ON BEING A PUBLICAN
by Debbie of the Woolwich Arms & Arrow PubAs the Publican at the Woolwich Arms & Arrow I have often wondered why so many people make our pub their 'local'. I think I understand why...
It's the opportunity to get into a great conversation with our many regulars on Friday night or just enjoy a quiet time reading the newspaper. For some the porch provides a nice location to just sit and enjoy the afternoon or evening. Many people come for our variety of music events including the celtic sessions and to see local singer songwriters.
Of course a major attraction is my friendly and attentive staff. Not to be missed is our ongoing food specials featuring local produce. The Woolwich has always had a reputation for it's regional micro brewery draught beer line-up. And now there's a big following for our very own Harvest Ale, brewed with our own Taste of Ontario brand. This beer is the first in 30 years to be made with locally grown barley.
As your host I encourage you to pick your own reason for making the 'Wooly' your favourite pub.
Cheers!
THE ORDER OF GOOD CHEER INSPIRES FOOD FESTIVAL
In the fall of 1606 Samuel de Champlain established the Order of Good Cheer in Port Royal, Nova Scotia. After the crops were gathered the colonists were well prepared for the Winter. To keep up the spirit of the little group, and also to assure a supply of fresh meat, Champlain organized "L'Ordre du Bon Temps" ["The Order of Good Cheer"] the first social club in America, north of the Gulf of Mexico.This was a way of warding off boredom and supplementing their diet, providing a diversion from everyday problems and an outlet to hone their hunting skills.
Each day one of the group was in charge of providing the food for the whole company of gentlemen and it was his duty to get out and hunt to have fresh game for the table.
Our Northern Lights Food Festival is a continuation of this tradition. Each day we'll feature a different food from one of Canada's major regions. Join us during the week of February 20 to 24, 2006 and celebrate the bounty of the New World and Good Cheer!
SUPPLIERS PROFILE
What Province What Beer?
|
Did you know that all beer sold in Ontario
is made with barley imported from Western Canada or from other countries?
It has actually been over 30 years since a beer was brewed with locally
grown barley. Thankfully the wait is over. The Arrow Neighbourhood Pub Group
which has long promoted the environmental slogan "Think Globally, Act Locally"
(actually "Drink Locally!"), has launched its own draught beer. Harvest Ale is being brewed under licence by Guelph's F&M Brewery. It is a very quaffable beer with a rich copper colour, full malt flavour and a perfectly blanced hop finish. Harvest Ale is a naturally made beer without any additives. And, yes, its made with barley grown in Ontario. Enjoy the harvest in your next pint. |
ANCIENT BREWERY UNEARTHED
Large-scale plant found in PeruDrink made from molle pepper plant
Miami - U.S. researchers have unearthed what they say may be the oldest known brewery in the Andes, a pre-Incan plant that could produce drinks for hundreds of people at one sitting.
The University of Florida said this week its archaeologists and researchers from the Field Museum in Chicago found the brewery at Cerro Baul, a mountaintop religious centre of the Wari empire that ruled what is now Peru hundreds of years before Incas.
At least 20 ceramic, 38- to 57-litre vats were found at the site some more than two kilometres up in the mountains of southern Peru.
"You get the idea that this is massive production, not just your basic household making beer to consume by itself," Susan deFrance, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Florida, said.
Patrick Ryan Williams, assistant curator at the Field Museum, said the site was remarkable for its size. Small-scale brewing is known to have been done in the Andes for thousands of years, he said by telephone from Peru.
The Wari civilization thrived from about A.D. 700 to 1000 conquering all of what is modern Peru before swiftly and mysteriuosly decling.
The brewery is thought to have produced "chicha," an alcoholic drink derived at the time mainly from a berry of the molle pepper plant. Modern chicha is made from corn.
Last year, University of Florida archaeologists discovered what they think are halls for "ritual intoxication" at Cerro Baul, where Wari noblemen apparentlyl feasted and drank.
Mike Moseley, associate chairman of anthropology at the university, said the halls "become a place where politics are negotiated and economic decisions are made."
Williams said each nobleman would have consumed up to 10 litres of chicha per ceremony.
The site appears to have been destroyed in a closing rite. The Wari burned the structures, threw their mugs into the embers and laid down a half-dozen necklaces of semiprecious stones as they left, said Moseley.
Reuters News Agency
CANADA'S ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES INDUSTRY
The great success of the Canadian alcoholic beverages industry can be attributed to a ready supply of high quality raw ingredients, innovative processing and brewing techniques, and the right climate.Canada's distilled spirits industry is perhaps best known internationally for Canadian whisky, or rye, our most popular domestic and exported distilled spirit. Canadian distillers manufacture spirits using readily available Canadian grains and potatoes and, in the case of liqueurs, fruits and nuts.
In 2002, Canada exported $941.5 million in distilled spirits, beer and wine. Distilled spirits exports totoalled nearly $488 million, beer exports were valued at over $351 million, and wine exports totalled more than $102 million. Of the wine exports, over $90 million included products other than grape wines, such as fermented beverages, cider, fruite wines, sherry, mead and hard lemonades.
From 1992 to 2002, shipments of alcoholic beverages increased significantly for all three industruies. Shipments of alcoholic beverages increased significantly for all three industries. Shipments of spirits increased by almost 52% from a value of $834.2 million in 1992 to a value of $1.3 billion in 2002. Shipments of beer increased 41% from a value of $2.9 billion in 1992 to a value of $4.1 billion in 2002. Finally, wine shipments totaled $290.9 million in 1992 and almost doubled in 2002 to a value of $577.4 million.
Canadian wines are gaining a strong reputation in Canada and abroad. Canadian Icewine, for example, is a sweet dessert wine that is celebrated around the world for its quality and has won several of the highest and most prestigious awards at international competitions.
Canadian Icewine relies on high-quality grapes grown in a cool climate to produce its unique characteristics.
Wines produced under the Vintners Quality Alliance (VAQ) banner must meet strict quality standards. Canadian vintners grow primarily quality Vitis Vinifera and hybrid grape varieties. Many of the old Labrusca grapes have been replaced with the Vinifera varieties (such as Chardonnay, Riesling, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon), allowing Canadian wineries to compete successfully with European wines in terms of quality.
Canadian malting barley, which is very high in quality, is in demand by brewers around the world. Canada supplies about 30 per cent of the world's barley.
Innovative products, such as low-alcoholic beverages, wine coolers, fruit wine coolers and hard lemonade, and ales, are gaining popularity, both in Canada and abroad.
BEER PRAYER
Which art in barrels,
Mellow be thy name.
I will be content
At home as I am in tavern.
Give us this day our foamy head.
Forgive us our spillages,
As we forgive those who bump against us.
Lead us not into incarceration,
But deliver us from hangovers.
For thine is the beer,
The bitter and the lager,
Forever and ever,
Barmen!
HEALTH NEWS
Beer Benefits Documented by ResearchersLondon, Ont. - Beer drinkers can raise a glass to the news their beverage of choice contains the same health benefits as red wine, according to researchers at The University of Western Ontario.
The researchers found one drink of beer or wine provides equivalent increases in plasma antioxidant activity which helps prevent the oxidization of blood plasma by toxic free radicals that trigger many aging diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and cataracts.
"We were very surprised one drink of beer or stout contributed an equal amount of antioxidant benefit as wine," said biochemistry and kinesology professor John Trevithick, one of the lead researchers, and an expert on the role of antioxidants in human health. "Especially since red wine contains about 20 times the amount of pholyphenols as beer."
Polyphenols are the compounds in plants that help prevent UV damage from the sun and make the cell wall strong. They are believed to have antioxidant benefits when consumed by the human body. Even though red wine contains more polyphenols than beer, this study showed the body absorbs about equally effective amounts of bioactive molecules such as polyphenols from beer and wine.
DRINK RESPONSIBLY!
A Message from the Prez
UNIQUELY FRESH AND LOCAL
Did you know the Arrow Pub Group is unique in its product offering?We were the first pub chain to embrace the burgeoning craft breweries of Ontario back in the early 90's. These quality beers now represent over 75% of our drafts on tap. Therefore, the beers in our pubs are fresher (than stale imports, for example). No less an authority than Micheal Jackson says that "99.9 per cent of beers are made to be consumed immediately after they leave the brewery." In other words, with beer, fresher is better.
We are also the only restaurant group that specializes in serving locally produced foods. It is our philosophy that food (and beverages) should travel as short a distance as possible on its way to your plate. The reason is that, as with beer, most food is best fresh. Also, the cost of transporting food is not only monetary... the amount of fuel used to bring us our food is a major contributor to the pollution of our planet. In Canada the food we eat has traveled, on average, 2,500 kilometers to reach your plate! It's time to stop the insanity.
At Arrow Pubs we endorse the environmental slogan 'Think globally, Act locally'. So buy local! and, visit us often!
Cheers!
Bob Desautels
JOKES and SHORT SAYINGS
Philosophers on Beer
Sometimes when I reflect on all the beer I drink I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. I think "It is better to drink this beer and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver".
Babe Ruth
24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think not.
H.L.Mencke
When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk, we fall asleep. When we fall asleep, we commit no sin. When we commit no sin, we go to heaven. So, let's all get drunk and go to heaven!
George Bernard Shaw
Beer if proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
Benjamin Franklin
A Panda walks into a restaurant, sits down and orders a sandwich. He eats the sandwich, pulls out a gun and shoots the waiter dead. As the panda stands up to go, the manager shouts, "Hey! Where are you going? You just shot my waiter and you didn't pay for your sandwich!"
The yells back at the manager, "Hey man, I'm a PANDA! Look it up!"
The manager opens his dictionary and sees the following definition for panda: "A tree dwelling marsupial of Asian origin, characterized by distinct black and white colouring. Eats shoots and leaves."
Mao
Sometimes when I reflect on all the beer I drink I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. I think "It is better to drink this beer and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver".
Babe Ruth
|
I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day. Dean Martin |
24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think not.
H.L.Mencke
When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk, we fall asleep. When we fall asleep, we commit no sin. When we commit no sin, we go to heaven. So, let's all get drunk and go to heaven!
George Bernard Shaw
Beer if proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
Benjamin Franklin
A Panda walks into a restaurant, sits down and orders a sandwich. He eats the sandwich, pulls out a gun and shoots the waiter dead. As the panda stands up to go, the manager shouts, "Hey! Where are you going? You just shot my waiter and you didn't pay for your sandwich!"
The yells back at the manager, "Hey man, I'm a PANDA! Look it up!"
The manager opens his dictionary and sees the following definition for panda: "A tree dwelling marsupial of Asian origin, characterized by distinct black and white colouring. Eats shoots and leaves."
Mao
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