Yet another reason to move to Canada

November 15, 2005 7:42 AM

The Beer HunterI was jealous when New York got subway stations marked on Google Maps, but this more than makes up for it.
posted by DrJohnEvans (40 comments total)

via paved.ca
posted by DrJohnEvans at 7:46 AM on November 15, 2005

Wow. That's one of the best google maps remixes I've seen. Custom pin icons, custom, time-variant bubble test, highlighting of the text in the bubbles... cool.

Although, I have to say - considering that there are only 3 wide-spread retail outlets for alcohol in Ontario, what serious drinker doesn't have their hours of operation memorized?
posted by GuyZero at 7:46 AM on November 15, 2005

It's currently 10:51am on Tuesday in Montreal. There are 17746 places you can get booze right now.
posted by jon_kill at 7:52 AM on November 15, 2005

No need to rub it in, j_k....*sigh*

Also, what GuyZero said, although this sort of thing might come in handy if you find yourself in an unfamiliar area of town.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:59 AM on November 15, 2005

jon_kill, it could be 10:51pm on Tuesday in Montreal and there would still be 17746 places.
posted by RockCorpse at 8:08 AM on November 15, 2005

GuyZero, not all Beer stores have the same hours. The eleventh hour for The Beer Store on Sunday isn't the same accross the board.
posted by jikel_morten at 8:15 AM on November 15, 2005

GuyZero, not all Beer stores have the same hours. The eleventh hour for The Beer Store on Sunday isn't the same accross the board.
posted by jikel_morten at 8:15 AM on November 15, 2005

that is awesome.
the beer store by me used to be one of the late ones everyone flocked to at 10:55 on a friday night. sadly, they just put their hours back to 10.
posted by chococat at 8:16 AM on November 15, 2005

Also, what GuyZero said, although this sort of thing might come in handy if you find yourself in an unfamiliar area of town.

Not likely. I'd be more apt to ask a stranger a question like, "Excuse me, where can I get beer?" Which would be a different answer than, "Excuse me, where can I get booze?" Because, for some reason, selling beer and liquor in the same store doesn't make sense to the fine people at the LCBO.

I was in Toronto this weekend. Roadtrip. Pointless roadtrip. That place makes me chafe all over. Buying beer was needlessly complicated. I prefer to buy a few bottles a block from my house and drink one on the walk home. That's just me though.
posted by jon_kill at 8:16 AM on November 15, 2005

you can get beer at the LCBO no problem.
posted by chococat at 8:22 AM on November 15, 2005

I need more sleep. I instantly found myself singing "You can get beer at the LCBO." Yeah. There's a reason people in my office stare at me...
posted by twine42 at 8:30 AM on November 15, 2005

This is a good idea.

But why in the world did this guy have to steal Michael Jackson's title? That is without class.
posted by gurple at 9:05 AM on November 15, 2005

i have found heaven.
posted by mrplab at 9:06 AM on November 15, 2005

Yes, jk, if you're from out of town and looking for booze/beer I can imagine that Ontario must seem like hell on Earth. For us locals, it's no different from knowing where to get a decent chunk of French blue cheese or which stores carry those soy-based simulated chicken strips.

And if you live in a town where French blue cheese and simulated chicken strips aren't likely to be popular, you do the other logical thing and simply stockpile vast amounts of liquor and beer for when the desire strikes you.

Again, great map. It solves no realistic user problem. Please build one for Montreal. Or anywhere else that I don't live.
posted by GuyZero at 9:15 AM on November 15, 2005

The map should have some bars/pubs. Just in case, you know.
posted by blacklite at 9:18 AM on November 15, 2005

Hey gurple, I didn't steal his title. I just though it was an appropriate name. (and btw, i'm not a guy : ) I actually stole it from Bob and Doug McKenzie of SCTV fame.
posted by y10k at 9:18 AM on November 15, 2005

gurple, I believe the Mackenzie Brothers beat that web site by a good decade or so. The remastered CD came out in '96 but the original vinyl album came out in 1981. I feel confident that it predates that website, or any website for that matter.
posted by GuyZero at 9:19 AM on November 15, 2005

So do you attribute the ghostly pallor to the tramline wires or the soy-based simulated chicken strips?
posted by jon_kill at 9:28 AM on November 15, 2005

Michael Jackson has been writing about beer for decades. Not sure how long he's been going by "the beer hunter", but it's been at least since 1994:

He received the Mercurius Award from Crown Prince Philippe of Belgium in 1994, which was made with special reference to his television series “The Beer Hunter”

Anyway, y10k (sorry I assumed you were male, that was because of the pic on your site), you can call yourself whatever you want, just not sure why you went for a title already in use by the reigning king of beer writers.
posted by gurple at 9:31 AM on November 15, 2005

Wow, I'm way too much of a beer geek. I should relax, stop worrying, and have a homebrew. Nice site.
posted by gurple at 9:39 AM on November 15, 2005

She chose the title because it is a site you can access when you are looking, (one might say "hunting"), for an open beer store in Toronto. PLUS, as mentioned above, "Beerhunter" is a reference to the Mackenzie brothers, part of Canadian popular culture (!), who played a game with that title. I believe the game involved taking a 6 of beer and shaking one of them up, and then opening them one at a time, Russian Roulette style, a la The Deerhunter.
So it's quite an appropriate choice for a name, as it addresses two things that are relevent to it's target audience, people in Toronto looking for a beer store that's open near them.
And while it shares the same name, it doesn't have anything to do with some old guy searching for the perfect beer.

On preview, yes, relax and have a beer. Try a delicious Canadian Microbrew. You might enjoy a Cameron's.
posted by chococat at 9:46 AM on November 15, 2005

Chalk me up for another who saw the title and was surprised (and a bit disappointed) to find it didn't involve Michael Jackson.

The beer-expert Jackson doesn't limit himself only to beer, which leads into one of my favorite jokes: How can you tell the difference between the two Michael Jacksons? One really enjoys a nice 12-year-old, and the other's an expert on Scotch.
posted by mendel at 9:48 AM on November 15, 2005

On preview, yes, relax and have a beer. Try a delicious Canadian Microbrew. You might enjoy a Cameron's.

I'm partial to Storm, myself. And Sailor Hagar's, in North Vancouver, made some great stuff until they started contracting out the brewing.

Sadly, in the US, I'll have to settle for a Unibroue as far as Canadian beer goes. Luckily, they're darn good, too.
posted by gurple at 9:50 AM on November 15, 2005

Nice! I knew there was a good joke somewhere in there, mendel!
posted by gurple at 9:51 AM on November 15, 2005

My (Canadian) ex boss always got a kick out of the Fed Regulators here in New York describing our esteemed (Canadian) bank as a Large Complex Banking Organization - or LCBO for short.

The parentheses around the word "(Canadian)" are to convey added politeness.
posted by Sk4n at 9:52 AM on November 15, 2005

I was jealous when New York got subway stations marked on Google Maps

There's a map of TO subway stations too if you want it.
posted by jamesonandwater at 10:01 AM on November 15, 2005

gurple: that phrase will be forever implanted in my memory, thanks to the joy of home brewing.
posted by MysticMCJ at 10:48 AM on November 15, 2005

Awsome! I wish this was available when I was frequently in Toronto for work a few years back. Nice Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now-esque graphic on his site too.
posted by wavespy at 11:37 AM on November 15, 2005

I like it. This is what Google should be used for. We need one for Vancouver.....as barren as it would be.
posted by Salmonberry at 11:51 AM on November 15, 2005

Barren? I think of Vancouver as a pretty good beer town. There's Yaletown and Granville Island Steamworks and Sailor Hagar's, and I hear a couple places opened that serve a lot of Belgians recently.

Then again, you guys have that weird law that prevents everybody but bars and hotels from selling beer to go. Boo, weird law.
posted by gurple at 12:15 PM on November 15, 2005

gurple - And Sailor Hagar's, in North Vancouver, made some great stuff until they started contracting out the brewing.

Neat to find another fan of Hagar's on teh intarweb. Oddly, I coincidentally stopped going up to the 'shore just about every weekend when Hagar's outsourced their brewing. They had good fish & chips and wings.

Salmonberry - yeah, a lot of neighbourhoods are pretty hurting (BC Liquor stores closing early, lack of cold beer & wine stores) especially if one's on foot or using public transportation. It's nice, though, that the CB&W stores started being allowed to sell liquor.
posted by PurplePorpoise at 12:23 PM on November 15, 2005

All we need to to do is add locations for Canadian Tire and Tim Hortons, and the where'sthateh? needs of all hosers will be succinctly fulfilled.
posted by CynicalKnight at 1:22 PM on November 15, 2005

The Tim Hortons pin icons would blot out the rest of the landscape.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 1:56 PM on November 15, 2005

Very cool little toy. But umm... it's not very extensive coverage of Canada.
posted by raedyn at 2:19 PM on November 15, 2005

The Tim Hortons pin icons would blot out the rest of the landscape.

You, my friend, have never been in downtown Toronto. Tim's are few and far between in this neck of the woods. This is, in fact, an amazing suggestion, since I desire Tim's more often than beer and I don't know where all the Tim's are in town. Coffe Time's are plentiful, but really, not the same thing at all.

Plus, due to the large size of a case of beer, I always drive to get some, so distance to a beer store is no issue, but it just doesn't seem worth it to get in the car for a donut.

y10k, add Tim's! Please!
posted by GuyZero at 2:20 PM on November 15, 2005

You, my friend, have never been in downtown Toronto.

Currently residing at Yonge & Wellesley. :) But you're right. I've spent enough time in small-town and medium-city Canada to know that Tim Hortons would be plentiful anywhere else, though.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 6:33 PM on November 15, 2005

Ok i clicked to the map and it is 10:35 and you can only get beer at 6 places - WTF! I thought Toronto was a major city. I could get beer at 6 places within 6 blocks of my place at that time. Nice feature though!
posted by flowfeel at 7:26 PM on November 15, 2005

flowfeel: It just maps the retail outlets. Liquor is sold by the government in Ontario exclusively and their hours are horrible. Beer is sold by a cartel of large breweries also with horrible hours. So, there are many places to get booze in Toronto at 10:35pm, but very few retail stores, only bars.
GuyZero: I can see it now:

posted by y10k at 7:14 AM on November 16, 2005

Sweet icon. Plus Tim's does have a location database on their own website.
posted by GuyZero at 8:49 AM on November 16, 2005

Nice-looking indeed. Only problem is that there's no Tim Horton's on Elgin Ave off Avenue Rd.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 10:29 AM on November 17, 2005