Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Live from Great Lakes Brewery: Toronto Mike'd #725

Episode Date: September 23, 2020

Mike sets up his studio on the Great Lakes Brewery patio to kick out beer drinkin' jams with Troy Burtch.

Welcome to episode 725 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing. Amazing beer. Pumpkins After Dark. Save 10% with the promo code Mike to M-I-K-E-D. CDN Technologies. Your outsourced IT

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Mike to five, nine, five, five, nine and Palma pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. I'm Mike from Toronto, Mike.com and joining me this week live

from Great Lakes Brewery in glorious... Glorious. Glorious Etobicoke. South Etobicoke. South Etobicoke. It's Troy Birch. G'day. Troy again, for the 400th time, what is your title today?

Marketing and Communications Manager of Great Lakes Brewery. You're the straw that stirs the drink. The beer. I can say that, right? The one that pours the beer. How are things going, buddy? Things are great. Things are awesome.

It's a lovely day for another fresh GLB. I'll get my taglines in there and we're happy to have you here today. It's going to be some fun. What is the list of taglines? Do you have a list off the top of your head? Brewed for you Ontario. Yes. Affordably attainable craft beer. Fresh GLB.

Yes. That's a good one. Keep tipping your glass of fresh GLB in the right direction or can. On the koozies, we have the cans. That's it. I would say that's the four. That's a good list.

That's a good list. And brewed in the heart of glorious Etobicoke. And in the beginning, because we've been working together for many years now, like we can say that. It's been, I don't know, four years maybe. No, it's been longer than that. I think it's, yeah. Oh, I've got to find out.

We've got to celebrate our fifth anniversary but at the beginning i did i did this little thing about how 99.9 percent of great lakes beer remained in ontario is that still accurate maybe 99.98 percent wow yeah we started um shipping some pallets of um canuck paleo octopus wants to fight haze mama which you're drinking there. And I think we had one more Citra Diction. We had Citra Diction go out to some private stores in B.C. and Alberta. So a very small number. We can still probably say that for a brewery of our size,

99.98% remains here in the province. Okay, I'm going to crack open the Haze Mama right now. 99.98% remains here in the province. Okay, I'm going to crack open the Hayes Mama right now. Now, you said I'm good for two of these before I'm slurring my speech. Is that what you were saying earlier? Well, maybe you only won, but they're 7%. They don't drink like 7%. The Hayes Mama is a New England IPA.

Very juicy. 7%? Okay. Because I know whenever I needed to record on this glorious patio, which we're going to talk about in a moment. How many times can we say glorious today? But I can tell you that I know my limits and I live within it, and I know that I always would drink on a sunny day.

I drink a Sunnyside, for example. What is the percentage of alcohol in the Sunnyside? Well, Sunnyside is a session IPA, and it's 3.9%. So, a significant difference. Oh, yeah, a hot rod just went by. Yeah, so we're on the patio here at Grey Lakes, which is currently closed to the public, but right next to us

is the Gardner Expressway. So, you might hear some rowdy drivers from time to time. But, sunny side, sold extremely fast this year. Extremely fast. And all I can say is, unfortunately, it's done for the season. You can still find some at some LCBOs.

And so that's done for the season, but I noticed the... Well, I know this because I picked up some to give away to guests, including Richard Southern yesterday, but you've got the Pumpkin Ale. The Pumpkin Ale, yeah. It's the number one selling pumpkin beer in Ontario and has been since 2008

first launched in 2007. But it's back. First year ever in cans. No bottles this year. And it's going strong all across the province from Windsor to Ottawa. So why move it from bottles to cans? Give me the 411 there.

We lowered the price down to $325. We like cans. Cans are, at the end of the day, scientifically better for beer. They keep out light, better for oxygen levels, to get rid of oxygen. Just better storage container, essentially, for beer. And everything we have is in cans now. We invested in a huge canning line in May of last year. So let's get the people what they want and people want cans. Okay, so we're going to kick out beer, drink and jams. So buckle up, you're going to hear a little country, but not just country,

I tried to mix it up. But I saw an article in the Toronto Star last week about kind of, you know, pumping your tires, like how Great Lakes Brewery like adapted, pivoted and, you know, managed to, not that it's over, by the way, the pandemic remains. It's not. I noticed your patio is closed here. So that's evidence that we're not in normal times here. But give me like the highlights from that article in the Star about how Great Lakes rode out this pandemic curveball. Well, thanks to the Toronto Star, we've been featured three or four times since April. Is that because Patrick Corrigan draws cans?

No. Is he here? He's not here today. The Toronto Star recognized through our hard work and based on customer feedback that our pivot was one of the biggest ones that people noticed in the craft beer scene here in Ontario, Toronto specifically. Highlights from that were just that we shut down our retail store. We shut down the tap room. We lost our vans, bars and restaurants, a huge significant chunk of our business gone. All internal events as well, so wedding receptions, birthdays that we were hosting.

So we pivoted to home delivery for the first time ever. We got that up and running in four days after the shutdown. Wow. And within a week to two weeks, we were doing anywhere from two to 450 deliveries a day. weeks we were doing anywhere from two to 450 deliveries a day and so we took all of our staff bar or licensee people so that means they sell to bar and restaurants they started to deliver beers to to people's homes and then our retail channel sales did the same and we just started connecting we as you know we are very connected to our community, whether that be online or in person. And home delivery gave us that option in a very dark time to get out to see the customers. Now, we weren't actually interacting with them, you know, in a one-on-one setting.

We were looking and talking to them through the door or through a window. But the smiles on the faces of each person we delivered to made our day that much better and brighter and so we focused on that in the article and showing up to someone's house and their kids had drawn chalk art of you know a big octopus on the sidewalk saying we love you gray lakes it was just a huge honor for us to to drop beer to people like that it's hot what day is this this is the 23rd? It is hot today, isn't it? Honestly. I'm wearing a long sleeve too. I'm wearing my Great Lakes t-shirt

so I'm going to let just people who are listening to the podcast know that this is actually on Periscope as long as this Wi-Fi holds out. So that's the only caveat I'll put here. If the Wi-Fi conks out, we might drop. But it looks like we're still there. Yeah, we're good. Yeah, you're like 10 seconds behind there. But the fact is, you can always go later like on demand like we we go live but these things

are archived by periscope so periscope.tv slash toronto mike you can always go back and see our see my hair uh troy's a big fan of my hair you got your scissors there you ready for this i think we're gonna have to get you a hat at the end of this. You remember Brutus, your Brutus the Barber beefcake? Oh, I remember that. If he won the wrestling match, he'd shave the head of the person he beat. I don't remember that, but I'll take your word for it. That's what's going to happen. Come on, I got a few years on you.

That's what's going on there. So I'm drinking the Hayes Mama, and I noticed, of course, this was announced during the pandemic, that Hayes Mama is now a year-round beer. So the million-dollar question I have is, how do you decide which beers get promoted to year-roundness? Well, first and foremost, it was to launch a beer during a pandemic, full-time year-round, was a challenge in and of itself. But how this beer came to be was about a year in planning. We were brewing a beer called Voodoo Haze Mama. It was one of our more popular releases here at the retail store in 2019.

And our brewers wanted to do a big juice forward New England IPA. So we started to get to work on that recipe. We sat down with our small but mighty art department, which includes Patrick Corrigan, who you mentioned. Formerly or with still? He does the Saturday edition of the Toronto Star cartoon. I still see him in there. And Fabian Skidmore, our art director.

We sat down and we came up with a concept for a very strong being on the can. We had a sketch done, and then we worked from there on the beer. And the actual brewers went down to Boston right before the pandemic really kicked off. And they spent a weekend with brewers from Trillium and I'm forgetting the other name, Famous Brewery. I wasn't with them, so I didn't get to experience it. It's okay. During one of the jams, you can search it. But they learned a lot they talked and brewers we like to share uh breweries we like to share uh

tips and tricks and how to's and we came back refined the beer the way we wanted it to taste and uh launched it in the lcbo and it is um been hugely popular hugely popular and we're really happy uh with this and it's only going to continue to grow. Okay. Now, like how much, I know you have, at some point, there's only so many, what are they called? The barrels? What are these things? Fermenters.

Fermenters. Okay. So you only have finite numbers. So like, are you at the max for the number of year-round beers essentially that you want to produce? No, we might have some good news to share with Burst, a New England pale ale, which I'm drinking. It is a 4.5% New England pale ale.

I should have started with that. Well, that's what we think we're going to send you on next. That beer is in the LCBO right now and we plan to continue brewing that year round because the demand has been amazing. We were blown away by it as well home delivery too but uh to answer your question um we uh we have bought some more fermenters and

we have some room we've done some shuffling the owner peter has uh rejigged the the layout inside and we'll have more tanks coming so we can increase our capacity. Does Pitbull have a beer, drink, and jam? And where the hell is Peter? Where's my buddy Peter? Every time you see Peter, he's got a smile on his face. Peter's the happiest guy ever. I don't know where he is today. He's playing hooky today.

No, he heard I had the mics on the patio and he said, I'm out of here. I saw there's a new barbecue place down the street so maybe he's there. This is becoming quite the strip here in I'm out of here. I'm out of here. I saw there's a new barbecue place down the street, so maybe he's there. Yeah, Adamson's Barbecue. This is becoming quite the strip here in Etobicoke, and I'm a man who's – I live a little bit south of here, but in the hood. And on one end, you've got the Costco.

On the other end, you've got the barbecue joint, and here we are on the patio. And now I'm not going to bug you too much about this, but this is the most frequently asked question I get. This patio that we're sitting on now, which on this beautiful, what a gorgeous day. Many people listening are like, I wish I was sitting on that patio right now drinking some cold Great Lakes.

Just for the record, definitively, why are we not open to the public here? Well, first, we appreciate hearing from everyone who's inquired, when can we come? Why aren't you open? The fact of the matter is we are focused our efforts on our home delivery and getting Burea to LCBO. So we have diverted our staff needs to those two particular areas because it's been so successful. The home delivery has just taken us by surprise, and we are extremely grateful.

But, you know, if you set up your patio and then it rains two hours into patio service, you shut down. You can't put people inside our small tap room. Right. What are you going to do? And for breweries, not a lot of people might know this, but it's $5 and $6 pours. It's not like bar pricing at like $8 or $9 a pint.

So at the end of the day, we felt that COVID is a real serious thing in our community. There's a Great Lakes truck going by right there on the Gardner Expressway. Wow. Who's driving that truck? Is that Peter? That's Red's. So with COVID, we just felt for our staff security, customer security, we just focused on...

Well, safety first. I feel like I put you in the hot seat. No, you didn't. Not at all. Safety first. We have the answer. And it's just that we want to get the beer out for you to enjoy in your home or go to a bar or restaurant and enjoy it responsibly there or um or go to an else to be owned by it but uh just with the size of the patio and how many people

would be coming through uh the retail store and the patio is this it was a decision we didn't take lightly but um ultimately we decided to keep it closed now the only other time i know of that i mean i'm sure you open this patio for, you know, internal employees or whatever, but I saw the Pompeys on this. So I'm going to kick out a jam in a moment to get us going here. But electric circus, it's available now. We may.

I saw it on the board. Electric circus left. Yeah. We still have some cans of electric circus here. And, uh, uh, go ask your question.

Yeah. One first, uh, for super 100 listener uh fotm mal furious in hamilton the electric circus is only available at the retail store like right here that's it it's that's it uh home delivery for the gta or when i say gta i mean uh mississauga to scar Scarborough, 401 down to the lake, but only available here at the retail. You can come and pick it up. We have a little bit left, and I think it's the last one we'll be doing for 2020. And that was, not only is it blessed, and I saw, is it Valerie?

Valerie Pompei, Mrs. Pompei, Cow cowboy's wife, mother of Dalton Pompei, former Toronto Blue Jay. But I saw that she was. Summertime, summertime. Yeah, so summertime, summertime. I don't know if it's a beer drinking jam, but it's a great jam. And just shout out to the Pompeis who inspired the can. And was there, I don't know, a charity involved or something?

Yeah, we did one. I'm going to say it was May. We worked with Ken Pompei and Son Dalton on the No Weight Medical Foundation. And so we donated a portion of the proceeds to their foundation so they could go out and get PPE for various Mississauga in-area hospitals. And so we were extremely happy to work with the Pompeys on that and let me tell you Ken is an amazing guy

tons of stories, fantastic guy and he really likes the beer too which makes it all the better. Yeah so shout out to the cowboy Kay Pompey and Summertime Summertime here's our intro so here 39 give me 39 seconds here and then we'll get kicking out these jams. I'm just waiting for a beer here.

Well, beer, we've had some great times. When I was 17, I drank some very good beer. I drank some very good beer. I purchased with a fake ID. My name was Brian McKee. I stayed up listening to Queen when I was 17. All right, so here we go, Troy. And again, some of these jams, I'm going to start playing them,

and then I'll bring it down to pepper you with more hard-hitting questions. You know, I think you played that Simpsons tune for me before. Can you tell I like the Simpsons? If I haven't been clear, the wire in the Simpsons shaped all of this. So now I'm going to start playing the jam, and then I'm going to try to remember who requested it. But all these jams were requested by somebody. And here, let's get going. This is a long one, so I might not play it all, but let's get going this is a long one so I might not play it all but let's get rolling here

I want to tell you a story about the house in blue I come home one Friday had to tell a landlady I lost my job she said that don't confront me long as I get my money next Friday So I'm going to dedicate this one. It was recommended from many, many people. AP at home in Ottawa. Frank from Jersey. Like, you're all over the place here. I don't know.

Frank from Jersey. From Jersey? Yeah. And Miro Blues. So three different people wanted to recommend this George Thorogood jam. And maybe George will get to the chorus in a moment here. It's a good song, but I can never get through the whole thing. I'm at least interested.

Maybe halfway. Here, let's see where we're at. He's got a lot to say, George, through a good game. But while we wait for George to get to the I've been walking all day She said that don't confront me But while we wait for George to get to the one bourbon, one scotch, one beer, you're making more than beer right now at Great Lakes, right? What have you added to the mix there? I thought you'd never ask. We have started the Great Lakes, just Great Lakes spirits.

During COVID, again, we had to pivot. We had a lot of beer in kegs that went out to bars and restaurants. And we went out and gathered those kegs from our bar partners because we didn't want them, when they reopened at any time, to pour old beer. So we brought it back and we said, now what the hell are we going to do with all this liquid? We bought a still from our friends at Muskoka Brewery, so we always have to give them a shout out. They had it here to us very quickly. And we got a license from Health Canada, fast, fast, fast, to produce hand sanitizer.

So we started doing that. We started emptying out all the kegs, which I gotta tell you, it's like ordering your favorite food from a restaurant and then throwing it out the window before you even get to it. Watching all that beer go into a tub that would, not an actual tub, but into a big vat and then going into our still was sad. But we knew at the other end coming out was going to be hand sanitizer that we could donate to some frontline emergency workers. And then we started selling that in the retail store as well, online for home delivery. And while we were doing that, we were setting up for the AGCO manufacturer's license for distillery. We did that and we were successful and we became Great Lakes Spirits. So we have vodka soda with citrus,

and we have gin soda with key limes. And I got to tell you, the gin, I'm drinking a ton of it. It is spectacular. So I might actually switch to that after I'm done my second beer, my Canuck. Okay, I was going to ask, is it eating into your, oh, there, George said it, but he'll say it again, I think, a few thousand times. But the Canuck Pale Ale time, is it cannibalizing? It is cannibalizing. Yeah, I'm known for my Canuck drinking, and many of the other staff here.

But it is just, it's so light-bodied. It's got so much flavor to it. It's got zero grams of sugar. I sound like a marketing guy right now, but it's legit love. Zero grams of sugar, one gram carb, and the gin has 140 calories per can, and the vodka is 130. Wow. They are not only delicious, but need I say healthy? They're part of any nutritious breakfast.

Is that what you would say, Troy? I drink them like carb water i don't know if that's a good thing or it's a bad thing but they are uh they are uh they're delicious and a great addition to our ever-growing portfolio of beer very small i think that's a one of the advantages of being a uh an independent craft brewery like you're independent so you you could literally have a staff meeting get peter in there and make these decisions very quickly right well i'll tell you this one was spearheaded by peter he he's always wanted to have some sort of uh a distillery or making spirits it was a dream of

his father's and uh so this was pretty cool to be part of it to help him achieve a lifelong goal and it's been um we were joking saying we should call it memories. But when the first couple batches came off and were canned, it was a really bittersweet moment for Peter. And I was really happy and proud to be part of that. All right. Respectfully, George, we've got some other jams to get to, so we're going to say goodbye, but George Thurgood is a good way to kick us off. Now, you know, I took a lot of requests, and I got some from yourself, Troy,

but I have a song I wanted to play for me. You know, it's my show. I'm playing this one. So this one is, by request, Toronto Mike picked this one. I got plans to ditch myself and get outside Dancing women throwing plates Capitating their laughing gates Swirling chickens caught in flight Out of focus, a much too black coming down Shiny teeth, game show suckers trying to bleed But I got a jug and I got the bug And I got something better than love

How you like me now? Pretty good going on, feeling strong I quit my job blowing leaves Now Troy, be honest with me, are you familiar at all with this song? I am not. I'm from Brecken. Okay, but even there, Beck's Loser was a big hit, right? Yes. Okay, so the album that Loser is on is called Mellow Gold,

and a lot of us ended up with it because we love Loser. This is one of my favorite tracks on Mellow Gold. It's called Beer Can, and it's Beck. I wouldn't even have thought that was Beck. Why don't we throw in first base at the sun? Put my soul between the bones. Now I'm running, now I'm drunk. Now I'm running like a flaming pig. Oh, yeah. Stripping off the attitude.

Old man eating all my food. Don't be kind, don't be rude. Just shake your boots and let it all get loose. Oh, yeah. My goodness. Bec, I just dig, I still dig Mellow Gold, like Pay No Mind and This Jam and of course Loser and it was just that kind of grungy

cool, cool vibes from Bec back in the day. What year was Mellow Gold? I'm going to tell you right now. 1994. I was still in public school. I disclosed I have a few years on you, but I was like fresh out of high school. I think that's my first year at U of T, I would say.

Just a cool jam. Cool jam. What, Troy Birch, Great Lakes Brewery, what are the, you want to shout out any, like, I'll bring it down a bit. Any new releases you want to shout out? I get the newsletters. Yeah, we have two coming this week. We have Shinny Pants.

Oh, yeah. Session's out of 4.3 percent state uh featuring lackey mike lackey our brewing operations manager on the label uh if anyone knows lackey uh come winter uh he disappears every single day between the hours of 11 and 3 uh to go play shinny uh And we have a Chinook Wet Hop, a beer that we went out to VQH Farms in Eden, Ontario. Pick some... Where is that? Tilsonburg area. Where is that? About two hours from here on your way to London.

Okay, I know where London is. I know where London is. It's talking about... I'll say. So we went out there and picked some Chinook Ops, drove them back to the brewery, and threw them right into a brew. So that's coming out on Thursday night for Friday home delivery. And then next week, we've got five new ones coming. We have 2010 IPA.

We have Citra Diction, Forlorn Unicorn, New England Pale Ale. Come on. I know which. We have some others. Come on, you live and breathe. I know. Oh, we have a collaboration with Run T.O. Beer. These guys run to beer. It's exactly what they do.

Is that the guy you dressed up as? That's right. Gordy Levesque? Yeah, Dan Grant. Oh, yes, Dan Grant. Yeah, he raises money for various charities. And for the Toronto Waterfront Marathon, which is virtual this year, we're doing the official beer with them.

And some of the proceeds are going to Good Foot Delivery Service in Toronto as well. And we have one more, and I am gapping. Well, you can come up with it in a moment. But I get up again, good to have a girl to keep me down This in the night away Brew shopping That's what it's coming out Brew shopping German pills Better late than never Troy

Okay this one's going out to DJ Dream Doctor, who actually sent in quite a list, but I pulled two out of his four. But I think it's fair to say this is a one-hit wonder. Can you name another Chumbawamba song? No. Is that the name of the band? Yeah.

Chumbawamba? No. See, Troy, you're a country guy. I thought that was the name of a song. You're a country guy, right? I like everything. I like a little bit of everything. You know this jam though.

I grew up on country. I know the song. Yeah, I grew up on country. This is like a party anthem, I'd say. I don't know another song by these guys. What year was this? This was mid-90s. I would say.

Turn it up and get all the deets for everybody. 1997? Yeah, I was going to say, I think I can remember school dances jumping up and the girls hating this song. Doing like a fake mosh pit. It's actually a solid single. It's got that, I like her voice with his voice. It's, uh... I like the song. Can I call it a guilty pleasure?

Or is it not even guilty? Very guilty pleasure. So this is obviously the big hit from Chumbawamba, which is a British rock band, in case you were curious. Just checking out some of the info on this. International hit, of course, a big hit here. It hit number two on the charts,

but it was kept out of the number one spot by Will Smith. Switch. Men in Black. I like it, man. It's... At any party, if you pull out the tub thumping, you're going to be in good shape here. I'm going to play out of the tub thumping into the next jam. Get ready to see my skills here, Troy. your choice. I'll keep your eyes on the road, your hand upon the wheel

I'll keep your eyes on the road, your hand upon the wheel Yeah, we're going to the roadhouse Gonna have a real A good time Troy, what are your honest, straight-up thoughts on The Doors? I want some barbecue right now. That's a good thing, right? They're down the street. Give them a call.

This is Roadhouse Blues by The Doors. And at some point he's going to say he got himself a beer, I believe, is the big refrain here, which I'll turn up when he gets to that part. But it's a good jam, right? It's a good jam. It's a good song. And it's got that, you know, I mean, the country guys like it, the rock guys like it. It's a hybrid sort of.

It is a saloon song. It is a saloon song. So let me shout out the drummer for the Jeff Healy band, who's an FOTM, because Jeff Healy's got a great cover. He was, because he was in the movie, Roadhouse Blues.

Roadhouse. With Patrick Swayze. Patrick fucking Swayze. It's one of the top ten movies of all time. Is that right? We played it here one night. It was probably back in December or January. We did Cheesy Movie Nights.

Because Jeff is in that movie. He's in that movie. Unbelievable. He's behind the chicken wire. Actually, Jeff Healy, the song Angel by Jeff Healy was my wedding song. Get out of here. That's a great, great wedding song. It makes me look bad. Why is she looking at me? it's all about her so that's angel i oh no uh angel but

i'm thinking of those uh angel eyes my way is it angel eyes i think it's called i think it's called angel but honest to god this is the true story i went to my wife monica and before we got married and said i would like that song at the wedding and she vetoed it. My wife loved it. I should have married your wife. We're high school sweethearts. We grew up listening to that as well. That's a beautiful song.

Jeff Healy, man. What a great artist. I was actually just biking through his park the other day. He's got a park near Park Lawn and Queensway maybe a little bit north of there. Fucking Jim Morrison. I went to his grave site other day. He's got a park near like Park Lawn and Queensway maybe a little bit north of there. Fucking Jim Morrison. I went to his grave site in Paris.

Listen to this guy. This one and L.A. Woman are my favorite Doors songs. L.A. Woman's great. L.A. Woman's great but The End is good too from when you hear it in Park Road Snow.

Here it comes. A Great Lakes beer. Okay, there's a country song coming up next. All right. Just so you know. And there is a lot of country coming up next. All right. Just so you know. And there is a lot of country coming up. It's coming. I was just playing some country upstairs

and my colleagues. Get the hell in. I don't play a lot of country on Toronto Mic, but for today I make an exception. Here it comes. Toby. Here it comes One, two, three Toby, Toby's Oh no, Travis Tritt's in a lot of trouble these days, right? But Toby Keith's good

He's alright Now Red Solo Cup is the best receptacle For barbecues, tailgates, fairs, and festivals And you sir do not have a pair of testicles If you prefer drinking from glass Hey, Red Solo Cup is cheap and disposable Is that true? I object to a lot of what he says in the song, but it's a fun song.

They are not foreclosable Freddie Mac kissed my ass Red Solo Cup Sing along if you want, Troy. No singing, no singing. That's reserved for showers and in the car by yourself. I love you, Red Solo Cup. I lift you up.

Proceed to party. Proceed to party. Okay, so this jam is going to JB, who wanted to hear Toby Keith, Red Solo Cup. Let me ask you a question. Professionally, I know you're against this because you adhere to all the rules. You're very careful with licensing and things here at Great Lakes Brewery. I know that for a fact. I'm SmartServe certified, so I can serve beer at some events for you guys.

But my question for you, Troy, if you took off your Great Lakes hat, which you never do. That's very true. We were joking about that. Is it here under there or is it all gone? There is three quarters. What's your personal opinion on public park drinking in this city?

Oh, we're all for it here. I know, but Great Lakes can't condone it because it's against the bylaw or laws. No, we don't condone you going out and recklessly doing it, but everyone's an adult that can purchase alcohol in this province, and should you purchase alcohol

and take it to your home and then it goes into a bag and you're at a park having a picnic, well... Yeah, it's all about responsibility, right? I'll be the first one to say, my wife and I, we take the kids to the park and we have some adult friends that we get together. And one beer is not going to hurt anyone. Okay, I feel better now.

Because also this past Friday that just took place, 20-something FOTMs collected in Marie Curtis Park and very discreetly and safely and responsibly enjoyed some Great Lakes beer. Well, you know, the provincial government has said they'll allow it as long as the municipalities in Ontario agree to it. So it's up to the cities and towns and regions. Stratford, Ontario has actually been the first province that, or sorry, the first city that I'm aware of that have said,

Really? Go buy a beer from your local restaurant, get some takeout, go to our parks, and have a picnic. Enjoy a nice, put a blanket out, have a beer, support your local brewery, support your local bars and restaurants. And I think people are old enough and civilized enough to appreciate that and not abuse it.

Right. And the people that are going to abuse it are going to abuse it, regardless if you can do it or not. Right. We're talking about responsible park drinking. We're not talking, you know. Craft beer drinkers. We're talking about craft beer. Yeah. We're talking about responsible park drinking. We're not talking, you know. Craft beer drinkers. We're talking about craft beer.

Yeah, we're talking about craft beer here. Let's kick out a little Hamilton here, speaking of Malfurious, and then we'll get back to it. I'm making our room for another cup of vodka. I'm making our room for another cup of vodka. We'll have a tea day. Beer, drink and party. Beer, drink and party.

Beer, drink and party. Tea day. Beer, drink and party. Dancing on a liquor room. Well, I'm going through the heads where nobody knows. Time for another. All right, I'm drinking some Burst now so I don't get too drunk to bike home here. Okay, so let's look at...

This is Teenage Head. You familiar with Teenage Head? No. I think of them as a Hamilton punk band. Hamiltonians love Teenage Head. This is Lindsey, everyone. Shout out to Lindsey. Nice to see her today.

Okay, so Teenage Head. Who suggested Teenage Head? Many people. Let me see if I can dig up some names. I'm one of the worst people to have on for music. I really am. You're here because you're a craft beer expert. I'm here to do the homework on the music.

So 5151 Photography wanted to hear Teenage Beer Drink and Party by Teenage Head. So here it is. And I'm going to play it a bit and then I'm going to see if anyone else recommended it. Hold on. Dancing on a limited road. Okay, so Dale Cadeau, who was at TMLX6 at Marie Curtis Park. Dale Cadeau, shout out to you. Another song is coming your way. He wanted to hear this song.

And well, that's good enough for me. Two people. 51-51 and Dale Cadeau. Some CanCon. 54-40. I know 54-40. Of course, you know this, but the lead singer of 54-40 is now an FOTM like yourself, Joyce.

Of course you know that. I know you only listen to the 1010 CFRB episodes. I'm a big fan. The whole brewery is a big fan of New Stock 1010. Well, I got to get some guests. Jim Richards, man. He won't come on, though. I know, I know.

Although he let me call him once on an episode, which is as close as I got. So I phoned him during a live recording. He's a big fan of our Canuck Pale Ale. Oh, yeah. Jim's, you know, you mentioned Lackey. Mike Lackey, who is, what's his title here? He's Brewing Operations Manager.

Mike Lackey, let me get this right. He is a Humberside guy. And that's where he knows, for example, not only Peter Bullitt, who is the, his family owns Great Lakes Brewery, but also somebody like, let me say, Jeff Merrick. I don't know where he knows him from, but yeah. Where is he? Get him on the microphone. I think that's a whole Humberside collective that met at Humberside.

There's a bunch of them that all go back. Absolutely. Okay, so that's a cool little Hamilton rocker there here. So let me see if I got some more country up my sleeve. Oh, geez. John Michael. Oh, that's some playing there. Speaking of Lackey.

Is this Lackey's favorite song? No, but I always used to joke that this is him. I've been made a bite since the night That you said we're through I walked to that dude's box to play A few sad country songs. I heard someone say, hey, that old boy ain't nothing but beer and bones. I got to work this morning, early this afternoon.

I was actually finding you laugh at this, Troy. I was trying to find out who requested this. Of course, it's Troy fucking merch. Well, I don't know if it was a request.

It was someone said we need some country. And I said, well, here are two country songs. Tell me this then, as a country fan, why are most of the beer drinking songs country songs? I think they're beer drinkers. Like jazz musicians

are drinking some hottie-tottie I don't know what they're drinking. I think more and more people are drinking beer. growing up where I did, we what they're drinking. I think more and more people are drinking beer, but growing up where I did, we would consider ourselves country, and we were predominantly beer-drinking people. Is that like a saying, like, okay, we're like... It might not have been the best beer.

Blue-collar, real, real, salt-of-the-earth people. Well, yeah, but salt of the earth people. Well, yeah, but beer also quenches thirst, right? At the end of the day in the field, whether you're cutting down a tree, the hay, feeding the cattle or the horse, tending to the property, a beer at the end of the day, even as a young child, your grandfather or your stepfather, whatever, whoever it may be, may pass you a beer and say you've earned it. And it was just like a rite of passage. You know what I've been seeing in my neighborhood? I go biking every day, and I've been seeing a lot of, like, octopus wants to fight swag.

Like, octopus wants to fight to fight like shirts and jackets are they they're not on sale they are not on no but at some point no people are just why do I see them out

in the wild we're getting sweater season again and they're the most popular item that we have here at the store and everything is going through a rebrand right now which is very exciting

as we're talking I just got a text message from Mike Lackey who's in're talking i just got a text message from yes mike lackey who's in the back and we got a brand new redesigned canuck pale elk cans just came in uh so we're gonna be canning can you show me do you have it on your screen i can show you right here yeah but um it's hard to see from here but if you get our newsletter is it radically different or just my a little bit different well it's a new Patrick drew it. Patrick Oregon. Patrick Oregon, again, showed it.

But it is it isn't radically different but it is very different. Let's just put it that way. Okay, somewhere between radical and mild. Radical and clean. Do you know Mark Hebbshire, Troy Burch? We have met, yes.

He drinks at Bryden's. He does drink at Bryden's, and he does, he loves the Red Leaf lager. That is a fact. That's Kat. Kat? Kat? Katarina. Oh, Katarina. Is that Kat with a K?

Yes, it is. She's been with us like two years. She's awesome. I might know her, but I might not. I don't know. Okay, so this song, I'm just going to do a little bit of it, but this is for Hebsey. Good FOTM.

It's the Straubs. Straubs, not the strawberries. The Straubs. And I don't know them either. It's called Part of the Union. And this song, I think, is from 1973. Hebsey's dating himself here. Yeah, well, Hebsey's been dating himself for a while.

But Hebsey wanted me to play this song, and I think I fulfilled my legal obligation, but the Straubs. One song that's probably not on your list, and I did not submit any more than the ones I did, but it was our station from Spirits of the West, who have just suffered a loss in the last year. John Mann. Yeah.

That is one of, I think when I kicked out of the gyms, it was in my top 10. Our station is all about drinking in a pub. That's a great jam. And somebody did kick out Home for a Rest. Oh, yeah? It was not me, but I did our station. Somebody kicked out Home for a Rest.

But here, let's... Do you know this song? I don't know. This is new country. Right. Give me my hugs and kisses mug. I'm getting drunk on a plane. I bet the bell

or all the outlaw was crazy. I taped your picture to the seat back Gordy's never looked so good. Now I've got empty many bottles Gordy's never looked so good. This song's called Drunk on a Plane. It's an American song. It's a very simple song.

Every time I've been on a plane and there's been a very intoxicated person, with no disrespect to Americans, they're Americans. So this is by Dierks Bentley. Do you know Dierks? I do not. Dierks Bentley's Drunk on a Plane. This is requested by The Cleaning Guy. So thank you, Cleaning Guy,

for your beer drinking jam, Drunk on a Plane. I like these songs that don't make you think about what they're talking about. They're just like, this is Guy jam drunk on a plane. I like these songs that don't make you think about what they're talking about. They're just like, this is guy getting drunk on a plane. That's what country's all about. It's a story and they'll outline it in the words here,

but, you know, it might be two minutes. Countries are small, two to three minute songs and they're right to the point. And something's always wrong. And they usually have a pickup truck right and a dog a dog all right a little taste of uh the dirks bentley there's almost some auto tune in there right like am i hearing some auto tune in there Fine drinks for everybody, but the pilot hits a party. Got the 737. There's almost some auto-tune in there, right?

Like, am I hearing some auto-tune in there? Like, has country gone a little hip-hop? Yes. Yeah. Well, like I said, it's new age country. Get back the guys like Garth and George Strait. We'll close with him. George Jones.

Alan Jackson. Wow. I have a lot to learn, actually. There's a lot of room for education for me and the country music genre. I do know. I watched that. Did you watch the PBS documentary on country music? No, I haven't.

Okay, it was good until it got to the 80s like i really liked it like the country music it was like this bluegrass and you had like your your dolly pardon your kenny rogers you had like kenny kenny what did i say about kenny yeah we both love kenny my mom loves kenny she raised me on kenny but only one album we couldn't afford more than one album as long as the gambler and the coward of the county yeah they're both on that good yeah yeah and uh this is the 1982 or i think it was 82 days it's a lady gold gold is that what it's called yeah and the lionel richie song lady is on there and my mom's favorite song okay so again i digress but the um it was interesting to hear like the cash family and uh he married into the Carter family, Johnny Cash.

And the Carter family were like, not kind of like pirate radio, but they would go broadcast from Mexico with a big signal. It was cool. So this, let me appreciate Dierks Bentley here. I'm guessing his girl left him or his dog died. One of those two things. He's going to see her and trying to win her back. My wife and I were going to Amsterdam and we had a massive layover.

And then we went. Where was the layover? It was in Toronto. Sorry, not layover. Pardon me. It was a delay in taking off. Then we got in the air. We get over Newfoundland

and they turn around and instead of coming back to Montreal they go back to Toronto so you know it was long and the people in front of us

were three Americans who got so drunk that they actually kicked them off the plane but it was so it ruined the whole start of the trip not just the delay

but the no I can imagine Amsterdam is beautiful by the way I've been there a bunch of times now tell Not just the delay, but the... No, I can imagine. Amsterdam's beautiful, by the way, been there a bunch of times. Now, tell me... And you can drink in the parks there. You can drink in Vondelpark. They'll ask you if they want your bottle of beer open

before you leave the store. How progressive, how enlightened that is. But... Have you ever got drunk on a plane? I don't think drunk. We went to Portland one year and we had a lot of Heinekens at the layover in Vancouver.

I bet you would take a lot of Heinekens to get you drunk. Oh, Bud Lights, yes. When you have a Bud Light, it's just like water. You're like the Andre the Giant of drinking here. Okay, so this is the replacement. Let me give it a moment here. Kind of got a Guns N' Roses feel at the start, right? They call your name out loud and clear.

Here comes the regular. Come out your name. Oh, this is for a gentleman who did stand-up comedy on this very patio once. Come out Like Steve Bannon. Correct, yes. He's a Steve Bannon-looking mofo. And Gare Joyce wanted to hear this replacement song. It's called Here Comes a Regular. Gare Joyce. Good FOTM. Shout out to Gare. Oh, by the way, Nancy.

Nancy, I call her like you know who I'm talking about. Nancy, who wrote that email about how she fell in love with the podcast and she's doing these walks. It was your idea to find out Nancy's home address so that Great Lakes could send her like a package, like a love bundle. What did you send Nancy?

To be honest, I a love bundle. What did you send Nancy? To be honest, I'm not, I can't recall. We like to send out what we call care packages to random people. But when we saw you tweet out that email, we thought Nancy deserved a beer. So that's what we did. We reached out to you. You reached out to her. We got her address. We sent her some beer

some uh great lakes knickknacks and um we like she was very appreciative by the way like that's that's what we're all about here people need to have fun with beer and uh how boring would our job be if we were just selling it and not doing fun things with it so by the way i like recording from here like i would like to do all my episodes from here because, like, I watch things. Like, this guy did a long phone call in his car. This is Richie

coming up here. Richie is, you know Richie. Yeah, Richie does the Brewer's Journal. It's a magazine for Canadian brewers.

He knows we're talking about him, though. I can tell he knows we're talking. You're famous, Richie. Because I could tell

he pulled into the parking lot, and he had a long phone call. Yeah, they have a big lecture series going on right now, so maybe he's on the phone with someone from there figuring out what's going on. Well, it's good to have this community. You built a community here, so good on you guys at Great Lakes Brewery. Well, they're a community.

You won't sell beer. You'd still sell beer, but it's better to sell it to us. Oh, he wants to talk to you here. I'll put up the music and talk to him. So that one goes out to Gear... Joyce. guitar solo It gets so sticky down here Better butter your cute finger up

It's the start of another new year Better call the newspaper up Two fifty for a hot bar And a fucking half a beer Happy hour, happy hour Happy hour, dear Okay, Troy, name that band. If you're a Canadian, you have to know. Obviously, it's The Hip. That's what they ask you at the border when you're coming back.

That's right. Name this song. Little Bones. So this is actually my choice here. I'm just making sure I don't miss any big ones here before we wrap up here.

I told you my hip story, right? Tell it again. I think I did it in one of the podcasts. It was my first concert I ever went to when the ACC just opened. And I think we talked about it.

99, right? Yeah. I went on New Year's Eve. Yeah, and so we were there. We drove up from Aurelia with some friends. My now wife, her family got us a hotel for the night. And within the first three sets, the crew behind us, who are a little older than us, had an unfortunate

spewage. It ended up on my back. I was borrowing a friend's sweater, which was completely ruined. We complained to the ACC. They moved us right up to the front row. We went from seeing Gord's silhouette

on stage to seeing Gord's teeth. That'll be a memory I'll always live with. So remind me, did you go on December 30th? Do you remember? It was a Saturday night, so whatever the Saturday. We drove home on the Sunday. So was it that one that had a bunch of bands before the hip, like Real Statics?

Yes, exactly. Okay, so same thing okay so because i was at the yeah i was there just after christmas that's what i can remember yeah they did two shows and i really like it was like an extended hip show and they had a lot of great like it was really cool night i'm not joking i think the hip sang for four hours that night or maybe that's just what i want to believe that they did. No, but they did do, like they didn't, in lieu of an opening band, I think they said they would play like extra long.

They probably put in a good two and a half, three hours that night. But amazing band. And Gord's got, speaking of Gord, we talked about Gord Levesque. But Gord Downie, solo material is coming out. He's got a solo coming out. Yeah, I saw that, yeah.

What a jam Oh, baby, eat this chicken's love. Full of bob damn little balls. Baby, eat this chicken's love. Full of bob damn little balls. Little balls. Great jam here. And this is road apples. Yeah, hold on here. That's road apples, absolutely on here. That's Road Apples. Road Apples, yeah.

Absolutely. This song is called Beer Drinkers and Hellraisers by ZZ Top. Speaking of ZZ Top, oh, he's walking by us here. I wish I could grow a beard like that. So this is for Cam Carpenter, who's a new FOTM. That dude knows all the rock stars.

Cam Carpenter wanted to hear some beer drinkers and hell raisers. Can you grow a beard? Yeah, not like that, though. Yeah, you always have a little bit of stuff. I do a little bit of stubble. Here he comes here. Here's what we were just talking about.

If you look right into that camera. We have a member on ZZ Top on our patio today. Am I right that the guy who didn't have the beard had the last name Beard? Is that the ZZ Top? You know what? I don't know. Again, it's a little before my time. Well, you must have been a kid when Legs was a big hit.

Legs. She's got legs. That video was epic on MyShinMusic. Legs was a big hit. Legs. She's got legs. That video was epic on MuchMusic. But you are a young man. Are you still in your 30s? Yes. Okay, yeah. Late 30s.

Very late. You're like my wife. My wife's 39 years old now. So she's got that one year left. But I hit 40 a long time ago. But shout out to ZZ Top. 40 a long time ago, but shout out to ZZ Top. And oh, you don't have that. I'm like looking at like, where is this jam? Actually, this jam came from YouTube. So I'll just kill YouTube.

Okay. Here's another FOTM we're going to kick out here. We got a couple more left here. year. This is wrong. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Kim Mitchell, Lager and Ale. Tell us, do you want to give a technical, like a little bit of a tutorial on the difference between lager and ale? It'd be funny to ask Kid Rock this, because he would not know. Kid Rock? No, I haven't seen it. Oh, yeah, that's a teaser.

Yeah, teaser coming up. Before the big closer, I promised somebody I would play a Kid Rock? No, I haven't seen it. That's a teaser. Before the big closer, I promised somebody I would play a Kid Rock song. We're not fans of Kid Rock around here. Lugger and Ale, though. Lugger is a family of beers or a style of beer that are bottom fermented, age longer, and ferment at cooler temperatures. So you hear it on all the marketing material for a lager. They're clean, crisp, and refreshing. Essentially, that's what they are. The Blonde Lager remains my wife's favorite beer at Great Lakes Brewery.

Which is clean, crisp, and refreshing. And affordable. What's the price of that right now? It's attainably affordable. And affordable. What's the price of that right now? It's attainably affordable. You can buy a single can here at the brewery for $2.30 a can or a case for $48.

What happened to that buck a beer thing? Did anybody keep doing it? No, there's no one doing it right now. So that was a lot of free publicity for Great Lakes, just to say how silly it was. But ale is a top fermenting beverage uh that ferments at warmer temperatures that produce uh sorry produces more like a fruity esters depending on the yeast that you use so you're drinking new england beers you had the uh hayes mama new england ipa and now the burst and a new england pale ale right and so those are more on the juice forward uh tropical side and then i'm drinking the canuck pale ale which is our flagship beer

and the beer that runs through the bloodstream and that one is a west coast pale ale or an american pale ale and so we use a different yeast strain it's still an ale um but they the yeast provides different aromas different body, and then they ferment faster. So that's why a lot of craft breweries make ales. They can get them in and out as fast as possible. See, this is the insight, man. I love this stuff. I know, is it nerdy?

I just love learning about the interest. Well, so lagers, for example, they can age from anywhere from six weeks to three months. So imagine a brewery starting up today that are looking for some return on investment, trying to get the beer out the door, and they're brewing loggers. Well, there's a lot of liquid sitting in tanks. So it's like opening a whiskey, or a distillery, but making whiskey, and you're literally sitting on it for years and years and years. Interesting, Troy Burch.

You know your shit, man. More than a pretty face here. Now, I know not popular in these parts, but I did see him live in concert before I learned he was a huge Republican. How are you on that beer? I'm okay. I can only do the two IPAs, or I can't bike home in a straight line. Now tell me you don't like this song.

Listen closely here. I can't stand Kid Rock. Musical talent and politics. Both. And lovemaking abilities. I think there was a video or two. I can't remember. Triploud's ignorance.

So this song is called Drinking Beer with Dad. Who suggested this Kid Rock song? I don't know, but like Chattahoochee from Alan Jackson's a beer drinking song. That's a good song. Okay, here we go. So I have people to shout out. DJ Dream Doctor, who came up earlier, he wanted the Kim Mitchell song Lager and Ale. Yep. So shout out dj dream doctor who came up earlier he wanted the kim mitchell song logger and ale yep so shout out to dj and i think we found out we went to the patio lanterns is another patio lanterns this should be our national anthem right try i like you know kim mitchell's been on

toronto mic did you know that i probably do know that he's. But Dale, back to Dale Cadeau, who lives in BC. But whenever Dale is in Toronto, because he visits his mom in Streetsville, he always makes a visit to Great Lakes to stock up because he loves to support the great craft breweries who support his real talk. He loves Toronto Lakes. And that's Dale, sorry? Dale Cadeau. Thanks, Dale.

And Dale was at that Marie Curtis event we had last Friday. So shout out to Dale. And now he's in isolation in BC. Is that the rule? I don't know if there's a rule. I don't know about Canada, but yeah. So he wanted to hear Beer with Dad by Kid Rock. Which has got a good sentiment, right?

You know, I never had a beer with my dad. That's a true story. I feel like crying right now. Do you have a moment to talk about sentiment, right? You know, I never had a beer with my dad. That's a true story. I feel like crying right now. Do you have a moment to talk about this, Troy? Did you have a beer with your dad? My dad is a convert to craft beer, and it's just been the last couple of years. Yeah, so yes, every time he comes over just to get through the small talk, we drink about five beers each.

That's funny. That's funny. That's funny to me. Okay, so I just, before we play the last jam of the day, because this is a Troy Bird special, I want to shout out Not A Sheep Nope. Not A Sheep Nope wanted to hear.

You know who that is? Who is that? That's Mike Mayberry. Do you want me to play it? So Not A sheep, Mike. Mike sells advertising for West End Phoenix. So let's give them a shout out. So shout out.

We mentioned the real statics when I mentioned that. Yeah, the real statics for Dave Bedini, who at the height of the pandemic came to the brewery to drop off a bunch of newspapers that we then gave out to home delivery purchasers. But did Dave Bedini drop by? Dave Bedini dropped by. Get out of here. He knows Lackey. He goes way back with Lackey. The Dave Bedini.

The Dave Bedini. So they go way back with Lackey, and there's a great story that one day you've got to get Dave to tell you about a sleeping bag in my crack in Kingston. Well, now that I hear who he is, I'm going to play his jam. All right, so I was going to skip it because... I think you can skip it. It's by Ween, and it's not very Ween-ish, if I can say that, but it's called You Fucked Up.

And it was requested, as I said, by Not A Sheep No. But now I find out you're connected to him. So thank you for the great suggestion. You Fucked Up by Ween. And I think we're going to kick out our final jam. Let me elegantly bring down this wonderful, beautiful song, We Fucked Up. No, you fucked up.

We didn't fuck up. You fucked up, not me. By Ween. So thank you, Ween. Well, while he brings that down, though, everyone listening and watching, you should check out West End Phoenix. They're an independent paper.

They have some great writers for them, and they support local talent here in West End, Toronto. Do you feel they go west enough? Seriously, because I've had Dave Bedini on the show. They don't really go west of Hyde Park. You know what, though? They deliver across the city, and they'll mail you some. So they'll mail it across Canada.

They have done some articles or profiles on different parts of the city. But, yeah, they focus on their location. They want to take the news ultra-local. And Grey Lakes is a proud supporter of the West End Phoenix as well, too. So, sorry to hijack your podcast. You know what? I'm a big fan of independent thought and journalism. And I like Dave Bedini.

He's an FOTM. He's been over. I love that you did that. And is there anything else? So we're going to kick out this final jam and I'm hoping you'll sing along with me. I'm not going to sing, but I'll sing in my head.

Come on, man. Get this man some more burst. We need Troy to sing this final jam. But is there anything else you want to share with the listeners? I want to share something before you share something, which is that I want to thank you.

You reached out to me back in the early days of Toronto Mike when I was not even considering monetizing or any branding of any sorts, and you said, come on over. We'll have a chat, and we did. That was many years ago, maybe five years ago. I'm going to check the records and find out how long ago that was. But here we are today on your patio, beautiful patio, beautiful day. Nobody else is allowed on the patio, but that's COVID-19's fault.

That's not Troy Burch's fault. That's COVID-19's fault. And safety first. Tell me, Troy, if there's anything you want to share with everybody listening right now. Well, you said thank you. I'm going to say thanks to all the people that are listening and watching that have supported us through COVID. We're continuing

to brew awesome stuff and introduce a whole bunch of one-offs and fun things and get the beer out the door as fresh as possible. So thank you and visit greylakesbeer.com to see what's in the fridge

and what you can get next week sign up to our newsletter like mike does uh and you'll get uh you'll get the info ahead of time i love getting that uh info ahead of time i feel like i'm in an exclusive club but what number of queen elizabeth boulevard are we 30 that's one of peter's he always i should have said it right off the top. He always says, he always reminds people where we are. 30 Queen Elizabeth Boulevard in glorious South Etobicoke. The way to think of it, the way I think of it is you got to be south of the Queensway, but north of the Gardner. Like you're between, there's only one street between the two, really.

We're south of Queensway. That's South Etobicoke. And a lot of people always say, yeah you're by the costco and no the costco's by the costco's you guys were here first we were here first yes absolutely what are you like 32 33 years what are you at now we've been at this location since 91 so that would make us 29 30 here but you when you guys uh became a brewery in 87? 87 in Brampton. Good on you, man, honestly. I wasn't around then. Good on you and good on Peter's dad for starting this whole thing.

Shout out to the Bullet family. This is the final jam, a Troy Burch favorite. I might sing along. We'll see how it goes. Here we go. Starts a little slow here. It is the best drinking song. It is.

All right. Every wedding up north. I showed up in boots and ruined your blind tie affair. The last one to know. The last one to show. So Garth Brooks played. I talked about this on Kick of the Gems. He came to Canada after 20 years of not touring. And he played in Hamilton.

And I got tickets. Cops Coliseum? Whatever it's called now. But yeah, Cops Coliseum. And him and his band, they played. That one was legit four hours. Wow. And the guy is one of the best performers.

Just watch anything on Garth Brooks and he is a performer. And I'll be okay I'm not big on social graces Think I'll slip on down to the oasis So I've got a friend In love they say My memories of Garth Brooks are of the Kiss 92.5 when that was a big deal. My mom loved the station, and Garth was like, that was the main guy on that station. Garth is one of the richest musicians of all time.

Really? He sold, if you look it up, I think he sold more records than almost anyone in the world. I could be making that up. I think you're right. And I think when it comes to actual units sold, like I'm not talking streaming or anything like that, like actual CDs.

He's not on streaming. He's on Amazon. That's it. And remember, this is going to be very controversial, this actual CDs. He's not on. He's not on streaming. He's on Amazon. That's it. And remember, this is going to be very controversial, this next statement. The core Garth Brooks audience doesn't understand the internet, right? I would say that's

not true. That's not true. I apologize. He's huge in Ireland. Like, huge in Ireland. Places where the whiskey grounds and the beer chases my blues away And I'll be okay See, I knew you'd warm up to the singing.

I'm not afraid, I'm soft and grace I need my lyric sheet. I'm all down to the oasis, Oh, I've got friends In love Could you give me a minute of Troy Birch singing this song? No, no. Make my dreams come true. I've got friends In lonely places

Where the whiskey Again, if I was at a wedding or something like that and the song was on, it's up north, like I'm not joking. So you're saying I have to propose to you right now. Oh, shout out to your wife. Can I shout out your wife, who is a frontline worker? She is a frontline worker, yeah.

That's amazing, because it's been tough times. She's out at Toronto. Oh, my God, I just blanked on the name. Toronto. General? I don't know. University Health Network. Oh, come on.

But she's with Toronto Rehab. And so she's, yeah, it's been challenging. Like, it's been nice the three weeks that my youngest is in daycare and my second oldest is in school. So I can go back and she can go back to a more normal life. But we didn't have a day off together for seven months. Wow. That's,

and here you are still together. She still loves you. I understand. She sent me a note to say, I still love Troy. Good on you for, uh, the Troy,

uh, for picking the, this great, uh, Garth Brooks jam, buddy. Because I love this, man. And I know we don't need another. Before it snows, can we do something again?

Can I come set? Anytime we can set this up. And we'll have, we can talk about beer branding in this province. And we can get Fabian out here, who's our art director. We can get Patrick to come on. You should have Patrick on. Well, let's do it here. Let's do it here.

Let's do Fabian, Patrick, and Troy. There we go. Triple header, Toronto Mic'd episode on the patio before it snows. Deal. Do you have any heaters? We do. We have two, yeah. Okay, well, good.

They are prized possessions right now. Yeah. We're selling it everywhere. I bought one. Did you? I got one because I'm recording in the backyard and I want to extend the life because I'm so bored of Zoom and I don't want to do this by Zoom if I can do it here in person. So thanks for doing this, Troy.

That was a lot of fun, man. Thanks for being here. It was a lot of fun, man. Thanks for being here. And that brings us to the end of our 725th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Now there's Troy.

Are you at Troy Birch? That's right. B-U-R-T-C-H. Follow Troy at Troy Birch. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery. You ever heard of them? They're at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta.

Sticker U is at Sticker U. The Keitner Group are at the Keitner Group. CDN Technologies are at CDN. The Keitner Group, let me go back. They're great people. Yes, Austin Keitner. They do some great work. They're big supporters of us as well. They're big supporters of yours.

I know that for a fact. And they're big supporters of the Franklin Horner. They do some great work. Big supporters of us as well, too. They're big supporters of yours. I know that for a fact. And they're big supporters of the Franklin Horner. That's right, which we have a general interest in Franklin Horner. And I love that you guys are part of the community and charitable. Honestly, it means a lot to me to have partners who are like that instead of some conglomerate. I know it's right at the end of this, but we didn't even talk about the Jean Augustine Center for Young Women's Empowerment. We'll do it now, man.

I won't stop. Tell me about it. We just did a beer called Empowered, and we sold it out in a week. We did approximately 6,000 cans, and we just did a donation to the Jean Augustine Center for Young Women's Empowerment here in South Etobicoke for $6,000.

And we're really proud of that and really happy. We're going to continue to work with them because they had some tough times during COVID where they lost a lot of their funding and they do some amazing work here in South Etobicoke and beyond. But if anyone listening has not heard of Jean Augustine, please Google Jean Augustine. She will amaze you with what she has accomplished in her life. First home I bought was at Islington Norseman. I personally voted

for Jean Augustine every chance I got. She's wonderful. Dr. Jean. She's amazing. Dr. Jean. Shout out to Dr. Jean. When I ride the trail, you go by Humber Bay, there's the Jean Augustine Park right there in Humber Bay Shores. There's schools, there's parks, there's a whole bunch. She's amazing.

Shout out to Gene Augustine. Good for you guys, too, for helping to raise money for that good cause. CDN Technologies are at CDN Technologies. I'm actually co-hosting a webinar with Barb Paluskowicz tomorrow at noon, so register for that so you can virtually throw,

I don't know, tomatoes at me. Pumpkins After Dark are at Pumpkins Dark. But if you want to have some good pumpkin beverage, get the pumpkin ale. It's available now at Great Lakes Brewery. See you all next week. And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away week. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Rome Phone. Rome Phone brings you

the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls. Visit RomePhone.ca to get started.