McVeigh's

We haven't done a Guinness Quest in a while, and we apologize. Winter must have gotten cold, and it got boring reviewing the same places over and over (i.e., the ones closest to where we live that we frequent often). We also had a stint of not drinking as much Guinness (gasp!)

Life's back to normal now.

We've been to McVeigh's twice, including this time. We remember it as a lively place, kind of in the middle of nowhere. It was a lazy Saturday morning, the world was still sleeping. And we were having a nectar of the gods.

The place was very empty, save for two tables and the bar-end filled. Promptly served, with a friendly discussion about the weather (what else is there to talk about when winter was hitting on April?) Friendly service, albeit the nectar was clearly lacking. So unfortunate. The atmosphere also didn't add any fuzzy feeling, needing an update five years ago.

Score:

Guinness (/10): 4
Atmosphere (/5): 2
Service (/5): 5
Base Score: 11

Bonus: 0

Final Score: 12/20 + 0 Bonus

The Twisted Kilt (Yonge & Davisville)

The Twisted Kilt is a rather welcoming-looking pub just north of Yonge & Davisville. Inside, we found a fairly standard and slightly dated, although quite warm pub set-up. We entered the pub at about 3 in the afternoon on Saturday, finding it fairly quiet. The pub boasts a fairly solid selection of 22 beers on tap, which include some interesting cask ales as well as a good mix of Canadian and European b%ers. Mo3t importantly, they have Guinness. Unfortunately, there's no Kilkenny or Boddington's on tap, but no matter. There is Old Speckled Hen, which seems to be becoming rarer as a draught beer these days.

Another minus, beer-wise, was the fairly average Guinness. Not terrible, but not great either. Service was friendly, although understandably slowed down a bit when a large group of pub-hoppers popped in. Overall, not a bad pub, but also not a great one.

Score:

Guinness (/10): 6
Atmosphere (/5): 3
Service (/5): 4
Base Score: 13



Bonus:
Ale selection: 1
Bonus Score: 0

Final Score: 13/20 + 1 Bonus

Sir John's Public House, Kingston

Located in the heart of downtown Kingston, Sir John's has gotten some pretty positive reviews on the web. Walking in, it's not hard to see why. The pub is on the small side, but makes the most of itself with a cozy atmosphere, clean pillows and nice benches and tables. Named after Canada's first Prime Minister, the pub has a Scottish theme and serves a selection of Scottish, Canadian, and Scottish-Canadian cuisine.

The Guinness was fairly mediocre. Not bad at  the start, but very bitter at the end. A solid 5, really. This is a Scottish pub, though, not an Irish one, so perhaps slightly sub-par Guinness is to be expected. The pub does boast Kingston's "finest selection of Scotch whisky", but the list itself is pretty uninspired. It does deviate from purely standard pub fare by offering some 15 year-old expressions from Macallan and Glenlivet, but the selection of distilleries is pretty bland. Not having tried the food, I won't comment on the kitchen, but, despite the atmosphere and friendly staff, there wasn't much to recommend this pub, beverage-wise.

Score:

Guinness (/10): 5
Atmosphere (/5): 4
Service (/5): 4

Base Score: 13

Bonus: 0 

Final Score: 13/20