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Location 67 Front Street East
67 Front Street East
Toronto, ON M5E1B5

News

Beer School, July 2024 E-News

Leah’s Beer School: Lesson 65

What Is a Gruit? The word “gruit” describes an herb mixture originally used to enrich the flavour of beer before the widespread use of hops. The earliest known reference to gruit dates back to the 10th century from an area now in the Netherlands, Belgium, and northwestern Germany. Historically, a gruit mix was primarily comprised of bog myrtle, yarrow, wild rosemary. Of all the herbs, bog myrtle is nearly always mentioned, known for imparting gruit with a piney resinous flavour akin to hops. Yarrow and wild rosemary were likely less popular herbs, where yarrow added a bitter and astringent quality …

Beer School, May 2024 E-News

Leah’s Beer School: Lesson 63

What is A Side Pour?  The early 20th century marked a shift away from hand-pulled cask engines to draught beer served in pressurized kegs. Originating in Czech Republic, side-pull faucets, also known as side pours, provided a novel approach to pouring from pressurized kegs, allowing for increased control over the flow of beer and level of foam. Though its origin story is somewhat vague, the side pour has been used to pour Czech pilsners for many years. Vertical Tap v Side Pull In the late 1990s, Pilsen-based company, and industry leader Lukr, created an improved version of the side pour, …

April 2024 E-News, Beer School

Leah’s Beer School: Lesson 62

Water in Brewing For most beer styles, water accounts for more than 90% of the brew, though its contribution is largely overshadowed by more exciting ingredients like barley, hops and yeast. Water not only impacts the flavour and aroma of a beer, it also affects the bitterness, acidity, and mouthfeel. The five primary minerals in water that will affect the flavor of your beer are calcium, magnesium, sulfates, chlorides and sodium. Calcium promotes clarity, flavour and stability in finished beer. Its presence is essential during the mashing phase, where it facilitates the conversion of starches from the grain to fermentable …

January 2024 e-News

C’est What’s Cask Ale?

C’est What’s director of beer studies, Leah, is taking a month off from beer school. In the absence of a lesson, this month we are providing you with a refresher on cask ale. While our own Al’s Cask Ale has been drawn directly from the cask for decades at C’est What, the first cask ale served here was Wellington’s Arkell Best Bitter. The Al’s Cask Ale you see on the shelves in the LCBO is, strictly speaking, not a cask ale – it is lightly filtered and we pressurize the can with nitrogen to mimic the soft carbonation and creamy …

Beer School, December 2023 E-News

Leah’s Beer School: Lesson 60

What does it mean to be a Canadian craft brewery? Although provincial guidelines vary slightly, craft brewers across Canada follow the same operating principles: Craft breweries are independently owned and operated, where a large beverage company cannot be a controlling shareholder The brewery is small, producing no more than 400,000 hectolitres of beer per year, though the vast majority of craft breweries are producing less than 5,000 hectolitres Craft brewing is largely defined through production, but also embodies a passion for creating high quality, fresh and flavourful brews How Did the Craft Beer Movement Start? The craft beer movement began …

Food, November 2023 E-News

Fall Menu Release – November 13

Dan and his kitchen crew have been hard at work creating some new flavours to complement our old favourites. Stilton served with cranberry-onion chutney, multigrain bread is added to the Snacks menu. Cured Rainbow Trout on black kale with dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds rounds out our salad offerings. Lighter Fare sees the addition of Shrimp Cocktail and Cured Rainbow Trout w/ roasted garlic cream cheese, shallots and capers on rosemary focaccia. You can now add soup or a side salad to any Lighter Fare item for $5 and make it into a meal. We have added a seared mint …