Session 99 - A Craft Beer Festival, Toronto, ON

Gord and I went to the Session 99 - A Craft Beer Festival this afternoon with my friends, Darlene and Jen. Advanced admission was $35 (which included a mug) and samples were $1 or $2 each.

Gord, Darlene and I went to it last year at Sunnyside and had fun. This year it's in our 'hood ... sweet!

When we got there, Gord ran into Cass Enright of The Bar Towel ... they made beer together last Friday afternoon.

The opening ceremonies ...

There was quite a selection of about 35 craft beer from across Canada inside and out, plus food vendors which sold hamburgers, pulled pork sandwiches, oysters, cheese and cupcakes.

We checked out a food and beer pairing session with Executive Chef Joe Levesque and Trevor Lui. Kevin, a brewmaster with Hop City Brewery, paired their Barking Squirrel beer with braised short rib, mashed potatoes and asparagus.

Joel, the brewmaster at Mill Street Brewery, paired their new ginger beer with beef kabobs, bok choy sum and mushrooms.

There was entertainment inside. Here are New Country Rehab (they were good) ...

And NQ Arbuckle ...

Here are Jen, me and Darlene enjoying a brew outside on the patio ...

We had hamburgers by the Burger Bar which were good.

And here we are ... Darlene, me, Gord and Jen.

My favourite beer of the day was King Brewery's Vienna Lager ... yum!

Such a fun time and a good opportunity to try different craft beer! This was the second year for it and I hope they did well enough to do it again next year.