Alliston Potato Festival

Every year on the second weekend of August things start to change in my hometown, an amusement park pops up in my old grade school yard, the streets start to get busier, the store fronts begin to take on a festive appearance as they compete for the best potato display. The town of Alliston is a buzz for it's annual Potato Festival. 

If you are wondering why Alliston chose to host a festival of potatoes. It is because at the time of the Potato Festival's conception (1972-73), Alliston was the biggest and the best potato growing area of Ontario and most likely even Canada. 

Friday night Victoria street shuts down for the annual parade, not many know this but it is one of the biggest parades around and by far my personal favourite part of the weekend, but as a child I can remember the rides and games were always a top priority. Besides the midway and the parade there are many other things to keep one busy, such as sidewalk sales, live music and beer tent, a car show, street buskers and much more. 

What are 150 of our favourite Canadian things? Read about it here

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A Scuff and Stomp on The Rock - St. John’s Summer Music Festival Recap

A post by Mike Ciuffini

30th Annual George Street Festival 

George Street can be found at the heart of downtown St. John’s. It's home to 23 bars, pubs and clubs in a two-block span (I took RealManTravels.com contributor Scott there last summer, as you may recall). For six straight days every summer they fence off the street, invite headlining musicians and have a giant party called the George Street Festival.

This year I got access to the street and took it all in – especially the beers. Did I mention that you are allowed to drink on the street?

The main stage sits in the centre of the street allowing music to surge through the district. All the bars and clubs come alive during the after party with live and Top-40 music.

St. John’s got some amazing weather for the event this year. There were a string of unusual sweltering hot days but the cooler nights made for a deadly music listening and body-thumping experience.

Thursday night – The Wallflowers: 

I started the evening by meeting up with my friends Candice Walsh (CandiceDoesTheWorld.com) and Cailin O’Neil (TravelYourself.ca). We went down and met their friend Mark Critch (you know, the comedian from CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes and this year’s hit film The Grande Seduction). We were invited up to a semi-private rooftop patio to catch the headliners of the night, The Wallflowers.

I totally photo-bombed Candice and Mark’s photo too. Sorry. Not sorry.

We belted out the chorus of “One Headlight” hanging over glass barriers trying not to drop our phones to the crowd below. We took to the street for the after party and I took photos for passing fans with Mark Critch. George Street was on the go and so was I.

It was a great start to the festival, even considering the next day's rough recovery – I spent most of it on the couch with my cats watching Netflix.

Sunday night – Dropkick Murphys:

This would be my first time seeing the Dropkick Murphys live; there’s no better way to see them than on a street with a thousand people crowded together bashing body parts off one another.  I popped open a couple beers before heading down and had a few more when I got there.

The band pulled out all the punches – including lead singer Ken Casey getting his head shaved on stage while belting out the lyrics to “Rose Tattoo.” It was all in support of a 4-year-old fan battling cancer:



By the end of the show I stumbled through the crowd and headed towards home only to find myself walking right behind Casey and his son en route to Fog Town Barber and Shop to get his stage-buzzed hair cleaned up.

Monday night – Serena Ryder:

I have some heavy love for Canadian Artist of the Year Serena Ryder and she owned the stage. Her onstage presence was magnetic and she had the crowd, including myself, chanting and stomping along.



It didn’t take much to convince a female friend to join me for this one. It may have been a little awkward standing in a crowd of (mostly) women staring at the stage with a big smile on my face while singing along to her hit “Weak in the Knees.”

Tuesday Night – Alan Doyle:

The final night of the festival had come and there was no one better to cap things off than Alan Doyle. He got his start in St. John’s playing his first George Street show at a bar called Trapper Johns. He passionately played his solo work and a selection of Great Big Sea hits. He even went 15 minutes past the cut-off time. There is no performer that loves the George Street Festival more than that man.

People began filing out. I grabbed a beer, sat on the steps leading off the street and sipped. What a time!

Newfoundland & Labrador Folk Festival

Less than a week later I was invited to attend the 38th Annual Newfoundland & Labrador Folk Festival – a staple in the St. John’s summer music schedule.

Rain or Shine. That is the disclaimer that all St. John’s outdoor music festivals have to put on their promos, and we quickly found out why.

Friday Night

With heavy rain already soaking the fields, my friends and I made our way down to the park. We decided it was best to suck it up, get some beer tickets and just enjoy it. Besides, the man I was there to see that night, New Brunswick-born blues guitarist singer-songwriter Matt Andersen, wouldn’t care about a bit of rain.

Unfortunately, the show was cancelled mid-way as heavy rain created a safety hazard with the electricity supply.

Andersen’s set was promptly moved to a small venue downtown, but by the time my friends and I got some dry clothes on and got down to the bar, it was packed. We were forced to stand in line outside the bar in the rain. We were getting drenched again so we bailed and sought shelter in a Smoke’s Poutinery.  A delicious alternative.

Saturday Night

The rain cleared up on Saturday in time for the evening performances. I dried my jeans and walked to the park. Local musicians Fortunate Ones set the stage for the headliner that night – Gord Downie.

He sat in his white slacks, button up shirt and a cowboy hat and began to sing. Standing close to the stage he had the crowd, and me, in a trance.

A guy came stumbling up right next to me in the crowd and leaned on me with his head. I quickly realized he was beyond drunk. He swayed back and forth, almost falling over at one point. I grabbed him as he stumbled back and held on to him until the set was over. He thanked me with a sweaty hug and foul breath. Help out your brothers, right?

The City of St. John’s has some incredible music festivals in the summer months. George Street Festival and the NL Folk Festival are staple events of the summer in the city. Come on out and have a time with me next year!

Mike is a “mainlander” residing out in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. When he’s not out discovering the island’s terrain and port towns in his Subaru, he’s producing TV and award-winning films: the kind that play in Cannes, France.

www.ciuffini.ca

@mikeciuffini

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Real Girls Drink Beer: Toronto Festival of Beer

This past weekend I had the opportunity to check out the Toronto Festival of Beer. If you didn't experience it for yourself, well my friend, you missed out. From the moment Sam (@SamRealMan) and I arrived at Bandshell Park, I knew it would be a good day.

Sam and I taking an Uber ride to the festival

The day was perfect for a beer festival: 25 degrees, mix of sun and cloud with the promise of more sun on the way. Upon arrival we were given our official Toronto Festival of Beer steins as well as a fancy media bracelet that would grant us entrance into the media tent for some additional samples. We agreed that the bracelet was most likely on a test run for next year’s festival to eliminate the need for beer tokens, however, no official word was given. Now in the comfort of shaded seats our beer festival was ready to kick off with a nice crisp Brickworks Ciderhouse Batch 1904. This cider was nice and light with just the right amount of sweetness, delicious!

Enjoying our Brickwords Cider

As we ventured off from the media tent we found ourselves in need of tokens. For anyone who hasn’t been to a Beer Fest, all tastings are purchased with tokens - think carnival rides but with beer! While the going rate on tokens was reasonable ($1 = 1 token) the line up to purchase them was the only damper on the day. The tokens aren't just for tastings, but for the delicious food as well (Smoke's Poutine anyone?). This helps ensure no worries about wasted tokens.

With tokens in hand we set out in search of a new favourite. First stop was at Niagara College Teaching Brewery for their First Draft. Very tasty and the program looks interesting as well. From there we tried a brew from across the pond, Innis & Gunn, based out of Edinburgh, Scotland. They had their Original, Lager and Rum Finish available for sampling. The rum finish has a taste to back its name so if you don't enjoy a spiced rum, this one might not be for you.

 But first, let me take a selfie

So you might have caught on, I made it a selfie kind of day. For anyone who knows me, this comes as no surprise. I made it my mission of the day to take a selfie with every beverage I tried and with every server who served me. It made for a very interactive and fun afternoon. And let me tell you, I made a lot of new friends.

As we worked our way around the festival we stopped by the World of Beer tent that this year featured beers from the east coast (some of which were featured on Real Man Travels) and found a great beer by Brewery Ommegang based out of Cooperstown, NY. The beer is Game of Thrones (for real) Fire and Blood. As a limited edition beer, a sample was steep at three tokens, but it did not disappoint, my friends. Cue more selfies!

 Here’s another beer fest selfie with the ladies of Twisted Hard Ice Tea

Left Field Brewery and the Maris*pale ale

Barrie Ontario's own Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery

Canuck Pale Ale from Great Lakes Brewery

Another beer fest selfie

Mill Street's 100th Meridian Amber Ale

Featuring fantastic performances by bands such as The Trews, Matthew Good and K-os, the festival was about more than just beer. Their use of social media (Twitter and Instagram and using the hashtag #BeerMe) made the entire event interactive. Taking their commitment to be environmentally friendly to the next level they forwent having your typical festival brochure, and instead delivered a great and easy to use smartphone app! You could browse the app to find your favourite breweries, save them as such to be alerted to any events that they were doing 15 minutes before they began. They even ran contests throughout the weekend, included a team t-shirt contest, and were constantly engaging festival goers through social media.

My new friends from Mill Street

Side Launch Brewing Company from Collingwood, Ontario

Smirnoff Rocket - sounds so wrong, tastes so right

Angry Orchard selfie

Wychwood Brewery has some interesting offerings

I enjoyed my entire day at The Toronto Festival of Beer. I learned a lot about great local breweries, and found a few new favourites from around the world too. I loved the social media interaction throughout the festival, whether it was the exhibitors or other festival goers. I definitely think #beerfestselfie was a success and a great way to meet other beer loving festival goers; and isn't that what festivals are all about? Enjoying the summer sun, a few good beverages, and meeting people with similar interests.

Here’s a list of a few of my favourites as taken from the Toronto Festival of Beer App:

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King City Craft Beer and Food Truck Festival Recap

A post by Ed Arsenault

Beer festivals are generally common to those living in a city, but for those that live in smaller communities they don’t happen too often. Starting what will hopefully be a growing trend, the Parks, Recreation and Culture department of King Township hosted a Craft Beer and Food Truck Festival on Saturday June 14, 2014. I had the pleasure of being a guest and joining in on the festivities.

Along for the ride was our resident beer expert, Scott Fry (@SFRealManTravels) and representing Real Girl Travels was Sarah (@sarahe05). The three of us made the rounds sampling as much as we could in our relatively short time frame.

So what is different about this festival from any other?

The number one difference was that it was intended for an entire community. Knowing very well that families were the demographic, the team at King Township made sure the event catered to them. Families could be found lying in the grass on blankets with rock n roll music as the soundtrack of the day. This is the only festival I have ever attended where dogs were permitted onto the grounds. Because of that I found my own dog’s doppelganger and made some new friends (on two legs and four).

While some bigger brewers were missing from the event, the selection of good tasting beer was not. Some notables in attendance included: Flying Monkeys (@FlyingMonkeys), Steam Whistle (@Steamwhistle), Double Trouble Brewery (@HopsandRobbers), Arch Brewing Company (@ArchBrewingCo), , Hockley Valley Brewing Company, Highlander Brew Company (@HighlanderBrew) and King City's own King Brewery (@KingBrewery)

A quick recap of our favourite flavours on the day were: Orange Mungus by Flying Monkeys, an orange infused beer that tasted much more like a mimosa. I’ve declared it would be the perfect starter drink on a weekend cottage trip in lieu of orange juice. Arch Brewery's Dinner Jacket delivered a red India Pale Ale that was softened by infused oats. Highland Brewery stole the show for us with their BlackSmith Smoked Porter. Maybe it was the espresso taste, or the hints of maple and dark chocolate, or perhaps it was simply because it was the end of our drinking day. Either way we had to have more and visited the fine folks of Highlander Brewing multiple times for this drink.

Orange Mungus by Flying Monkeys

Food choices were excellent as well, with the options ranging from Mexican to Italian to Greek to smoked meats. For us the clear winner of tastiest food belonged to Gourmet Gringos and their fish tacos.

Fish Tacos from Gourmet Gringos

I hope that King Township keeps the tradition of the Craft Beer and Food Truck Festival alive and returns next year. I'd be sure to visit again, this time with my dog! Thanks to King City's Parks, Recreation and Culture team (@ParksRecCulture) for the invite out and all their hard work organizing the event.

Did you attend? Let us know below in the comments or on Twitter or Facebook. 

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Cask Days - Fresh Beer, Beautiful Venue

A post by Scott F

Toronto has no shortage of beer festivals. Not at all a bad thing if you’re like me and enjoy the chance to try a wide variety of beer amidst a crowd of like-minded, opinionated enthusiasts. Each festival has its own vibe – factors that differentiate each and overcome the ever-present risk of monotony for the regular crowd. Real Man Contributor Ed Arsenault and I got a chance to experience one of Toronto’s most unique festivals, Cask Days, in mid-October.

Cask Days, now in its ninth year, is a true showcasing event for ale brewers. Every brewmaster I’ve met enjoys the chance to experiment, but rarely are they offered a chance to have their creations sampled. Cask Days provides that opportunity. This year’s festival featured 230 beers from 124 breweries. The variety was immense and included everything from the ultra-traditional to the downright weird (such as the Drunken Bunny chocolate milk stout by Half-Pints Brewing Co., pictured below).

Cask-conditioned ales are the earliest form of draft beer. “Conditioning” refers to the final fermentation, which for cask ales occurs in the cask and completes only days or hours before the beer is consumed. The result is a less carbonated, slightly cloudy brew that is as fresh as a beer can be without coming straight from the brewery tap. Cask beers are unfiltered, unpasteurized and about as natural as beer can be.

Cask conditioning of beer is not a common practice in the age of beer gas (CO2 and nitrogen) tanks and consistent refrigeration; which is why an event like Cask Days is so unique. It is a tribute a passionate industry that still respects its roots and wants to offer customers a truly unique experience.

One of the festival’s clear advantages is the truly eclectic venue. Hosted at the Evergreen Brick Works, a series of deteriorating heritage buildings converted into a community environmental hub, the heavily industrial location provides an inspiring atmosphere for the event.

The festival also featured fantastic food, including kangaroo sloppy “joeys” (surprisingly good) and fresh oysters from Ceili Cottage of Leslieville. Other vendors included Bar Isabel, Parts & Labour, Hog Town Charcuterie, Tracy Winkworth and Pig Iron Coffee Roasters.

Other unique elements included a blind IPA tasting competition featuring four finalist beers from a selection of 32, vintage arcade video games, solid music and a good selection of ciders.

Two beers from small Quebec micro breweries stole the show for our palettes at the event. Le Trou Du Diable (makers of the humorously named Shawinigan Handshake Weizen Bock) brought a solid Belgian table beer called Petite Buteuse, while Les Brasseurs Du Temp’s Diable Au Corps (translated: Devil in the Flesh) was an amazingly balanced imperial pale ale considering its IBU 100 and ABV 10.

For those beer enthusiasts travelling to Toronto, consider Cask Days a must-attend for your fall schedule. Word to the wise, go on Sunday. We hear Saturday was a little busy for the taste of some. 

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