Click here to view the embedded video.

I miss Dennis Hopper (although the only place I’ll drink PBR is the bar around the corner from work where they sell pints for $4.

]]> http://jollyinebriate.com/posts/an-explanation-for-my-unplanned-hiatus/feed 0 http://jollyinebriate.com/posts/ask-the-inebriate-thursday-july-29th?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ask-the-inebriate-thursday-july-29th http://jollyinebriate.com/posts/ask-the-inebriate-thursday-july-29th#comments Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:21:02 +0000 japhet http://jollyinebriate.com/?p=1385 Sofie from Toronto: “Anyone recommend a karaoke place for thursdays that 16 year olds can go to? I know some karaoke bars are only for 19+ etc.”

I asked the new host (so new I can’t remember his name) of karaoke…

Sofie from Toronto: “Anyone recommend a karaoke place for thursdays that 16 year olds can go to? I know some karaoke bars are only for 19+ etc.”

I asked the new host (so new I can’t remember his name) of karaoke Wednesdays and Thursdays at Hoops Sports Bar & Grill, if knew of any venues like that and he confirmed what I already suspected; many bars are 19+ and even if they would let you in, they probably wouldn’t let you stay past 11pm or so.

Most liquor licenses prohibit minors and even if an owner would be willing to look past that (and they do exist) it would definitely be a huge liability if anything went wrong. Even if you look old enough to get in, they’ll probably card you if you try to buy a drink and you’ll probably get busted when you get on stage.

Your best bet is to grab one of those karaoke rooms in Koreatown. Some of them won’t even care if you want to drink (but if you do, try to be responsible). I know they’re not as much random fun as a bar but with the right friends, it’ll be good times.

You’ve only got three years to go anyways; you’ll be singing with the rest of us in no time!

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Hennessy is finally waking up to the fact that not just old dudes are into their product and have released Black, a cognac designed specifically for mixing. Still, aAt $74.95, it’s not really priced like a mixer and I don’t think this will stop me from wincing every time someone orders a Hennessy-and-coke at the bar. |The Globe And Mail|

A bootlegger in PEI has been fined $10,000 for selling beer and liquor from his home. It’s not too clear whether he was making his own or just reselling stuff he bought (not sure how the profit margin would be on that). It’s also funny how uptight we are compared to the States over this sort of thing. We’re still stuck in the last century while they have The American Distilling Institute. |CBC|

I’ve talked about Beefeater 24 before (one of my favorite gins) but if you haven’t tried Frankie Solarik’s 24th Symphony at Barchef, you’re missing out. I had three last time I visited. |Toronto Star|

NYC’s proposed soda tax has floundered due to a duplicitous industry ad campaign that calls it a “tax-grab”. (And our eco fee was just scrapped in a similar fashion. I hope to see these kind of things work in my lifetime.) |The New York Times|

Instead of having to travel all over town to visit your favorite bartenders, a new bar in NYC is cutting the crawl to a destination of one (and they’re bringing their signature drinks too). |The New York Times|

A good restaurant menu is a thing of beauty. Not surprisingly, people analyze this sort of thing. |Travel+Leisure|

While a real maraschino cherry is miles ahead of the toxic-red atrocities we see in most bars, there’s nothing preventing you from experimenting with different types of spirits and cherries. Bourbon is amazing! |The Kitchn|

Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (boutique/gallery space based out of Philly) makes some of the most interesting and delicious-sounding spirits I’ve ever heard of. Hot on the heels of their Root (an herbal precursor to root beer if you will) is Snap, the liquid equivalent of a ginger snap cookie.

Anyone used to molasses-based rums will find sugarcane rums interesting. Tequila and whisky-lovers will be converted! |SF Gate|

Mezcal is definitely in the running for one of my favorite spirits and with these four cocktail recipes, you’ll find yourself on a whole ‘nother plain of flavour. |A Mountain of Crushed Ice|

I will very rarely pay more than $20 for wine (unless it’s an Amarone or Barolo, maybe a Champagne) so I’m always down for news of good value to be had. #10 is particularly nice. |Postcity.com|

First, there was bacon-flavoured vodka. Now… salmon. I’m just upset that I’ve yet the opportunity to try either. |Today Show|

Some people are tired of intensely-hopped beers and want a simple pale ale or lager. I can understand this. Sometimes, I have a pint of Tankhouse Ale and wouldn’t take another if you bought it for me. Tonight, I had my first Dos Equis and quite enjoyed it. Nothing wrong with that. |The New York Times|

If you don’t drink much (or buy your beer in magnums), the Beer Saver is a handy little silicone cap that will keep it fresh for you until you get back to it.

Knowing when to leave the bar can be a difficult to determine. Yes, there is a flow chart for it. |Sloshspot|

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(Painting “Cognac at the Pier Room” by Aldo Luongo.)

The bill’s raison d’être is an incident involving an Edmonton Oilers party and a hefty $17,000 restaurant bill that resulted. The hockey players were purportedly outraged at the 18% gratuity added to the bill, even though there were 50 of them and the bar tab alone was over $8,000.

Predictably, the brouhaha over this bill has started a heated debate on the Toronto Life website with people demonizing servers as lazy, ungrateful slackers making too much money off of an easy job and others defending the auto-grat as a necessary option for wait-staff to help them make end’s meet.

The former are wrong. Caplan’s wrong too.

Restaurants, like any other establishment, have policies. These policies should be clearly communicated to any potential guest, whether verbally or by being posted in a conspicuous location. If a guest doesn’t like the policy, they can leave and take their business elsewhere. If the policy is unfair and business sucks enough, a restaurant will usually change it in favor of a more profitable compromise.

Caplan says he doesn’t like it when the inclusion of an auto-grat is not mentioned to the guests. Leaving aside the fact that people should read their fucking bills carefully (mistakes happen), why not just enforce a rule requiring restaurants to ensure guests know what’s being added to their bills? This can be put on the website, on the menu and even be explained by the server. Banning seems like an overreaction.

In my industry, I’ve served many large tables where the only thing ensuring I got any tip from them was the auto-grat. Whether through cheapness or naiveté (I’m looking at you, tourists!) many guests are only too happy to pay exactly what they owe. Sometimes, when one guest is paying, they feel threatened enough by the large bill that they undertip and the same thing can happen with split cheques.

Large parties take up more time with multiple requests and they require more tables, losing the chance for that space to be utilized that night for other guests. Often enough, another server needs to assist requiring a further split of the gratuity. When I work all night on one table and walk out of there with a measly 10%, I feel like I wasted my time and I’m not the only one in the service industry who feels that way.

Maybe some servers feel that having automatic gratuity enables them to “phone it in” but most of the career professionals I’ve met would be insulted to be lumped in with those amateurs. Doing your best to make someone’s night special only to be fucked over because they’re cheap is a special kind of pain.

Servers in Ontario make $8.90 per hour. An eight-hour shift is worth $71.20. If they serve twenty-two tables that night and every table tips them 15% (let’s assume each bill was about $70 with a couple of big boys weighing in at around the $400 mark) they stand to make $330 which brings their daily wage up to a respectable $401.20. (A person making $23 per hour only makes $184 per day.)

But not everyone tips that way. Assume the service was perfectly acceptable. Of those two parties, one leaves 10% and one leaves nothing at all. This takes $80 off of the server’s final take. They still put as much time with each table as they did when they were receiving 15% but they’re getting much less and they still have to tip out the bartender, bussers and maybe even the management (the completely unfair and illegal “house tip”) on their final sales. They’re getting fucked over.

Most times, the support staff is paid anywhere from 2-10% of the server’s final sales. Looking back up at the example above, we can see that the total sales for the night are $2,200 for our server which means they’re shelling out $44 whether they take home $330 or $250. If they have a really bad night, they could be walking out of the restaurant with $120. Now they’re about par with the fella who earns $23 per hour and he can sleep easy at night knowing he’s going to earn the same wage each and everyday. Meanwhile, the poor server is living out his own hellish version of a Pulp song.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Let’s go back to that situation with the Oilers and Maurizio Terrigno, the owner of this so-called upscale restaurant in Calgary which will clearly show how this fuss over gratuities can be resolved by communication of the restaurant’s policies with guests.

Oilers spokesman Allan Watt claims that the party disputed the bill, there was apparently some miscommunication with regards to the prices of alcohol, they paid a reduced bill with the proper gratuity and left. Up until this point it sounds like how most disagreements over a bill are usually handled.

Terrigno wasn’t satisfied with that. He proceeded to call up every media outlet he could find to complain about his restaurant’s treatment at the hand’s of these hooligans. The owner claims that the players tried to argue that they should pay by the bottle instead of paying for individual shots and didn’t want to pay for an expensive bottle of brandy after one of the players took a swig out of it. He goes on to say that they threatened his staff and that the most upsetting thing for him about this whole affair was that his staff wouldn’t be getting a gratuity. He also says that they refused to pay until he threatened to call the police.

I’ve met my fair share of asshole owners and Terrigno sounds like he’d fit in really well with that lot. The players may very well have gotten out of hand but they’re not the ones still disputing the bill. Short of talking to the staff (and I’m surprised no one from the media ever did) we’ll never know who was the bigger jerk.

So the answer clearly lies in better communication between the guests and the establishment. Is this really worth legislating? Unless Caplan’s going to amend the bill to protect the poor service staff who are caught in the middle, I’m going to say no. Anyone who gets upset about automatic gratuities for inadequate service already has all the means at their disposal to make it right.

Coincidentally, what is proper tipping etiquette? 15% of the final bill (minus the HST) is the norm with 20% being reserved for good service. You can tip $1-2 for most drinks unless they’re really elaborate and you’re running a tab in which case the above rules apply.

If you’re not clear on what the practice of the restaurant is with regards to tipping, ask. Don’t leave your tip with anyone you don’t want to have it. If you’re at a really fancy place, I would give separate tips to both the server and the bartender (particularly if the latter is of some note). If you get really bad service, talk to the manager and they’ll work something out. Maybe the shitty server will get canned too.

Nik from Toronto: “Did the LCBO, in an attempt to be responsible or something, discontinue all malt liquors (essentially, shit alcohol with a content above 6% or so)? Just curious. Realized that I haven’t had a 40 in a while, nor have I see one.”

I decided to call them up to see what they had to say. The confused lady I ended up reaching had no idea what malt liquor was and it quickly became apparent that she was merely searching for it on their own website.

Since I can do that myself, I let her go and did a quick check which got us the answer we wanted.

You can still get Pabst Olde English 800 (311357, 1180 mL, $5.80) and Red Bull (679860, 710 mL, $3.25) around Toronto. Colt 45 (679845, 710 mL, $3.25) however, is only available in the boonies but you can get the larger size (676189, 1183 mL, $5.35) at Queen’s Quay, Yonge & Dundas and a couple of other locations as well as in multiple locations in Scarborough and North York.

The lady I talked to at the LCBO couldn’t say why the number of stores carrying malt liquor had shifted but I would imagine supply and demand has a larger impact on its availability. Also, the LCBO has been trying to gussy up their image in the past couple of years and it hards to see it fitting in well with their new direction (at least until Colt 45 brings back Billy Dee Williams for nostalgic ad campaign).

Over the years, I’ve tried every cider out there, from Bulmer’s to Gaymer’s but I’ve stuck to the English ciders because their Canadian counterparts are usually sugary and about as enjoyable as a cooler.

On a recent expedition to my local LCBO, I picked up  a new can of cider. I didn’t pay much attention to what it was all about (novelty can go a long way with me) but when I examined William Premium Cider (173039, 473 mL, $2.75)  closer later on, I was pleased to see that not only was it Canadian but certified organic as well.

After letting it chill, I cracked open the can and poured myself a glass and goddamn if it didn’t snack-crackle-pop with the sheer force of the carbonation! While the head dissipated rather quickly, the bubbles continued for a good long while. A nose of apple and pear continues into its taste which is thankfully not too sweet; about on the level of a extra-dry sparkling wine. Without lingering around like a recalcitrant guest, it provides the kind of finish that complimented the rotisserie chicken and bok choi (sautéed with garlic and sesame seeds) that I paired it with.

It would go equally well with a spinach salad, particularly if one were to add candied pecans and strawberries or something along those lines. Whether you drink it by itself or alongside a meal, William Premium Cider definitely holds its own against Strongbow or Magner’s and has the added benefit of coming from our side of the pond.

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(Image taken from Conception Focus. My camera’s acting up…)

The G20 has ruined many things for the citizens of Toronto (road closures, school closures, transit delays, the St. Lawrence Market, uprooted trees, loss of income, loss of patio space, removal of bike stands… new annoyances are added everyday) but it’s going a bit too far when the LCBO decides it has to close 7 of its stores from Friday to Saturday.

To be fair, many of the products that would be found at these locations can be found at others but that doesn’t make it right. I guess a trip up to Summerhill is in order… |Toronto Sun|

One thing the G20 can’t ruin is Ontario Craft Beer Week. Besides the numerous events happening all week long, be sure to check out the Session Craft Beer Festival at Sunnyside Pavilion on Saturday (June 26th). |Ontario Craft Brewers|

The ash from Eyjafjallajokull may have never made it this far but Icelandic beer is coming to Toronto! Skjálfti (168393, 500 mL, $3.95) is a hoppy marriage between a pale ale and a lager and both Josh Rubin of The Star and Greg Clow of Taste T.O. dig it. (If you have trouble using the LCBO  website, don’t forget to log on to drinkvine, the best way to scout out new beers and wines in the GTA.) |Toronto Star, Taste T.O.|

If you want proof why marketers should never, ever come up with a beer brand, look no further than Biker Beer a brew produced out of Nickel Brook that came about because a couple attended a rally on their wedding day. Since no self-respecting biker (or human being) will ever drink this product, I’m betting it will come to be regarded as one of the most inane vanity products  in the history of beer ever.

I bet they even have matching beach towels with their initials monogrammed on ‘em. |Toronto Sun|

Despite what this blog might be saying, you can tell the difference between different wines and the distance between good and bad wine can be pretty fucking far indeed. Just don’t be a pretentious twit. |You Are Not Smart|

Conflict Kitchen is performance art masquerading as a take-out joint. Taking a country that the United States currently has a beef with, it will serve a signature dish and with everyone happily sated, will offer potential dialog in the form of “events, performances and discussions”. Afghanistan is the first subject and we’ll I’ve never tried kubideh (anyone want to make a road trip to Kabul Farms?) I’m always in favor of exposing people to new street-food. |Kubideh Kitchen|

Everyone knows red-heads are where it’s at so y’all will undoubtedly go for the Scarlet Harlot, a cocktail that combines brandy, Red Dubonnet and cherries in a most-pleasing manner. |CHOW|

Making drinks is easy; coming up with a catchy name for ‘em can often be an exercise in futility. (Here’s an easy formula: Take equal parts funny, sleazy and literary and add a touch of cheese. Voila… the Penelope Cruiser!) |New York Times|

People have added everything they possibly could to cocktails so far; why not minerals? |The Atlantic|

Summer drinks are the best kind of drinks there are! Go fresh and you’ll never be wrong… We have a Raspberry Mojito, a Cucumber Gimlet and a Watermelon Margarita. |à la carte kitchen, Crumpets and Cakes, SLOSHED!|

If, like me, you’re going to stick with the same damned drink all year-round, it’s probably a Manhattan and you should make your own Maraschino (‘ski’ not ‘she’) cherries. |Cocktaliana|

Hell, go a bit further and go for the DIY Home Bar. Make brandied cherries, grenadine syrup, falernum, cocktail onions and orange bitters. It doesn’t get much better than that. |CHOW|

Get this book for the alcoholic curmudgeon in your life (and that would be me). |The Pegu Blog|

For those of us who like doing our drinking outside, it behooves us to plan accordingly. This cunning diagram demonstrates exactly how to best to pack a cooler and the secret ingredient is killer! |Valet|

Details are scarce but I can tell you a few things. Emma Brown and Scott Rondeau (co-founder of the Toronto Festival of Beer) of Power Juncture, a Toronto-based events company are behind this one and with 2010 being its second year, hopefully they have some of the kinks worked out.

There’s going to be loads of food and booze. With around 40-50 vendors serving up all manner of alcoholic beverages and food to pair ‘em worth, you’re going to need to make a pit-stop at Cherry Beach just to give yourself time to digest! Notable attendees include Beau’s All-Natural Brewing Company, Innis & Gunn, Kado Enterprise (sake), Victoria Gin, and Mill Street (naturally).

It’s low-key. With less people and a bit of a more mature atmosphere expect less drunken debauchery and line-ups.

The whole thing’s outdoors. It looks like the shitty weather we’ve been experiencing is on its way out and I can’t imagine a better way of spending a Saturday afternoon. Overall, I think the Distillery District is a decent place to hang out.

It’s a pretty good deal. $22 gets you in and with your admission comes 5 vouchers good for whatever food and drink you might want. Additional vouchers cost a buck.

The festival is running Thursday and Friday, from 6 to 11pm. Saturday, its open from 12 to 5pm and it’s back to the regular evening schedule for Sunday.

If you’re going to buy tickets at the event, they’ll run you $30 so buy them online or you can pick  up two for $22 through Groupon but act fast ‘cos that deal’s done in eight hours.

To get there, take the Parliament St. bus south until you reach Mill St.

I’ll be out there on Saturday so if you see me, say hi!

While I may not dislike it as much as some folks, I was still quite pleased to receive an email from Curt Dunlop and Jed Corbeil, the duo behind the Griffin Gastropub and the Muskoka Beer Festival, informing me of their plans to hold a craft beer festival in Toronto.

The idea is incredibly exciting… local beers and food should attract a crowd of like-minded enthusiasts and the opportunity to sample some new brews (Tree Brewing from Kelowna, BC is sending their Hophead IPA!) is not to be missed. With 21 breweries attending at last count and each of them bringing 1 to 5 types of beer, it’s going to be a very busy day!

Corbeil and I made arrangements to meet at C’est What? which was appropriate considering the pub is basically a temple to local craft beer. It was quickly apparent that he’s the kind of guy who loves what he does. His passion for beer is definitely there and he knows his stuff but he’s no snob either. Noticing he was well into his pint of Black Oak’s 10 Bitter Years (my favorite of the moment) I ordered myself one as well and we got settled in to talk about Session, the Griffin Gastropub and Ontario Craft Brewers.

Corbeil was raised in Bracebridge (he calls it Molson territory) but eventually moved to Toronto where he studied music at the University of Toronto.  He later ended up in Japan where he found he really enjoyed their custom of going out with coworkers three or four nights a week to a succession of bars and restaurants. As he explains, “Everyone goes out because you can’t entertain at home; there’s no room.”

Things started to gel after a trip to Germany where his brother (now a brewer with Mill Street) introduced him to some excellent beers and a stint in Honduras where he learned how to run a small business. After coming back to Bracebridge with his wife to raise a family, Corbeil ended up buying a local pub with Curt Dunlop which became the Griffin Gastropub.

After switching from the macro-brews to Ontario craft beer they lost a chunk of their regulars but found they more than made up for it with new guests and some old-timers who came to appreciate the new brews. While deciding which beers to carry took a lot of thought, it was also a lot of fun.

“We consulted with my brother, Sam Corbeil, about some of the staples he liked in the Ontario craft market. We did a huge beer-shop at the LCBO at Queen’s Quay and spent the next couple of months drinking. It came down a lot to how readily available the beer was to the north as well as which breweries were ready to jump on-board with converting the locals. We had great help from some of the breweries, which are very much showcased at the bar, but we try our best to be as drinker-friendly as possible with our choice of styles. We like to have a wide variety of product but limit our styles to only a few brands… 2 or 3 blondes for example.”

With 10 taps and over 30 bottles, they were able to keep the beer nerds satisfied while offering comparable (and superior) brands to those might never have thought to have tried them before. Their selection even resulted in change at the local LCBO with the number of OCB products being offered jumped from 3 to 20.

Summing up his feelings about the advantage of craft beer, Corbeil says it’s all about “now versus whenever.” The idea of seasonal offerings ties into the growing emphasis on living both locally and seasonally and I don’t think that’s a bad thing for consumers to grow accustomed to.

Not content to simply run a pub, Corbeil and his partner began hosting beer dinners the last Sunday of every month featuring a different brewery or region every month. March was all about Quebec, April was the east coast and May went west. For all of June, they’re featuring Beau’s (one of my favorite breweries, you can find their Lugtread Lagered Ale [169334, 4x600 mL, $15.60] at most LCBOs ).

With the support they’d garnished so far, it only made sense to start a beer festival. Now in it’s second year, the Muskoka Beer Festival has proven to be a hit and they have approached the OCB about doing it seasonally around the province. ”Our goal is to have a festival for each season in a different city,” proclaims Corbeil.

With this kind of expansion come new challenges but he is up for it. “Greg Causeway [of the Toronto Festival of Beer] has been a great help with offering suggestions on what to do and what to avoid.” When asked to compare the two festivals, Corbeil had this to say:

“The TFOB to Session is like Microsoft to Apple. Microsoft is a very large company, very easily-accessible and user-friendly.  It has made a huge mark in its field and will continue to do so for years to come.

Apple is directed more to a specific target audience, with a more artistic approach in mind. Although it is also has the ability to be user-friendly, it also requires a great amount of time and dedication to master and truly enjoy what it has to offer.

I feel that Session will target those ready  to experience the creative significance of real craft beer. It will be a day for people to celebrate those craft brewers and the time and dedication they have put forth to get the attention of those who are willing to embrace it.”

Food is definitely going to play a big part. Duggan’s Brewery, the Leslieville Cheese Market and Rodney’s Oyster House amongst others will be serving up tapas-style plates that will undoubtedly pair with many of the brews served alongside. Corbeil promises there won’t be any “doubling-up” with types of food and that will come from the GTA.

When asked whether there are any new beers attendees should be particularly excited about he says people should look out for Muskoka’s cask-conditioned IPA, Tree’s Hophead and Great Lakes Miami Vice. When it comes to OCB beers in general, he really enjoys Black Oak’s 10 Bitter Years, Mill Street’s seasonals and Garrison’s Imperial IPA and Hop Yard Ale. “I think people are going to be blown away by some of Muskoka’s upcoming seasonals.”

With a winning combination of OCB beer and local food, it’s safe to say that Session will definitely please enthusiasts and maybe even convert some with more mainstream tastes. Corbeil, Dunlop, the OCB and the others who are helping put this together have definitely raised the bar and if they pull this off, I can only hope that others will follow their lead.

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The festival is being held on June 26th, from 12 to 8pm. Admission will cost ya $35 and it’s being held at Sunnyside Pavilion which is located at 1755 Lakeshore Boulevard West, Toronto.