Toronto Wine & Spirit Festival's Blog

Toronto Wine and Spirit Festival Feedback

torontowinefestival — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 21:51:46 +0000

Hey everyone, we can’t believe it has already been a month since Toronto Wine & Spirit! We just wanted to take some time to thank everyone for their feedback and get back to you.
We are so happy that most of you had a good time and look forward to having you back! For those with concerns we wanted to follow up and provide you with some information on how we aim to improve the Festival next year.
Venue- This was our first year at Polson Pier, so we weren’t sure where our issues were going to be. Now that we know, there will definitely be some significant improvements to 2012. We haven’t 100% confirmed our venue, but we thought that Polson Pier worked well as far as what it provided our vendors and guests.
Features – We do have many plans to improve the Polson Pier site: Landscaping features, trees, and LOTS more seating!
Leaving the Distillery – We outgrew the Distillery. We needed more space for year 3 and the Distillery wasn’t able to provide it for us. New developments in fire lanes were actually going to reduce our space and this wasn’t an option. We love and miss the cache that only the Distillery possesses.

Getting there – If we decide to stay at Polson Pier, our complimentary shuttle service will be increased significantly. We didn’t think it would have been used as much as it was.
We hope that those who experienced anything negative, will come back out next year as the Festival will be bigger and better. We look forward to seeing you next June to welcome the summer of 2012!

The Toronto Wine & Spirit Team

Your Great Canadian Cocktail Party!

torontowinefestival — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 13:08:08 +0000

Looking to have a party on Canada Day weekend?!? Want it to be 100% Canadian? Make sure your bar is stocked with all your favourite Canadian Brands! Whether it’s a party for 2 or a party for 250 mix and match the following Canadian Brands and you will never go wrong!

Now Beer seems to always be a necessity during these long cottage and summer weekends so make sure you are support your favourite Canadians. Mix and match some 6 and 12 packs behind the bar of Beau’s, Cameron’s, Creemore and King. Ladies and gent’s please make note- if you’ve got a guest who is into a Cider- make sure to stock Thornburry’s Cider to tickle their tastebuds.

Wine is always tricky- but if you’d like to treat your guests t some great Canadians stock some gems from Colio, Tawse, 13^th Street, Staff or CREW Wineries.

Nothing Tops off a refreshing summer weekend like ice cold Gin beverage. VictoriaGin a British Comubia based Gin is one of our absolute favourites. You’ll even have non-Gin lovers converted to the other side.

An excellent Vodka for an extremely reasonable price is TAG. A new comer to thelandofVodkaand we promise you, you won’t be disappointed.

Forget theUSbased company coolers and show your pride by grabbing a 12 Mixer pack of Black Fly Beverages Vodka Coolers along with a 4 pack of their delicious Marguerita Bevy’s to make some delicious blended drinks.

Need a dessert wine to pair with that delicious Blueberry or Cherry Cheese Cake? Muskoka Lakes Winery has 3 Canadian winners that would pair perfectly to top off that amazing dinner!

Whether you stock all or some you and your guests are sure not to be disappointed and beaming with Canadian Pride!

A Big Thank You!

torontowinefestival — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 15:54:12 +0000

Hey all,

we just wanted to give a big thank you to all of our guests and Vendors. With our you we don’t have a show so it means a lot to us that you all came out! We hope you all had a fantastic time and we’ll be in touch shortly about our upcoming festivals!

Our apologies we weren’t on the blog to answer your questions during the days of the festival. We failed to communicate that we were only accessible by Twitter. We’ll make sure we are better at that in the future!

Thanks again to all!

Toronto Wine & Spirit Festival FAQ’s

torontowinefestival — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:48:18 +0000

We’ve been receiving some questions and we want to make sure everyone has the answers to them before you arrive at the festival.

Buying Tickets at the Door: Tickets at the door are $30.00 and we only accept cash. Please keep this in mind.

ATM’s: There will be ATM’s available on site inside the festival.

Drink and Food vouchers – They are $1 each and available at two voucher booths onsite. Samples range from 1-4 vouchers, but the average sample is 1 or 2.

Shuttle Bus: We have a free shuttle bus available on the South side of Front St. In front of Union Station heading directly to the festival. There will be a sign and 2 lovely Wine & Spirit Staff Standing there to guide you.

Transportation: There is parking available; however, we do encourage the use of our Shuttle Bus, the 72A or 72B Pape bus or grabbing a cab. Please do not Drink & Drive.

Food? Yes we have food! For a list of all vendors go to:
http://www.wineandspiritfestival.ca/PDF/Vendor_WineSpiritFestival.pdf

If you have any more questions, please post them here and we’ll answer them as soon as possible.

Tipicular Fixin’s and with Victoria Gin in the #TWS11 School

torontowinefestival — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 17:30:16 +0000

Victoria Gin Mixology Seminar: Friday June 17th at 7:15pm

Want to learn the art of how to make the perfect classic and contemporary Martini?

How about impressing your friends with ‘spirited’ knowledge that only the master mixologists know?

Join Tipicular Fixin’s Trevor Burnett

Featuring Victoria Gin,Canada’s first premium gin!

Come prepared to shake, stir, and sip!

Garden to Glass Cocktails on Saturday June 18th at 2:45pm

Join Tipicular Fixin’s Whitney Munro and find out how to use fresh food to make simple, delicious cocktails.

Featuring Victoria Gin,Canada’s first premium gin!

Wine 101 with iYellow Wine Club Thursday and Friday at 7:15pm

torontowinefestival — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 21:02:28 +0000

Want to build your wine confidence? This class teaches you iYellow’s 5 Easy Steps to tasting wine so you can taste wine like a pro! You’ll sample 5 wines from around the globe and figure out which wine you enjoy most and why. This interactive,friendly and approachable class will give you the tools to understand why you like the wine you do.

iYellow Wine Club

iYellow Wine Club is Toronto’s hottest Social Wine Club with over 7000 members. Build your wine confidence, meet new people and sip on great wines while being social at wine events, on wine tours and at wine school! Membership is Free so become a member today atwww.iyellowwineclub.com

Black Fly Beverages in the Toronto Wine & Spirit School

torontowinefestival — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 18:57:59 +0000

Thursday June 17^th -Black Fly Cocktail Creations for the guys and girls in your lives!! At 6:30pm

Come by and check out how to create an easy and tasty beergarita with Black Fly and Mill Street Brewery products. As well we will create a cocktail with our new Blueberry Vodka Mixed Drink. Perfect pairs for entertaining both the guys and the girls!

Saturday June 18^th- Local Flavours Collide by Black Fly at 2 pm

Experience the combination of Nickel Brooks Apple Pilsner and Black Fly’s Vodka Blueberry Mixed drink. Then stick around for a celebration of locally made party favorites, Black Fly’s Vodka Cranberry Mixed Drink and Ontario grown sparkling wine – the perfect pairing for that special occasion!

#TWS11 School: Sip and Taste – Gourmet Beverage and Food tasting

torontowinefestival — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:36:03 +0000

Toronto Wine & Spirit School: Friday June 18th 6:30pm

Tasting Overview:

Make plans to join us for a truly unique sweet and savoury Sip and Taste with signature cocktails and custom made recipes alongside Professor/Chef/ Sommelier Doris Miculan Bradley.

About the Presenter

Professor Doris Miculan Bradley shares 27 years of Food and Beverage experience at The Toronto Wine & Spirit School 2011. She currently teaches at The School of Hospitality Tourism Management at George Brown College Toronto.

Candice Chantrell at #TWS11

torontowinefestival — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 18:17:08 +0000

Super excited to have Candice Chantrell back opening up the Festival from 12pm-1:30pm on Saturday June 18th.

Check out her music or follow her on twitter with the links below.

http://www.candicechantrell.com

http://www.facebook.com/candicechantrell

http://www.twitter.com/cchantrell

http://www.myspace.com/candicechantrell

Shawn Brady at TWS11

torontowinefestival — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 17:13:23 +0000

Hey everyone,

Check out Shawn Brady at Toronto Wine & Spirit Festival this year on Thursday June 16th or Saturday June 18th. He’s opening up the show from 6:00pm to 7:30pm.

Follow him @bradyvox to see where else he’s playing or take a listen at http://www.shawnbrady.com