Baco Noir grapes are a North American wine industry success story, but as a hybrid grape, it attracts a lot of negative attention. A hybrid of European vitis vinifera Folle Blanche from France and an unknown varietal of indigenous vitis riparia that grows widely in North America, this is a hearty grape that can weather Ontario’s harsh winters. It… Read More
Packaging counts. County Cider caught my attention recently at the Summerhill LCBO as it was a large 1L plastic bottle. It stood out in the rather sparsely stocked cider fridge, where my options on this particular Saturday afternoon were mostly imports. A 1L bottle will set you back $7.85 and packs a respectable punch of 6.5%.… Read More
I prefer a tart cider in the traditional U.K. style. Overly sweet varieties are hard to drink more than one pint of, and I swear I can feel the sugars rotting my teeth. I prefer draught cider from a pub, and please, no ice. I was very happy to discover Brickworks Ciderhouse‘s Batch: 1904 last… Read More
We missed the Ice Wine Fest in Niagara this year, so we decided to enjoy a little bit of this uniquely Ontario product at home. The Niagara Peninsula is the world’s largest producer of ice wines, a style of wine produced in parts of the United States, Germany and Canada. We sampled Bricklayer’s Predicament Late… Read More
The forces that be behind Toronto Booze Hound usually drink red wine. We might not review red wine very often because we don’t consume much from Ontario, and because we bulk order our batches from Fermentations. But we picked up some smooth Grey Owl cheese, some velvety Highland Chief Cheddar and some pungent Swiss Challerhocker from All The… Read More