![]() Just east of high park in Toronto between Keele St/Parkside drive and Ossington Ave is a number of breweries. Today's post is on one of those breweries; Bandit Brewery. Bandit is located in an old auto shop and it actually has an auto shop, a gas station and, a beer store as neighbors. In fact, the beer store is a direct neighbor. If that wasn't unique enough, the patio sure is. It's a very nice outside space in an area where most of the "outside" is the sidewalk and road. The patio has a very German beer garden feel to it and they'll tell you that is on purpose. Bandit was started by Shezad Hamza (who worked for a manufacturing company) and Stephane Dubois (formally a mechanical engineer). The 2 met in 2012 and Stephane, who had been home brewing for 10 years, introduced Shezad to making beer. As many of these stories go; they bonded over their love of beer and decided one day to quit their jobs and start a brewery and, in 2016 that became a reality. One of the things I really like about Bandit is that they straight up say (on their website) "we make beer that we like". Why the heck not, right? While this is not unique to Bandit, one of the things they do that I like is changing their recipe. For example; the YY* milkshake series see a change in hops or fruits used to give you a different experience. I like getting to try something new but still get the comfort of knowing there is some familiarity thus knowing it will likely be very good. Bandit also offers a full food menu. They have brunch, a large selection of snacks, salads and, sandwiches. Something I rarely talk about when mentioning a brewery is social media engagement. Truth is, social media is a great tool for breweries. We've seen a debate on a certain "chunky" beer (I don't want to get into that) all over social media. I need to being social media up with Bandit, as someone who's created dedicated accounts that are associated with this site (and have kept my personal social media separate) I've seen what it's like to jump into a world that is already alive and well and how easy it is to get lost in the shuffle as someone who is new to the scene. While I'm not "hunting for likes", it still can be intimidating to just jump in. Bandit have always been great at engaging with me and I've noticed they do so with others too. While I wouldn't think less of them if they didn't, it's one of those small extra things I appreciate about this brewery. Just wanted to give them props. Speaking of giving them props, how can you not love that logo? To date, I've tried 7 of their beers in my 3 trips. There has not been one that I thought was a "pass" for me, all were very good. That made Jer's picks really hard to do but I narrowed it down to 3. Jer's Picks: YY*-->WLG: This is one beer from the milkshake IPA series that Bandit does. If you've read my previous entries, you know I love milkshake IPAs. This one features blackberry puree and galaxy and citra hops. The Bandit milkshake series are a little creamy, which I love. They also include vanilla. This one has a little hint of sour and the sweetness from the vanilla balances it out. YY*-->GRU: Another entry from the milkshake series. You'll notice they are named in the format of YY*--> then another airport code. The reason for the YYZ (Toronto airport code) being depicted as YY* is a bit of controversy with naming issues but the idea is that each beer in the series is inspired by different parts of the world. This one is Brazil. The fruit used was guava and strawberry, vanilla and pectin are used in this one as well. This was the first Bandit beer I tried and my love affair for Bandit started with this tasty treat. Cloud: This beer is a New England Style IPA. Yeah, I know, I'm being really predictable here. Juicy, hazy, stonefruit, a bitter back. Features galaxy, gitra, summer and, el dorado hops. This is a well crafted NEIPA that I could easily keep going back to.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
April 2019
Categories |