Taste Real - small, but good

Jeff and I took our 9-month-old out to Ignatius Jesuit Centre on the weekend for the Taste Real festival, which highlights local food. This year, they had beer! (Perhaps no coincidence, this was the first year we've gone to the Taste Real festival).

There were supposed to be five breweries, but only four showed up: Spearhead, Grand River, F&M and Wellington. (Neustadt, where were you guys? You were on the list!)

I got the three sample bracelet, Jeff got the seven sample one and away we went. My first stop was actually at Spirit Tree Cidery from Caledon. While not a beer, I must say, these folks make a mighty fine cider. Jeff had the pub-style one and I had the Apelager. It was so good.

"This could be dangerous," I said to Jeff.

"Not likely. It's only 3%," he told me.

Oh well - it was still very tasty and didn't at all taste like there was even 3% alcohol in it.

We popped over to Wellington where they had their collaboration brew with F&M, Happy Pappy. It was made, not surprisingly, for Father's Day. It's a golden ale and while I've not always been a fan of Wellington's one-offs, this collaboration was really quite good. I liked it a lot, Jeff said it was "OK." He would have preferred it if the beer had been colder (the keg was in the sun and it was hot on Sunday).

It wasn't overly hoppy (perhaps why I liked it), but as Jeff said, "there wasn't nothing there."

Happy Pappy

Tara getting me my Happy Pappy.

My third and final sample was from Grand River - they had a ginger ale. I really liked the Tailset Ginger Ale - definitely something I could see myself drinking on a patio, and it was particularly nice on a hot day. The guys said they used Verner's ginger ale as inspiration, rather than the sweeter Canada Dry.

Jeff also had the Irish Red Ale (yes, IRA) and he really liked it, saying there was a nice roastiness to it.

Jeff also made a stop at Spearhead to try their Moroccan Brown Ale. He wasn't super keen on the beer, but again, wondered if maybe it just wasn't served in the right conditions.

I was happy to see our local breweries out and I was also happy to see they had different beers than the usual ones. Hopefully next year this event can grow even more (at least the beer part).