May 13-14: Eat, Drink, Spring [Events]

2016 May 10
Heads up that the springtime version of www.ottawawineandfoodfestival.com is taking place this Friday and Saturday. I'm hoping to check it out on Friday! Tickets are available at bit.ly/winefoodtickets .

Here's the promotional material:

The Ottawa Wine and Food Festival presents the 3rd Annual Eat, Drink, Spring!

The 3rd Annual Eat Drink Spring, the sister show to the Ottawa Wine and Food Festival, has a new downtown location at Festival Plaza at 110 Laurier Avenue. On May 13 and 14th sample over of the 100 best wines for spring and summer, artisanal cocktails and craft beer.

Show goers will discover the hottest Spring food and drink trends—and have a chance to sample everything they see. Learn to make dessert on the BBQ, dazzle with patio décor with celebrity designer Andrew Pike and go from the ‘garden to the glass’ with mixologist Matt Millard of Bar Laurel, Hintonburg’s newest restaurant opened by the team behind Fauna.

The festival will include a Battle of the BBQ in support of The Ottawa Mission, Food Circus under the Big Top, free Bottle Camp, Pati-oh-Canada workshops, BBQ School and non-stop entertainment under the sun and stars.

Highlights

Free BBQ School: Choose from over 15, one hour workshops, from how to make dessert on your BBQ to planning the perfect picnic. Each workshop includes the chance to taste 2-3 delicious bites!

Pati-Oh Canada: Prepare for summer parties with a demo on how to grow herbs in your garden and then how to use them to make drinks! Guests will also have the opportunity to learn how the pack the most exquisite picnic.

Bottle Camp: Discover your Summer wine style with Rod Phillips, including complimentary samples! Rod will unveil his Spring/Summer Wine collection focused around four themes: Bubbles, BBQ, Patio Sipping and Celebration.

Gardening Workshops & Patio Decor: Tips and tricks on summer entertaining and how to create the perfect patio space with design expert Andrew Pike, resident Décor Expert on The Marilyn Denis Show on CTV.

Spring Stage & Live Entertainment: Hosted by DJ Andrew Carter & Jeff Rodgers featuring some of Ottawa's favourite bands.

Battle of the BBQ: Cast your vote for the best tastes of the summer with Chef Ric Allen Watson on May 14 12-2pm. This event supports the Ottawa Mission.

Free Bike & Canoe Parking: Planning on taking your bike down to Festival Plaza!? They’ll be safe spot to park your bicycle and even your canoe!

2016 May 11
Have anyone gone to this event last year or year before? If so your feedback?

The Saturday programs look a bit more interesting but would probably be more crowded.


2016 May 11
We went last year, a waste of money, The wine list was very ordinary, everything could be purchased at the LCBO and not very many. It was at the EY center, not a great location. Food trucks out back were good but not worth the money. We complained and were given free pasess to the fall Wine show for the four of us so that helped. Not planning on going this year.

2016 May 11
Is the Rod Philips session there last year? If so is he any good?

2016 May 11
Actually call since they don't have any information on website other than the session. Seems a tad disorganized since they are talking maybe adding vendor list today and the event is this weekend?

The French Quarter Fest has a full list of all the vendors and they even have online information of the cost of the different food at the different booths. The cost is harder but they should be able to get a list of vendors or exhibitors online more than 2 days before the event.

They mentioned a few food vendors and only Hooch was interesting but it was not the full list so there may be other interesting food.

Asked about wines and they said samples are going to be 4-12 tickets.. If it is a 1 oz pour of wine, I think the tasting bar at Vintages LCBO Rideau is a better deal at $2-4 for most samples. Sounds like not that many expansive wines but charge highish prices for samples.

I asked and they promised to send some information to me later today and if I get it, I will post here.


2016 May 11
This is what I got from someone in the office of the Ottawa Wine and Food Festival

Further to our conversation this morning there is an article in the Citizen today about our show as well there has been a lot on the twitterverse and our Facebook page has more detail.

Wines are picked by Rod Phillips, of the Ottawa Citizen, and include Gold Medal winners from the fall edition of the Ottawa Wine and Food Festival.

Big D’s DogHouse and Poutine Emporium will be on site and giving a BBQ demo. Mixologist Matt from Fauna’s latest restaurant will be on stage as well and Rod Phillips and his picks.

It’s a fun time and we have a tent rain or shine.

Something else I saw says breweries include Mill Street, Nita Beer and Whitewater Brewing Co. Nothing about which craft distillery..

Which still does not provide a lot of information.

2016 May 14
I went last night, and I had fun myself. The craft distillery on site was some Dillon's stuff, with Jack Tonique. I enjoyed it. The food I tried was stellar (I suggest, nay recommend the elk carpaccio from Hooch, which was like 1 or 2 tickets). The sausage from the farmers wasn't that great however.

I really like pretty much everything on offer, except for the Social Vodka cooler. They were throwing around way too many buzzwords (including naming it vegan, gluten free, and I swear I heard a paleo tossed out there). It is unsweetned, and frankly, way too bitter ginger flavour. If they toned that down, and upped the lime, it would have at least been an average drink.

Anyways, back to good stuff, Whitewater beer's seasonal is quite tasty, and I also discovered I have a weakness for port. All in all, it was a fun trip/.

2016 May 14
I was there in the early evening yesterday. We had a nice time, sampling a few wines and enjoying the food. My favourite discovery was the Whitewater seasonal that James C. mentioned -- it's a Maple ESB made using maple sap in place of water. The result is a subtly sweet malty beer, well-balanced with bitter citrus hops. From what I understood, this was a preview and it won't really be available until later this year.

The best red wine there for my taste was the Wolf Blass Gold Label Syrah. I didn't sample any whites, other than my beloved Cave Spring Riesling. I welcomed the opportunity to have a Junkyard Poutine from Big D's Doghouse. When he was starting out a few years ago, his truck was a stone's throw from my workplace. I'm happy to report that his product is still stellar!

I agree that the Social-Lite cooler wasn't fantastic. I love the idea of a less-sweet cooler, but I'd also want it to have more lime and less ginger. At 80 calories a can, it will be popular though -- especially once calorie labels become mandatory on our booze!

2016 May 14
So the ticket was $26.80?


2016 May 15
$26.80?

Admission was $20 per person, more at the gate ($23 if I remember correctly). Tickets were $1 each. 1-oz wine samples maxed out at 5 tickets, with most in the 1-3 range. Food trucks had reduced options but pretty normal pricing, also to be paid with tasting tickets.

Admission included live music, cooking/wine demonstrations (with samples), a tasting glass, complimentary bottled water, and Adirondack chairs in the sun. This festival was put together in an extremely short time, enabled by an injection of funding from Celebrate Ontario (www.grants.gov.on.ca). The smaller size and scope made it feel more like a farmers market, but with wine and beer!

2016 May 15
Oh man I struggle with these places that want you to pay to get in and then pay to sample. I have no issues with tickets to sample various products but $20+ just to get in the door?

Reminds me of the Durham Beer Festival when I went back in the 90's. I paid my $20 admission and then asked the guy where do I buy the tickets. He looked puzzled, handed me a plastic mug and said there are no tickets.

I thought that was a great model! Food was extra of course and it included a few hours of sampling all the beer you could fathom.

2016 May 15
Yeah, ideally the vendors offering samples are doing so as an opportunity to advertise. This is how the savvycompany.ca/ "Taste and Buy" events work. Mind you, they typically cost way more than $20 to get in and are usually on weeknights.

The Ottawa Wine and Food Festival is positioned as more of an event unto itself. It's in the heart of downtown, people dress up... it's really more of a night out than it is a serious foodie event. So it's a different crowd and all. If they offered free tastings, people would be out of control and puking everywhere. :-)

2016 May 16
When I looked at tickets on Sat for online, I think it was $23 and plus the fees so $26.80. I think before the event there were no fees but on Sat there were fees. Also I think I did see something like they got $40 or 50K or so in gov't funding...

My dad had his sleep lab pushed up to Sat night from July and I know he would be nervous if I don't get to him at least 1 hr before the appointment. I had stuff on the afternoon, I figured I could only go somewhere for about 2-3 hrs.. I don't mind paying the entrance or the tickets but for 2-3 hrs seem kind of steep so I went to the bicycle event and had a full beer then went to LCBO Rideau for 4 tasting.

The savvy company one was $30 if you bought early bird ticket for 2 so $15 per hr. Sampled quite a few things but only a few wines I liked and a couple of beers. interest dried sausage and mustards and cheeses..

There was a wine festival in Beaune I went to many moons ago while living in Fontainbleu.. You paid for nominal fee for a glass and got to sample a lot of nice stuff for free... Givery chambertain, Beaune, chateauneuf du pape, etc. For food you can buy escargot loaded in garlic butter yumm..