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CITY BAR BREWS PASSION FOR SOCCER
Monty's
Korner is a melting pot of loyalties
Jeff DiVeronica
Staff writer
(July 5, 2006) - A work commitment and a visit with some
friends brought Jon Keighren to Rochester last week.
That put the native of Manchester, England, here for the
English soccer team's World Cup quarterfinal match Saturday.
Although his team let him down - England was eliminated
by Portugal on penalty kicks - Monty's Korner did not.
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CARLOS
ORTIZ staff photographer
English fans Rachel Smedley, Ruth Paisley
and Hannah Bye, from left, came to Monty’s
with high hopes Saturday, but, alas, England lost. “It’s
a lot like going to church on Sundays,” said one
fan. |
Keighren,
38, found a little slice of home at the bar in Rochester.
"This is a typical scene back in Manchester," the
University of Manchester media relations manager said Saturday
morning as the packed bar at East Avenue and Alexander Street
filled up with about 80 wide-eyed England fans for an 11 a.m.
kickoff.
"I've been really surprised how the Americans have taken
to it (the World Cup). ... I thought when the U.S.A. got knocked
out the interest would wane, but it hasn't."
Soccer interest rarely wanes at Monty's, which has gladly catered
to fans of the world's game since it was opened in 1999 by the
late Alan Hughes and his brother, Joe. It fashioned itself as
a European-style pub from the start and nothing has changed.
Every match from this year's World Cup and the last one, which
included some late-night start times from South Korea in 2002,
has been shown live at Monty's. This year that meant opening
by 11 a.m. on some days.
"We'd be watching these games even if anyone else wasn't
here," said Katie Daniels, 29, a native of Newcastle, England,
who came to America 11 years ago as a nanny and now bartends
at Monty's.
Flags from different countries hang from the ceiling, and when
the World Cup isn't being played, you might find an English
Premier League match on TV.
"I was here four years ago to watch (the World Cup) and
one thing I've noticed this year is the crowd is a lot younger,"
said Penfield resident Ric Hope, 65. "The last time everyone
looked like me."
Not far from Hope were Alena Janda, 21, and her sister, Maria,
17, both natives of the Czech Republic who live in Irondequoit.
"The atmosphere is so intense," said Janda. "It's
just awesome to see people's patriotism."
Different countries have found support in different pockets
of the Rochester area. Local Ukrainians gathered at St. Mary's
Ukrainian Orthodox Church, 3176 St. Paul Blvd., in Irondequoit
to watch their team reach the quarterfinals in its first World
Cup, and more than 150 fans have seen Italy's matches at the
Italian American Sport Club, 1250 Buffalo Road. About 50 drum-banging
Brazilians watched one of their team's matches at Bathtub Billy's,
630 West Ridge Road.
The Italians, who won their semifinal match Tuesday, are one
of three teams which could still win the cup. France and Portugal
play a semifinal today.
Watching with a group of fans makes it more fun, said Ellen
Churnetski, 30, and Taggard Andrews, 36. The Rochester couple
lived briefly in England, so they know firsthand the passion
for soccer.
"It's this kind of feeling of community, I mean everybody
is there, you're rooting for your team. There's nothing that
compares to it," said Churnetski, who attended Oxford University
and painted her toenails to look like the English flag.
"It's a lot like going to church on Sunday. People pray
in their own homes, but you get together for the community (aspect),
for the support," Andrews said. "Everybody's up for
the highs and down on the lows, but you're all going through
it together."
That's why they watched the English team at Monty's.
"There's no way to compare this to watching it on your
couch," Churnetski said.
JDIVERON@DemocratandChronicle.com
THE
ROCHESTER INSIDER
May 5th, 2006
Meet 4 Favorite Local Bartenders
the BFD: the perfect blends
Jules
Suplicki's accent makes one customer want to
"melt down into the cracks of her teeth." |
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Jules
Suplicki
Age:
28
Bar: The Old Toad, 277 Alexander St.
Favorite of: Angela Ausen, 23, of Rochester
Because: "She's a buxom blonde with a beautiful
accent that makes me want to melt down into the cracks
of her teeth. She makes good drinks and looks and sounds
good while doing it."
Favorite drink to mix: "I made up this thing
called a Camel Bite, which is cider, nut brown ale and
amaretto. It tastes like the chocolate milkshake of
the beer world."
Favorite drink to drink: A good Belgian Triple
Idea of a good customer: "I like it when
somebody comes in and they know nothing about beer and
they ask for a Coors Light or something, and you say
to them 'Wouldn't you like to try something different?'
And they're open to the suggestion. Then you get them
drinking some fantastic beer."
Biggest
customer pet peeve: When people don't say 'please.'
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Dave
Wickett, owner of Kelham
Island Brewery, and esteemed American Brewmaster Garrett
Oliver of Brooklyn
Brewery, teamed up in England to produce Brooklyn
Smoked Porter. This is a first for Kelham Island as they
have never brewed a smoked porter before. Check out the
write up HERE. |
Ben Wilkinson hopes to be in 2012 Games.
For This Brit, News Was Olympian
by Stephanie Dusek
Published Jul 06, 2005
While England celebrated becoming host of the 2012 Summer Olympics,
a little piece of the United Kingdom in Rochester was doing
the same Wednesday.
British
college student Ben Wilkinson works in the Old Toad,
a Rochester pub, as party of a yearlong co-op assignment. He’s
thrilled for his country and for the opportunity the Olympics
could bring him as an athlete.
"I
was ecstatic, to be honest,” Wilkinson said. “I really
don't know what to think. It's a good feeling.”
The
22-year-old plays volleyball at Sheffield-Hallam College and
on England's national volleyball team. He'll have to work to
get back on it when he returns home in the fall. "I've
got a lot of training ahead of me and I've got to go professional
to play in it, more than likely,” Wilkinson said. “So
I'll be looking for a contract when I get home."
The
Olympic news gave fellow co-op students reason to be proud of
their country—and their co-worker.
“It's
great thing for England and obviously now we have a little personal
attachment to it as well, with Ben," said Corrine Hughes.
Seven
years is a long time to train and anticipate the games. Wilkinson
will be 29 by then and "anything can happen in that time,”
he says.
“I'll
just keep my fingers crossed I can get through it all and in
the end be in the Olympics," he said.
This
big-time volleyball player has learned something from Rochesterians
who play the sport on the beach. He had never played beach volleyball
before coming to the U.S.
Wednesday
was also Wilkinson’s 22nd birthday, so the Olympic news
was truly the icing on the cake.
ROCHESTER
DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE
Area Brits crow about Olympic site selection
Lara Becker Liu
Staff Writer
(July 7, 2005) — Local Brits celebrated a right bit of
happy news Wednesday after learning of London's unexpected Olympic
bid victory.
Workers
at the Old Toad — the Alexander Street pub that
bills itself as authentically British and boasts that everything
from its staff to the food is imported from Great Britain —
were equally excited, not least of all because one of the employees,
a volleyball player, says he hopes to participate in the 2012
Games.
Ben
Wilkinson, 22, says he represents England on the national
volleyball team and hopes for a contract to play professionally
when he graduates from Sheffield Hallam University. Wednesday's
news was all the more welcome for Wilkinson because it came
on his birthday.
"It's
been a good day altogether," he said.
Manager
Jules Suplicki called the news "very exciting."
At 4 p.m., she and staffers were preparing special Olympic
Gold shots, made with red grenadine, blue Curaçao and
Goldschlager liquor — to ensure "plenty of gold
flakes for all the gold medals England's going to win."
"Finally,
finally," she said, "little old England gets its
chance."
That, and,
as kitchen manager Tim Smith put it, "it's always
good to get one over on the French.
ROCHESTER
DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE
What are the top beer bars in Rochester?
The Beer Guys
(May 3, 2005) — BeerAdvocate.com has come out with its
list of "The Top Beer Bars in America." Alas, no Rochester-area
places made the cut.
As we
surfed the list of 50 bars, we came to the realization that
we haven't visited any of them.
Dagnabbit.
This isn't great column material, we thought.
Then,
the little gerbils in our heads flicked on the idea bulb,
and we decided to compile a list of our five favorite beer
bars in the Rochester area. What qualifies as a good beer
bar for us?
Beer
selection, dummy. And we're not talking about a good variety
of Bud, Miller, Coors, Genesee, Labatt and Molson. We like
microbrews. We like surprises.
So here's
our list. Agree, disagree. Who cares? It's our column:
- MacGregor's
Grill & Tap Room. There are five in our area: Rochester,
Henrietta, Gates (a new location that just opened), Perinton
and Canandaigua. MacGregor's remains the best place to get
a draft beer in the region because of the enormous variety.
The Rochester location has about 75 beers on tap.
- California
Brew Haus, 402 W. Ridge Road. This bar in the shadow of Kodak
Park offers an amazing and daunting array of bottled beer
displayed in fridge after fridge.
- The
Old Toad, 277 Alexander St. The British pub — run
by real Brits — always has a mean assortment of draft
beer.
- Monty's
Krown, 875 Monroe Ave. Another spot with a terrific array
of draft beer, and the brands seem to change every once in
a while, providing an incentive to stop in again.
- J.B.
Quimby's Public House, 3259 S. Winton Road, Henrietta. The
bar offers a decent selection of draft beer.
In case
you're wondering, we tossed out Brü and Rohrbach Brewing
Co. because they are both brewpubs. We wanted to feature bars
that didn't actually make their own.
If you're
interested in the national list, check out www.BeerAdvocate.com.
ROCHESTER
DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE
Club Watch: The Old Toad
Jack
Garner, Staff writer
(January 27, 2005) — The Old Toad: A classic English-style
pub.
Look: You'd swear you were in North London or Piccadilly.
Small low booths, a busy dartboard. A clock tells you the
current time in England.
Taste:
The English invented pub food, and that's what you'll sample
here: shepherd's pie, bangers (sausage) and mash (potatoes),
fish and chips, beef and ale pie, hunter's chicken and a Yorkshire
pudding dinner. You may get an occasional surprise, like boozy
blues linguini (blue cheese and veggie sauce over pasta).
Seasonal
perks: A fireplace with a quaint English-style heater
warms a small sitting room off the main bar. Order hot mead
(wine infused with honey, spiced and served hot) for $5.25
a glass.
Specials:
In addition to more than 90 bottled beers, nine permanent
draught lines and up to four ever-changing real ale lines,
the bar offers five guest draught lines, with brands changed
the moment the keg is finished. Draughts are in the $4-to-5
range. Real ales are unique treats. Unpasteurized and flavorful,
they're stored at a cool but not cold 50 degrees in basement
kegs, from which the bartender slowly "pulls" them
with the long-handled tap. The Old Toad claims to have been
the first pub in the United States to offer real ales.
What
to do: Drink beer and talk about it. Toast the queen or
Ringo. Or chat up the young British staff. (They're mostly
English students on a one-year internship in Rochester.) No
TVs, no jukebox. Dart and chess games are always possible.
Trivia tournaments Sunday and Monday nights about 9 p.m.
Parking:
A challenge. This is the East End, where several clubs and
eateries compete for on-street and paid lot parking.
Patrons:
Business folks at lunch. Families in the early evening. Students
from the Eastman School and other colleges in the late evening.
British expatriates anytime.
The
details: 277 Alexander St., (585) 232-2626. Deafening
music factor is 2, Hook-up factor is 4 (1 being
the lowest score; 10 the highest).
Jack Garner
GREAT
LAKES BREWING NEWS
"Like last year The Old Toad has kept some of the
rotating foreign exchange staff on a little longer. This, combined
with a bigger management staff (Joe, Jules and Simon) has made
the annual transistion almost seamless. The expanded beer range
(bottles, draft and cask) totals 88. On October 1 (5 to 8 PM)
they will host a roll out for Cascazzila, a new seasonal
from Ithaca
Beer Company. For $10 you get a shirt, a glass and a pint."
- Steve Hodos
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