The Travelling Sommelier

The Travelling Sommelier – Alcohol sales expand amid LCBO strike

BRIAN PRESTON Well it finally happened. The Ontario government is keeping an election promise to widen the availability of certain alcoholic beverages to various retail stores across the province. The […]

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The Travelling Sommelier: Summer wines and Alaskan brews

COLUMN BY BRIAN PRESTON This month we will explore summertime wine, Rosé in particular. LCBO is featuring this versatile and easy-drinking wine in their Vintages Release publication too. I will […]

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The Travelling Sommelier: Non-alcoholic beers

Non-alcoholic beers have come a long way since I last wrote about them in 2017. Non-alcoholic beer (or NA beer, as it’s sometimes called) starts life as a normal beer. […]

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The Travelling Sommelier: Bridge Masters Brewing Company

COLUMN BY BRIAN PRESTON.The Travelling Sommelier, Portland, ON at 613-272-3129, brianpreston@hotmail.com This fall I discovered Bridge Masters Brewery in Perth at 29 Beckwith Street East after visiting the Perth Royal Canadian Legion […]

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The Travelling Sommelier: KIN Vineyard

Brian Hamilton is a graduate of Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute, and was previously a winemaker at Malivoire, Southbrook Vineyard and Tawse Winery, all in Niagara Peninsula, and […]

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The Travelling Sommelier: The beers and wines of Collingwood

Consider this Part 2, as last month I wrote about Side Launch Brewery, one of what I consider to be the two top breweries in the Collingwood area. This month […]

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Beer, Wine & Spirits: Side Launch Brewing Co.

I’m just back from a week’s vacation in Collingwood on Georgian Bay, where I went to about 4 different local craft breweries and wineries, tasting my way through their portfolios. […]

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Beer Wine & Spirits: Fine Balance Brewing Company

I happened to be at my son’s place in Kingston next to Base Kingston recently. Right around the corner off Hwy 15 at Innovation Drive is this lovely modern brewery, […]

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Beer Wine & Spirits: Arbru Solar Brewery

Canada’s first 100% solar-powered brewery opened in 2022 in Front of Escott, a small community near Mallorytown located between Kingston and Brockville in Eastern Ontario. The brewer, Phil Audet, and […]

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Beer, Wine & Spirits: River House Vineyard and Winery

Monday was a sunny day and perfect for a country drive with the top down, meandering north to Maberly into the beginnings of the Canadian Shield where rocks, forest and […]

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Beer, Wine & Spirits: Beers of Southern France and Spain

This month I will take you on a beer tasting tour of Provence and the Riviera in Southern France and the Costa del Sol in Spain ending in Barcelona. We […]

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Beer, Wine & Spirits: 4 Degrees Brewery

We had a chance recently to sit down with Nick Ritchie of 4 Degrees brewery, at opening when the place wasn’t yet rockin’, to do a tasting and talk about […]

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Beer, Wine & Spirits: The world of rum – the underrated spirit

This month I am going to focus on one of the spirits that I think many don’t appreciate as much as they should in Canada, which has always been a […]

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Beer, Wine & Spirits: St. Patrick’s Day and all things Irish

What can we look forward to in March this year? Well, let’s see, there is International Women’s Day on 8 March; setting the clocks forward for Daylight Savings time on […]

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Beer, Wine & Spirits: Wines for Valentine’s Day

When you picture a romantic dinner date, what comes to mind… a candlelit dinner, roses, chocolate, slow music, some red wine? Red wine is often associated with Valentine’s Day, so […]

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Beer Wine & Spirits: Westport Brewing Company

Westport Brewing Company opened in 2018 and I wrote an article back then showcasing the new brewery and the new brews that they were making as well as getting a […]

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Beer, Wine and Spirits: Orange wine

This is the latest craze in the wine world. I will concentrate on just a few Orange wines from Ontario, B.C., France and Spain. We just returned from a long […]

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Beer, Wine & Spirits: Grenache/Garnacha

This month I thought I would break the seasonal rules and write about one of the oldest and most widely planted grapes that many don’t realize is found in many […]

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