Will be in Toronto next week for business and looking for beer bar recommendations near downtown. Will be close to PMH and need some good places for dinner and good brews. Thanks,
www.barvolo.com (Fantastic taps and bottle list. I have yet to be disappointed by their House Ales label) www.beerbistro.com (Amazing food and the best bottle list in the city) www.cestwhat.ca www.theonlycafe.com www.bellwoodsbrewery.com (Some of the best locally produced beers in the city. If you're only going to hit one spot, I would suggest Bellwoods.) That should keep you busy. Have fun in Toronto.
Thanks for the advice. I'll definitely check some of these out. How safe is downtown around Yonge St?
Not trying to thread jack. Might seem like stupid question... Heading downtown next weekend with my brother and his brother-in-law. Is anyone aware of any rules about bringing backpacks to these places? I'm hoping to get some beer to go and don't feel like bringing bags of beer on the subway home lol.
Re safety : Toronto is one of the safest cities in the world and in 30 years I've rarely seen any issues staggering home. But it is a city and like most, has a wide wealth demographic - so keep your wits about you, avoid anything anything that feels sketchy and you'll be fine. Re backpacks : highly recommend, as it is awkward to carry beer about. Don't know if there are formal rules, but personally often carry one and have never had questions (with or without beer contents)...
Just so you know, bars can't sell bottles of beer except for on-premises consumption. Only the LCBO and Beer Store.
Matt, don't bother with Mill Street, honestly not worth the trip for anything they may have (and the distance you'll need to travel).
Bellwoods doesn't sell bottles all the time. From time to time they will open up the "pop-up retail store" and sell bottles for an afternoon. Keep your eye on their web site as they will announce the sales in advance. Hopefully you get lucky and there is a sale this weekend.
Lol I'm going anyway. My brother and his brother in law are huge fans of the place (working toward their names on the wall mug club) It's guys weekend bar hopping. Besides they need me to drink the beer styles they don't like for their stamp card (They need 6 Cobblestone Stout stamps lol) Bellwoods isn't for sure yet. We'd have to cab it by the looks of it.
If they do bottle sales this weekend, I highly recommend that you find your way there for some bottles.
To the OP: everything that Creetoper recommended is bang on, and the only other bar that I would suggest is Smokeless Joe on College (if you have time to hit multiple spots). Impressive tap list, excellent food and ambience, and the best service of any beer bar in the city. Regarding the safety question, you will find Toronto to be shockingly safe for its size (2.5 million people), especially in comparison to most American cities. For example, whereas Kansas City has a population of ~485,000 and a homicide rate of 21 cases per 100,000 people, Toronto has 5 times the population but only 1.6 homicides per 100,000. Have fun, be safe, and let us know how it went when you get back! Cheers
Kansas City is a poor example because the statistics you cite are analogous to only citing downtown Toronto's crime stats. Kansas City has 1.6 million people in urban population and 2.2 million metro. (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City,_Missouri). Virtually all major US cities have a small official city with lots of suburban cities that you can't tell the difference as you drive. It is somewhat like Toronto before the mega city. That said, Toronto is quite safe if you aren't in a gang and dealing drugs.
Actually, most American cities are also quite safe too if you aren't in a gang or dealing drugs, particularly in the areas where you'd be seeking out craft beer. For reference, my neighborhood in Chicago (roughly 100,000), has had 11 homicides over the last six years. Four were in an arson started by an insane homeless person, one was an abused infant, two were domestic stabbings, and at least two of the remaining four were people who brought some gang squabble from another part of town. Not exactly a hotbed of violence. Even though I know Canada is generally 'safer' than the US, the only place I've actually been a victim of a crime was in Toronto. Ironic eh?
LOL, sorry dude, but you're completely wrong on this. I cited the "city proper" populations and "city wide" (i.e. excluding metro areas) crime stats for both cities, so homicides per 100,000 is a fair indicator for comparison. I used Kansas City as an example because the OP lives 55 minutes away from there. And the fact that Toronto's official boundaries now incorporate former suburbs actually WORSENS its murder rate, as the vast majority of homicides in 2011 occurred in the northwest and east ends (with only ~10 reported downtown). Sources: http://ow.ly/cixQW (T.O. murder rate of 1.6 per 100,000; applies strictly to the city proper) http://ow.ly/cizGd (sort by murder rate per 100,000 and KC proper ranks 8th highest in the U.S.)
Back on subject: Bar Hop at King and Spadina is also a great destination. http://www.barhopbar.com/home.html
Correction: it doesn't increase the rate since more people are included in the calculation; what I meant to say is that more murders occurred in Toronto's northwest and east ends than downtown in 2011. So the idea that downtown is naturally more dangerous than the amalgamated areas is incorrect. Anyway, I'm sure by now the OP gathers that he'll be safe to bar hop without any problems. You're right. It's so new that I forgot to mention it, but it's currently my second highest rated bar in Ontario.
