Jared at the Distillery District in Toronto.
An Introduction or: How Pumpkins are the Ties that Bind
Where to begin?
I guess introductions are in order: my name is Jared Lewinski and beer is my everything. Currently, I am a student at Niagara College Teaching Brewery in the Brewmastery and Brewery Operations Management program, as well as an employee at River Horse Brewing Co., located in Lambertville, New Jersey. I have been brewing with increasing intensity since the age of twenty two, and I am now knocking on the door of the big three oh. I am, originally, from the always humble United States of America, and as such my opinions are also always humble. I have sensory training in beer tasting, so sometimes I have good things to say about beer in this respect. But, let us get down to the heart of it – I have big opinions about beer and I have reasons to have them.
My goal in writing for the amazing people and readers here at Good Food Revolution is to use my love and education concerning beer, as both a delicious beverage and as a locus of culture, to try to enrich lives, direct readers to great examples of craft beer made in Canada and abroad, and push for positive change in attitudes toward beer for those who have yet to fall in love with it. I will do my best to bring original content directly from the mouths of brewers in the industry, as well as try to keep people informed of who has your best interests at heart when they make a beer for you to consume.
Also, I will most likely be ranting and raving about the LCBO in many respects, as it has stymied the growth of an amazing craft beer revolution in Ontario. I mean, cast your eyes West-ward. British Columbia is where Ontario could be – Hell, I posit it is where it SHOULD be. But, this is a topic for another day.
Now, how is it that I tricked Mr. Drummond into letting me write my (always humble) opinions for Good Food Revolution? Back in November, there was an event at Niagara College called “Caps, Corks, and Forks”. This event was a six course menu of food prepared by the Culinary school, and paired with wine and beer from the Winery and Viticulture program and Brewmaster and Brewery Operations Management program respectively. The course I was in charge of pairing-wise, was a duck entrée, made with seasonal vegetables – butternut squash, pumpkin, and roasted beets. The pairing offered for this was Grand River’s Highballer, a pumpkin seasonal ale. This went up against some kind of red wine (duck and reds? Who knew?), and the reason I do not care to remember is because it lost fairly handily to Team Beer’s choice. Fast forward to the end of the night – Team Beer came away with the first win over wine by a tie-breaker of how many more votes we received overall. Before Mr. Drummond left, we got to talking about beer fermented within actual pumpkins (which is awesome), and developed a correspondence that eventually lead to what I assume was a drunken decision to ask me to write for him and GFR. So, really, pumpkins are the ties that bind in this situation. Vive la Pumpkin!
In closing, I would like to address a few caveats. The first of which is that I will be approaching much of my content as an outsider – I am an American writing about Canadian beer and beer culture. I hope this will give me a critical and unbiased eye which will only benefit the readership of GFR. Secondly, I will be blunt. I will be unabashedly straight forward in my criticism of beer that I feel can be better. Of breweries that can be better. I am a critic of beer always, and striving for perfection, not only in my own beers that I formulate and produce, but in beers that I drink and love as well. Thirdly, I will most likely, almost assuredly, offend. Like I said, I have (always humble) big opinions. I do not claim them as canon, but as far as I am concerned, it is alpha and omega. Finally, I want to foster debate and dialogue – towards myself, towards beer consumers, towards beer producers, and towards the LCBO as well.
Oh, and fuck the Beer Store. Literally, fuck the Beer Store. Readers of GFR, please please please never ever buy anything from the Beer Store, as it is run by the scum of the beer universe. AB InBev, MillerCoors, and Sapporo (who owns Sleeman and Unibroue) are here to kill a Canadian borne craft beer revolution. Do not support them. Ever. Thank you.
Salutations and cheers, I will be looking forward to my time with GFR and the readers here. I hope I can help change some lives, or at the very least get you all drinking damn fine beer.
Sincerely,
Jared Lewinski
Jared Lewinski is obsessed with beer. As such, he has uprooted his life in New Jersey to attend the Brewmastery and Brewery Operations Management program at Niagara College, a program that has, for the past three years, been producing top-tier brewers for Canada and beyond. As a child of the American Craft Movement, Jared has big opinions and a love for big beers. His hope is to bring an outsider’s perspective to a fascinating and tumultuous time for Canadian and Ontario made craft beer, and the culture that it represents…And he is hoping this will be a fun ride for all involved!
