My foodie find for this week is a pack of fine brews from Ontario. The Ontario Craft Brewers have cleverly packaged a selection of beers together so beer lovers can try a variety of locally made beers and discover which ones they like. This is the second time the OCB has released a mixed pack, and this one contains a whole new line up.

The six brands featured in this new pack include: Robert Simpson Confederation Ale, Mill Street Tankhouse Ale, Trafalgar Elora Irish Ale, Black Oak Nut Brown Ale, Cameron’s Auburn Ale, and Nickel Brook Apple Pilsner.

We tried them out in the test kitchen and we especially liked the Black Oak Nut Brown, Tankhouse and our ever favourite Cameron’s Auburn Ale. The Apple Pilsner is also interesting, I had tried it at the event OCB held at harthouse in the summer and liked it as a summer drink.

I love these mixed beer packs that get released around the holidays, as they’re a great way to try different beers you wouldn’t ordinarily buy. Plus, it’s a great way to have different styles of beer on hand for everyone.

The discovery packs are available at LCBO stores. Does anyone know if other microbreweries across Canada offer mixed packs?

Last Thursday we had David Mair, the The Balvenie’s global brand embassador, come to the test kitchen to lead us in a tutorial about whisky. Single malt whisky must be a good draw, as a number of the editorial staff attended!

At the tasting, we had the pleasure of sampling some of the best whisky Speyside has to offer. (more…)

One of the perks of being a food editor is that I get asked to participate in fun events, like judging cocktail competitions. Last Sunday I was asked to join in naming one of the winners of the 11th International Finlandia Vodka Cup regional contest. They had a great turn out of twelve mixologists from Ontario competing in three different categories. This meant that each judge was presented with 36 cocktails to drink and judge. Normally I would have been happy about this proposition, but being a Sunday night and having an early morning meeting on Monday, I was very careful in my libations and merely sipped my way through. (more…)

So many great whisky cocktail recipes were submitted, so I wanted to share them with everyone else.

We had: (more…)

Thanks to all who submitted cocktail recipes. I tried a lot of them and it was hard to decide who was the winner, but then I had a submission that made me almost split my pants laughing. Obviously, I had to go with that submission, even though I wasn’t actually able to run through the whole recipe. So without further ado, the winner of two VIP tickets to Friday’s Whisky Live Show is (more…)

I am pre-empting Foodie-finds Fridays because I just received two free tickets to the 3rd annual Whiskey Live show at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. It takes place next Friday Oct 24th, from 7-10 pm, and I want you all to have the opportunity to take a crack at getting these babies in your hot hands so you can enjoy some excellent imbibing.

The Prize: (more…)

The 2008 Grey Goose competition for best Canadian drink ended in Toronto, Ontario when Renata Clingen from the Rushton Restaurant was named best mixologist. Semifinalists were chosen from Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal to compete in the Arbiter of Cool national final held in Vancouver, B.C. last Tuesday.

Renata claimed the title of Best Mixologist with her dessert martini called Toronto Autumn; a blend of lime, maple syrup and the secret ingredient – aged balsamic vinegar. Last year’s winner, David Wolowidnyk of West Restaurant, complimented Clingen and her cocktail. “Renata shows extraordinary skill in blending ingredients to create a flavourful, complex and ultimately drinkable cocktail,” he said.

I live down the street from the Rushton, I think I’ll pop in next week, congratulate Renata and give her cocktail a try.

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When you think of Victoria, B.C., do tea and crumpets come to mind? Well, think again. Victoria is home to the Ale Trail, a connect-the-dots tour of the best craft breweries in the area. You can take a day and drive from brewery to ale house yourself or have a guided tour so you can taste everything, without the worry of driving home. You will sample everything from dark porters to citrusy hefeweizens, as well as seasonal brews like Ginseng Creme Ale and Great Canadian Maple Wheat Beer. Brewers are on hand to answer questions and encourage curious quaffers to get their hands into fresh malt and take a gander inside giant copper kettles. (more…)

In this week’s question Karen asks me: In your May 2008 issue there is a recipe for Pitcher Cosmopolitans, on page 140. I started making this last night but was aghast at the proportions of vodka/liqueur to cranberry juice. One and three-quarters cups of alcohol to one half cup juice - yikes! Also, if I have done my calculations correctly, I would have a pitcher with a combined total of just over two and one quarter cups of liquid to create eight servings? Please tell me this is a typo - or do cosmopolitans really pack this much of a punch? Karen Brown (with pitcher waiting) (more…)

This past weekend,  Toronto hosted the fifth annual drink show at the Exhibition Place. There was a lot of promo going on in the city so Canadian Living took advantage and had Plymouth Gin give us a private seminar in the test kitchen. Plymouth is the oldest working distillery in England, in operation since 1793, and in that time they have only ever had 4 head distillers. We were lucky enough (more…)