Pub Chat: Episode 82 - Favourite Beer of 2014 and Hitachino Nest Red Rice Ale

Japanese craft beer!

January is almost over, but we decided to look back at 2014 one more time, at our favourite beers of year. We’re drinking Hitachino Nest Red Rice Ale from Kiuchi Brewery in Japan, Sapporo this is not.

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Show Notes
00:00 – Introduction
00:50 – Hitachino Nest Red Rice Ale
04:55 – Kiuchi Brewery
10:40 – Back to the beer
11:25 – Colin’s year in breweries
18:35 – Adrian’s year in breweries
21:40 – LJT’s amateur hour
23:25 – The year in pubs
30:50 – The year in everyday beers
38:20 – Adrian drops the ball
39:50 – LJT’s top 10
45:55 – Colin’s top 10
48:55 – Misses of 2014
50:55 – Best breweries of 2014
55:00 – Manitoba’s year in beer
57:45 – Wrapping it up

RAW: almond Documentary

My love of food porn in documentary form

The RAW: almond Documentary is about the pop-up restaurant on the frozen river in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

RAW: almond runs for three weeks on the coldest months in Canada. A number of different chefs handle the menu to serve three seatings each night. The documentary focuses on the founders of RAW: almond, Mandel Hitzer and Joe Kalturnyk , in their second year of running the frozen river restaurant. Anthony Carvalho and I follow Ben Kramer and Aron Epp on a dinner service and Talia Syrie's team during weekend brunches.

Anthony and I started this as a school project for Red River College's Creative Communications program. The project became something we both felt passionate about and wanted to share with the world, while expanding on it with the final cut you see above.

Pub Chat: Episode 81 - Favourite Albums of 2014 & Old Rasputin

Top 5 albums of the year

This week we’re rounding up our top albums of 2014 with regular guests Chris Rohling and Brett Enquist . 2014 was an interesting year for music, with only a few true standouts but tonnes of very good stuff. Reflecting this diversity, all of us had quite different choices. We also thoroughly enjoyed the always-great Old Rasputin from North Coast.

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Show Notes

00:00 – Introduction
00:55 – North Coast Old Rasputin
05:00 – 2014 in music
11:50 – Adrian’s top 5
24:50 – Brett’s top 5
30:45 – Colin’s top 5
38:50 – Chris’ top 5
50:00 – Taylor Swift 1989
56:40 – Luke Jacob
58:15 – Other albums and soundtracks
1:01:55 – Upcoming albums
1:04:25 – New Surly beer hall
1:08:10 – Wrapping it up

The LJT Top 5

5. Little Hurricane – Gold Fever
4. Jack White – Lazaretto
3. Taylor Swift – 1989
2. James Vincent McMorrow – Post Tropical
1. Hozier – Hozier

Winnipeg For Lunch - Shawarma Time

"How much kafta did you eat?!"

Surprise, surprise, I am eating lunch again with Kevin . Funnily enough it was a different Kevin that first introduced me to Shawarma Time years ago. I've had a few different things here in the past but this time, after staring at the wall of food pictures, which is as a picture menu, I decided to try something new to me - kafta.

The kafta caught my eye because I've heard it talked about before, probably most recently on, Archer, one of my favourite TV shows, but I have never had it. It was mixed plate #9 according to the wall and it cost me $16.81 after taxes (with a bottle of water). Kafta in Lebanese cuisine traditionally consists of ground beef mixed with onion, parsley, allspice, black pepper and salt.

Shawarma Time is always spoken about as having some of the best shawarma in the city, and I can agree it deserves to be in the discussion. Hoping the kafta lives up to the high praise the shawarma gets.

We placed our order shortly after 1pm. There wasn't too many customers dining inside but a few customers were grabbing their pick up orders while we waited.

After sitting for 7-8 minutes after we ordered someone from the kitchen came out to say our skewers would still be another 6 minutes. They offered some Turkish coffee on the house while we waited. It was very coarse and gritty, but really sweet with a long, lingering aftertaste. Preparing Turkish coffee is easy, I think, you take roasted and finely ground coffee beans, boil it in a pot with sugar, and serve with the grounds at the bottom of the cup. Or that is my understanding of the process at least, but I have never done it myself.

The kafta was pretty good. It had a nice spice and I'm definitely going to order this again. Like usual the tabbouleh was really good but you need to love onion and parsley to love this style of salad. The rice was a bit bland on its own but I mixed it with my tabbouleh and pieces of kafta, not taking away from any of their flavours.

While my meal was a bit pricier than I intended you can easily eat for much cheaper here. The samosas are recommended for a cheap lunch. You could easily keep your lunch to under $10 if you wanted to.

I'm pretty sure they also do breakfast but I don't know anyone that has gone so I can't really say anything about it. Anyone gone to Shawarma Time for breakfast?

Taste : 8/10
Speed : 4/5
Price : 1/5
Overall : 13/20

Shawarma Time
616 Ellice Avenue
Winnipeg, MB R3G0
(204) 774-2109

Pub Chat: Episode 80 - 2015 in Media with Media Nerds

2015 here we come

To kick off 2015, we’re chatting with local media nerds Dan Vadeboncoeur and Kenton Larsen about the shows, movies and whatnot that we’re looking forward to this year. In addition to our mostly tv-focused discussion, we’re drinking Wee Heavy Scotch Ale from Ontario’s Amsterdam Brewery . 2015 is gonna be an exciting year for Pub Chat. Thanks for listening and Happy New Year!

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Show Notes
00:00 – Introduction
02:30 – Amsterdam Wee Heavy Scotch Ale
08:00 – Liquor advertising laws
13:00 – TV coming in 2015
16:20 – Shorter TV seasons
19:15 – Christmas specials and singles
21:45 – Upcoming Marvel shows and other TV
26:20 – Star Wars
37:40 – More upcoming movies
43:50 – Better Call Saul
46:40 – The Walking Dead
56:40 – Game of Thrones
57:40 – Media and celebrity branded liquor
1:00:40 – Wrapping it up