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500 Years of Brewing Excellence

4/28/2016

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Five hundred years ago the Bavarian Purity Act of 1516 (Reinheitsgebot) was born. Declaring that all beer sold could use only three ingredients; malted barley, hops and water, the Bavarian Purity Act is certainly the best known and arguably among the earliest beer purity laws recorded in history. Yeast was later added as the forth ingredient. Following the formation of the Weimar Republic after WW1, the Bavarian Law became a national law; hence: The German Purity Act, still relevant today.

So, while we revel in the 500th anniversary celebrations of the 1516 Bavarian Purity Act, it is time to take pause and reflect how far we have come here in the North American Beer craft beer scene.
When I first started my adventure in this industry over 30 years ago, Upper Canada Brewing Company founder Frank Heaps had a vision shared by a small handful of brewing pioneers in North America; that it was possible for small independent brewers to create all-natural, Bavarian Purity Act lagers and ales that both exceeded the quality and taste produced by the elephantine breweries of the day and, earn a loyal following of enthusiasts. 
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A Toronto Sun Cartoon featuring Frank Heaps and his Upper Canada Brewing Company standing up against the brewing giants of the day.
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This noble idea attracted many beer adventurers from my generation and continues to hold a powerful grip most hearts and minds to this very day. We have since been joined by millions more. In fact, late last year in the US, the number of breweries exceeded the high water mark of 4131 breweries set in 1873! Check out the facts.

But for many experts, The Bavarian Purity Act is arguably an unnecessary straightjacket that restricts deep exploration into the wonderful world of brewing. Despite any truth to that claim, it cannot be ignored that the Reinheitsgebot was, and is a cornerstone that for many, defines purity, quality and at least the potential for world-class beer. So cheers to craft beer and 500 years of excellence in brewing.

Icing on the Cake

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At around the time the Bavarians were busy creating brewing laws in 1516, the Icelanders were installing their first printing press to publish bibles, myths and sagas for local public consumption. Brewing beer and mead was already a tradition since the early Viking settlement just before the 1st millennium.

While Viking beer recipes included barley - when the climate allowed for its’ cultivation - they were also prone to adding other ingredients like local berries, herbs and the like as flavour enhancers.  Over the years drinking gradually fell out of favour and by 1901 brewing in Iceland came to a grinding halt. Just as in Canada in 1916, the temperance powers of the day called for and won their fight for prohibition.

Incredibly, it was not until 1989 that it was possible to have a beer in Iceland, let alone brew one legally. Slowly but surely small breweries started popping up, mostly in the Arctic North. Today, beer consumption in Iceland is very healthy and the craft beer renaissance has finally taken hold.

On our upcoming Iceland Arctic North Beer Adventure, we will be exploring that most beautiful north western corner of Iceland where nature astounds and the beers flow freely.

In fact, fortune has it that we will be attending an Icelandic Beer festival in Holar. Here we expect to try some of the more exotic local specialties that include, Einstock , Steogi Whale Beer and some rare brews by Bruggsmiojan. So, in one sitting we will be able to have a complete Icelandic beer experience.


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If you have not yet heard of this new tour it runs from June 3 – 10 and costs just $2700 pp. Research has shown that this is one of the lowest prices for any Iceland tour of this length. Everything save two meals and the flight is included.  If this is of interest please note that there are only 8 seats left. Last chance to join the fun.g

Please see check out the tour on our site or better yet, contact Georgia at Merit Travel at: GKourakos@MeritTravel.com
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Iceland's Arctic North - a beer lovers' adventure!

3/11/2016

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Tapping into our passion for beer and travel, we have just brewed up this extra special tour with our friends at Merit Travel - Arctic Iceland’s Arctic North – A Beer Lover's Adventure --  June 3rd to the 10th, 2016! 
Update: Only room for 8 more!

A beer tour of Iceland!?

Why Iceland? Well, it happens to be a top ‘bucket list’ destination for global travelers everywhere - scenic beauty, geology, culture and history are the big draws. But besides the obvious allure, most people don’t know that since their Prohibition was lifted in 1989, Iceland has also become a ‘hot’ destination for craft-beer lovers everywhere! Interestingly, it is in the Arctic North of Iceland that most of the craft breweries are found. And best of all, this spectacular region of the island offers some of the most incredible scenery Iceland has to offer!
 

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How much does this all cost? Despite Iceland’s notoriously high prices, we have managed to keep the price to a reasonable $2760 CAD pp.

This covers accommodation, most meals, including beer tastings, site-seeing, transportation and guides.  

Flights are extra but are quite reasonable these days. You can even book this trip as a stopover to Europe for very little extra :)

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Tour host, Oliver Dawson, Beer Lovers' Tour Co. founder.
So, whether you are into amazing landscapes, Viking history, geology, whale - watching, Game of Thrones shoot locations or the renowned Icelandic lamb and seafood cuisines, our new beer-themed adventure will quench your thirst for all of these wonders including the locally brewed craft beer!

Don’t miss out on this unique travel adventure!! Download the complete itinerary here.

Happy ‘Tr-ales’!

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Contact Georgia Kourakos directly at Merit Travel: GKourakos@MeritTravel.com or by calling:  1.866.341.1777
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Best Foodie tours in T.O.!

11/13/2015

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Who knew there were so many delicious foodie tours in Toronto-- from chocolate tours to a coffee tour!  I just discovered these mouthwatering adventures on a cool website called "The Culture Trip Toronto".  I happened to stumble on it as they included our Beer Tour in an article on "Best Toronto Food Tours!" 

Seems like a great resource for travelers interested in our favourite things:  Art, food, culture and travel.  If you go to the site you can find out what is going on in practically every city in the world, from Singapore to Budapest.

If your hungry (or thirsty!) you'd better not read the delicious article on Best Toronto Food Tours!


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Meet Nick, our Toronto Beer & Chocolate Tour Guide!

9/16/2015

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We want to introduce you to our new Toronto Beer & Chocolate Tour Guide, Nick Aiello!  We're thrilled to have his expertise and good humour on our team. He has serious creds -- actually a Beer-Sommelier under the Prud’homme Beer Certification.  He is even an Instructor at Humber College teaching “Fundamentals of Beer” in the school of Hospitality, Recreation and Tourism. But doing a beer tour is is fun as well as informative, so its a good thing he also has a background as a stand-up comedian and actor!

We brought Nick on after he impressed us with his wonderful tutored tastings at the former Beer Academy. 
Now Nick combines his love of beer with his passion for performance to specialize in what he calls “edutainment”. 

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Nick Aiello, Toronto Beer & Chocolate Tour Guide
The only thing Nick loves more than beer,  is beer and food.  He hosts many seminars and events around beer and food pairing, with a focus on beer and cheese.  He is even studying at George Brown College to become a Professional Fromager!  We are delighted to have him as a valuable new member of the Beer Lovers team!

Of course, given Nick's Beer & Cheese expertise, we are already scheming to create a beer and cheese tour!  Just need to find the right cheese-making venues that can host large groups for tastings and we'll start building a fabulous itinerary including more of Toronto's breweries.

Do you have a favourite cheesemaker / cheese shop in Toronto that you think would be fun for a tour?  Let us know!
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Best Father's Day Gift Ever

5/28/2015

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In case you didn't see the show, here's a spot Oliver Dawson did on Global TV, all about this history of brewing in Toronto and highlights of the  Old Toronto Beer Tour.
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Announcing New Walking Tours

5/23/2015

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Toronto Beer & Chocolate Tour

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We're very excited to be adding new products to our tour selection.  In addition to our all-day OLD TORONTO BEER TOUR, we wanted to find something that we could offer on a weekday, but that wouldn't require navigating midweek traffic, so we hit on the idea of Neighbourhood Walking Tours.  The first to begin in June will be a walking tour of the Distillery District, called the Toronto Beer & Chocolate Tour! 

Maybe you'll be the first to try our tour -- June 11th. We will run the tour Tuesdays through Fridays all summer.  They'll include stops at Izumi the Ontario Spring Water Sake Brewery and Mill Street Brewery, where we'll have tours and tutored tastings.  But we'll also add a delectable stop at SOMA CHOCOLATES to learn about chocolate making and enjoy a "Chocolate Shot".  Life doesn't get much better than that!
The tour will be guided by Nick Aiello, our resident beer and food expert and will include a guided walkabout the historic Distillery District with its beautiful cobblestone streets, eclectic shops and galleries.  Nick will entertain you with stories of prohibition and the 19th century brewing and distilling history of Toronto. 

We are also excited to announce that we also have a "Sunday in the Parkdale" and the "Junction Beer & Booze Crawl" in the works. 

Let us know what you think about our new walking tours. Perhaps you have a neighbourhood you'd like to propose for our next tour idea? 

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Valentine's Day Beer Tour

1/28/2015

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In commemoration of our upcoming Valentine's Beer Tour, we commissioned Brooke Johnson, (not only an actress and playwright but also a talented illustrator), to come up with a little cartoon.   She also did our Santa illustration you may recall. 

We're hoping to introduce more illustration and cartooning into the site by commissioning other illustrators in the future!  Keep an eye out for the next one!

So, if you're looking for an original way to spend Valentine's Day with the one you love,  our upcoming Feb. 14th Old Toronto Beer Tour is the perfect solution!  For tickets, visit www.beerloverstour.com 

Or if you'd rather select a different date for the tour, you can always give a gift certificate and your recipient can choose a date from our scheduled tours.  Make it a gift certificate for 2 tickets and they'll love it even more (as will you!!) 


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Welcome to Oliver's Beer & Travel Blog

12/7/2014

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Oliver DawsonOliver Dawson
After almost 15 years of running the Old Toronto Beer Tour and the Beer Lovers' Tour Co., I decided it was time to get with the modern world and start writing a blog.  Well actually, I'm calling it a Newsletter because I still have one foot in the old world... Whatever form it takes, I'm excited to now have a few new ways to keep in touch with the wonderful people we've met on our Old Toronto Beer Tours.


I hope you enjoy it!  Drop me a line anytime.
In addition to this blog, you might like to subscribe to my new Beer & Travel Newsletter that I'll send out quarterly.

I'll use this newsletter /blog  to share news of what we're up to in the land of beer, but as many of you know, my interests extend well beyond beer and so what I write about will likely include a few other things I am passionate about!  Just look at this next piece of news...

Life is a Cabaret...

CabaretCabaret at the MTC, Winnipeg
In non-beer related news, some of you may remember that I am also a singer/actor. Well I actually got a big break, and will be playing Herr Schultz in "Cabaret" at the famed Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre. So winter in Winnipeg here I come! 

I'll keep you posted on my experiences as rehearsals progress.  Any of you from Winnipeg, let me know where to go for craft beer and we'll go for a pint after the show!    


Tid-bits of History

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As part of our passion for history I'd like to share one or two items of interest that you might want to drop at your next garden party.

Growing up as a stamp collector (philatelist) one of my favourite examples is seen here. Two things you might want to take note of. This was the world's first Christmas stamp! It also depicts the vastness of the British Empire at it's 19th century apex. It isn't that I think those were 'the best of times' but when we refer to Toronto's Gooderham & Wort's Distillery as the largest in the British empire (now the Distillery District and home to the Mill Street Brewery), this stamp gives us a sense of what that actually meant in the day.

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Speaking of history, this year I was also working as a consultant to help launch a new craft beer, "Old Tomorrow", a Sir John A. Macdonald inspired "Canadian Pale Ale"  It has already hit select LCBO stores, just in time to celebrate Macdonald's 200th Birthday party in January. Check it out!



    A mini Beer Lovers' survey on future beer tours!

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Thanks for reading !  Look forward to hearing from you. 
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    Beer Tour Blog

    Stories about Breweries we've visited around the world.  Photos and stories about our tours and the interesting folks we've met along the way.

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  • Home
  • Toronto Beer Tours
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