I enjoy seeing how things are done across the world by following blogs. So, I figured some of the brew crew might want to join me on my beer shopping trip!

Source: https://www.pinterest.pt/goldensaintbeer/ with a little Zeke design on top.

Normally, there are quite a few places for me to get the beer that fuels me for my honey-do list and as a Beerologist. Things have changed quite a bit over the past few months of containing a pandemic but there are quite a few options.

Here is how I landed a great haul today.

My Small Town

Before we get too much into it, here is the central square in my hometown. We have 5 small breweries, 2 beer stores, 2 liquor stores that sell beer, and more beer-selling restaurants per capita than you can imagine. That is one of the reasons my company @town-crier Marketing launched https://shopstratford.ca as we are passionate about supporting the local businesses and helping them connect with the strong community who shop local.

Another reason I start with this picture? These are all the tables that are shared by local restaurants in phase 2 of pandemic reopening which involves out door dining, and drinking beer in the square!

Al Fresco Dining!

Another really interesting change that would not have happened under normal circumstances is the city allowing those restaurants to take over the sidewalk with a patio for outdoor dining. Truth be told, I would prefer a tall pint over a Pink Whitney, but to each their own.

Local Breweries

There are a few local breweries as mentioned and I would prefer to buy all my beer from these places. Unfortunately, this one has yet to reopen since the lockdown as that and other business complications have forced a rebranding and reorganization. This was, perhaps, my third favourite local brewery and I will have to spin up a spotlight when it opens again.

Liquor Store

Beer and other alcohol, in this province, is predominantly retailed out of provincial government run LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario, or the rednecks call it the Lick-Bow) and Beer Stores. Interesting results of this are that the LCBO is the largest single purchaser of wine globally, sales top over $6 Billion a year, and there are 666 stores (reinforcing the evilness that is the government!)

Inside, you can find it all. Most of the shelf space is for wines from different regions but beer is becoming well-represented with shelf space as the craft movement has boomed.

To the Craft Beer Aisle!

While most of the supplycomes in 500 ml aluminum cans, there are still bottles to be found. The branding has gotten wild as debatably too many breweries enter the game and compete for shelf space and to stand out from the others.

Both sides of this incredibly varied and well stocked aisle boast a range of colours that I would imagine coming from a rainbow-vomiting unicorn. If you look closely, you will see the subject of many of the beers that have been highlighted in my Beerology pieces over the years. For the uninitiated, this may be overwhelming but the Molson, Labbatt and other bullshit mega brewery stuff is in the fridge where they pay the big bucks to be. So, this is the place for craft beer lovers who might just be happily overwhelmed.

One More Stop

I do have to support local with my purchasing as well and it is easy because the breweries I like are either within a couple blocks of downtown, or are on the short drive home. Long time followers are either used to me covering https://www.jobsitebrewing.ca/ or are considering taking me up on my offer to visit this and other local breweries and making a trip here. Do it!

Really nice people who can take a "I would like 6 of your hoppiest brews" and turn that into one of the tastiest ways of supporting local.

The Haul!

Generally, I like to get a few of my favourites, and sprinkle in a new beer or two for the beer blog and notches on my completely riddled belt. This time, there were so many new ones that I will have some photographung, tasting and reviewing to do. I was also very pleased to find 3 of my current top 5 IPAs available which I should update in a post in the coming weeks.

It was really difficult to get all of these different beers in one shot so I gave the panoramic shot a try. This is the party going on in my fridge right now and I really should invite company over for a session in the back yard.

Interested?

Mission Accomplished!

You have officially been beer shopping with the world-renowned Blockchain Beerologist! My fridge is happy and I will have fuel for all the manual labour I have planned, and the rest of the taking over the world stuff.

Thanks again for joining me!

#BEERSaturday!

Source: @handofzara

I have had hundreds of beers with my #BEERSATURDAY crew. It is week 166 already and our livers are holding strong! https://hive.blog/hive-187719/@detlev/beersaturday-week-166 is your link to the longest-running beer-drinking club on any blockchain. Take some pictures, tell some pub tales, and become a Beerologist by posting your own suddsy story with @detlev and yours truly.

I am honoured to curate for:

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A Pandemic cannot slow down the Blockchain Beerologist. How is your fridge lookin'?

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wesphilbin (66) 4 years ago

I remember just "drinking beer" when I was young. Then once I joined the U.S. Army... went to Germany, and drank Hefeweizen... Wow!... Great post as usual, thanks for taking us for a ride... !tip