Castro's Lounge

Saturday night is alright for drinking if you don't have a race the next morning, and on this past weekend I had no race.  We set out for Castro's Lounge in the Beaches area of Toronto.  I decided that we had to meet there because I knew they had Westmalle there.  I had been there once before , but like an oaf I didn't look at the beer menu.  I saw that they had Delerium on tap and I just kept ordering that.  Which in and of itself isn't a huge problem, but being in a bar that sells all the Trappist ale's (save the new Gregorios Trappist)....I should have taken a look.

Castro's does boast a picture of the Branch Davidian's David Koresh on the wall which was  pretty cool

We sit down, my pal Tom and I.  With our wonderful dates.  He says to me "this beer list is going to blow your mind'.  It doesn't disappoint.   But tonight I'm in Trappist mode only.  (and by the way , anyone who reads this blog and hasn't at least tried some Trappist Ale is a total idiot). I order a Westmalle.  This is maybe my favorite beer I've had so far.  9.5% and it goes down like a light beer.  Westmalle is a serious beer. It's good enough that I don't risk sullying the evening with any food.  Castro's Lounge has a very cool laid back feel to it....but people don't go there for the stellar service or the awesome menu.  The service isn't bad, but it's not , say, The Bier Bistro.  The food is pretty crappy I'm told by my tablemates.  I wouldn't know cuz I don't dig on swine.

The order of my beer consumption is as follows, and should you find yourself there in the future, or in the past please follow my lead.  I know what I'm doing.  Westmalle Tripel. Rochefort 10. Westvleteren 8, Orval. Now I'm getting drunk.  But I'm not screaming Deicide lyrics or throwing chairs around.  The biggest flaw I can find with this pretty cool establishment is that as serious as they take their beer, they don't have their shit together when it comes to the correct glass.  For each beer I ordered they brought me the wrong kind of glass.  Rochefort doesn't come in a tulip glass. Rochefort uses a chalice or even a wide mouth chalise.  Their efforts were lost on my superior knowledge and palette.

Rocherfort in a tulip glass....has this world gone topsy turvy?

They weren't too far off on the Westvleteren glass.

Considering that they take the care to have all the beers that they advertise, in stock  unlike the BierMarkt Esplinade, that magically 'just ran out'. I will  give a shoutt out for that.  The wrong glasses thing was a real disappointment and I think they need to remedy that if they want to remain one of the city's coolest exotic beer pubs . I didn't actually try any of the food there but all 3 of my friends agreed that the food looked and tasted as if quality was job #2.  Again, I won't say the service was great, but it wasn't bad per se. None of the servers were bitches.  They did screw up our bill by adding 3 $10 beers , but when I questioned it they quickly fixed the problem.  

I'm going out on a limb here and I hope no one tries to cut it off on me.  I would still and will still go back there several more times this week.  I am going to give it an 8.5% out of 10.  If they fixed the glasses thing they are a 9% or more.  Hell they can hire  stinky hippies or ugly women with their kids birthdays tattoo'd across their chest, I wouldn't care , I like the place

Prestige Worldwide II

When I was about 11 yrs old I  lived in North York, which is on the north end of Toronto.  In the summer we all used to play at this ravine, there was a small river and trails going through the trees .  It was great fun.  I often tried to coerce my Mom into letting me camp down there with my friends.  She never gave in.  Another great part about the ravine was this storm drain outlet into the creek. It was a huge tunnel that frequently poured  rain water into the creek that eventually drained into Lake Ontario.  We were able to get inside this huge sewer tunnel if the water was low.  There was a steel cage over the entrance but with a little work we could always crawl beneath it.  It wasn't gross and infested with rats as I had always imagined.  It was dark but not dark enough to scare us.  We could tunnel our way up for a while until we hit the  ladders that would take us up to the Man-Holes on the street above.

One time (my last time) we went down into the tunnels with some older kids.  They were all just sitting around near the entrance , too cool  I suppose to go all the way in.  Maybe they had done it too many times...I don't know.  So I crawl in, and I find this huge baseball sized piece of tarmac.  It's gotta be 6 lbs.  I guess I just wanted to see how far I could hurl it down the tunnel.  I wound up and fucking chucked it like I really meant it. I remember  the screaming.  It seemed like the screams began the exact moment the rock left my my hand.  I had hit the oldest, biggest and toughest of the boys right in the temple with my overhand asphalt curveball.  He cried like a much younger kid I thought.........but in his defense , there was a shitload of blood.  Blood. Blood . Blood. His blood.  Everywhere.  I also remember thinking if this kid doesn't come to kill me in the next few days, his parents will.  After a week of worry, I sort of forgot about it.  I hadn't heard he died, or  that he was looking for me.  So I took that as great news.  I haven't hit anyone with rocks ever since.

Yesterday I was on Facebook chatting with some dude from Belgium.  He informs that there is now an 8th Trappistine bier.  I was like 'cut the crap'..........for realsies?   There is now an 8th Trappist monestary/brewery .  Although it's not in Belgium, like those posers at De Koningshoeven in the Netherlands. (i'm just screwing around) but this one is in Austria.  I can't speak to the deliciousness of the beer but I do know one thing.  There is not a crappy Trappist beer.  Chimay is creamy good .  Orval, even tastier.  Westmalle Trippel being the best beer ever to pass my lips, but I can't wait to taste this .

I think me, Jimmi and Tom are going to have to pay another visit to the beer bistro soon.