Tag: Granville Island

80% of alcohol consumed by Canadians is beer

The Prestons Taste of Canada event was an industry and media reunion for me. People I haven’t seen for months gathered to preview Prestons Chef Bruce Nollert’s newly launched Canadian inspired menu.This new menu features classic comfort dishes with a modern twist and locally inspired ingredients from each province. Each province’s menu was paired with selected beers from Molson Coors (Nope, not Coors light).  Molson’s has a huge portfolio of beer brands, from Creemore, to Granville Island Brewery and Rickards.

We were greeted by a lovely server, I fall in love with people who serve me a great cocktail with a smile.

The restaurant was littered with cool Canadian facts alongside, their bowl of popcorn and truffle chips. DAMN those truffle chips, I think I demolished a whole bag that night. So I will randomly incorporate some fun facts throughout this post.

Canadian players make up 56% of the NHL roster

The detailed beers write –up is by Simon Wong my partner in crime for that night. To sum him up, he is a beer evangelist / proselytizer and an all around food connoisseur. (In honesty, I finished up his summary with a zinger that made him sound like a food snob but, I figured he did such a great write-up and did nothing to deserve my witty zingers)

Thank You.

The Westcoast: Fresh Oysters paired with Wayne Gretzky endorsed wine from the Peller winery in Okanagan.

I can always be found at local Happy Hour’s buck a shuck, sipping on some wine with a dozen oysters in front of me, so it’s not a surprise I loitered for more than an hour around this table. Followed by house cured blueberry salmon on rosemary bannock and finished with Nanaimo bar with hazelnut Ganache.

The Westcoast course menu was paired with Granville Island Honey Lager.

Nothing spells Westcoast like a honey lager on a nice sunny day!  This GI honey lager does a good job of balancing its subtle sweetness with a light hop.  It complemented the sweetness of the fresh oysters and cured blueberry salmon quite well.

The Prairies: Peace River Bison carpaccio with crisp bannock and pierogies with crème friache. I am still trying to figure out how pierogies associate with the Prairies.

Paired with Rickards dark English-style porter ale. This is a rich and creamy porter weighing in at just under 5% abv.  Its medium body ale with dark malts of chocolate and caramel balanced out with a slight hop.  The creaminess of this brew worked well with the bison carpaccio and pierogies.

Canadians consume 23.41lbs of cheddar cheese per person annually – WTF??

La Belle Province: Poutine with Granville Island maple cream gravy, my favourite the trio. Montreal smoked meat on bagle chips with Dijon aioli and house-made butter tats.

Menu paired with New Castle Brown Ale

Traditional brown ale that pours dark orange but has a light to medium body.  You can taste hints of the caramel and dark malts which paired especially well with the richness of the butter tarts.

The Maritimes: Lobster Rolls, it seemed to be everyone’s favourite. Prestons kept on running out of it. We tend to be a greedy bunch if we like something.

Traditional seafood chowder and blueberry grunts. Beer pairing was Creemore Springs Pilsner. A refreshing pils with a slight floral hop to it.  It’s smooth on the palate with a dry and slightly bitter finish.  You want something lighter and crisp with seafood and this pilsner was a big winner with the lobster roll!

Event Photos: