Before getting into this review, I will have to apologize to all the others entering the Drinks with Friends contest here. This contest was made for me, being the Steem Beerologist, and I am most likely going to hit it out of the park! ;)

For the folks who have engaged with my #steemfoodtours review, THANK YOU and here is the second half of my review with a focus on the Beer for Drinks for Friends! You can check out the food-focused blog entry here...https://steemit.com/hive-114105/@zekepickleman/steem-food-tours-86-indie-alehouse-toronto-canada

Strap on your drinkin' socks and lets get into it!

Indie Alehouse Brewing Company https://indiealehouse.com/ is located in the up and coming Junction section of Toronto. This is my old hood before moving to the country so it is somewhat of a kick in the pants that they waited to open this place til after I moved away!

As the less expensive houses get purchased, gutted, remodeled, and resold for twice the price, trendy businesses are opening everywhere. This is a good example of a place that used to be something I cannot even remember, and is now someplace I would hang out.

When you first amble in, you are given the choice to take your group of drinkin buddies to a table or belly up to the bar. We chose the bar and this is our view for the evening.

What struck me immediately was not the nice number of taps, but how none of them are labelled with the beer within or a logo. How the hell do they memorize all these taps of obscure beer?

My smiling server was quick on the scene to offer a drink and unravel the mystery. You see, the beer first on the left hand side of the display on the wall is in the first tap. So, the server simply has to count down from there to see which tap dispenses what. I appreciate that as it is rather unique to not have an absolute mess of different brands and shapes and styles on a chaotic looking row of taps.

Can I start you with a drink?

Well, I am going to need a drink to wash down that rhetorical question so SURE, why not?

Looking at the list of draft, there is a great selection of a bunch of beers you have little chance of ever having heard of before. A bit of a nightmare for the mega brewery beer fans but an absolute treat for an adventurous Beerologist like me!

What a sweet blend of IPA, Sours, Wheat beer, Extra Special Bitter, Belgian tributes, and awesome guest taps to choose from.

As is my standard practice, I opted for their standard IPA as it is my personal measuring stick by which I evaluate a brewery. Instigator West Coast Style IPA is not very well described on their website https://indiealehouse.com/pages/brewery but was definitely enjoyable. I find west coast IPAs to be a little more bitter and have a bit more body than the sweeter east coast or New England IPAs. This one did not disappoint with its healthy pour, foam, bubbles and the flavour that was unleashed by the oxygen of the aggressive pour. I would have this again for sure.

It wouldn't be a Tasteem review without a shot of the menu. Lots to choose from and I go into more detail on the Steemfoodtours post if you care to read or check out my patented Dramatic Extreme Closeup!

What I found really neat was the back of the menu. It went in to how the magic happens with details on each of the stages of brewing. There are very few menus that educate and entertain like this and the inclusion of marketing the events and other features of the brewery was really well done.

Can I pour you another?

Now THAT is a question I was happy to answer.

"Well, I am a Beerologist, beer blogging on the STEEM platform and I have to ask you for your most interesting, different or outstanding beer."

If you want to get the royal treatment at the next brewery you visit, give a line like that a try. It was like a magic spell that opened him up for all sorts ofr conversation and consideration.

My new best friend though and deliberated, pursed and mumbled, and even had a pow-wow with his counterpart. This was a heavy question to ask indeed and he was not about to give anything but the best answer.

You can see by the pic above that he went for something dark. It was the Barrel Glory Belgian Dubbel which was about enough to make a hipster weep into his beard or even please the oldest of school beer lover who has his or her heart in the Trappist regions of Belgium. boozy * sweet * oaky has to be the perfect description for this bold and tasty beer in 3 words or less. It was equal parts Belgian, dubbel, barrel and glorious.

I will show you my friend again who is mimicking the reaction I gave him when he asked if I liked the Barrel Glory.

I have to show you the bill for my meal and beverages so that beer lovers across the globe can see what the proces are like on this side of the pond. $7.50 is rather standard for a good pint and the dubbel was only a half pint for the increased alcohol content. Different and bold and worth the $8 in my mind for the experience alone.

No brewery tour for Drinks with Friends is complete without a visit to the bottle shop as far as I am concerned. Though they were rather shy on my favourite vessel (growlers,) I probably would have stuck with the standard bottles anyhow. It will be a while before I get back to this place and my better half is getting a little grumbly about my growing growler collection. Besides that, I wanted a little more variety to try at home.

What did I pick and how did it taste? You will have to tune in next beer saturday and I will get into all the details for you!

That about wraps it up for this special Tasteem review and #beersaturday extravaganza. I would encourage you to make a tasteem review and have Drinks with Friends every week with @detlev, your buddy Zeke and the rest of the beer lovers on the blockchain. Be sure to hit the link to read more great beer stories, and pen one of your own!
https://steemit.com/hive-187719/@detlev/beersaturday-week-131

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Restaurant Information

Indie Alehouse Brewing Company

2876 Dundas St W, Toronto, ON M6P 1Y8, Canada

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Indie Alehouse - A Zeke Tasteem AND #beersaturday review!
This post participated in the Tasteem contest Beverages with friends

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