“Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose. Nobody goes…
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As a vivid figure of speech meaning something so fouled up as to be utterly useless, “dog’s breakfast” can cover anything from a play plagued…
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Introduction: Craft Beer Curling League
Dominion City Brewing Co. is on its way to releasing a new beer in the Ottawa area and the branding has inspired me to build a craft beer league at our club. This beer is a great illustration of the growing relationship between the craft beer community and the curling community. The two groups of people are a match made in heaven! Two years ago the St. Catharines Golf and Country Club curling section celebrated its 50th year of operation, so curling has a long history similar to brewing in this town. Beer and curling have always gone together and some of the major breweries like Molson’s and Labatt’s have capitalized on this. It’s taken awhile, but the curling community is starting to become aware of craft beer culture, and for me it’s great to see beer that I love appearing in the tap line. Part of my self-appointed role at the club has been to act as a craft beer ambassador – a fun and well respected position.
With my interest in curling and its connection to brewing Barley Nectar – I thought why not merge the two areas of interest into a common goal? One of the great things I learned hanging out with the members of the Niagara Home Brew Society, was how cool it was to share a common interest in craft beer. I loved this aspect of the Facebook group. However I’ve noticed that there isn’t much chatter during the month leading up to the next meeting. Unfortunately this curling season, a lot of the meetings seemed to fall on the days I had already committed to curl.
An Idea Emerged…
Why not create a scenario where people have a reason to get together (like a curling game schedule), and also share a common interest in beer? In this specific case the league would occupy an unused late draw on Wednesday evening at the St. Catharines Golf & Country Club. Why Wednesday? Well coincidentally it’s a dead spot at the club, and secondly, it dovetails with the Home Brew Wednesday phenomenon on YouTube. The following steps will provide a simple starting point for you to plug in to the club and enjoy that cold golden Barley Nectar.
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An Ancient Game of Honor
Then to the inn they a’ repair,
To feast on curlers’ hamely fare—
On beef and greens and haggis rare,
And spend the nicht wi’ glee, O!
And there owre tumblers twa or three,
Brewed o’ the best o’ barley bree,
They sing and jest while moments flee,
Around that social tee, O!”
T. S. Aitchison.
The Cold War Has Begun…
No matter how fierce the battle, there is a common tradition in curling that the winners and the losers sit down to a pint of warming fluid. It’s in this moment – bellies full of Barley Nectar that the best stories get told. Two such tales have unfolded between the most unlikely of characters, a quiet feud deep in the heart of the 2016 Scott Tournament of Hearts in Grande Prairie, Alberta. While the mass media has focused on the lovely ladies in the curling rink these battle scarred foes have tested their resolve.
6 Comments“If you do not know where you come from, then you don’t know where you are, and if you don’t know where you are, then…
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