It can sometimes be tough to tell where Toronto's beer festival season starts and ends. My rule of thumb is that from Session Toronto in June to Cask Days in October, you can be sure there will be a beer-themed event almost every weekend.
To keep ahead of the newcomers, the folks behind Session have upped their game with a special release beer brewed as a preview for the two-day festival. Seven Toronto bars (plus the Griffin who organize Session) collaborated on the design for this fruit-and-herb saison that was brewed by Sawdust City's Sam Corbeil under the Sweetgrass Brewery label.
The raspberry puree (1 kg per 50 litres of beer) shows itself throughout. It gives a slightly coppery pink hue to the otherwise yellow-gold appearance. Raspberry is most noticeable on the nose, where it pairs well with bread-like scents from the saison yeast. The flavour is dry, slightly tart (more of the raspberries at work), and gets a hefty dose of grassy, green-tasting citrus from the lemon verbena.
I'm happy to hear that other versions of this special beer will be on tap at the seven participating bars. The brett lambicus one that Bar Hop will start pouring on June 12 sounds particularly intriguing.
This year's festival is building on last year's theme of collaborations between brewers and Canadian celebrities. Event attendees will vote for their favourite, and whichever beer receives the most drunken fist pumps (or paper ballots as the case may be) will be listed in the LCBO. Apparently, last year's winner — the Tom Green Beer — has moved 60,000 bottles.
Session Toronto runs June 13 and 14 at Yonge-Dundas Square. The VIP "Princess Pass" has sold out, but regular tickets are still available from their website.
Session Saison, $9.95 for a 750 ml bottle, LCBO #383927
In addition to covering beer, new restaurants and food trucks for Post City, David Ort writes about food and drink for several Toronto publications including his own site, Food With Legs. He is the author of The Canadian Craft Beer Cookbook; now in stores and available for ordering online. For more of his thoughts on food, beer and life in general, follow him on Twitter or get in touch at info@foodwithlegs.com.
