Category Archives: Food And Culture

What Makes Alberta Beer a Delightful Must-have Beer

Beer is an alcoholic beverage that you can buy wherever you are in the world. This is because beer is not only a widely-accepted alcoholic drink that can get you drunk if you consume more than enough, but also because beer is a means of socializing with friends and colleagues. It is a drink that helps bind people together (except on situations where arguments and fistfights occur due to loss of inhibitions). Nevertheless, beer is a very popular drink that is not only easy on the budget, but is also very low in alcoholic content.

There are individuals or group of people who particularly consider themselves as wine drinkers; mainly because this is their preferred alcoholic drink as wine is claimed to have many health benefits. On the other hand, there are others who particularly pride themselves as beer drinkers because beer is their preferred alcoholic drink of choice. Unlike wine-drinkers who often brags about how healthy their drink is, what they don’t know is that beer is also a very healthy drink and has lots of potential health benefits.

When it comes to wine, there are low quality wines; and there are high quality wines. This also goes for beers. There are in fact many low quality beers found everywhere and most of these beers are manufactured and produced by large beer brewing companies. In fact, even the very popular brand of beer they produce can be considered as low-to-medium quality class if you are to compare the beer quality found in craft beers. Craft beers are made by small distilling companies wherein the owners of the company are the beer brewers themselves. This gives them better control as to the type and quality of beer they are making instead of the corporate methods wherein directions comes from above – from people who do not really know and understand the artistry of making beers.

Craft beers such as that made by Alberta Beer are widely known for their rich flavors, wide body, and pleasant aroma. Of course, craft beer is not just one single brew of beer. If you are not familiar with craft beer, you will be surprised to learn that there are different brews there to choose from. Many of which are experimentation on herbs and spices along with varying brewing methods that helps in creating different, but enticingly superb high quality fine tasting beer you will find nowhere else.

Kick Off June With A Night Of Blues, Food, And Culture

While downtown can boast a majority of music festivals and larger events in Hamilton, this weekend the quaint area of Westdale Village will host the first annual Hamilton Blues and Roots Music Festival. Presented by Sonic Unyon (among other sponsors), the festival will bring together local and travelling blues musicians to Westdale’s main hub for a warm evening of smooth tunes and great times. I for one am extremely excited that a festival so true to the spirit of the cultural transformation of Hamilton is happening down the street from my apartment!

Performances will be happening all day, so either stopping in for a few hours or spending the whole day in Westdale will be worthwhile. The festival will close down normal operation of the retail stores in Westdale for the day, so look forward to street performers, food and craft vendors, a beer garden, and a family movie event in the evening. Expect the event to have a similar vibe to the Supercrawl Festival that happens along James Street North in September— Sonic Unyon is the brains behind both events. Bring a group of friends, your family, or your favourite gal (or guy!)

The Hamilton Blues and Roots Festival is Saturday, June 1st with performances running form 10:00 am-11:00 pm. Look forward to performances by great local talents including Steve Strongman (headlining at 9:00pm), Terra Lightfoot, and Harrison Kennedy.

Westdale Village is in the west end of Hamilton, near McMaster University:

From downtown, King St. East will bring you right to the centre of the village. The HSR also has a few routes that will drop you off near the festival: the 01, 5C, 5E, 10, and 52 will all place you within 5 minutes of Westdale—note, however that those routs running directly through Westdale will probably diverge if the festival requires roadblocks.

If you are coming from up on the mountain you can take the Linc(oln Alexander Parkway) down if driving or catch a bus to the downtown GO centre and transfer.