second surprise was that the mouth feel was not thick and syrupy as we expected, but rather light and easy on the tongue which is not easy for an 11% abv beer.

Our tasting panel had these comments about Figaro:

- "Nice fig flavor, well balanced with the alcohol, clean finish".

- "Very nice, alcohol doesn't overpower the flavor.  Slightly heavier fig flavor would be great".

- "Belgian yeast balances the alcohol well and compliments the fruit finish".

- "Stunning.  Great fig flavor with a bit of sour apple in the background".

Our panel scored the beer a 4.38 out of 5 which places the beer in the 'very good' category.

You know, for a guy who used to work for a mediocre beer centric chain in Florida (Hops), Rassul Zarinfar makes some pretty extreme beers.  Good show, Rassul, good show.

Buffalo Bayou Brewing
5301 Nolda Street
Houston, TX 77007
http://buffbrew.com/

Beer Style Chart

 

You want to be a snob but are confused by all of the beer styles to choose from.  This simplified chart may help you to better understand what you are ordering. - Cheers, Bon

 

 

 

 

Home brewers Rejoice! The Bluebonnet Brew-off Approacheth

29th Annual Bluebonnet Brew-Off to be held at Irving Convention Center

The Bluebonnet Brew-Off, which in the past few years has grown to be one of the largest home brewed beer, cider and mead competitions in the world, will be holding its 29th annual Commercial beer tasting and Homebrew Awards Ceremony this year on March 20th and 21st. This is the first year that the event will be held at the Irving Convention Center, a move necessitated by recent growth of interest in home brewing and local craft beer. The change in venue should allow many more visitors to enjoy the event, along with greater participation from both local and national craft breweries and beer related vendors. Lodging will be available at the nearby Dallas Marriott Las Colinas, with special Bluebonnet rates that can be reserved until March 4. Justin Crossley, Founder of The Brewing Network internet radio station, will be the Keynote speaker on Friday evening. Other featured events include a Commercial beer sampling and a People’s Choice Homebrew competition(Club Members) on Friday evening, and a variety of technical discussions and multiple Pub Crawls on Saturday leading up to the Competition Awards Ceremony that evening. The Best of Show winner in this prestigious homebrew competition will also have a commercial batch of their beer brewed and released by the Rabbit Hole Brewing, the Official Brewery of the 2015 Bluebonnet Brewoff, later in the year. A commemorative tasting glass and program to accompany the Friday evening Commercial beer sampling and keynote event is $25, and can be purchased in advance or at the event on the 20th. A full weekend ticket, which also includes most Saturday activities, can be reserved online for $35. Details can be found at www.facebook.com/BluebonnetBrewoff or www.bluebonnetbrewoff.org.