Last night we sipped beer, cider and wine by Lake Ontario, strolled along the ‘beach’, and wondered whether the sugar factory dominating our view was still in operation.

Apparently it is. Sugar Beach was buzzing with the after work Friday crowd on the second evening of the Toronto Wine and Spirit Festival, and we were there to enjoy some tunes and taste of some local beverages. Brand ambassadors were keen to make their pitch about why you should try theirs. Be prepared to flirt, or if you’re shy about flirting say you’ve run out of tokens. My Plus One and I mistook a gentlman to be offering us wine, when in fact his pitch was actually his phone number. And no, he was not a brand ambassador. Clearly, we were the type who “ran out of tokens”.

A good place for the singles to mingle, it seemed, as the crowd was comprised of a good portion of small friendship groups or pairs of friends, eying one another’s groups (if you want The Plus Ones to play match maker we can do that too, just so you know. You just have to know where to find us!)

Great live music and a spectacular location made for a decent unwinding activity for the end of the week. It would have been nice to see more wine brands and better tasting portions for the cost of entry, but then again, how often can you say ‘I watched a ton of sail boats pass by on Lake Ontario next to a sugar factory while I drank and listened to live jams.’ Exactly.