I can think of few better ways to celebrate the first official day of summer than to drink cocktails on the beach! At the Toronto Wine & Spirit Festival at Sugar Beach on June 21, Erica and I did just that.
Okay – so we may have been drinking various alcoholic beverages out of little plastic cups instead of classy cocktail glasses…and Sugar Beach is hardly the Caribbean (it’s barely even a beach!). Nonetheless, we had a fantastic day at one of Toronto’s many fabulous festivals, and it was a great way to kick off the summer!
The admission fee of $21.50 a person (plus a few dollars in pesky online “service fees”) bought us a wristband and 5 drink tickets. Once entering the venue, we walked around and looked at all of the booths, where dozens of Canadian beer, wine, and spirit companies were serving samples and mixing cocktails. Some vendors offered drinks for one ticket; others sold larger, fancier drinks (like grown-up slushies) for as many as four tickets. We also had the option to purchase more drink tickets (in bundles of 5 tickets for $5). Erica and I must have some kind of radar for free stuff, because the first booth we approached gave out wine samples at no charge. This vendor, Wine Country Ontario, conducts marketing endeavours for various Ontario wineries – and we tried some truly delicious whites and reds here (however, everything seems exceptionally delicious when it’s free, doesn’t it?).
Now I know you would probably assume that a wine and spirit festival would just have…well…wine and spirits, but this festival was even more extravagant: it was an alcoholic playground! We tried sangria (Girls Night Out), apple cider (William Cider), and a mango pomegranate cocktail (Smirnoff Sorbet Light) in addition to lots (and lots) of wines. Everyone at the booths was helpful and knowledgeable about their products – and each booth had business cards with price information if you wanted to find the drinks at LCBO. I really enjoyed the sangria, and we also had a really good rum slushie made with real strawberries – they blended them on the spot with ice.
Another fun part of the day was the “Wine School”, which was a covered tent near the water that offered complimentary classes. The best class that we sat in on was a Wine & Cheese Pairing – we were given four free samples of wine to pair with four different kinds of cheese that were provided by Sobeys (including a delicious Italian Parmesan that brought back memories of our carefree foodie travel days in Europe). We also sat in on the Cider & Cheese Pairing right after the wine session, and while they only gave out one free sample of cider, it was a delicious sample from Brickworks. The rep from the company emphasized that their ciders are sweetened only with apple juice; the resulting beverage is tasty and sweet without being overly saccharine, and it’s perfect for summer cottage weather.
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Now being the foodies that we are, we were also there to get our grub on!We ate a quick but tasty dinner from a food truck called The Portobello Burger. I had never heard of the organization before, but a quick Google search turned up their website. It’s a vegetarian & vegan food truck that sets up shop at festivals and events across Ontario. I had a quesadilla filled with cheese, beans, and a side of sour cream. Erica had the portobello burger, which the website menu describes as a “whole grain Ciabatta bun, with chipotle mayo, lettuce, tomato, onion, sweet red peppers, and goat cheese melted into a portobello mushroom”. They were both really good and it was great to see some alternative food options at the festival to accommodate dietary needs. Sorry about the absence of food pictures – the food was good and we were hungry, so we were much too impatient to conduct a photoshoot! 🙂
Overall, we had a great time at the festival and I definitely want to go back again next year. We’re going to keep an eye out for more food and wine events in the future, so hopefully we will have some more fun reviews and stories for the summer!
Cheers!
Andie & Erica
The Fit Foodies 
