Molson in the Community

Week two of the #raiseapint (of Glory) campaign begins!  Help Molson Coors Canada, the Firkin Group and the Ontario Association of Food Banks (OAFB) reach our $20,000 goal this year.  For every pint of Rickard’s purchased at one of the 29 participating Firkin Pub locations in Ontario, both the Firkin Group and Molson Coors Canada will donate $0.25 to the OAFB.  Guests may also make non-perishable food donations at the pubs.

To help encourage folks to get out there and raise a pint, I’m prizing a $50.00 gift certificate to Firkin Pubs (thank you Firkin friends!) once a week until the end of the campaign on Dec. 25th.

Congrats to Forest Kenny from Toronto – our week one contest winner!

CONTEST DETAILS – Week Two

To enter for your chance to win a $50 Firkin Pub Gift Certificate this week (starting today, Monday, Dec. 7th), leave a comment on the blog telling us where YOU raised a pint to support the OAFB (was it at a Swan and Firkin? Owl and Firkin?) or re-tweet this post on twitter including this link: http://bit.ly/73DG31 and @MolsonTonia.  I’ll draw the winner next Monday a.m. Dec., 14th ).  Note: You must be legal drinking age to participate, no purchase necessary.

As the Firkin folks say… You’ll have a good Firkin time for a great Firkin cause…..thanks for supporting the Ontario Association of Food Banks.

Cheers!

L-R: Paul Lipson, Rickard’s brand, Adam Spence, Ontario Association of Food Banks, Traci Shepheard, Molson Coors Canada

Last week we launched the 5th annual Raise a Pint of Glory Campaign with the Firkin Group in support of the Ontario Association of Food Banks (OAFB).  We kicked off the five week campaign at the Owl and Firkin in Markham, ON, with representatives from the three campaign partners.

Raise a Pint of Glory is a wonderful opportunity for pub patrons to support Ontario’s food banks by purchasing a pint of Rickard’s. For every pint ‘raised’, both the Firkin Group and Molson Coors Canada will donate $0.25 to the OAFB with a goal of $20,000. Guests may also make non-perishable food donations at the 28 participating Firkin locations in Ontario.

Adam Spence, Executive Director of the OAFB noted that this has been one of the most difficult years on record for Ontario’s food banks.  375,000 people are forced to turn to food banks each month, and the majority of food banks rely on the generosity of community members during the fall and winter holiday seasons to keep food on their shelves throughout the year.

This is a really important campaign, so to help encourage folks to get out there and raise a pint, I’ll be prizing a $50.00 gift certificate to Firkin Pubs (thank you Firkin friends!) and Rickard’s beer merchandise one a week for the next four weeks.

CONTEST DETAILS – Week One

To enter for your chance to win a $50 Firkin Pub Gift Certificate this week (starting today, Monday, Nov. 30th), leave a comment on the blog telling us about how YOU raised a pint to support the OAFB or re-tweet this post on twitter including this link: http://bit.ly/65GbCa and @MolsonTonia.  I’ll draw the winner on Sunday afternoon (December 6th). Note: You must be legal drinking age to participate, no purchase necessary.

As the Firkin folks say… You’ll have a good Firkin time for a great Firkin cause…..thanks for supporting the Ontario Association of Food Banks.

Cheers!

Larry Isaacs, Director of Marketing, Firkin Pubs and Traci Shepheard, Molson Coors Canada

Molson Coors Canada’s CEO and President Dave Perkins (left) dropped in to raise a pint

Last week, I traveled to Vancouver with several colleagues (look for their Blog post soon about it) to take part in a series of events Molson organized for all our stakeholders to mark the 50th anniversary of Molson brewing presence in Vancouver. It is in 1958 that Molson acquired the Capilano Brewery from Sick’s Brewery. With this acquisition Molson, the oldest brewery in North America founded in 1786, established itself in Canada’s westernmost province truly becoming Canada’s brewery from coast-to-coast.

Kevin Boyce, Molson president and CEO and Geoff Molson, (a 7th generation direct descendant of founder John Molson) were also in Vancouver to celebrate this milestone.

Kevin and Geoff
The Molson brewery is situated near Burrard Bridge in downtown Vancouver. It opened in 1953 as Sick’s Capilano Brewery, and Molson acquired it in 1958 in a transaction to purchase all of Western Canada’s breweries operated by Sick’s.

Molson recently completed a $32-million upgrade of the brewery, installing seven new fermentation tanks, a bottle washer and a bottling line. The expansion increased the production capacity by more than 40 per cent to 2.1 million hectoliters a year.
For this anniversary week Molson hosted events at the brewery to celebrate its presence in the city. The events where an occasion to meet & greet with Kevin Boyce, Geoff Molson, Gord Rickard’s and Vancouver brewmaster Kerry Scarsbrook as well as several other local members of the Vancouver brewery and sales team. Brewery tours were arranged for guests, members of the media and bloggers of the Vancouver scene. Culinary hors-d’oeuvres, and a special beer crafted especially for the occasion were served delighting everyone. The splendid weather, food and beers were enjoyed and will be remembered by all.

Cheers to Molson’s 50th in Vancouver!

More photos

From Left: Bob Jenkins, James DiFore, Court Bethune

Yesterday was the day we crowned the first ever Rickard’s Griller of Glory at Dundas Square in Toronto. It was where beer met the grill –barbecuing with Rickard’s White and Red.

Three challengers, a.k.a ‘the Grillers of Glory’ entered into a competition where they were asked to BBQ their best recipes using both Rickard’s Red and White beers. The challengers, James DiFore, Bob Jenkins and Court Bethune, were given 30 minutes, ingredients (steak, shrimp, spices, veggies, etc), and a whole lotta beer in order to create the tastiest and more inventive recipes possible.

From Left: Mirella Amato, Alexa Clark, Kyle Rae, Phil Nyman

Once the 30 min were up, our expert panel of judges scrutinized and tasted the BBQ plates and decided on the winner. Our judges:

• Phil Nyman: BBQ Chef and Owner, Phil’s Original BBQ restaurant
• Mirella Amato: Proprietor of Beerology.ca and Certified Beer Judge
• Alexa Clark: Editor and Publisher, CheapEats Toronto
• Kyle Rae: Toronto City Councillor, Ward 27, Toronto Centre-Rosedale

This year’s Griller of Glory was griller #2 (below), Bob Jenkins, an accountant from Toronto — Way to go Bob! The lovely Rickard’s ladies presented Bob with a massive trophy and his own Napoleon BBQ.

There was also a second, special cook-off to benefit the Ontario Food Bank Association. Three Toronto firefighters battled it out on the grill for the glory of their fire stations! Again, the competitors had 30 min and were then judged immediately after. Captain Paul Beams took the top spot and was crowned Griller of Glory. Congrats to Paul, and thanks to Jim Morache and Damien Walsh for taking the time to BBQ for a great cause.

We also had a guest firefighter judge the boys…Peter Cooper from Station 134.

It was a great day of grilling despite a few rain drops, and a very entertaining day with many thanks to our fabulous emcee and chef, Michael Clive (below).

Some clips of the grillers, judges and Michael in action!

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Adam Spence (below left) Executive Director, Ontario Association of Food Banks joined in the fun and accepted a donation of $1000.

As a final note, I’ll post some of Phil Nyman’s Rickard’s Red and White BBQing recipes soon. I plan to try a few out this weekend….would love to hear about your fav. Rickard’s recipes!

Check out more Rickard’s Griller of Glory info and pics:

Neighbourhood knowledge blog

Alexa Clark, Cheap Eats Toronto

Rannie Turrigan Photography

Flickr Photos

Have a safe and happy long weekend. Cheers!

Last night was Molson’s first ever Brew 2.0 event!!!

About 20 or so 2.0-savvy folks joined Molson and the Brew 2.0 team at the ACC in the Lord Stanley’s Mug for few hours of minglin’, food and beer tasting, and a little brew education.  With a killer line-up of different foods paired with different beers — Molson Canadian, Coors Light, Corona, Rickard’s White, Rickard’s Red and Creemore – the guests were given a little history about the beer and why it was paired with certain foods.  Me, the vegetarian, watched from a far….man those mini burgers looked good

Brew masters Ian Douglass and Bryan Eagan led ‘brewing and beer school’ while Draught Prophets’ pro, Steve Reilley, gave a great presentation – draught education.  Who knew a clean glass was so important?

The evening ended with some innovative products, featuring Heineken’s 5L Draught Keg, the Coors Light Cold Certified Bottle, AND a sneak preview of upcoming Kasteel Cru, a champagne-yeast, lager.

Thanks to all who came out — and a special thanks to Joey deVilla, a.k.a. accordionguy who serenaded the group! 

Curious to know — which food + beer pair was your fav.?  

More photos along with some video coming next week!

Happy long weekend everyone