What do you call a gastro brewer that is super busy but seats you in 5 minutes with no reservation (at a table, not the bar), provides great service, has an innovative and tasty menu, and a great list of brewed on the premises taps too? A hidden gem, perhaps. Your go to grub pub? Your date night destination? I call it The Grist. A NOTL* craft kitchen and brewery with an upscale menu and a great line up of interesting brews from which to choose. Some brewers have restaurants, some restaurants brew their own, but The Grist seems to excel at both. We have sampled a few of their brews and they were featured in our COMDB Niagara brew tour. Let’s see what they have in store, and on tap, for us tonight.
Looking for a good Lannister.
I ordered the Lannister stout, recognizing the name from the Game of Thrones and knowing that the Missus was a hardcore fan. What I didn’t know was that the Lannisters were actually the bad guys in the show? “Pure, compelling evil” is one website descriptor of the house of Lannister. What I also didn’t know was until I checked the Grist website this morning is that I had actually ordered a sweet stout, with strawberries and vanilla to boot. And how did that pair with the tasty butter chicken you may well be wondering. Let’s leave the chicken out of this, shall we.
A stout as dark as Cersei Lannister’s heart, and as headless as Ned Stark.** Lots of cocoa in the aroma. It is definitely a chocolate stout, with a bit of a blackberry sweet taste in there, which brings to mind a porter at times. It has a very mild coca (or cocoa) cola fizz to it. A thin mouthfeel which makes it light but still flavourful. Complex but not overbearing. An easy (but not too easy) drinking stout, very tasty. It almost seemed like a stout designed to go with a meal.
In Game or Thrones it’s hard to find a good Lannister, but at The Grist it was easy.
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