Each year it seems like Ontario craft brewers get a little more adventurous and try to out-do one another with seasonal offerings such as Sawdust City and BarHop’s recent release, The Blood of Cthulu Imperial Stout.
While all of this experimenting keeps craft beer interesting for both brewers and bar patrons, it makes the challenge of pairing the right beer with a big flavourful burger a little trickier. At a bar like Tallboys Craft Beer House, customers have an even more unique challenge in choosing between options like the Koreatown Burger with kimchi and the Philly Cheesesteak Burger with smokey cream cheese.
“We have some of the best burgers in the city,” says Tom Cacace, who co-owns Tallboys with his brother Phil. Each burger is made smash style on a flat-top grill, which means it’s only meat in your patty, instead of breadcrumbs or eggs or any spice combinations. “We source our meat locally from the butcher across the street from us – Vince Gasparro’s Meat Market.”
“While we have this incredible beer selection and keep it super-local with just Ontario beers, people come in all the time and they have a bite to eat and discover, ‘Oh shit, this food’s amazing.’ It’s like our best kept secret,” says Tom.
Typically there are eight to ten burgers available on the menu, and each comes with a totally unique combination of flavours and textures. As for the beers, the primary focus here is obviously on the cans. “At any point we carry between 40-50 cans,” says Tom. “Then we have seven draught lines. If you come into Tallboys looking for a specific style of beer, there’s a good chance we’ll have it.”
Win a Tallboys Shirt + $25 Gift Card
If you’re a beer-and-burger lover who’s looking for the perfect flavour combination, check out our helpful interactive guide below. We’ve selected a variety of leading Ontario craft beers and paired them with four of our favourite Tallboys signature burgers. Try your favourite or look for something outside of your comfort zone!
Note: this giveaway is now over – but you can still explore how your favourite beers match up with our favourite Tallboys burger.
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