Local craft beers spice up holidays
By Thomas Hall and Shannon Lough The holiday season has traditionally been a time for mulled wines, eggnog and cider. But some local beer makers are hopeful craft beers can make inroads on the holiday turf. “There’s a dramatic shift in the way the city views beer,” Patrick Fiori, Clocktower Brew Pub’s brew master said. “People who are willing to spend a little more on quality are craft beer drinkers.” Clocktower is tapping its festive holiday stout for the fifth year today. “It’s dark brown in colour and a little on the sweet side,” said Fiori. “We add nitrogen to it instead of CO2 to give it a creamy taste, similar to Guinness.” “It’s a nice beer after a long day of winter shopping, low in alcohol and creamy,” Fiori said. Across Ottawa a new player in the craft beer market, Beyond the Pale, has just released its first winter brew. “We have a number of different beers that we will put out every month or every other month. The Darkerness is one that we’ve just released, and will continue to put out throughout the winter,” said Robert McIsaac, a partner at Beyond the Pale. “The Darkerness is a 10.2 per cent oatmeal stout. It’s big, multi-flavoured and awesome. And if you drink too much of it, it may kill you,” McIsaac said with a grin. The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) has been working with Ontario’s craft brewers for about ten years, Heather MacGregor, a spokesperson for the LCBO, said. “We have a very good relationship with the Ontario Craft Brewers Association. It’s been mutually very beneficial,” said MacGregor. “It’s a huge category for us, and we work very closely with the Ontario Craft Brewers.” “In 2006 we sold 2.5 million bottles of craft beer, which was about $4.5 million in sales. By last year sales were up to $40 million,” MacGregor said. According to an LCBO fact sheet on craft beer, last year craft beer sales grew by 33 per cent, the highest growth rate for all beer segments in Ontario. “Only ten per cent of beer drinkers are currently drinking craft beers,” said McIsaac. “There is a lot of room for the market to grow as more people are exposed to new types of beer.” Here are three Beyond the Pale brews: Their best seller Pink Fizz, and two newer beers, including the holiday special the Darkerness. Craft Beers in Ottawa with Patrick Fiori, Clocktower Brew...
Ottawa food bank hopes holiday donations last through winter
By Brett Throop and Jordanna Tennebaum It’s the busiest time of year at the Ottawa Food Bank’s warehouse in Gloucester. As shelves fill, volunteers cross their fingers that the food being collected will last after the season of giving has passed. “The challenge is that we feed people every month, 12 months of the year,” said Michael Maidment, executive director of the Ottawa Food Bank. “It’s definitely more difficult to collect food after Christmas.” Ottawa Food Bank event coordinator Maggie Rose said those who work at the food bank joke about waiting for the snow to fall for donations to start flooding in. Luckily the snow came early this year, and donations came with it. Maidment said the holiday season is a big spur for people to donate. “People are feeling very charitable and they’re starting to get into that holiday spirit,” he said. Many families and corporations make collecting food and money donations part of their holiday events, Maidment said. But this still might not be enough food to last the winter. The Ottawa Food Bank estimates that it receives almost half of its annual donations during the holidays. Maidment expects the food being collected now will last until about mid-February. Donations plummet in January and February, “so we need to make sure that the inventory that we have in the warehouse can sustain families into that time as well,” Maidment said. Adding their share to stock the food bank’s shelves on Tuesday were eight members of the local charity GoodGuysTri, who unloaded 1300 kilograms of donated goods collected during a month-long food drive. “At this time of year the Ottawa Food Bank is on a number of people’s minds, because it is the holiday season, whether it be Eid, Hannukah, Christmas or whatnot,” said Mike Herzog, founder of GoodGuysTri. Heightened awareness doesn’t necessarily result in the donation of healthy, balanced foods, however. For that reason, the Ottawa Food Bank is asking for donations from a list of healthy items they currently lack. Maidment said canned meat and fish, peanut butter, rice and whole wheat breakfast cereals are most needed right now. The food bank also fundraises money for perishable foods like fresh fruits and vegetables that food drives aren’t able to collect. In fact, the food bank’s activities reach well beyond the traditional food drive. It runs a breakfast and after school snack program for children, a baby supply cupboard and donation programs for chicken, vegetables and other perishable goods. Ottawa Public Health bolsters the food bank’s programs by helping those who access the donated goods meet their nutritional needs. “The reality for those who access food...
Opinion: Winter woes inspire call for kindness
By Sarah Trick For most people this season marks the start of some fun adventures, like skiing, sledding, or snowball fights. But for people in wheelchairs like me, the first snowfall is a cause for pure dread. My motorized wheelchair, which gives me so much freedom most of the time, is completely useless in the snow. I wasn’t too worried this past Sunday night as I made my way to an Advent carol service. In fact, I was looking forward to getting into the spirit of the season. While on the bus, I thought about what I wanted to say in my op-ed column for this week’s Times. I wanted to get across to readers how much harder winter was for some of us, how it rendered us either housebound or in peril. I’ll give lots of advice to clueless able-bodied people, I thought. It will be great. But when the bus stopped calling out the stops and let me off far from my destination, I knew I was in trouble. As regular OC Transpo riders know, a few years ago the transit company started an automated system for calling the stops, which has been a godsend for those of us with disabilities. Obviously it helps people with visual impairments to know where they’re going, but since wheelchairs must face the rear of the bus, it tells us too. But last Sunday night, the automated voice went silent, leaving me adrift in an unfamiliar area of downtown. I missed my stop without even knowing it had gone by. The bus driver was sympathetic but was no help, saying he “had to focus on driving.” After pointing me in a direction (which I later found out was the wrong one), he was off to his next stop. The sidewalk wasn’t plowed and the snow was too much for my chair. I hadn’t gone very far before my wheels were spinning. Undaunted, I did what any resourceful young person would do: I got out my phone and started whining on social media. This accomplished nothing except to worry my mother. After about half an hour of cursing, I noticed a young woman walking by and called for help. She quickly called her roommates, and the four of them began an epic quest to get me back to the main road. This took up much of the rest of their evening, since they had to fish me out of several more snow banks as I kept going, and I am very grateful. So instead of ranting about how the able-bodied just don’t get it, I will thank Samantha, Laura, Jenna, Kelly and...
First taste of winter for Tibetans starting a new life in Ottawa
By Shannon Lough Volunteers held bags full of winter jackets as ten Tibetans arrived in Ottawa airport last Friday night to begin their new lives in Canada. As the newcomers came down the escalator, a group of volunteers were there to welcome and prepare them for the bitter –16 C temperature outside. On a night that felt more like the chill of mid-January than November, people came prepared to equip the new Canadians with winter coats. Tashi Wangdi, the retired home minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, had garbage bags full of puffy jackets for the newcomers. Tenzin Tsangyang, one of the new arrivals, had traveled for more than 24 hours from New Delhi, India. “I’m exhausted but at the same time very excited,” Tsangyang said. He did some research on the internet to prepare for life and winter in Ottawa. “I heard it’s a very cold place. Other than that I heard that it’s one of the capital cities.” Champa Tenzin, a Tibetan who moved to Canada six months ago, was one of the volunteers handing out jackets. A smiling Tenzin said that Wangdi recruited him to bring the jackets. He said he is excited to experience his first winter. “I haven’t seen a lot of snow and some of my friends are telling me the middle of winter is very cold. I want to experience it,” Tenzin said. The ten newcomers to Ottawa are part of the Tibetan Resettlement Project, a special immigration plan organized by the Canadian government and a volunteer organization. In 2007, there was an agreement between the Dalai Lama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper to bring in 1000 Tibetans from Arunachal Pradesh, a refugee community in Northern India. After years of organization, the process is finally underway. Over the next two years, 90 Tibetans will make their way to Ottawa and this first group will have the opportunity to get settled during Canadian winter. Other Tibetans who were at the airport to welcome the new arrivals reflected on their first Canadian winter. Wangmo Konchok moved to Ottawa two years ago with her mother. She was sponsored to live here by her sister and her sister’s husband, David McDowell. “When they came two years ago it was the absolute mildest winter we ever had and she thought it was cold,” McDowell said. He said he remembers later during that winter his wife and newly arrived sister-in-law “went for a walk and she’s chanting ‘Very cold, going to die.’” He laughs at the memory. In spite of the cold, Konchok has attempted some winter activities since she came to Ottawa. “I tried to learn to skate but...
Ottawa band crowdfunds Christmas album
By Kyle Duggan and Brett Throop One Christmas, North Easton made a promise to his mother: he would write her a Christmas album of his own songs. That was some years ago. And while Easton plugged away at the Christmas collection over the years, tragically, his mother died of lung cancer before the project could be completed. Now, with the help of online fundraising, Easton is making good on his promise. Easton and his three-piece acoustic band, My Favourite Tragedy, raised $6,414 on Kickstarter, a popular crowdfunding website, to produce the original Christmas album. The album has eight songs that tell intimate stories about family and the holidays. The band is doing a music video for the song Christmas Lights, which is about Easton’s father’s tradition of waking him up early to put up the Christmas lights—rain or shine. Click on the photo below to view an audio slideshow about the making of their music video for Christmas Lights. “Traditions of Christmas aren’t just waiting in a mall in a line up to buy something somebody doesn’t want. But more like sharing something inside of you that’s real,” he said. The group’s Kickstarter page asked for $5,000 to produce the album and raised it with just three days to go before their deadline. They then pushed on to get another thousand to make the video for Christmas Lights. Drummer Phil Desmarais said friends wanted to buy an original Christmas album but the band didn’t have the resources to make one. But when Easton found Kickstarter, he saw an opportunity to launch their album. Kickstarter works by direct donations, where artists pitch their project to potential backers. If the backers like what they see, they can donate to the project in exchange for products or services. “There was a musician on there who raised over $1.5 million and I thought this could very well be the next revolution in music,” Easton said. “Artists now have a chance to sell to their fans before they’ve created their product, as long as the trust value is there.” Desmarais said crowdfunding is a “very democratic way of getting things produced because ultimately the public has the right to say what is good and what is not.” Phil’s brother, John-Marc Desmarais, plays bass and cello for the group. “It’s kind of a gamble on backers’ part given that the product they’re trying to purchase hasn’t yet been produced,” he said. “But thankfully they’re willing to gamble.” He added the band will likely look to Kickstarter again for future projects based on their success. The group raised funds from 92 people around the world, offering...