January 26 -February 8
VOL.10 ISSUE. 11HOME / FOOD & DRINK

Figuring out the age of your beer can be frustrating

 Most beer is meant to be consumed fresh — because after a few months, the nefarious effects of oxygen eat away at the glorious flavours in your beer, destroying the aroma and flattening the body. True, some higher alcohol beers (like quality Belgian-style ales, for example) can be aged, sometimes for years. But the general rule remains: beer is best when drank fresh, as any brewer will tell you.But the problem is figuring out the age of your beer — which shouldn’t be hard, but is.Unless you’ve brewed it yourself, you have to rely on the brewery that created it to tell you how old that beer you’re drinking actually is. Unfortunately, many brewers (especially the major ones) aren’t exactly forthcoming with that information. Oh, it’s there, right on the box or the bottle — but good luck deciphering it.Why? Well, breweries use codes to indicate the age of their product, which is useful for them when it comes to tracking inventory, but not so helpful for the consumer. To make matters worse, there’s no standardized system for the codes — meaning each brewery can adopt whatever system suits their fancy.The first hurdle is t

Saboroso’s got a gimmick, sure — but it’s a good one

 SABOROSO2600 8th St. E249-4454Yowza, Saboroso — you’ve taken things to an entirely new level when it comes to immediate popularity.To put the fervent desire Saskatonians clearly have for this new hotspot, I remember being shocked when I couldn’t call Thursday to get Friday reservations at Weczeria. At Saboroso, you’re looking at three weeks’notice for a reservation for four!So what is this place, you ask? It’s our first Brazilian steakhouse. Brazilian steakhouses have been popping up in larger cities for at least a decade, but this is the first to arrive here. (I’m not sure why it’s taken so long for Saskatoon to get one — the concept seems wildly successful.)A Brazilian steakhouse employs men in red sashes as servers. These “gauchos” carry around a large sword which has several sizzling chunks of meat on it, as well as a large knife, for slicing pieces off said chunks. If you’re a bold soul, you can order what’s known as Rodizio ($34), which entitles you to as many of those chunks of meat as you can handle. It also entitles you to unlimited access to the “common table,” essentially a bu