Visiting the Toronto Wine and Spirit Festival

Mon, 23 Jun 2014 19:45:45 +0000

As part of my previously mentioned “getting to know Toronto” goal I attended the Toronto Wine and Spirit Festival this past Friday. I had previously heard about the event last year but wasn’t able to attend unfortunately. This year a few friends from university wanted to go and it worked out as a communal meeting place in Toronto.

I had hoped to have a ton of photo’s to post on here, but given my really shotty iPhone that is still chugging away I only have a few to sprinkle within the post courtesy of my friend Steph and the photo below from the Wine and Spirit Twitter page

Checking out the Toronto Wine and Spirit Festival

We ended up going on Friday which was the first of 3 days that the festival was running down by Sugar Beach on the Toronto waterfront. I had only been to Sugar Beach once before but loved the space, since it’s a old ship docking area turned urban beach. Thanks to my friend Faye for being more on top of things than I am, we realized we could save some dollars purchasing our tickets online ahead of time.

Upon arrival we received 5 tickets for either drink or food (who uses it for food at these things anyways) and our universal drinking/sampling cup that we would use for the remainder of the evening. Right away we learned that you should definitely go to the vendor shows that happen every hour where you get to taste product for free. This means you get to save your tickets and learn a little bit more about wines or other beverages, it made me feel pretty sophisticated a classy. We also realized that the event name is a bit of a lie, you can get beer and cider too!

Throughout the afternoon and evening we wandered around the beach and went to various booths tasting anything from cotton candy wine to ciders. There were some interesting mixed drinks to check out and even some photo opportunities like at the ONE Coconut water booth.

Given that tickets were currency you could usually snag yourself a liquor beverage ie rum, vodka for 3 tickets mixed into some very interesting cocktails, a half to 1 cup of beer or wine for 1 to 2 tickets and food ranged from I believe about 3 tickets to 6 or 7. Towards the end of the night you may also start to figure out what vendors give you more for your tickets (money?) and you can take advantage of that if you so choose.

The weather wasn’t amazing (notice I’m basically wearing fall clothes) but it was still a great time, no rain and a cool way to experience the “new” Toronto waterfront. I would suggest making sure you bring enough cash so you can avoid the ATM’s, either eat before or just have a few food items here and there and check out the vendor shows. Overall the Toronto Wine and Spirit Festival was a great experience I would definitely check it out next year and maybe go on the Saturday instead to catch some rays.

Up next the Toronto Beer and Cider Festival in September!

What food/drink festivals have you attended this summer?

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Cheap Toronto Bars: The Green Room

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 00:22:54 +0000

I have been fortunate enough over the last few months to be working in the city of Toronto for a co-op work term, which has meant that I have been to some great student bars in the city that I had never heard of before. A great place that I was able to check out is The Green Room. Now don’t get me wrong, this isn’t an extravagant place for those looking to buy bottles, sit in a lounge type setting and toss dollar bills around. It’s essentially a great place to hang out with friends, drink some cheap and great beer as well as grab some really inexpensive food at the same time.

Now don’t freak out when you can’t find it at first, it’s located right around the corner from the Brunny at 296 Brunswick Ave right near Spadina subway station. The main entrance is actually in an alleyway off of Brunswick Ave and the front door is in fact green. The inside is cozy for sure and was great considering it was feeling a bit wintry that night. Seating consists of wooden tables with chairs or benches and there are 2 floors. We arrived at about 9 on the Friday and were able to find seating for about 8 which worked out great, but it did fill up fairly quickly.

Beers, Beers and Beers

So I didn’t end up buying any food so I can’t provide a very detailed food review, I do need to point out that all of the food was really well priced, bordering on cheap. But when it came to beers I managed to get both a pitcher of Steam Whistle for under $12 and Mill Street Organic under $13 which is amazing. I don’t think I have ever got Canadian that cheap even so it was definitely a big win.

Personally I didn’t buy any food while we were at The Green Room, but some of my friends did and I may have tested out a few things here and there. One of which was a quesadilla which was great and I believe around $5-6 dollars.

Final Thoughts

The Green Room reminded me of the coziness of a sit-down bar in Guelph, for even better prices and it was within a subway ride away from my house in Toronto. I definitely will go back again especially because of the great beer selection and prices. The Green Room would definitely fit under the category of cheap Toronto bars and a place where students can save some change and not break the bank on a casual night out for drinks and some food.

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