Dave & Busters

This week I had the great pleasure of hosting a 2 day Prud'homme Beer Certification course with The Beer Store at Dave & Busters in Vaughan and I was duly impressed with the way we were treated.

To start with, nothing was a problem.  We had to change a couple of things along the way and all changes were received well.  Both days were amazing!  I see a lot of customer service faux pas in my everyday exploration of the hospitality industry but Dave & Busters' staff went over and above the call of duty.

I arrived at 7:50am on the Tuesday and found my way into the Showroom for our workshop.  As I was setting up, the day manager Ryan Kossen arrived with a big smile and 'Can Do' attitude.  He set up the AV for me and arranged for extra water jugs for each table.  The two servers, Angela and Daniel, took great care of us on Day 1 and even arranged to have the lunch brought in earlier than requested.  At the end of the day, my glassware was washed and stored for the next day's seminar.

Day 2 - nothing changed - Ryan again, was very accomodating and asked if I needed anything else.  We were in another room and I needed a display table which was brought immediately.  Without going into too much boring detail - Daniel was totally dedicated to delivering an outstanding customer service experience.

If you are looking to host a corporate meeting, get together or just a social event, I would strongly recommend Dave & Busters.  They are true professionals and make an extraordinary effort to satisfy their customers.  Well Done!

Toronto Wine & Cheese Show

It's been a while since I've been at the Toronto Wine & Cheese show at the International Centre.  Last time I was there, I was working for Oland Specialty Beer Company and not as a consumer.  This time, I wanted to check it out with my wife and a couple of friends.  Actually, I was intrigued by an ad I saw for a Beer School at the show hosted by Mill Street.  I had trademarked The Beer School quite a few years ago and was eager to see what this one was all about.  More about that shortly.  Overall, I was quite impressed with the show itself.  We had a great time and enjoyed quite a few nice wines and some great beers.

My 3 favourite things about the show were:

1. Mill Streets Beer School - cohosts Joel Manning (Brew Master at Mill St.) and Joe Levesque (executive chef at the International Centre) were excellent.  Joel is an excellent speaker as well as an outstanding brewer.  He had some great stories which I had not known about before - so if you don't mind Joel, I will be more than happy to use them in my sessions.  Joe Levesque is an excellent chef and provided us with some great food - easy to make at home.  I had met Joe previously at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto when I was doing Beer events there.  The cost was $15 and included samples of 5 great Mill Street beers and two substantial portions of food.  Great value and tons of fun.  My only comment is that the beers were poured too full for the cups and that was a lot of beer to have in such a short time
2. Beau's All Natural Brewing were there and I got a chance to talk to Steve Beaushene.  These guys are great brewers and nice people to boot.  Lugtread is a fantastic example of a Kolsch beer, something you will not get readily in Canada as it hails from Cologne, Germany.  The very cool thing about Beau's was that I got to try their Belgian Imperial Stout - outstanding flavours, well balanced and 8% alcohol by volume - I actually carried it around a little and let it warm up and then had it with a dessert crepe with nutello, bananas and strawberries - OMG!  Nice job on the beer gents!.  I also tried their IPA which was tremendously nicely balanced and did not have the signature west coast hopping that we've become accustomed to.  Beau's use New Zealand hops which are citrusy but not in your face
3. Amsterdam Brewery have an excellent Bock beer.  Jamie Mistry,the master brewer, allowed me to sample and quite frankly am looking forward to gettting some more shorlty.  Really malty, subtle sweetness and a nice finish.

Great evening was had by all and I'm already planning for next year but this time with a tasting strategy and a longer amount of time

Cheers

Denison's

I met Michael Hancock almost 5 years ago.  Michael is a genuinely nice man who wants nothing but the best.  He is a dedicated brewer and beer ambassador and has, for quite a while, been working diligently at producing a world class Hefeweissen in Toronto.  Having met Michael on numerous occasions (most recently - last year at a filming of an LCBO training video), I have always been impressed with his dedication and attention to detail.  He is a stickler for doing it right and refuses to compromise.

I was thrilled to find his 'Denison's Weissbier' at the LCBO the other day.  I have been hoping that he would allow the folks in Toronto to share in his passion.  Denison's is beautifully packaged in a 473 ml can that reeks of quality and craftsmanship.  It is a blue and gold can that even has the Bavarian flag incorporated.  Nice touch!  The font is also old world and is fitting for such a beer.  Now for the beer....

Denison's Weissbier pours with a beautiful orange, dark amber colour.  It is cloudy and rich and the foam is a stunning dense white cap.  The nose is definitely spicy - cloves to be more specific and there is also a hint of banana. The body of the beer is fairly crisp with some soft underlying wheat textures.  The finish is clean with very little aftertaste.

Michael, did speak with me the other day as I was urging him to enter this wonderful brew into the Ontario Brewing Awards.  He confided that he was not 100% satisfied with the CO2 content of the beer and wished that it would be a little more effervescent.  Again, the perfectionist shows himself.  In all honesty, I agree - it could use a bit more spritz and I'm sure that we will soon be treated to Mr. Hancock's perfection.

All in all, this is probably the best Hefeweissen outside of Bavaria.  I really urge you to try this beer - you will not be disappointed.

Prosit

Spaten ze Deutsch?

The Esplanade Biermarkt has always been a favourite of mine.  Right from when it opened in 2001, it has always held a special place in my heart.  Great beer, great staff and great food!  The General Manager, Robert Medal is totally focused on the best beer experience and he fully understand the importance of a great chef to create the food to match the great beer line up.  Enter Michael Cipollo.  I love the food at the Biermarkt and more than that am even more impressed with Chef Mike than ever before.  Why you ask?  Read on....!

On Thursday, March 4, 2010, I had the pleasure of hosting the media launch of a fantastic German beer named Spaten.  Quick tasting notes - (Helles style - means it will be light golden in colour and this particular beer has a bready, malty nose with a hint of citrus, the body is crisp with a bit more malt in the form of biscuit.  The finish is crisp and full with some decent bitterness to help cleanse the palate.)

Chef Mike brought out 3 courses - the first was a charcutiere which featured some pork belly, weisswurst, sauerkraut (just like my Mom made it) and some warm potato salad.  The second course was a fantastic schnitzel with a side of asparagus and a yukon gold mash. The final course was Granny Smith apple fritters that were a perfect portion - single bites dusted with a bit of cinnamon.  Now Mike named it an Apfelkuchen but I and the other German guests know that a Kuchen is a cake not a morsel.

Amazingly, all three courses were well matched with Spaten.  I say that because I would normally not pair a lager with a dessert - just not a thing I do.  But I concede and bow to Chef Mike.  Excellent pairing!!!  The other thing I learned that day was that we often look at the the three C's of food pairing - Cut, Complement and Contrast.  Mike taught me that he has added one more - Contradict.  Now this is very cool and that to me means you should always test the boundaries.  Nice lesson to learn for me and a big thanks to Mike, Rob and of course Erin McHattie who put the event on.  I love beer and food but more than that, I love learning from others.

Get  yourselves down to the Biermarkt and enjoy Spaten - an exclusive to the Biermarkt starting in a couple of weeks.  Available for a limited time, Spaten will make you want to visit Germany and enjoy the splendours of one of the great brewing nations.  Also, you will be able to enjoy the mastery of culinary cuisine as directed by Chef Michael Cipollo.

Prosit