Canadian Beer Day

 

Happy Canadian Beer Day, from all of us (all 3 of me?) at Mark’s Tavern, Eh!

October 7th is Canadian Beer Day. A day to celebrate the awesome folks who brew, sell, deliver, serve, and drink beer.

We typically have beers from no less than a half dozen different craft breweries in the fridge at any time. And on this special day, the fridge is filled to capacity, with plenty more great beers than could be shown in this triple exposure pic at our home bar.

But beer isn't just a thing in our household. Beer plays a big role in the lives of many Canadians.

• 15,000 Canadians work in breweries
• 149,000 Canadian jobs connected to beer in the restaurant, hospitality, tourism, agriculture and transportation sectors
• 85% of the beer consumed in Canada was brewed in Canada

[For the curious, here are the Ontario craft beers hoisted from left to right in the picture of me hoisting a beer in cheers: They are Jutsu from Bellwoods Brewery (Toronto) - The Mutants Are Revolting from Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery (Barrie) and Invisible Friend from Grain & Grit Beer Co (Hamilton).

The hoodie I'm wearing is from Augusta's Winking Judge (Hamilton), one of my favourite haunts that has been about local and craft beer for years and years before the craft beer growth took off, and the hilarious and stylish t-shirt is from Rural Routes Brewing (Elmira).

So many amazing beers. I suppose that’s why EVERY day is Canadian Beer Day at Mark’s Tavern.

 

#CDNBeerDay #BeerProud

The Ghost of Jack Kerouac

Yesterday's live talk part of my weekly Free Friday Frights included a talk about the chapter "Kerouac's Favourite Haunt" in my 2014 book Tomes of Terror: Haunted Bookstores and Libraries.

Once you get me talking about the things I am most passionate about, I will go on and on. In the chat, I not only share the stories I had heard about the ghost of the famous author who allegedly haunts this bookstore, but my love for visiting bookstores, especially a place like Haslam's which is the largest and oldest independent bookstore in the state of Florida. (Not to mention that today is Independent Bookstore Day)

I also, of course, introduce other things I am passionate about, such as the discovery of local beers. And there are at least three local beer spots in the neighborhood of Haslam's. One that I visited a few years ago (Urban Brew & BBQ) and two more that I just discovered (Taphouse 61 and Cage Brewing)

Hmm, with Novelists Inc, Haslam's Bookstore and at least four great beer spots to check out (I discovered Mastry's Brewing Co. a couple of years back), I have more reasons than ever to look forward to this fall in St Pete, Florida.

Year It Was, What a Beer It Was, It Was

So I recently posted my annual update of my previous year in beer. I use the Untappd app to track and rate the beers that I have in a year. I have been using Untappd since early April in 2013 and have checked in a total of 3,479 unique beers since then.

When explaining Untappd to my friends, I usually describe it like Goodreads for beer.

You can read the FULL post on my Spirits Untapped blog, but here are a few interesting highlights that I have pulled out.

Unique Beer Check-ins: 829
Unique Countries: 7
Unique Venues: 118
Unique Brewery Beers: 407
Top Style: IPA
Top Venues Included: The Winking Judge (no surprise there, our favourite haunt and it was right downstairs from where I used to live), Arabella Beer Park (our new favourite local beer spot to hang out in the KW area)

Cheers to Beers

Admittedly, I haven't been blogging here much, even though I'm proud to say that I have been blogging since my initial post on March 3, 2005.

That first post wasn't much, just a note that my friend from work, Mathew (work back then was Chapters Online, or Chapters/Indigo) had mocked me into starting a blog. It's short (so unlike me) and sweet (well I can sometimes be sweet) and called Beginnings. (I was unique, since it wasn't like many blogs, called "My First Post")

My second post, on March 9th, was a little more typical of the musings I would blog about over the years. It was called Not the TV show starring Dick. This one was about the growth of my Van Dyke beard. You know, the facial hair that everyone calls a goatee. (It is technically either referred to as a Van Dyke or a goatee and mustache. A goatee is just chin hair. A mustache is hair over the top lip. But, since laziness prevails and that affects language, most people call it a goatee. Gee, see how I like to rant about such things?)

In my first eight years of blogging I averaged between 180 and 190 blog posts per year, which was almost one every two or three days.

I haven't blogged as much since 2012. Perhaps one reason is that many of my updates end up being shared in the quicker click share of Facebook and Twitter and Instagram. Another part of the reason is likely that my "blogging" efforts were directed towards the Kobo Writing Life blog as well as other writing efforts.


But I still quite enjoy blogging. Heck, I've even started other blogs that align directly specific passions.

While the KWL Blog was focused specifically on writing and publishing, and I was able to channel much passion into that, Liz and I started Spirits Untapped, a blog that focuses on the spirit and spirits that inhabit beer and bar culture.

A "Beer with Norm" - What does it say about me for this being on my bucket list?

Yes, this will be information that we have started compiling for a forthcoming book in my "series" of books on the paranormal, called SPIRITS UNTAPPED: Haunted Bars and Breweries that likely won't be out for a couple of years; but we started this the blog in May 2016 and on the blog we decided to focus on the Spirit of Beer Culture, while throwing in a few spots about haunted locations.

For example, the first post, May 7, 2016, was about The Winking Judge on Augusta Street in Hamilton. I first learned about it when writing Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle & Other Steeltown Shivers. And it has since become a local "haunt" since I moved into an apartment "above" the judge in 2014.

The Winking Judge - One of our favorite haunts

On Spirits Untapped, Liz and I blog about such things as:

• Haunted Locations (which will end up going into the book)
• Breweries
• Memorable Beers
• Interesting beer labels and artwork
• Beer festivals
• The intersection of beer and music 

. . . along with other fun intersections from beer culture as well as a map tracking the various locations we have enjoyed beers together since 2014.

I'm pretty sure that the Spirits Untapped blog will continue to grow now that I have more time for writing, and that I'll also be returning to blog more here as 2017 draws to a close and we usher in 2018.

Spring 2016 Promotional Travel - Part Two - Niagara Falls

As mentioned in yesterday's post, this is the first weekend in the past three weeks where I haven't been traveling to promote my books. It started on the last weekend in May where I visited Ottawa for the official launch of Creepy Capital: Ghost Stories of Ottawa and the National Capital Region. And you can read that post right here.

The following weekend, I participated in Niagara Falls Comic-Con, which took place Friday June 3rd through Sunday June 5th.

Liz and I arrived in Niagara Falls to check in to our hotel and set up the Mark Leslie table on the evening of Thursday June 2nd.


The whole weekend was fun and comic-con packed; but we also managed to do some fun exploring. (The con didn't start until the mid afternoon on Friday, and our evenings were filled with long walks, fireworks, craft beer, fun and dancing)

The listing for my appearance at Niagara Falls Comic-Con in the Falls Horror Fest section

Barnaby hanging out at the Mark Leslie table in the Falls Horror Fest section

I thought it was cool to spot these two comic characters (Morbius from Spider-Man and Vampirella) walking together

As often happens when Liz and I are exploring, we ended up at a few fun venues that we hadn't planned on, and had a blast. Two of the nights involved great live music and dancing, and one of them involved a lot of people-watching at the Casino and cavalierly throwing around $5.00. (Of which we walked away with 1 cent still in pocket from that giant investment)

The amazing Heather Glabb performing at Taps. As I tweeted, we came for the beer but stayed for the awesome music

Our blockbuster "winnings" of $0.01 at a Niagara Casino

My 2015 in Beer: Top 5 Beers, Top Bars and Venues

Apart from being a lover of books, I've also long been a lover of beer.

And in the past 10 years or so, I've enjoyed making an effort at trying new beers. But it got to a point where I couldn't remember if I'd had a beer or not, so about 3 years ago (April 2013), I started using UNTAPPD to track my beer.

Fun beer explorations near Kelowna, BC

I'm far from a connoisseur (ie, I'm not all that good at describing the various flavours, and mostly just either "like" or "don't like so much" the beers I'm drinking) and I quite enjoy trying new beers and also the recent rise of craft breweries that have been exploding in the past couple of years.

I also try not to check in the same beer more than once. But occasionally, for the sake of checking in a beer at an interesting or new location, or for changing my rating of a beer (perhaps, upon second or third taste, I change my perception of the beer), I'll check in more than one.

Here's a look at my beer tracking as pulled from UNTAPPD, for 2015.

• I tried 789 unique beers in 2015
• I enjoyed them at 120 unique venues
• I averaged 3 beers per day in the year

Some other interesting stats:

My Top (Combination of rating plus number of times checked in) Beers drank in 2015 include:

• Buggywhip (Abe Erb)
• Blue Collar Pale Ale (The Hamilton Brewery)
• Pale Ale (Mash Paddle Brewing)
• Paranormal Imperial Pumpkin Ale (Flying Monkeys)
• Samuel Adams Summer Ale (Sam Adams)

In 2015 I gave 61 different beers a rating of 4.5 or higher (out of five stars) and gave 6 of them a five star rating. The 6 five star rating beers in 2015 were:

• Origin Wheat - MacKinnon Brothers Brewing Co.(Hefeweizen)
• London Pale Ale - Meantime Brewing Company (Pale Ale - English)
• Not Your Father's Root Beer (5.9%) - Small Town Brewery & Taproom (Root Beer)
• Pumking - Southern Tier Brewing Company (Pumpkin / Yam Beer)
• Samuel Adams Fat Jack Double Pumpkin - Boston Beer Company/Samuel Adams (Pumpkin / Yam Beer)
• Nightmare on Mill Street Pumpkin Ale - Mill Street Brewery (Pumpkin / Yam Beer)

The lowest rated beer from 2015 was one called Double IPA from Stoudts Brewing Company, which I gave 1.5 stars to and left this comment: "I'm not fond of the nail polish remover aftertaste."

Among the most popular and favourite venues I checked in this past year include:

• The Winking Judge (Hamilton)
• The Pony Bar (New York City - Hell's Kitchen)
• The Craft - Brasserie & Grill (Toronto - Liberty Village)
• Phantom Canyon Brewing (Colorado Springs)
• Valhalla (New York City - Hell's Kitchen)

I also attended a number of beer fests throughout the year -- and, my beautiful partner in beer-enjoyment and I were able to not only get to a number of them together, but also did some amazing explorations of beer locales within Southern Ontario, in and near Kelowna, BC as well as in various neighbourhoods in New York City. Liz and I have even more fun plans regarding our beer explorations this coming year which I will be posting about at a later date.  (Of course, our other plans for 2016 involve doing an extreme race together, a lot more hiking than we accomplished in 2015, and even more great walking tours of various cities that we travel to together - that should help reduce the somewhat negative effect of enjoying our favourite beverage so often)

Liz and I at Because Beer in Hamilton - Summer 2015

My totals, for UNTAPPD, to date (and which started April 6, 2013) include 1,831 unique beers and 669 badges (yes, UNTAPPD does a great job of the gamification of social beer drinking). I'm pretty sure that I'll get to 2,000 unique check ins before the end of the year, and, based on previous trending, I should hit about 1900 by time the end of January rolls around.

Of course, I also have writing goals.

Now, if ONLY my goals of writing and enjoying beer could ever be merged some-how. Hint Hint - news on that to come.