The Growler Ontario • Volume 1 Issue 3 • Winter 2018

PUBLISHER

Gail Nugent gnugent@thegrowler.ca

EDITOR

David Ort david@thegrowler.ca

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Crystal Luxmore

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Jordan Du

Ben Johnson

Robin Leblanc

Jon Sufrin

PRODUCTION & DESIGN MANAGER

Tara Ra q tara@thegrowler.ca

PHOTOGRAPHY

David Ort

COVER ILLUSTRATION

Cai Sepulis

SOCIAL MEDIA

David Ort

ADVERTISING

Krysta Frederick krysta@thegrowler.ca

DISTRIBUTION

Craig Sweetman (Newsstand)

Debbie Tang (Direct) orders@thegrowler.ca

SUBSCRIPTIONS on.thegrowler.ca/subscribe

© e Growler 2018 No

Breweries by Region

30 54 49 60 64 78 88 97

TORONTO

NORTH & EAST GTA

HAMILTON, BRANT & WEST GTA

NIAGARA

CENTRAL WEST & TRI-CITIES

SOUTH WEST & WINDSOR

KAWARTHAS & NORTHUMBERLAND // KINGSTON & PEC

EASTERN ONTARIO & OTTAWA

Autumn is my favourite season. I mean proper autumn, not that leaves falling on a 25-degree day fakery in late September. I’m even part of a group of friends who formed a Fall Patio Appreciation Club.

For sustenance, everyone focusses on apples, squash and root vegetables. Cold weather is also the time for oysters and we have your guide to pairing them with craft beer (pg. 16). And speaking of squash, we lined up a recipe for homemade pasta made with it (pg. 28).

Can't wait for Christmas? Make an advent calendar (pg. 8).

Have a cousin who still hasn't tried craft? Might be because big breweries buy the tap lines in the sports bars they frequent. Maybe we can do something about this illegal practice (pg. 24).

If that all sounds like a lot to handle and you need a break, join us on a long weekend beer excursion to Montreal (pg. 19).

On the way there, you’ll pass dozens of breweries in Eastern Ontario. eir details are listed in our new directory sections (pgs. 88-109) along with descriptions by Jordan Du . In the spring 2019 issue, we’ll add the northern parts for full-province coverage. Also, it turns out that 99.5% of breweries are kid-friendly, so we’re switching that icon out for one that tells you whether you can bring your pup along for a taproom visit.

May the rest of your autumn be pleasant and packed with porters, and your winter short and full of stout. Cheers!

GROWLER-APPROVED BADGE

Keep an eye out for our 10 favourite beers this winter!

Brewery Details

GROWLER FILLS

BOTTLES / CANS KEGS

TASTING ROOM

ON-SITE KITCHEN OR FOOD TRUCK

TOURS

DOG FRIENDLY

GLUTEN-FREE BOOZE OPTIONS

Suggested Glassware

STANGE

Kolsch Alt Gose

PILSNER

Lager

Pilsner

Witbier

NONIC PINT

Pale ale

Stout and porter

Most ales, actually

WEIZEN

Hefeweizen

Weizenbock

American wheat

TULIP

Saison

Double IPA

Strong ales

GOBLET

Dubbel

Belgian strong

Tripel

SNIFTER

Barley wine

Quad

Anything funky

Do you really drink beer?

A discussion with Renee Navarro about diversity in Ontario’s craft beer industry

by David Ort

“If I had a dollar for every guy who asked me ‘do you really drink beer?’ we’d be on my private island right now,“ Renee Navarro says as we sit down on my local patio to talk about diversity in craft beer.

It’s that sort of slanted question and closed-door mentality that helped pull the longtime craft brewery sales rep into her current role as an advocate for more diversity.

e turning point for adding “diversity champion” to her day job came around the time when Navarro helped found the Society of Beer Drinking Ladies. “ e Society, with the way they did it, got people to think a bit di erently and at that time I was their mouthpiece—and the accidental mouthpiece for the lack of diversity in craft beer.”

Part of the focus for her message is de nitely on beer marketing, a body of work that has lagged behind on keeping up with current norms on being progressive and inclusive.

at’s especially the case for advertising, where Navarro notes that the point is to get customers to identify with a character in a magazine or TV ad. “When I see me, I’m draped over Billy D. Williams [in an ad for Colt 45] with the tagline ‘works every time’, which means I get raped when he nishes his beer. at’s disgusting.”

“I talk about a 40 being marketed to black people and everyone laughs,” says Navarro about addressing audiences that are predominantly white

and female. “But I follow it up with that Colt 45 example and everyone gets super quiet. And that surprise is because that’s not what their beer life has ever been.”

e problematic behaviour isn’t just a big-brewery thing from a bygone time. (And there are some giant breweries that have done well like Guinness with their “Sapeurs” ad.) “You don’t see us as sales reps in large numbers,” she says of the current industry “and when you watch something from a craft brewery, you don’t see a multitude of colours.”

Navarro points out that diversity is not just a big-city idea. To a white male brewery employee in northern Ontario who wonders what he can do given the local demographics, she points out “I hear women also live there. Not to mention an indigenous community.”

She consults for restaurants and bars with beer list and education services and obviously loves her job. I can tell she plans to keep working passionately from the inside to make Ontario’s beer industry stronger: “What I’m pushing for is that there should be space for everyone at that table.”

How to do better today? As well as more inclusive marketing, Navarro wants to see us connect with each other over our shared love of good beer. Breweries, she says, should nd out what a person likes to drink and keep the conversation on beer. j

Renee Navarro is committed to getting the industry she loves to do better on diversity. Racheal McCaig photo.

With 30+ craft breweries, locally grown hops, and one of the world’s great lakes in our backyard, it’s a wonder you didn’t stop by to wet your whistle sooner. Come see what’s on tap.

And while you’re here, check out beer’s best friend on the Buffalo Wing Trail!

ADV ENT The of good beer

by Robin LeBlanc

Iremember when I was a kid and the holiday season would roll around.

I was raised in an English family, so we leaned towards the more traditional types of celebration and a big part of that was getting a package in the mail from my gran that contained, among other things, a Woolworth’s advent calendar for December. It was always large and ornate, with a beautiful scene of Father Christmas ying through an old village or carollers singing in an old village or holly and ivy strewn about an old village. Come to think of it, England really is fond of its old villages.

It could be hung up, usually on a wall in our kitchen, or hidden away every day to remove us from the temptation of overindulging on days we shouldn’t. When I arrived home from school or when the holiday started, after supper, my mum would bring out the calendar and we’d reveal the surprise chocolate of that day. Would it be an angel? A candy cane? A Christmas tree? We had no way of knowing until we opened it up, but

the results were always the same; a delicious treat to have every day for the 24 days leading up to Christmas (or, if you were lucky enough to get a calendar with it, 25).

Now I’m in my thirties and I can honestly say that I haven’t done the whole chocolate advent calendar thing in years. But, as I’m sure all of us have seen over the course of our lives, the advent calendar model can be applied to literally any product. Cheese, makeup, pictures of the many faces of famed actor Brian Blessed, and even bottles and cans of craft beer.

Now, beer advent calendars are nothing new. ey’ve been around in the States for years and even here in Canada some intrepid beer stores and importers have released special 24-packs that have a single beer for each day in the holiday season. Here in Ontario, this year has been a pretty lucky one, seeing us get a hold of the Craft Beer Importers coveted BeerAdvent® calendar without ordering it special from the LCBO. Counting down the 24 days using beers from 12 countries, this calendar is perhaps the most famous one in people’s minds. It gained quick popularity after its rst release in 2012 in Canada by being both fun and diverse in its selection. We also notably saw the arrival of a calendar from the Ottawa Craft Collective. Headed up by the folks at Nita Beer Co., the calendar features two beers from each of 12 breweries located in the Ottawa region. Only available to Ontario residents, the calendars are a wonderful sign of the collaborative nature of local craft breweries in the province.

However, with a few exceptions, pre-made calendar packs have rarely come up here, and Ontarians have settled for making their own. After all, as is the case with many gifts, while buying a special item for yourself or someone else can be a lot of

>>

Whether you're preparing to welcome the messiah or the latest demon movie, here's the Growler guide to creating 24 days of cheer.

fun, nothing can quite beat the thoughtfulness that comes with making it yourself.

e construction of a beer advent calendar is fun because you have full control of what you want to do with it. It can be as easy or as complex as you’d like it to be. I’ve seen people get as complicated as cutting up some mail packaging tubes and arranging them as a Christmas tree, complete with decorations to as easy as taking a box-cutter to the top of a 2-4 and writing numbers on each door. Heck, I’ve seen others that completely forgo concealing the beers in a box by simply wrapping them up in festive paper and assigning a number to a random one so even the person making it doesn’t know which one will be which. e possibilities are endless and the only limit is your imagination. Now, in terms of logistics, I can o er a few pointers:

1. Limiting the number of beers to 24-25 is more in line with tradition and can make construction of a calendar easier. Anything more than that and it just gets bulky.

3. Make sure you put a varied, eclectic mix of beers in your calendar. Fortunately, in today’s climate where Ontario is certainly not starving for choice, you should have no problem nding individual beers!

4. Not all of the beers necessarily have to be the best beers. is is another instance where the customization of your own beer advent calendar can be fun, since you can choose to throw in a couple of less-than-great beers to make the mystery a little dangerous.

5. You don’t even have to make it all beer. You can make the rules. No gods, no masters! Want to throw in a book or some brewery merch in one of the days? Do it!

And that’s really all there is to it. Now, if you’re a little stuck on what exactly to include in your custom calendar, I’d suggest opting for a healthy mix of thoughtful and festive if you’re making this for a friend, putting in a few of their favourite stand-by beers along with some of the many special seasonal o erings from your local brewery. And, like I said earlier, don’t be afraid to have fun with it and shake things up. One day could have a Nickel Brook Immodest Imperial IPA, another could have Sawdust City’s Long, Dark Voyage to Uranus imperial stout, and another could have a glass and t-shirt from Muskoka Brewery’s store.

e most important thing, however, is that you have fun and if you’re making this for someone else, that you both stay warm in these cold winter months with the feelings of friendship and joy that can only come from the people you care about most.

bag and you still want

advent calendar model to actually, that’s not a bad

2. If Christian-based holidays or religion itself isn’t your bag and you still want in on the fun, that’s no problem! You can use the advent calendar model to countdown to any number of things, from weddings and special birthdays, to the opening screening of the new Hellboy movie which, actually, that’s not a bad idea, I might do that.

And, hey, I mean, a nice strong beer to warm the corners of your own village along with all that good joy and happiness wouldn’t hurt either. j

own village along with all that good joy and happiness

Craft Beer Importers have brought their BeerAdvent® calendar to LCBOs for the rst time this year. Count down to the big day with a beer selection that spans 12 countries. Supplied photo.

While buying a special item for yourself or someone else can be a lot of fun, nothing can quite beat the thoughtfulness that comes with making it yourself.

this all a-stout?

GLOS SARY O F UN USED BEER NAME S

Naming beers can be a daunting and frustrating creative process for any brewery, new or old. ere’s a balancing act involved to ensure that the name is interesting and memorable enough to stand out among the legions of other beers fighting for attention, and yet manages to stay true to the character of that beer. Luckily for you, the Growler Brain Trust has created a glossary of unused beer names that are ready for any brewery to use, free of charge. We’ve started this potentially regular feature out with two very popular styles: the witbier and the stout. You’re welcome.

WITBIER

NOT IN TO WIT TAKE IT, OR LEAVE WIT CRACK THAT WIT HOW’S WIT GOING? WIT’S ALL GOOD CHAMPING AT THE WIT I WANNA MAKE IT WIT CHU WIT IN YOU, WIT OUT YOU WITS THE BILL SOMETIMES, I WONDER WHETHER OR NOT I REALLY WANT TO BE WIT YOU I WIT ME PANTS KEEP WIT AND HAVE FUN WIT’S COMPLICATED THAT DOESN’T WIT WITH OUR CORPORATE STRUCTURE SO WIT’S BEEN WRITTEN JUST A WITTLE WIT IT’S NOT YOU, WIT’S ME CAN I GET A WIT-NESS WIT’S NOT WIT IT SEEMS I’M WIT YOU, DUDE JUST DO WIT!!!! PIECE OF WIT WITTY TIMING I’M WIT FOR YOU WIT-NEY HOUSTON WIT-CHES OF EAST WIT HAM SAND-WIT

STOUT

I’M GETTING’ THE HELL STOUT OF HERE! STOUT AND ABOUT FRESH STOUT OF CASH I’M TAPPED STOUT GOING ON A STOUTING A STOUT OF INSANITY I’M BITTER A-STOUT IT OUT AND A-STOUT STOUT’S HONOUR BOY STOUTS OF CANADA STOUT OF COMMISSION SHORT AND STOUT STOUT OF SERVICE MRS. STOUTFIRE BEYOND A SHADOW OF A STOUT STOUT, STOUT, LET IT ALL STOUT PUT YOUR HANDS UP AND STOUT

BREWER BREWERvs

THE CASK DAYS EDITION

by David Ort

There are a few big weekends in the Ontario craft beer calendar. May 2-4, Canada Day and the rest of summer’s long-weekend gang come to mind, but none is really as important as the one after anksgiving when Cask Days takes over the Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto.

is year, the event brought together over 400 beers from nine di erent states and provinces.

It also brought Matt Tweedy, co-owner and head brewer at Tooth & Nail in Ottawa to town and that meant I had a chance to sit down with him and Indie Alehouse’s brewing director Je Broeders.

We got together over a few pints in the front booth at Allen’s on the Danforth to chat about what is driving their shared passion for making great beers.

GROWLER: How did you guys get to be where you’re at now?

BROEDERS: Jason Fisher brought me on six years ago. He found me at Niagara College and we saw eye-to-eye on what we like. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. You start popping beer into barrels and over time we grew to 80 barrels, then 160. We’re hoping to put out 500 hectolitres of barrel-aged beer next year.

TWEEDY: My wife Dayna and I started Tooth & Nail. For us, creating an environment that we would like to sit and drink in was rst and foremost. e beer was going to drive the business, but it was also about the experience. I was adamant that in the beginning we would focus on traditional, clean and easy-drinking styles of beer. Try to hone in on simplicity instead of trying to out-do everyone else with the new fad. At that point, it wasn’t the long-term plan but because of

JE FF BROEDE RS

the success we’ve had, we’ve stuck to it. e longterm plan is starting to come into play. We are looking for a facilty to start allowing us to do sour and barrel-aged beer.

GROWLER: Where is the Ontario market at?

TWEEDY: We’re easily 10 years behind the U.S. in terms of customer palate development. You go to any local sports bar in the U.S. and you’ve got a draught line-up that you’d never even see here.

GROWLER: Is that palate or how the marketplace is regulated?

TWEEDY: One probably feeds the other. e more you’re exposed to these quality products— like Allagash White, one of the highest quality beers produced in the U.S.—developing a taste for those products leads the consumer to become discerning. We’ve got a lot of discerning consumers in Ontario but the population as a whole is undergoing a discovery period.

BROEDERS: Distribution has a lot to do with it. In general, bar owners are lazy. We don’t deal with many lazy bar owners, but others just want to go on that one page from the Beer Store and click.

TWEEDY: ere’s still a pay-to-play mentality. It’s insane in this province. I get asked if bars can carry Vim & Vigor. Sure, we can do that. ”It will cost you $2,000 and we’ll be loyal to your product,” they say. I say: “Don’t ever call me again.”

BROEDERS: Get it in writing.

TWEEDY: I understand the restaurant and bar business very well. I was part of it for 12 years. I still own a bar. [A brewery] sells a keg for $150, that bar owner is generally going to generate $550 in revenue. Why do I need to give you something? I’m the only reason you can pay your bills. I’m simplifying how hard it is to be a bar owner. It’s one of the hardest jobs out there and I don’t mean to disrespect that. I’m just not going to play the game. I make limited amounts of beer that I think is the best beer that I can possibly produce. I put my heart and soul into so I’m not going to start selling for less.

GROWLER: Is there one thing the Ontario government can do to help craft beer?

BROEDERS: Every brewery would sell more beer if it was in corner stores.

TWEEDY: Tons more beer. But part of that system’s aw is that you can go to any corner store in Quebec with an amazing beer selection and you pull a six-pack o the shelf and it’s a year old.

GROWLER: What will help?

TWEEDY: e number one thing that the government can do is recreate what Brewer’s Retail [was supposed to be.] Indie Alehouse’s bottle shop can sell my beer and vice versa. You save the customer from going to as many places and if I go with Beyond the Pale, Dominion City and Kichessippi I now have three more outlets for my beer where

ere's still a pay-to-play mentality. It's insane in this province.

—Matt Tweedy

Je Broeders’s collaborative philosophy for his team at Indie means lots of new beer releases to try on a sample ight.

MATT TWEEDY

people care about the quality, that it’s kept cold and fresh. You would see growth in the industry like you’ve never seen. Breweries tend to do great things for their communities.

GROWLER: How do you think about the bottle shop?

BROEDERS: We have a slightly di erent philosophy. We try to do as many releases as posssible. I’m trying to create a culture at Indie where we’re a team and have everyone experiment their own way. We work together to always execute the best recipe we can, but one thing our customers really like is that new beer on tap once or twice a month.

TWEEDY: Do those new beers on tap go through the bottle shop as well?

BROEDERS: Yes. We’ll decide how much goes out, but yes. We’re able to do this because we’re so small batch. We do 10 barrels at once.

GROWLER: Are you more concerned with craft brewers that are ne with mediocrity or big-brewery marketing?

TWEEDY: I’m most concerned with contract brewers, to be honest. I’ve come to have a disdain for some of those brands. Some have created what, in my opinion, is pretty mediocre beer. ey ooded the marketplace with huge marketing initiatives. It becomes very di cult for a brewery owner, like myself, to get a bar owner interested in paying for my product. I think the people in charge of those products are very savvy businesspeople, and I re-

spect that, but unfortunately beer is a business that I take a huge amount of pride in. Big breweries? I have a little brewery on a corner in Ottawa, I don’t think Molson gives a shit about me.

BROEDERS: I’m upset with people settling for mediocrity. Especially brewers. I put a lot of attention into trying to make sure I’m always getting better.

TWEEDY: at’s what drives you as a brewer. at’s why you brew.

BROEDERS: If I can do better today it will make my life easier down the road. Contract brewers tie into that. ey just hand a piece of paper to someone, not even a recipe, they just want “pilsner.”

TWEEDY: e ipside is that we’re both drinking [Left Field’s] Eephus, which was a contract-brewed beer in the beginning. It was very clear from the rst pint of Eephus that came out that Mark and Mandie were going to build a brewery. at’s extremely rare. It does happen and I do respect it.

GROWLER: What’s Cask Days about for you guys?

BROEDERS: Inspiration, no.

TWEEDY: Every single brewer walks in the front door and goes straight to their cask because with cask-conditioned ale…

BROEDERS: You never know what you’re going to get.

TWEEDY: Cask ale is hard to plan for. We think about trying a couple of fun ideas. But you have no clue what it’s going to be like.

BROEDERS: It’s not about making the best cask beer.

TWEEDY: Nobody really remembers that one that was really outstanding. ere’s a lot of good beer, there’s a lot of bad beer.

is is a pared-back version of our conversation. Find the rest at on.thegrowler.ca/bvb3 j

I’m upset with people settling for mediocrity. Especially brewers. —Je Broeders

At Tooth & Nail, Matt Tweedy focusses on perfecting recipes before customers get to try them in the taproom.

Beer and briny bivalves

Cold weather and celebrations call for oysters. Here is your guide to pairing them with your favourite brew.

by Jon Sufrin

In her seminal 1941 book Consider the Oyster, M.F.K. Fisher contends that oysters, due to their sheer versatility, can be paired with pretty much any beverage. “One man can drink wine with them, another beer, and another fermented buttermilk, and no man will be wrong,” she writes.

When it comes to oysters and beer, Fisher’s approach—doing whatever makes you happy, essentially—is a valid one. But a pairing easily bene ts from a bit of deeper thought. When done properly, a pairing is like a delicious feedback loop, with the drink improving the food and vice versa.

Ontario is home to a thriving craft beer scene and some of the country’s most important oyster purveyors. With prime oyster season approaching, it’s time to get some answers. Is there a worthwhile system for pairing oysters with beer, and if so, what is it?

To address this question, it seems obvious to begin with stout. Long considered a quintessential beer pairing, oysters and stout go back to Victorian-era England. Walk into any pub in 1860s London and

you’d likely nd oysters as the primary snack, since the ocean was not yet a seething mass of cigarette butts and microplastic. And since Untapped badges did not yet exist, the beer selection would likely consist of various grades of porter, including stout and not much else.

Like an arranged marriage, oysters and stout were bound together by proximity and practicality. Still, the pairing happens to make a lot of sense. As beer historian Michael Jackson writes, “the earthy intensity of stout is a perfect foil for the gamey brineyness [sic] of oysters.” is is important, because a beverage should taste di erent from the food with which it’s paired. Contrast is key, and a nice dry stout provides plenty of it.

But while Occam’s Razor does have its appeal, it’s kind of silly to think that one style of beer is always appropriate for oysters. For one thing, oysters are weird—even the cleanest and most refreshing oyster is a confounding mix of tastes and textures, of salt, sweet and seaweed. en consider that there are ve main species of oyster cultivated in North America, and hundreds of varieties, each with a distinct avour pro le.

East Coast oysters are salty and clean-tasting, while West Coast oysters are bolder, taking on notes of melon, umami or copper. e taste of an oyster, too, uctuates with the season. As winter approaches, they become fat and sweet as they prepare for

hibernation, and in spring, they’re thin and milky. Taking all of these variables into consideration, the oyster-beer conundrum can appear daunting.

“Oysters are as individual as every one of us,” says veteran Toronto chef Mark Cutrara. “An oyster takes a person ve years to grow. We owe that person some semblance of respect to pair it with something great.”

Cutrara has served many oysters alongside many craft beers at both Bar Hop and Northern Maverick Brewing Company in Toronto. is is a subject he’s contemplated deeply, to which he’s found no simple answers. He prefers to start with the oyster, to determine its origin and avour pro les, and work from there.

“With West Coast oysters, I like a citra-hopped IPA,” he says, indicating that the citrusy, lemon-peel avours of the hops are a good complement to the hits of summer melon typically found in a West Coast oyster.

en he runs into some di culty.

“With East Coast, I like Sauvignon Blanc. But that’s not a beer is it?” He pauses for a moment, veering into overthinking territory. “I’m going to go with pilsner. You could also go with porter or stout, but you have to be comfortable with that.”

Cutrara’s approach seems loosely terroir-based. Citra hops originated in the Yakima Valley in Washington State, on the West Coast, so it makes sense that they would pair well with an oyster from the nearby Paci c. Porters, of course, were developed in England, near the Atlantic Ocean.

“I want every dish to taste like a place,” he says. Ian Davis, executive chef at Chicago’s Band of Bohemia, the rst-ever Michelin-starred brewpub, says that when in doubt, going the terroir route is probably a wise choice.

e earthy intensity of stout is a perfect foil for the gamey brineyness of oysters.

—Michael Jackson, beer historian

>>

“ e pairing should be something from the same region,” he says.

At Chicago’s Band of Bohemia, Davis took the oyster-beer challenge head-on by o ering an appetizer of oysters done three ways: raw, grilled and fried. is might sound like a pairing nightmare, but his approach was to work backward.

He took Paci c shigoku oysters—meaty, full-bodied, redolent of cucumber—and found they paired well with Band of Bohemia’s Jasmine beer, a crisp but multilayered rice ale made with jasmine rice, jasmine tea and Vienna malt. Using that match-up as a starting point, he ensured that each addition to the appetizer would enhance the pairing.

He garnished the raw oysters with a rhubarb and black pepper mignonette, which showcased the

beer’s crispness, and he topped the grilled oyster with white soy and black garlic, highlighting the beer’s nuttiness. e fried oysters were coated with polenta ( our and buttermilk didn’t match the beer) and then nished with an Old Bay aioli, for which the beer provided palate-cleansing refreshment.

“Every time you ate one of those oysters and tasted the beer, you’d experience something di erent,” he says. “Each garnish showcased something new in the beer.”

It’s crucial, he says, to keep things simple and not overthink the pairing—not always an easy task with so many paths to choose from.

Julius Chapple, front of house manager at Rodney’s Oyster House in Toronto, understands rst-hand that with all the possibilities, one can easily slide into a beer-and-oyster rabbit hole.

“You could do a real deep dive into pairing oysters with beer,” he says. “ e taste of an oyster all depends on where it lived and what time of year it is. You can get as nerdy as you want.”

While he acknowledges there’s a certain appeal to the classic stout pairing, Chapple sees potential in sour beers, which mimic the e ect of common oyster garnishes such as mignonette or lemon. He also suggests a beer with high salinity, such as a gose, or a clean and crisp lager that won’t overpower a delicate oyster. Beau’s Lug Tread, he says, is a great seafood beer.

e important thing, he says, is to keep an open mind and to experiment.

“Enjoy what you’re drinking, he says. “It’s 2018. If you want to try something preposterous, do it. Part of the fun is experimentation and the research.” j

e taste of an oyster all depends on where it lived and what time of year it is. You can get as nerdy as you want. —Julius Chapple, Rodney's Oyster House

Ian Davis is the executive chef at Band of Brothers, the rst brewpub to earn a Michelin Star. Supplied photo.

TOUTES LES BIÈRES

Montreal might be the most walkable beer city in Canada

Ibought my very rst beer in Montreal. My friends, Mickey and Senwung, and I were there to kick McGill’s tires. It doesn’t matter what the beer was (er, a sixer of Molson Canadian) because the point was that we were adults in the eyes of this French-speaking world.

Since then, I’ve been back to Montreal on a few well-remembered occasions. (Once to crash a political convention and then for a whirlwind visit that included steamies and a visit to Martin Picard’s Cabane à Sucre for the launch of his second cookbook.) My most recent visit focussed more intently on beer and food and I came away

by David Ort >>

with the distinct impression of how much things have changed.

Beer is hacking (sometimes desperately) away at the ingrained idea that wine goes with restaurant meals. And that means some wonderfully creative food can be included on a beer trip to Montreal.

Foie gras at one end of the luxury scale and poutine at the other are still staples. Certainly, there have always been options for lighter food in Montreal, but these days fewer of the new restaurants are depending on drafting behind the success of places like Au Pied du Cochon with their dishes like pig’s feet in a can.

Henry MacDonald/Tourisme Montréal photo

DIEU DU CIEL!

Montreal is becoming a city of brewpubs, but DDC’s home at Laurier Ave. is still the king. It’s best for a quick snack and a few beers from their awesome, wide-ranging selection. ings get a bit hectic at peak times, so plan this one for a tourist-only time like 3 p.m.

ey do stouts to perfection at DDC and Péché Mortel (9.5% ABV) with vanilla and dark roasted notes is the archetypal imperial, co ee-infused version. Equally strong, Immoralité (9.2% ABV) is their hazy, double IPA with tons of citrusy hops, notes of stone fruit and a warm backbone.

BENELUX

Patios like the one at Benelux make me wonder why all brewpubs don’t just copy theirs. It manages to be both peacefully lush and buzzing with energy and activity.

A tasting paddle of samples is nearly mandatory to get a proper sense of the broadly in uenced beers at Benelux. Sabotage (7% ABV) is their mainstay IPA with a nice malt backbone supporting the tropical fruit and zest of hops. Lapsus (7% ABV), out of a bottle, is a great way to get

acquainted with their sour beer programme. It shows tart raspberry with an amber body and an extra gear from funky brett.

Foodwise, the EuroDogs at Benelux are sort of max-volume take on a Montreal steamie.

HARRICANA

Harricana’s popularity is a very good sign. I wish there were more businesses that so successfully combined good food, well-made beer and an environment that welcomes both locals in for lunch as easily as beer nerds looking for something new to try.

e in-house beer selection rotates frequently so these recommendations are more of the “watch out for” type. Harricana 68 Blonde Funky (5.7% ABV) was a brett ale with everything from tropical pineapple to a clean, tart nish. Conversely, Harricana 21 (5.6% ABV) is a lightly avoured blonde ale with a pleasant grassy herbal note that complements mild cheese very nicely.

WHERE ELSE TO VISIT

With such great brewpubs, it makes sense that it took a while for Montreal to get a really exceptional beer bar. But these days, one spot stands out

ABOVE LEFT: DDC has a huge range of specialties, from light to dark. ABOVE: e ever-changing tap list at Vices & Versa is an all-star tour of Quebec craft beer. LEFT: Wellmade, subtle beers at Harricana match well with cheese.

David Ort photo

David Ort photo

Supplied photo

so completely that it was the rst stop on my visit. Vices & Versa has a dynamite tap list with recognizable standbys Dunham, Trois Mousquetaires and Charlevoix featured alongside up-and-comers like Lagabière, Matera and cider from Milton. Rounding out the picture, the food is comfortable, especially the burgers and the patio is one of the coziest I’ve seen.

When alcohol was introduced to Ontario grocery stores a few years ago, we could nally buy cheese and beer in one place. And yet, dépanneurs still feel like a better place to shop for beer. Dépanneur Peluso is the reigning champ for good reason, but you’ll need a car to get there.

Dépanneur AS is a neighbourhood hidden-gem (check for freshness and don’t expect great deals) but my new favourite is Les Bon Buveurs. e space features a brilliant combination of an outlet for all the wonderful duck products from Lac Brome; artisanal Quebec fare at the Ils en Fument du Bon counter; and a tightly curated mostly Quebec beer selection.

e other advantage is the location is in the same block as Jean-Talon Market—the number one place to buy all things edible in Montreal. Two new favourites are Fromagerie La Moutonniere for the deepest chèvre selection I’ve seen and Les Cochons Tout Ronds for carnivorous delights, especially stellar cured meat.

Quincaillerie Dante, only a short walk away, might be unique in Canada. It’s half gourmet shop—both cookware and tools, plus ingredients to go in them—and half hunting supply store.

Celebrity chef Stefano Faita’s family owns Dante

and has a lock on the neighbourhood restaurants. Impasto, the rustic pasta joint is especially popular and for good reason.

After realizing that they have competition for “coolest city in Canada”, Montreal has seemed to put a greater emphasis on evolving and trying new things—in food, beer and culture. If staying current on developments seems a bit tough, there’s a solution. Spade and Palacio run tours on foot and bike that do an excellent job of connecting visitors to neighbourhood haunts that don’t make it into the guidebooks.

GETTING TO MONTREAL

ere are as many ways to get to Montreal as there are to leave your lover. Porter and Air Canada both have plenty of ights and you could drive. But my hands-down favourite method is the train, Via 1 if you can swing it. Pro tip: Opt for the early dinner and you can usually get an extra round from the digestif cart.

WHERE TO STAY

I can’t entirely explain it, but there is something about Montreal that demands a stay in a boutique hotel. Maybe it’s about nding innovative new uses for old spaces (and there are plenty) like Hôtel Place d’Armes. Right downtown on St. Jacques St., it o ers a convenient location plus dining that’s good enough that you don’t want to leave the building. j

Pulling in a tight selection of bottles and cans from all over Quebec is the big selling feature of Les Bon Buveurs.

From fresh to aged in all sorts of treatments and provenances, Fromagerie la Moutonniere is the master of chèvre.

David Ort photo David Ort photo

by Rebecca Whyman

Recently, gruits—that ancient, hopless beer style avoured with herbs that seems to be all the rage right now—got me thinking about the elusive line that divides fads, trends, and gimmicks from creative innovations and emerging styles. How do beer geeks decide where they categorize any given beer? Are gimmicky beers harming the reputation of craft beer?

I like to think of myself as a beer evangelist (also brilliant, witty, gorgeous and humble…). It is therefore my self-appointed duty to bring people into the fold. I love nding the craft beer that makes

a former macro lager drinker’s eyes light up, and introducing a non-beer-drinker to a style they can’t believe is actually beer because it tastes so good.

I worry, probably too much, about how people perceive craft beer. Craft beer gets kudos for qualities like authenticity, innovation and community-mindedness.

Besides “bad” beer, what are the things that turn people o from craft beer? Or fail to entice consumers over to the craft side? Do jokey beers make people think craft beer is a joke? Does being surrounded by so many beer styles confuse folks

into avoiding everything craft? Like duck con t nachos, are people rolling their eyes at the “elevated” beer styles?

I am not suggesting that we’re one gimmicky beer away from total annihilation here. Nor am I saying that there’s no place for innovation or creativity— quite the opposite in fact. I’m tickled pink that brewers are bringing the gose back. e rise of session ales? Now there’s a trend that is bringing consumers into the craft beer fold.

No, what keeps me up at night is the worry that too much hype about the crazy new beer those wacky craft brewers made from prairie oysters/ beard yeast/wasp bellies/in space/under the sea is taking the focus away from the care that goes into making every single craft beer.

It’s good to get some perspective from others when your worries are swirling. I didn’t convene a panel of experts, who all came to consensus, but I did casually interrogate beer geeks and industry folks about gimmicky beers and their e ect on the industry. e unscienti c data I gathered is summed up below.

e words “hype,” “fad” and “trend” were bandied about. As was my absolute favourite, “hipster fuckery.” What’s hipster fuckery, you ask? According to its utterer, it is the completely unnecessary addition of whimsical ingredients and brewing techniques, especially piled on top of each other. You’re left with a beer that is ghting itself.

Hipster fuckery is a great way to alienate potential craft beer fans.

So how about we all just agree to be innovative as hell, but stop well short of hipster fuckery? Excellent! But, umm, where is that line exactly? Perhaps a look at how the not-panel perceives some headline-grabbing beers can guide us:

PUM P KIN ALES

Nobody likes them. e consensus is that they’re not a seasonal, no sirree, they’re a gimmick. One brewery representative said they’d brew one over her dead body.

RAW A LE

Some see it as gimmicky. e guys at Category 12

(in Victoria, B.C.) argue that they put a lot of time and care into its development, ensuring that it’s true to the original style, but with a modern local twist. And it’s shelf-stable!

ZE R O IBU

Everyone agrees this is a gimmick. Potentially a great conversation starter about bitterness measurement, but a gimmick nonetheless.

NOR THEAST IPA

Some think it’s a new style that is going to stick around. (I think it is going to replace the NW IPA in popularity, it’s just so darned accessible!) Others think fad or trend. Either way, not gimmicky.

FR ESH HO PPING

Some thought it was a gimmick, others a seasonal/ legitimate beer style. Hype? Check! But that can be waved o because of the tiny time frame in which they can be brewed, marketed and sold. When you fresh hop a non-hop-forward style, though, you’re in gimmick-land. If the hops aren’t showcased, using fresh ones is masturbatory.

K ETTLE SOU RS

ere’s no deceptive element if they are clearly labelled, and priced, as kettle sours. Probably a fad, but not a gimmick.

GRUITS

And the gruits that started me thinking: Nobody likes these either. Why is anyone trying to get these on store shelves? at question put them into the gimmick category.

ere you have it. Lines clearly drawn. Okay, not at all. But what the discussions did crystalize for me is that hype is the antithesis of authenticity. It’s okay to be novel, but you’ve got to have substance backing it up. It’s okay to grab headlines, but do it for good reason. Envelopes are meant to be pushed, but you’ve got to keep your integrity while doing so.

Craft beer is awesome. You know it. I know it. Let’s make sure the rest of those louts know it too. en I’ll be able to sleep at night. j

Fromgra to glass

Craft breweries have to pay to be on tap in many of your favourite bars. Here’s why that’s a terrible thing for beer in Ontario.

by Ben Johnson

As a paying customer in a bar, you might think that the beer on tap is chosen to suit your tastes. It feels like a safe assumption that not only the food but also the beer pouring from the gleaming row of taps is selected to appease you, in order to make you spend money, return, and maybe even invite friends along. But it usually isn’t. ose beers are there for di erent reasons and that bar isn’t actually a really big fan of the 12 very similar lagers that Labatt o ers. e truth is, most bar and restaurant owners treat their draught taps, and often their fridges of bottles and cans too, as not much more than prime

real estate, available to the highest bidder. Brewery sales reps come into bars with an arsenal of free shit in order to “in uence” their way onto these tap lines. ey’re ush with “swag” like t-shirts, patio umbrellas, bar mats and chalkboards. ey have budgets to o er keg deals, buy ve get one free, for example; and they often simply hand over cash or o er to pay for a bar to install draught lines so that the brewery can make sure their beer is always in that line. ere is no loyalty in the hospitality business. A bar manager’s love for a brewery is really only as good as the last rep who walked in the door with free tickets to a Ti-Cats game and a fucking snapback hat.

is practice has historically been limited to the realm of big brewers, like Molson and Labatt, who have money to throw around. ese days, craft brewers both medium and large—even the ones professing their “craft credibility”—are no longer too proud to enter bidding wars for taps, bedeck sta in branded aprons, or send a front-of-house team on an overnight bender. Of course, this is still not a game most small brewers can a ord to play, and de nitely not for very long. If your game is to throw free shit and trips at bars, you’re never going to compete with bigger breweries who have massive budgets—let alone the mega-breweries who throw so much cash at marketing that they literally have arenas and stadiums named after them. It’s not sustainable, and it ends up hurting most brewers more than it helps.

You might be tempted to say that this just sounds like normal sales activities and pretty savvy business, and so I’d like to suggest that this practice is at the heart of keeping Ontario from having more great beer. Sure, if you’re the happy-go-lucky Joe Schmoe who saddles up to the bar for a pound of sloppily-sauced wings and whatever lager is on special, this might seem like a non-issue. Beer is beer, you might say. It’s cold, these wings are delicious, and my bartender has a low-cut top. I’m doing ne. Who cares how this keg got here?

I’m willing to bet that you do. You’re reading a beer magazine, after all. You give a shit about what you drink. And we should also object that a lot of the decisions being made about what beer is available at your local bar, your go-to franchise restaurant, or even your favourite semi-decent beer bar, aren’t being carefully curated by a discerning bar manager. ey aren’t eager to please sophisticated customers like yourself, and they likely aren’t even thinking about what the Joe Schmoes of the world want. Instead, the draught lineup is like-

ly determined by the will of greedy bar managers and restaurant owners who choose what you will get to drink based on personal gain, and that, my discerning friend, should piss o all of us.

Because not only does it mean that someone else chooses what you can pick from when you get to the bar, it is also, arguably, dictating the o erings that brewers can produce. Making good beer, you see, costs money. And when the practice of getting product into the market (i.e. your local) is reduced to being able to bribe or induce your way onto draught lines, it doesn’t leave much room for small brewers to experiment. All that market pressure for lower margins (or sports-ticket graft) actually reduces the wiggle room and exibility that breeds innovation and results in the weird, wacky, and wonderful beers we craft beer drinkers love to try. So everybody ends up making the same shit.

Jason Fisher is the owner of the Indie Alehouse, a small brewpub in Toronto, and he is convinced that the widespread practice of brewers purchasing draught lines is slowing innovation. “Less than six years ago,” he says, “Ontario’s options were severely limited. No one made a year-round porter, there were very few IPAs that tasted like real IPAs, there were no farmhouse beers, no milkshake beers, sours, or wine-barrel beers. ey didn’t just show up because we nally invented them. It’s because they cost more to make and so why would a brewer bother spending more to create a beer they couldn’t sell to bar managers who were looking for a payo to put the beer on tap?”

And aside from limiting choice and stunting innovation, it's also worth noting that selling your taps to the highest bidder is illegal.

According to Ontario’s Liquor Licence Act:

"A manufacturer of liquor or an agent or employee of a manufacturer shall not directly or indirectly o er or give a nancial or material inducement to a person

Why would a brewer bother spending more to create a beer they couldn’t sell to bar managers who were looking for a payo to put the beer on tap?

—Jason Fisher, Indie Alehouse

who holds a licence or permit under the Act or to an agent or employee of the person for the purpose of increasing the sale or distribution of a brand of liquor."

In other words, it is against the law to buy from the brewery willing to give you the best keg deal (we have legally mandated minimum pricing to prevent this), the most glassware, or the all-expenses-paid sta trip to cottage country. And yet, I challenge you to nd a bar in this province that hasn’t been decked out with a certain brewery’s branding gratis or hasn’t had a bar manager attend a big-name concert. It happens every day.

So what’s to be done about it?

Well, the simplest solution is to snitch. e Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) is the regulatory body charged with policing these practices and they claim to take infractions of the Liquor Licence Act very seriously. Ray Kahnert, a Senior Advisor in the AGCO’s Communications and Corporate A airs Division recently con rmed for me that “Ontario’s Liquor Licence Act (LLA) not only prohibits manufacturers from o ering [incentives], it also prohibits licensees from directly or indirectly requesting any nancial or material bene t from a manufacturer.” Meaning that bars and restaurants are just as accountable for soliciting or accepting payola as breweries are for o ering it. Kahnert also con rms for me that if the AGCO becomes aware of a violation as a result of an inspection or complaint, they “typically take a progressive approach to achieving compliance” which can include “a warning letter, a monetary penalty, a suspension of their licence for a period of time, or a revocation of the licence.”

It’s probably worth noting that Kahnert also con rmed to me that literally zero nes have ever been issued related to this rule, BUT an update of the AGCO’s web presence means that submitting complaints anonymously is easier than ever. So if you are a consumer who suspects foul play, or a brewery who is constantly being asked for freebies, you can now report the activity to the AGCO online without anyone knowing it was you. Finally, the best way to stop the small-brewery-hurting, innovation-squashing practice of draught line payola is to simply drink at good bars.

ere are a handful of great beer bars in this province that pay breweries a fair price for their product. Natalie Schnurr is the co-owner and general manager of Arabella Park, in Kitchener.

“ e breweries we deal with don’t need to o er discounts or incentives because they supply incredible beer,” she says. “And our customers can taste that. ey understand that we o er the best beers we can get our hands on and are okay with paying for quality—at what we believe to be a very fair price.” If you’re not sure if the bar you frequent is on the level, ask. Tell them about the beer you want to drink and that you choose to patronize places that pay suppliers fairly. Maybe also mention that bars who think otherwise are hampering our province’s awesome and otherwise ourishing craft beer scene. And shit, it might not hurt to let bar managers know that the AGCO has a mechanism to report those soliciting kickbacks.

Because if bars no longer feel empowered to illegally auction their draught lines o to the beer companies willing to ply them with the most swag, trips to ball games, or free kegs of beers, they might just start to listen to another in uential group: You, their customers. j

e breweries we deal with don’t need to o er discounts or incentives because they supply incredible beer. And our customers can taste that.

—Natalie Schnurr, Arabella Park

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Roasted

butternut squash and ricotta gnudi paired with Exchange Brewery’s peppercorn rye saison

BY CHEF TARA LEE, E AS T BOUND B REWING

To me, late autumn feels like the most di cult season to stick to veg- rst eating habits. e call of meaty bolognese and chicken stews rings through my head when the snow starts ying.

is recipe from Eastbound Brewery’s chef Tara Lee, leans in the fall trio of squash, kale and mushrooms. Together with the silky, rich ricotta, these elements help create a hearty and satisfying meal without a hint of bacon.

Gnudi is the rustic version of gnocchi with a cheeky name. It’s also, basically, the easiest pasta to make at home.

Chef Lee uses her brewery’s Basecamp saison for the sauce and we’ve paired the nished dish with the Exchange’s peppercorn rye saison for an added layer of complexity and seasonally appropriate spice.

—David Ort

David Ort photo

INgredients

Gnudi:

• 1 butternut squash, halved

• 2 cups ricotta

• 1 egg

• 1 egg yolk

• 1 tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp pepper

• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

• 3 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

• 1/2 cup butternut squash puree

• cornmeal, for rolling

Sauce:

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 1 bunch dinosaur kale, rip leaves, chop stems

• 2 cups mixed mushrooms, stemmed and sliced thinly

• 2 shallots, sliced thinly

• 2 Tbsp minced garlic

• 1 1/2 cups Eastbound Basecamp saison

• 3 cups 35% cream

• 1/2 cup butternut squash puree

• Ricotta salata, for garnishing

directions

Gnudi:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Cover squash halves in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in preheated oven for 45 - 50 minutes, or until soft. Start esh side down and ip halfway through. Discard seeds and scoop esh out of skin. Puree in food processor.

2. In a bowl, mix together ricotta, egg, egg yolk, parmesan and squash puree. In a separate bowl, combine salt, pepper, our and nutmeg. Fold dry ingredients into wet until fully combined, try not to overwork the dough.

Exchange has a lovely taproom on Queen St. and Niagara-on-the-Lake is an under-appreciated winter destination. is gold-medal-winning saison with strong aging potential is also available at the LCBO.

3. Portion dough into 20 g balls (about the size of a walnut) and roll in cornmeal onto a tray.

4. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Working in batches, blanch gnudi for 3 - 4 mins. Toss in oil when removed from water.

Sauce:

1. In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add shallots and garlic and saute until translucent.

2. Add in kale stems and continue cooking. Add mushrooms and increase heat to get some colour on them, about 10 mins. Add in kale leaves.

3. Deglaze the pan with beer; reduce by half. Add cream and bring to a simmer. Add in gnudi, toss to coat. Divide gnudi among 6 plates, distributing gnudi, kale and mushrooms evenly.

4. Shave ricotta salata over top to nish. j

e only (slightly) di cult parts of making gnudi at home are remembering to handle them gently and adding them one at a time to the water so they don't stick. Cornmeal helps, too.

David Ort photo

David Ort photo

GREAT LAKES BREWERY

30 Queen Elizabeth Blvd., Etobicoke | GreatLakesBeer.com

SUN-WED 11AM-6PM ^ THU-SAT 10AM-9PM

EST. 1987

GLB is one of the oldest independently owned and operated craft breweries in Canada. Freshness and quality are the keys to the beers that are Ontario favourites—99.99% stays in the province.

CANUCK PALE ALE

AMERIC A N-STYLE P A LE ALE

Year-round: B,L,LC,TBS

ABV I BU 5.2%

A local leader in the APA style, Canuck balances tropical citrus, pine and smooth carbonation.

THRUST! AN IPA

AMERIC A N-STYLE I PA

Occasional: B,L,LC

ABV I BU

It took home its rst gold way back in ’14. Look for mango, peach and lychee on this wonder.

OCTOPUS WANTS TO FIGHT IPA A MERIC A N-STYLE I PA

Year-round: B,L,LC

ABV I BU

Plenty of hops lend tropical aromas and just the right bitterness to go with the malty body.

WINTER ALE WINTER W A RMER

Seasonal: B,L,LC

ABV I BU

Orange peel, ginger, honey and cinnamon make cameo appearances in this winter classic.

First A nnual Xmas Market

With their rst annual Christmas Market, Great Lakes Brewery is starting a new tradition on December 8. e market and tree farm promises to be a day packed with frothy seasonal brews, Christmas carols & funk music, Bavarian eats & treats, plus crafty vendors to help check o your Christmas gift list!

IND I E ALE HOUSE

B REW ING CO.

2876 Dundas St. W. | IndieAleHouse.com

SUN-THU 12-11PM ^ FRI-SAT 12PM-12AM

EST. 2012

Head brewer Je Broeders has set releasing 500 hectolitres of barrelaged beer as a goal this year and you’ll nd lots of it hitting the Indie bottle shop in easy-to-spot bottles over the colder months.

Year-round: B,L

ABV I BU 6.5%88

An ode to craft beer trailblazers, this IPA is full of citrus and ends on a cleanly bitter note.

Year-round: B,L

ABV I BU 5%20

e pairing of sweet orange and ginger notes keep this wit sharp. A popular all-year option.

BREAKFAST PORTER

One-o : B

ABV I BU 4.7%30

Brewed in the style of a “daily drinker” for monks, it’s light with bready esters, straw and hay nish. Bottle shop or tableside in the restaurant.

SHADOW CHASER

Seasonal: B

ABV I BU 5.5%45

is citrus-heavy session IPA is dank and juicy. It features a one-two of citra and Idaho 7 hops.

Year-round: B

ABV I BU 7.2%20

Made with oats, it shows co ee and chocolate and is slightly sweet, all for breakfast. In winter the sun’s always below the yardarm, right?

INDIE WILD ALE

One-o : B

ABV I BU 5.5%N/A

is entry in the Fates & Furies series is one of Ontario’s only spontaneously fermented ales. Tart and e ervescent with pilsner and wheat malts.

JUNCTION CRAFT BREWING

150 Symes Rd. | JunctionCraft.com

WED 4-9PM ^ THU-SAT 11AM-11PM ^ SUN 11AM-7PM

EST. 2011

eir diverse lineup of beer styles, in a number of di erent categories, continues to draw crowds to the historic space in the Aleyards. Look out for releases from their barrel-aging programme.

HEY, PORTER!

Seasonal: B,L

Roasted malt and cocoa notes anchor this classic porter. Gold medal at the 2017 CBAs.

JUNCTION ROAD BLACK LAGER SCHWARZBIER

Seasonal: B,L,LC

A touch of bitterness from noble hops keeps the roasted malts in line. Recent gold-medal winner.

ESSEX ALE BITTER

Seasonal: B,L

Balanced, subtle and crisp are the calling cards for this English-style bitter. Great with cheese.

GHOST TRAIN IPA

AMERICAN-STYLE IPA

Seasonal: B,L

is Hoppercar series IPA gets grapefruit and citrus aromas from summit and cascade hops.

Fun & Games

A full calendar of events will keep “ e Destructor” humming with beer drinkers this fall and winter. Fridays feature live music by acts like Colonel Tom and e American Pour. Board games, bingo and trivia ll the card on ursday nights.

EAST B OUND B REW ING CO.

700 Queen St. E. | EastboundBeer.com

TUE-SUN 11-12AM ^ MON 1-9PM

EST. 2017

Chef Tara Lee’s kitchen draws in locals keen on a bite with brewer Dave Lee’s beer. Available to go in short cans and 950 ml crowlers.

MIDNIGHT COW

Small-batch: B

ABV I BU 5.2%19

Round and comforting with a medium body and a touch of chocolate; ideal for winter.

Year-round: B,L

ABV I BU 5%N/A

You’ll see hops at their most prominent in brewer Dave Lee’s ever-changing series of APAs.

N ORTHERN MAVERIC K BREW ING CO.

115 Bathurst St. | NorthernMaverick.ca

SUN-TUE 11-12AM ^ WED 11-1AM ^ THU-SAT 11-2AM

EST. 2017

e all-star team has turned this brewery near the foot of Bathurst into go-to spot for events, food and especially their beer.

ENFORCER IPA

I PA

Year-round: B

ABV I BU 6%50

Citra, mosaid and eldorado hops converge in this tropical IPA that hides its 6% very smoothly.

BERRY GOSE-ZILLA

Seasonal: B

ABV I BU 4.7%12

ey do a rotating series of goses with an added element. is time, berries add to the tartness.

TOGETHER AT LAST

Experience quality crafted beers alongside local artisanal dishes, inside one of Toronto’s best new restaurants.

TORONTO

BIG ROCK BREWERY (LIBERTY COMMONS)

42 Liberty St., 1589 e Queensway | LibertyCommons.ca

EST. 2017

Liberty Villagers have their own Big Rock outpost with unique beers. O&B runs the food side of the operation, including wood- red BBQ.

RHINESTONE COWBOY LAGERED ALE

Seasonal: B,L,TBS

ABV IBU 4.6%18

A light and clean execution of the classic style with a touch of hops. OBA winner in 2017.

TRADITIONAL ALE

ENGLISH-STYLE BROWN ALE

ABV IBU 5%20

irty years on this core brand is still going strong with its malty (Canadian) backbone.

AVLING BREWERY

45 Esandar Dr.; 87 Laird Dr.; 245 Queens Quay W. | AmsterdamBeer.com

1042 Queen St. E. | Avling.ca

News came this fall that Amsterdam is bringing back their much-missed imperial stout, Tempest.

SPACE INVADER

AMERICAN-STYLE IPA

Year-round: B,L,LC,TBS

Seasonal: B,L,LC

IBU ABV 64 6% IBU ABV

40

100 9%

In a former A&P, this 5,000-square-foot brewery will eventually also have a restaurant and rooftop garden. With a planned opening in the new year, details are still tentative.

BALTIC BALTIC PORTER

IPA IPA

6%

BANDIT BREWERY

2125 Dundas St. W. | BanditBrewery.ca

BATCH

75 Victoria St. | BatchToronto.com

Head out to one of the west end’s better breweries for their Hibernator (Bourbon barrel-aged imperial Stout), which will be released on December 10.

Creemore’s Toronto brewpub makes special on-site brews. It’s in a historic space that many former breweries have passed through, including one called Growlers.

BELLWOODS BREWERY

124 Ossington Ave., 20 Ha s Rd. BellwoodsBrewery.com

BLACK CREEK HISTORIC BREWERY

1000 Murray Ross Pkwy. | BlackCreek.ca

e cold-weather seasons are release time for their special ABV creations like Grandma’s Boy and Bring Out Your Dead.

Jump back two centuries with this recreation at Black Creek Pioneer Village and drink ales as they were made in the days when Ontario was a frontier for a edgling country. RIFLEMAN’S

BLACK LAB BREWING

818 Eastern Ave. | BlackLab.beer

BLACK OAK BREWING CO.

75 Horner Ave. | BlackOakBeer.com

is east-side newcomer, owned by Billy and Anne Madden was inspired by their trusty and loyal black labrador mix named Snoopy.

BLOOD BROTHERS BREWING

165 Geary Ave. | BloodBrothersBrewing.com

One of the best Ontario breweries for winterworthy brown ales and porters. Reserve your spot on the Ken Woods-guided tours (he founded the brewery in ’99) every Saturday.

BRUNSWICK BIERWORKS

25 Curity Ave. | BrunswickBierworks.com

Many Toronto breweries do sours, but the Brothers do them consistently well. Watch their social for release dates to make sure you snag some of the best tart, dark beers in Ontario.

A world-class brewing team help a range of brands, both Canadian and international, brew their product. Friendly space for sampling the range. Limited hours.

BURDOCK BREWERY

1184 Bloor St. W. | BurdockTO.com

COMMON GOOD BEER CO.

475

|

e masters of walking the line between beer and wine. eir on-site music hall features an eclectic mix of acts throughout the week.

Scarborough’s only brewery switches hats between making their own beer and acting as a contract-brewing hub for many recognizable brands. Both are available on site. SOCIABLE

FOLLY BREWING

928 College St. | FollyBrewing.com

GODSPEED

242

BREWERY

Ave. | GodspeedBrewery.com

As the weather closes in, neighbourhood brewpubs like this haunt on College become even more inviting. Look for the frequently changing selection on their guest tap.

For the winter season, you can expect to see bigger beers coming out of the brewery side of the operation including releases for their bottleconditioned, barrel-aged beers.

FUYU BARLEY WINE

GOOSE ISLAND BREWHOUSE TORONTO

70 e Esplanade | GooseIsland.com

GRANITE BREWERY

245 Eglinton Ave. E. | GraniteBrewery.ca

A Toronto outpost for a Chicago icon serves a deep list of made-on-site beers. Mark Nov. 23 on your calendars, that’s Bourbon County Brand Stout day.

e Keefe family has been the driving force here since Ron founded it in 1991. Mary Beth now runs the Ringwood-fuelled open fermenters that make ales especially good on cask.

HALO BREWERY

247 Wallace Ave. | HaloBrewery.com

CO.

Even after an ownership change, it has been steady as she goes at this Wallace Emerson brewery. Top-notch food popups rotate through on weekends. MAGIC

On top of the two regular beers, every month brings a new one-o for their “Ides of...” series. ese rotating releases land near mid-month.

KENSINGTON BREWING CO.

299 Augusta Ave.

KensingtonBrewingCompany.com

LEFT FIELD BREWERY

36 Wagsta Dr. | LeftFieldBrewery.ca

A warm space in the heart of Kensington Market, their taproom overlooks the brewery. Watch out for special events like their sausagemaking and beer-pairing workshop. GREENWOOD AMERICAN-STYLE IPA

LOT 30 BREWERS

303 Lansdowne Ave. | Lot30Brewers.com

LOUIS CIFER BREW WORKS

417 Danforth Ave. LouisCiferBrewWorks.com

Darrin Earley’s brewery in Brockton Village continues to turn out a rotating selection of small-batch and seasonal brews.

Brewpub meets bar at this Danforth favourite. e lively room attracts groups of locals with a mix of house-made brews and favourites from other local craft breweries.

Spend the o -season and count the days until spring training at this family-friendly brewery in a former east-side industrial space. SOUR

THAI-PA

IPA WITH FRUIT Year-round: B,L,LC

MILL ST. BREW PUB

21 Tank House Ln. | MillStreetBrewery.com

MUDDY YORK BREWING CO.

22 Cran eld Rd. | MuddyYorkBrewing.com

Early November saw them launch their brand new single barrel whisky programme. Stop in for a tour during the Distillery Christmas Market this December.

FRAMBOOZEN FRUIT WHEAT BEER

Small-batch: B

BETTYS

Look out for their Inkwell imperial stout (aged in cognac barrels) this Christmas and see if you can still snag some of their barley wine. eir 4th anniversary party is planned for February.

SWITCHBOARD SESSION IPA SESSION IPA

Small-batch: B

Year-round: B,L

Seasonal: B,L

PEOPLE’S PINT BREWING CO.

90 Cawthra Ave. | PeoplesPint.com

RADICAL ROAD BREWING CO.

1177 Queen St. E. | RadicalRoadBrew.com

ey’re dropping their rst barrel-aged beer in late-November. It’s a Confederation-era recipe for a porter that has been aged in a whiskey barrel and then conditioned in bottle.

DIAMOND PARK

ENGLISH MILD

Seasonal: B,L

Year-round: B,L

Seasonally tuned and independent; this brewery needs to be visited to take its measure. RR has one of Toronto’s best selections of coldseason lagers in trad German styles.

ENTROPY

RAINHARD BREWING CO.

100 Symes Rd. | RainhardBrewing.com

RORSCHACH BREWING CO.

1001 Eastern Ave. | RorschachBrewing.com

Stop in on Friday for their food truck popups and watch for special events to continue complementing the most hop-forward beer programme in the Aleyards.

SWEETBACK’S MILK STOUT

HEARTS COLLIDE IMPERIAL STOUT (BOURBON & RUM BARREL AGED)

SAULTER STREET BREWERY

1-31 Saulter St. | SaulterStreetBrewery.com

e closing of patio season just means more reason to pop inside at this Eastern Ave. standby. ey’re doing especially interesting things with fruit beers these days.

TRUTH SERUM AMERICAN-STYLE IPA

HEDONISM SOUR IPA WITH CHERRIES

SHACKLANDS BREWING CO.

101-100 Symes Rd. | Shacklands.com

e poster child for an endearingly small-scale take on brewing. eir excellently named Krampus imperial stout (2018) launches December 5 on Krampusnacht.

Go for the full- avoured saisons, and other Belgian-style ales; stay for the kitschy decor and friendly conversation.

THE SIX BREWING CO.

777 Dundas St. W. | eSixBrewingCo.com

STEAM WHISTLE

255 Bremner Blvd. | SteamWhistle.ca

Whether by taxi, bike, transit or on foot, this is one of the easiest breweries to get to and feels right at home in the creative and youthful Trin-Bellwoods neighbourhood.

Tour the brewery in its landmark railroad roundhouse for an opportunity to sample the un ltered (and therefore more complex) version of their Czech-style pilsner.

TORONTO

VEGANDALE BREWERY

1346 Queen St. W., | VegandaleBrewery.com

VON BUGLE BREWING

249 Evans Ave. | vonbugle.ca

is controversy courting Parkdale brewery wears its philosophy on its sleeve and in its logo. Beer brewed by Duggan’s, their downstairs neighbours on Queen West.

MORALLY SUPERIOR IPA

AMERICAN-STYLE IPA

B

B

To Steam Whistle as Frasier was to Cheers, Von Bugle continues the make-one-beer-well mantra, this time with a dark lager.

CHRONICLE BREWING CO.

422 Lake Rd., unit 3 | ChronicleBeer.com

MANANTLER CRAFT BREWING CO.

182 Wellington St., unit 18 | Manantler.com

e team behind Bowmanville’s latest have started their brewery with a nano system and a love board games. Beer lineup is diverse and rotates frequently.

SMOOTH OPERATOR

ROUGE RIVER BREWING CO.

8-50 Bullock Dr. | RougeRiverBrewery.com

ey are growing into a local hangout with a cool aesthetic. ursday is open mic night and weekends feature live music. e art on the walls is by local artists and is for sale.

DARK

ARCH BREWING CO.

4-11 Pony Dr. | ArchBrewing.ca

e bottle shop has both cans and bottles in a range of styles and avours. ey keep Markham’s beer fans satiated with an evolving range of seasonal brews.

Newmarket’s two-year-old brewery has a Canadiana-cool vibe from the Dinner Jacket IPA in its recognizable “lumberjack formal” plaid-adorned can to a Chester eld kölsch.

CHESTERFIELD KÖLSCH

CREAMED BY BICKELL CREAM ALE

MARKET BREWING CO.

4-17775 Leslie St. | MarketBrewingCo.com

OSHAWA BREWING COMPANY

875 Wilson Rd. S., Unit 1 facebook.com/oshawabrewingcompany

Live music on Fridays and Saturdays is the entertainment highlight for this north-ofToronto brewery.

e only brewery in Oshawa, just opened this year, puts out a focussed lineup of straightforward brews.

COUNTY DURHAM BREWING CO.

1885 Clements Rd.

OLD FLAME BREWING CO.

135 Perry St. | OldFlameBrewingCo.ca

If you spot their ales on cask at your local, that’s what you should order. Straightforward and complex. No on-site bottle shop or taproom.

A bit under-the-radar in Port Perry, Old Flame took home medals in two of the North American lager categories at the 2017 Canadian Brewing Awards.

THE SECOND WEDGE BREWING CO.

14 Victoria St. | eSecondWedge.ca

LAKE WILCOX BREWING CO.

3-1033 Edgeley Blvd.

LakeWilcoxBrewing.com

Uxbridge is the trail capital of Canada and this is your best bet for an après beer after crosscountry skiing or showshoeing! ey’ll mark their 3rd anniversary with a party on Dec. 28. SWEATER

MAGNOTTA BREWERY

271 Chrislea Rd. | MagnottaBrewery.com

Lake Wilcox took home two gold medals at the 2018 Ontario Brewing Awards, for Mad Quacker and their co ee stout. Follow their social for info about events and extended hours.

OOMPH LAGER DRY-HOPPED LAGER

5

PADDLES

BREWING

CO.

#3-1390 Hopkins St. | 5PaddlesBrewing.ca

e Vaughan stalwart has a longstanding connection to wine country (beyond also making wine) that includes their own strain of hops grown in Vineland.

DOUBLE DROOLING DOG IPA

BLACK IPA

TRUE NORTH INUKSHUK IPA ENGLISH-STYLE IPA

Seasonal: B,L,TBS

Year-round: B,L,LC,TBS

One of Durham’s most successful craft breweries, 5 Paddles runs two side-by-side brew systems. at setup gives them the exibility to brew a style for every palate.

HOME SWEET HOME SPICED BEER

Year-round: B,L,LC,TBS

VAUGHAN WHITBY

UXBRIDGE VAUGHAN

BROCK STREET BREWING CO.

1501 Hopkins St. | BrockStBrewing.com

LITTLE BEASTS BREWING CO.

2075 Forbes St. | LittleBeastsBrewing.com

is November, they plan to open 12welve Bistro & Tapwerks in their new space. Approachable ales and lagers fuel the strong event schedule at this community clubhouse.

is Whitby brewery took now best newcomer at the Golden Tap awards. Erin Broadfoot and team have made a friendly space for sampling well-made takes on classic styles.

TOWN BREWERY

1632 Charles St. | townbrewery.ca

PAKTECH

CAN CARRIERS IN STOCK!

ey celebrated their rst anniversary on Nov. 3 by releasing their rst barrel-aged beer: e Land of Milk and Honey, whiskey barrel imperial honey and milk stout.

MASH

PAKTECH CAN CARRIERS

WITH CANS BECOMING THE PACKAGING STANDARD OF THE INDUSTRY, OUR PAKTECH CAN CARRIERS ARE AN ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY AND EASY TO USE PACKAGING OPTION. MADE FROM 100% CANADIAN POST CONSUMER WASTE. 1 BOX MINIMUM ORDER!

SOLD BY THE BOX OR PALLET:

• ALWAYS IN STOCK IN 8 DIFFERENT COLOURS

• SHIPS FROM OUR DELTA BC WAREHOUSE OR OAKVILLE, ON WAREHOUSE

• 4, 6, 8 AND 12 PACKS AS WELL AS CROWLER CAN 3 PACKS AND, SLIM/SLEEK CAN 4 PACKS – IN STOCK

WHITBY

N ICKE L BROOK

BREW ING CO.

864 Drury Ln. | NickelBrook.com

MON-TUES 11AM-6PM ^ WED-FRI 11AM-9PM ^ SAT 10-6PM ^ SUN 12PM-4PM

EST. 2005

ey plan to have a new taproom open this November and that means more of their top-rate beer. Check their social for details like hours.

CUVEE BA RREL-AGED SP ICED ALE

Seasonal: B,L,LC

ABV I BU 8%37

Accented with fruit, spice and demerara, a cellar-worthy pick with room to age.

CHEEKY BASTARD S TO UT

Year-round: B,L,LC,TBS

ABV I BU 4.5%35

e stout that launched a series. Look for well integrated roasted malt with a light-med body.

BRANTFORD BRANTFORD

BELL CITY BREWING CO.

51 Woodyatt Dr., unit 9

BellCityBrewing.com

MASH PADDLE BREWING CO.

111 Sherwood Dr., unit 3A

MashPaddleBrewing.com

e brewery gets its name from Brantford’s nickname, a reference to its second-most famous past resident, Alexander Graham Bell. Beers here really lean into their stated avour.

EUREKA CREAM ALE AMBER CREAM ALE

Entirely family-owned and operated by self-declared beer geeks. A rotating selection of releases lls the lively taproom with locals.

PEEPSHOW IPA WEST COAST-STYLE IPA

STEEL WHEEL BREWERY

105 Powerline Rd. | SteelWheel.ca

THE TREWS’ NORTH STRONG SPICED WINTER ALE

PEPPERWOOD BREWERY BISTRO

1455 Lakeshore Rd. | pepperwood.on.ca

Located on an existing hop farm in Brant County that belongs to Harold Kuret and Cindy Blair. Taproom is in a fully-renovated 1890s farmhouse with a patio.

EAST COAST IPA NEW ENGLAND-STYLE

PALE ALE

AMERICAN-STYLE PALE

e house beers at the Burlington bistro are designed to complement classic fare like haddock and frites and curried lamb shank.

CREAM ALE CREAM ALE

MONKEY BROWN ALE

AMERICAN-STYLE BROWN ALE

BRANTFORD BURLINGTON

BADLANDS BREWING COMPANY

13926 Chinguacousy Rd. badlandsbrewing.ca

CALEDON HILLS BREWING COMPANY

caledonhillsbrewing.ca

Good beer from the Badlands, the retro- tted farm-based brewery specializes in sours and hop-forward ales. ey are hoping to open their bottle shop soon, so check their social.

DISTORTED

e outside-the-city brewery with a woodpecker for a logo. ey focus on selling tall cans and kegs for events.

BOHEMIAN

SHAWN & ED BREWING CO.

65 Hatt St. | LagerShed.com

CLIFFORD BREWING CO.

1-398 Nash Rd. N. | Cli ordBrewing.com

Lagershed beers are sessionable lagers in three varieties. e Barrelshed range represents the brewery’s connection to wine and are all aged in pinot noir barrels from Flat Rock Cellars.

After plenty of experience brewing on small systems in tiny spaces, it’s good to see Brad Cli ord stretch his wings in his own space— East Hamilton’s rst craft brewery.

Year-round: B,L,LC,TBS

Year-round: B,L,LC,TBS

Year-round: B,L,LC,TBS

Year-round: B,L,LC,TBS

COLLECTIVE ARTS BREWING

207 Burlington St. E. | CollectiveArtsBrewing.com

FAIRWEATHER BREWING CO.

1-5 O eld Rd. | FairweatherBrewing.com

Regular calls for submissions have built a series of the most recognizable can artwork in all of craft beer. Sundays from 5-7 p.m. the taproom is lled with live acoustic music.

BARREL AGED

Part of the brewery boom in West Hamilton, Fairweather opened in May 2017 and already has plans for o ering online ordering soon.

OLD

GRAIN & GRIT BEER CO.

11 Ewen Rd. | GrainAndGritBeer.com

MERIT BREWING

107 James St. N. | MeritBrewing.ca

A bright and sunny space with thoughtfully made beers from a variety of styles. eir event calendar stretches from cross stitching to live music to a weekly dog day on Wednesday.

WEST

What do you get when a chef, biz school grad and brewmaster walk into Hamilton? Vallins, Sandhu and Spinney have created a wide open space with well-made beer and sausages.

ORANGE SNAIL BREWERS

1-32 Steeles Ave. E. | OrangeSnailBrewers.ca

ALL OR NOTHING BREWHOUSE

1156 Speers Rd. | AllOrNothing.beer

Family-owned and operated in Milton, this neighbourhood brewery has eight beers on tap. ey make a wide range of English-leaning beer under the tagline “blissfully ignorant ales”.

Changes have been afoot at Trafalgar since it was bought by All or Nothing in 2016. at meant a capital investment and a maintained focus on meads, spirits and beer.

CAMERON’S BREWING

1165 Invicta Dr. | CameronsBrewing.com

6 Queen St. W. | OldCreditBrewing.com

Still a hidden gem after 20 years and an impressively-full trophy case. Pay ‘em a visit for the new hazy beer series and special on-siteonly beer features over the next year.

Founded by the Listas in 1994, Old Credit is now one of the oldest in Ontario. ey make a focused lineup of straightforward styles.

Photography by Nancy Kim/NSBKIM Photography

BEAMSVILLE FONTHILL

BENCH BREWING CO.

3991 King St. | BenchBrewing.com

KAME & KETTLE BEER WORKS

25 Pelham Town Square | kameandkettle.ca/

e new space in Beamsville has become popular with locals, especially on game night. ey’re another entry on the growing list of breweries doing crowlers.

e Niagara-area brewery boasts a huge taplist. e brewery’s name is a play on a double-entendre around the region’s geological formation. Rock jokes are the best.

MIDNIGHT

NIAGARA BREWING CO.

4915-A Clifton Hill

NiagaraBrewingCompany.com

NIAGARA

COLLEGE

TEACHING

An oasis in a desert of tourist traps and souvenir shops, this is the place to stop in for an approachable beer when your in the Falls over the holiday break.

Year-round: B,TBS

Year-round: B,LC

B

NIAGARA OAST HOUSE BREWERS

2017 Niagara Stone Rd.

OastHouseBrewers.com

SILVERSMITH BREWING CO.

1523 Niagara Stone Rd.

SilversmithBrewing.com

Late autumn into winter is when their farmhouse style really shines brightest. eir biere de garde is an ideal match if your planning turkey for Christmas dinner.

BIERE DE NOEL

BELGIAN DARK STRONG

Seasonal: B

Year-round: B

Virgil’s church brewery has many breweryonly beer options. ey have a major expansion underway at their historic space.

BLACK LAGER SCHWARZBIER

Year-round: B,L,LC

Small-batch: B

THE EXCHANGE BREWERY

7 Queen St. | ExchangeBrewery.com

Re ned and elevated are the names of the game at the NOTL brewery. Niagara-on-the-Lake is postcard perfect when under snow and e Exchange is ideal place to warm up.

PEACH PI

TART BLONDE ALE WITH PEACHES AND SPICES

Seasonal: B,LC

Year-round: B

A blonde ale barrel-aged on a generous amount of peaches with cinnamon bark, vanilla beans and a touch of Brettanomyces.

AVAILABLE NOW AT THE LCBO, FOR A LIMITED TIME!

BREAKWALL BREWING CO.

46 Clarence St. | BreakwallBrewery.com

LOCK STREET BREWING CO.

104-15 Lock St. | LockStreet.ca

ey have returned local brewing to Port Colborne after a 100-year absence. A full menu of pub fare is served at the on-site restaurant.

SUGARLOAF

e entire 19th-century historical buildling that they call home is dog-friendly. See the event page on the website for a schedule of upcoming gigs in the biergarten.

TOASTED INDUSTRIAL PALE ALE IPA IBU ABV 30 5.5% IBU ABV 20 5% IBU ABV 20 5.5% IBU ABV 63 5.8%

BRIMSTONE BREWING CO.

209 Ridge Road N. | BrimstoneBrewing.ca

Brimstone takes its religious decor from its home in a modern church, called e Sanctuary Centre for the Arts in Ridgeway, Ont.

SINISTER MINISTER

AMERICAN-STYLE IPA

98 St. Paul St. | merchantalehouse.com

Look for well-made pub fare and a deep bottle list to complement their house beers. You’ll also nd those brews in their new bottle shop.

DANKFRUIT

AMERICAN-STYLE IPA

Seasonal: RIDGEWAY ST. CATHARINES

SIGNAL COLD BREW COFFEE

Year-round: B,L,LC

AMERICAN-STYLE BLONDE ALE IBU ABV 90 7% IBU ABV 25 5.5%

Year-round: B

Small-batch: B STOUT NITRO MILK STOUT IBU ABV 70 5.9% IBU ABV 32 4.4% 63

CAMBRIDGE CAMBRIDGE

BARNCAT ARTISAN ALES

1600 Industrial Rd., Unit B5

BarncatAles.com

GRAND RIVER BREWING

295 Ainslie St. | GrandRiverBrewing.com

A small brewery in Cambridge with a deft hand making hop-forward IPAs and an advanced barrel programme including foeders and local chardonnay barrels.

GRISETTE GRISETTE

One-o : B

CAMBRIDGE

DOUBLE THE JUICE

One-o : B

One of Ontario’s most established craft breweries with a focus on English-leaning and low-alcohol styles. Recently purchased by Magnotta, another Ontario craft brewery.

PLOWMAN’S ALE

AMERICAN-STYLE PALE ALE

Year-round: B,L,LC

RUSSIAN GUN IMPERIAL STOUT

Year-round: B,L,LC

JACKASS BREWING

100 Sheldon Dr., Unit 36 | JackassBrewing.ca

NORTH WORKS BREWING CO.

46 Sta ord Ct. Unit b | NorthWorksBrewing.com

is Cambridge brewery is owned by two brothers making the wide range of beer styles they love to drink. Selection rotates frequently.

SUNKISS JUICY

Year-round: B,L

Small-batch: B

Find their IPA-dominated list (plus a handful of other complementary styles) at a few Cambridge bars and in their taproom.

MOSAIC SMASH

AMERICAN-STYLE IPA

Year-round: B,L

THE EXCHANGER BLACK IPA

RHYTHM & BREWS BREWING CO.

1000 Bishop St. N., Unit 10 RhythmAndBrews.ca

e 18,000-litre system keeps patrons wellwatered at this brewery that plans to double as a blues bar with live bands on stage.

SPOTLIGHT

DESCENDANTS BEER & BEVERAGE CO.

319 Victoria St. N. | DescendantsBeer.com

KITCHENER

ABE ERB

e Tannery, 151 Charles St. W., Kitchener

15 King St. S., Waterloo | AbeErb.com

One of the standbys of the Kitchener beer scene, Descendants brews a range of sessionable options. Taproom events range from music bingo to family movie trivia on Sundays.

HARBINGER

AMERICAN-STYLE PALE ALE

B,L,LC

Named after two Mennonite brothers, Abraham and John Erb, who in the early 19th century decided to leave Pennsylvania in search of new opportunity in Upper Canada. Two locations.

B,L,LC,TBS

RED CIRCLE BREWING CO.

137 Glasgow St., Unit 385 redcirclebrewing.ca

B,L,LC,TBS

Housed in the innovative Catalyst 137, the brewpub ts right in with digitally interactive tables, an upscale menu and a solid lineup of avour-forward beers.

IRON HORSE TRAIL AMERICAN-STYLE IPA

KITCHENER K ITCHENER

SHORT FINGER BREWING CO.

20 Hurst Ave. | ShortFingerBrewing.com

TOGETHER WE’RE BITTER CO-OPERATIVE

300 Mill Street, Unit 1 | Brewing.coop

A well-regarded homebrew shop since 2015, they added a brewery in the spring of 2018. eir primary focus is blended sours, and are also fond of low(er)-ABV, hop-forward brews.

Known to locals as just “TWB” and the best spot to grab a growler. It’s a legit co-op with a community focus. Only special releases go into cans or bottles here.

KITCHENER

WATERLOO BREWING

400 Bingemans Centre Dr. WaterlooBrewing.com

Whether under the Waterloo or Brick Brewing name, this is another claimant to the title for oldest craft brewery in Ontario. ey make dependable beers in low-ABV styles.

BITTE SCHÖN BRAUHAUS

68 Huron St. | BitteSchonBrauhaus.com

BLOCK THREE BREWING

1430 King St. N., Unit 2 Block reeBrewing.Ca

At approx. 1,000 sq feet this is one of the smallest breweries in Ont. eir Berlin-trained brewmaster is from Dublin. Family-friendly and cooperatively promote rural ON breweries.

WILMOT

Right in the core of St. Jacobs, this is the oldest operating microbrewery in the Kitchener Waterloo region. Kevin Freer runs one of the area’s top barrel programmes here.

Occasional: B,L

INNOCENTE BREWING CO.

283 North eld Dr. E., unit 8 | Innocente.ca

UPPER THAMES BREWING CO.

225 Bysham Park Dr., unit 9 | Upper amesBrewing.ca

Year-round: B,LC

e brewery’s founder, Steve Innocente, makes a wide range of award-winning styles. Look for a new online bottle shop and details on barrelaged releases on their website in December.

ey have a second location opening in Woodstock soon. It’s a brewpub with an openconcept brewing facility as well as counterservice light pub fare.

Year-round: B Seasonal: B

Seasonal: B

WATERLOO WOODSTOCK

CO WBE LL BREWING

40035 Blyth Rd. | CowbellBrewing.com

SUN-THU 11AM-9PM ^ FRI-SAT 11AM-11PM

EST. 2016

Stephen Rich brews a deep catalogue of styles for the world’s rst closed-loop brewery. e restaurant ups their road trip worthiness. eir beer is now available for home delivery through their website.

SHINDIG

H URON C OUNTY LAGER

Year-round: B,L,LC,TBS

is light and refreshing lager features bready malts and a crisp nish. Great with food.

MCNALL’S MISSION

H ONEY B ROWN ALE

Year-round: B,L,LC

With notes of biscuit, to ee and a touch of cocoa this honey brown ale is just right for winter.

GRAVEL RUN

S ESSION I PA

Year-round: B,L,LC,TBS

Punches above its weight with citrus zest, lime, pineapple and pine. Very easy drinking.

DOC PERDUE’S BOBCAT

W EST COA ST RED ALE

Year-round: B,L,LC

From Ontario’s west coast, this ale packs citrus, zesty tropical fruit and the zip of pine.

G row Your Community

rough their Greener Pastures Community Fund, Cowbell Brewing Co. contributes 5¢ from the sale of every pint and can, starting with the very rst can of beer sold in May 2016, to support the four children’s hospitals across Ontario.

WE LL I NG T ON B REWERY

950 Woodlawn Rd. W. | WellingtonBrewery.ca

MON-SUN 11AM-7PM

EST. 1985

With over three decades under their belt, one of the original craft breweries in Canada continues to push their drinkable beers forward.

SPICE ODYSSEY

CHA I LATTE S TOUT

Seasonal: B,L,LC,TBS

ABV IBU 7%25

Black tea and chai spices round out this stout created along with the Queen of Craft crew.

IMPERIAL RUSSIAN STOUT IMP ERI A L S TOUT

Year-round: B,L,LC,TBS

ABV IBU 8%40

With a chocolate and co ee duet, this smooth imperial stout deserves its many awards.

B LA C K SWAN BREWI NG C O. 144 Downie St. | BlackSwanBrewing.ca

SUN-MON 12PM-5PM ^ TUE-SAT 11AM-9PM

EST. 2014

A recent expansion doubled the capacity at Black Swan. ey expect to add 355 ml bottles for both licensees and bottle shop sales.

ENGLISH PALE ALE PA LE ALE PORTER PORTER

Year-round: B,L

ABV IBU 5%29

Copper in colour and leaning on the malt, this pale ale ts squarely in trad British style.

Year-round: B,L

ABV IBU 5%35

is balanced porter delivers co ee and chocolate on both nose and palate into a smooth nish.

#ItsWhatWeDrink

RIVER ROAD BREWING AND HOPS

35549 Bay eld River Rd. RiverRoadBrewing.com

ELORA BREWING CO.

107 Geddes St. | EloraBrewingCompany.ca

e rst farm-based brewery in Huron County grows ingredients that go into making their beer right on the farm. ey’ll have barrel-aged beers to celebrate turning 1 in November.

ONE LONELY SCOTCH NIGHT S COTCH ALE

Brewer Alex Nichols turns out a beer lineup full of soft-spoken stars. e setting in downtown Elora is picturesque and the food in their taproom has a farm-to-table focus.

LODESTAR WITH PINK GUAVA S OUR ALE

FORMOSA SPRINGS BREWERY

1120 Bruce Rd., Unit 12 FormosaBrewery.ca

SQUARE BREW

430 Parsons Crt. | SquareBrewCo.com

is brewing operation with a historic connection was bought from Brick and reopened. ey do particularly well in the lighter lager categories at beer competitions.

German and American styles share the beer focus for this small-sized brewery in Goderich. Plenty of nearby sightseeing after you’re done at the taproom.

FOG DAY!

AMERIC A N-STYLE P ALE

BROTHERS BREWING CO.

FIXED GEAR

ey once brewed a beer in an 853-lb pumpkin and made an IPA using a certain widely consumed light lager in place of water. Watch the evidence on their YouTube page.

new brewery is set up in a former garage in Guelph’s Junction neighbourhood and earns extra points for having a personalized Airstream on site.

ROYAL CITY BREWING CO.

199 Victoria Rd. S. | RoyalCityBrew.ca

GREY MATTER BEER CO.

726 Queen St. | GreyMatterBeer.com

e four-year-old brewery aims to make interesting and approachable beers made with as many local ingredients as possible.

HIBISCUS

Four core beers stay on tap all year and share the spotlight with a mix of one-o s. eir event space overlooks the beautiful Kincardine marina and lighthouse.

HALF HOURS ON EARTH BREWERY

151 Main St. S. | HalfHoursOnEarth.com

SHAKESPEARE BREWING CO.

2178 Line 34 | ShakespeareBrewingCompany.ca

Right out of the gate, HHOE made some of the nest funky beers in the province. Seaforth is easier to get to than you think, but thankfully they ship anywhere in Ontario.

LEMON MERINGUE PIE

DRY-HOPPED SOUR ALE

Seasonal: B

TOTALLY TART FARMHOUSE ALE WITH RASPBERRIES & HIBISCUS

B

All of the beers made at this modest-sized operation outside of Stratford are made exclusively with Ontario-grown hops.

THE CLASSY COW

MILK STOUT

Year-round: B

THE

B

HERALD HAUS BREWING CO.

21 Market Pl. | @HeraldHaus

JOBSITE BREWING CO.

45 Cambria St. | jobsitebrewing.ca

e soon-to-open taproom will take up residence in the former home of the Herald on Market Place in downtown Stratford.

With the founders history in construction, the brewery’s name and location were designed to highlight craftsmanship. Good news: eir beer is paired with wood- red pizza.

2X4

STRATFORD BREWING CO.

Facebook.com/StratfordBrewing

STONE HOUSE BREWING CO.

76050 Parr Line | StoneHouseBrewing.ca

A longtime xture in Ontario’s most famous theatre town. No on-site taproom but they are in the LCBO and on tap in the area and elsewhere in the province.

STRATFORD PILSNER PILSNER

e focus is lagers for this quaint brewery in rural Huron County. e beer programme is overseen by a German-trained brewer.

CZECH PILSNER LAGER

STRATFORD VARNA

Windsor BREWERIES 01 BREW 00 02 Chapter Two 00 03 Craft Heads 00 04 Frank 00

RIVERSIDE DR W

COLLEGEAVE SANDWICH ST

RIVERSIDE DR E DETROIT 01 02 03 04

05 06

UNIVERSITY AVE W

OLD COMRADE CAMPBELL AVE CRAWFORD AVE PRINCE RD

GILESBLVD E

DROUI LLARD RD PARENT AVE

WALKER RD HOWARD AVE OUEL LETTE AVE YPRES AVE

WYANDOTTE ST E WYANDOTTE ST W TECUMSEH RD E TECUMSEHRDW GRANDMARAIS RD E

SEMINOLE ST OTTAWA ST

07 N WE

PILLETTE RD

CENTRAL AVE

S. NATIONAL ST S . CAMERONBLVD

TECUMSEH WINDSOR

FRANK BREWING CO.

Sports bar meets pizza restaurant meets fully edged brewery at this popular spot in Tecumseh, Ont.. Particularly lively when there’s a game on.

12000 Tecumseh Rd. | FrankBeer.ca BREW

LAGER HURON CHURCH RD

05 Motor Craft 00 06 Sandwich 00 07 Walkerville 00 78

e focus at BREW is on making easydrinking options that appeal widely. e taproom is especially popular on Un ltered Fridays.

BREW E C ROW EXPY

Year-round: B,L,LC,TBS

Year-round: B,L

Year-round: B,L

WALKER VI LL E B REWERY

525 Argyle Rd. | WalkervilleBrewery.com

SUN-WED 11AM-5PM ^ THU&SAT 11AM-7PM ^ FRI 11AM9PM EST. 2012

e brewery has been in and out of use since the 1890s when Hiram Walker was in the business. Beer lineup is full of sessionable options.

PURITY PILSENER

Year-round: B,L,LC,TBS

ABV IBU 5.2%30

A touch of grainy malt and a slight oral note from Hallertau put this one in the German style.

EASY STOUT

Year-round: B,L,LC,TBS

ABV IBU 5.5%32

A nutty aroma joins co ee and chocolate along with a round body and a dry nish.

CHAPTER TWO BREWING CO.

2345 Edna St. | chaptertwobrewing.com

CRAFT HEADS BREWING CO.

89 University Ave. W. | CraftHeads.ca

e Edna Street brewery is lead by Ciceronecerti ed brewer Michael Beaudoin and boasts a surprisingly sophisticated hotdog menu.

THREE ON THE LEASH ENGLISH PUB ALE

BEST BITTER

BELGIAN GOLDEN STRONG BELGIAN-STYLE STRONG ALE

eir 30 taps are (impressively) kept supplied by a tiny nano-sized system. e underground taproom was a famous blues bar in a former life. An online bottle shop is coming soon.

TURBULENT CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER FLAVOURED PORTER

Year-round: B Year-round: B,L One-o : B Year-round: B,L

MOTOR CRAFT ALES

888 Erie St. E. | isIsMotor.com

SANDWICH BREWING CO.

3230 Sandwich St. | @SandwichBrewing

ey really have the car theme dialled in at this Windsor favourite. With a brewpub named Motorburger the food menu should be obvious.

DRAGULA SCHWARZBIER

Year-round: B

Open less than a year in Windsor’s west end Sandwich has already found a devoted local following. Part of their mission was to bring their historic home back into use.

PRAIRIE SUNSHINE

C-HOP TOP AMERICAN-STYLE IPA RUBY

AMERICAN-STYLE PALE WHEAT ALE

SUE

ENGLISH-STYLE MILD

Year-round: B Year-round: B

Year-round: B,L

LONSBERY FARMS BREWING CO.

7781 Howard Ave. | LonsberyFarms.beer

SONS OF KENT BREWING CO.

27 Adelaide St. S. | SonsOfKent.com

Four friends founded this 20-tap brewery in downtown Chatham’s once iconic movie theater. Deliveries made in a ’77 El Camino Classic. CREAM

eir beer is crafted with the best ingredients that are locally grown in southwestern Ontario to provide a farm-to-glass experience.

8 TRACK XPA EXTRA PALE ALE

BAYSIDE BREWING CO.

970 Ross Lane | BaysideBrewing.com

CONCESSION ROAD BREWING CO.

17 Talbot St. E., unit 4 ConcessionRoadBrew.com

Based out of a little, laid-back shing village, they creates beers that go well with the village’s easy-going vibes. A large patio looks out on to Rondeau Bay and they’re close to the beach.

is Jarvis, Ont. brewery has an impressive list of fall releases including a brown ale and the two beers below. e rst Friday of every month, they host a stand up comedy show.

RAMBLIN ROAD BREWERY FARM

2970 Swimming Pool Rd. | RamblinRoad.ca

ANDERSON CRAFT ALES

1030 Elias St. | AndersonCraftAles.ca

John Picard runs his brewery farm in Norfolk County. e crop selection on this going concern includes a hop garden and they make Picard’s fresh kettle chips on site.

Every couple months they release a di erent barrel-aged take on a base of saison with grape must. Holidays 2018 sees a very limited number of 2017 Holiday Belgians released.

FORKED RIVER BREWING CO.

45 Paci c Crt., Unit 4 ForkedRiverBrewing.com

LONDON BREWING

521 Burbrook Pl. | LondonBrewing.ca

ey focus on brewing styles that range from approachable to complex barrel aged brews. Pop-up on Nov. 17: Shop local vendors and Nov. 22 is paint night at the brewery. CAPITAL

ey call themselves a plough-to-pint brewery because of the spotlight given to locally-grown, organic malts. Friday is free-concert night with food on site.

POWERHOUSE BREWING CO.

100 Kellogg Ln. | PowerhouseBrewery.beer

STORM STAYED BREWING CO.

169 Wharncli e Rd. S., unit 8 StormStayed.com

Set to open soon in a restored factory space in London’s Old East Village. ey’re familyowned and operated with a focus on local. HOMECOMING

TOBOGGAN BREWING CO.

585 Richmond St. | TobogganBrewing.com

Justin Belanger, one of the owners, brings East Coast hospitality from his native PEI as well as the name. e kitchen serves house-cured meats, fermented vegetables, and BBQ.

MOONSHADOW

e restaurant and biergarten patio have helped establish this relative newcomer as a popular xture in London.

B,L Year-round: B

B,L

New Limburg Brewing Co. newlimburg.com

Ramblin’ Road Brewery Farm ramblinroad.ca

STONEPICKER

7143 Forest Rd. | stonepickerbrewing.com

REFINED FOOL BREWING CO.

1326 London Rd., 137 Davis St. | Re nedFool.com

An on-farm brewery near Forest, Ont. with a deep lineup of beers the partners developed over several years of homebrewing together.

STONEPICKER 21

CHARLOTTEVILLE BREWING CO.

1207 Charlotteville West Quarter Line Rd. CharlottevilleBrewingCompany.ca

Re ned Fool has pretty much cornered the craft beer market in Sarnia with the opening of their second full-service taproom.

TROLL TOLL CREAM

NEW LIMBURG BREWERY

2353 Nixon Rd. | NewLimburg.com

An estate craft brewery located on a family farm, housed in two old barns. One was built in the 1860s and the other in 1913. e barns were disassembled and moved here.

LOCAL 519

AMERICAN-STYLE PALE ALE

A popular spot with a patio out front and a volleyball court. Live music on summer weekends, with comedy every second week and trivia and karaoke during the colder weather.

WEDGIE

BELGIAN BLONDE

BELGIAN-STYLE FARMHOUSE ALE

SIMCOE SIMCOE

PLYMPTON-WYOMING SARNIA

RAILWAY CITY BREWING CO.

130 Edward St. | RailwayCityBrewing.com

STRATHROY BREWING CO.

62 Albert St. | StrathroyBrewingCompany.ca

e name comes from the town’s past as a hub for US railways in Canada. eir Dead Elephant is brewed in honour of Jumbo the Elephant who died in St. omas in 1885.

is small-town brewery has an independent streak and a historical bent. It’s particularly focussed on the history of the War of 1812.

RUSTY WRENCH BREWING CO.

9 Front St. W. | RustyWrench.ca

NATTERJACK BREWING CO.

25292 Talbot Line | natterjackbrewing.ca

Local and ethical sourcing is the focus for this small-town brewery. e kitchen also features beer ingredients across the menu. As they say, their “beers range from mild to wild.”

is is the legacy of Matt Soos, a graduate of the Niagara College Teaching Brewery and former Muskoka Brewing employee, lost his life in 2015 to health complications. NATTERJACK

STRATHROY

WEST LORNE

CHURCH-KEY BREWING

1678 County Road 38 churchkeybrewing.com

NORTHUMBERLAND HILLS BREWERY

1024 Division St., Unit 1 | nhb.beer

Founded in 2000 the brewery is situated in an 1878 Methodist Church on the outskirts of Campbellford, Ontario. ey’re known widely as smoked-beer specialists.

HOLY SMOKE

WILLIAM STREET BEER CO.

975 Elgin St. W. #4 | williamstreetbeer.com

Owner-brewer Rick Bailey was inspired to take his homebrewing to the professional level after watching the success of upstart 5 Paddles Brewing Co. Brewers helping brewers.

PIE EYED MONK BREWERY

8 Cambridge St. N. pieeyedmonkbrewery.com

ough named for its original location, the brewery is now located on Elgin Street after moving to a more event-friendly space to better the thirsty people of Cobourg.

All the beer for Lindsay’s own brewpub is made in-house on their seven-barrel system. Find them in the historic C.L. Baker Building.

FUSSED WITH BARREL-AGED SOUR PROJECT 22 DARK LAGER LAUGHING TROLL LAGERED

FARMSTEAD LAGER

BEARD FREE

BREWING

649 e Parkway, Unit 4

beardfreebrewing.com

THE OLDE STONE BREWING CO.

380 George St. N. | oldestone.ca

“Beard Free” is a play on the lack of facial hair on the partners and nods a chin to the malting process that removes a bristly beard from the wheat kernels they use.

SIMCOE STREET IPA

B

LOCK 21 CREAM ALE

A tight rotation of house-made beers, generally in styles from the British Isles, power the drinks menu at Peterborough’s downtown pub.

OR DUBH STOUT IRISH DRY STOUT

B

PUBLICAN HOUSE BREWERY

300 Charlotte St. | publicanhouse.com

RED FIFE

WHEAT ALE

AMERICAN-STYLE WHEAT ALE

B

SMITHAVENS BREWING COMPANY

687 Rye St., Unit 6 | smithavensbrewing.ca

e family-owned business opened in downtown Peterborough in 2008. Among their year-round lineup is Paddler’s Ale, sales support the Canadian Canoe Museum.

PUB HOUSE ALE KÖLSCH

HIGH NOON UNFILTERED AMERICAN-STYLE WHEAT ALE

A family-owned brewery on the outskirts of town. eir taster pack of three di erent beers is popular with out-of-town visitors.

KELLERBIER KELLERBIER

DUNKELWEIZEN DUNKELWEIZEN

MACKINNON BROTHERS BREWING

1915 County Road 22 mackinnonbrewing.com

SIGNAL BREWING COMPANY

86-87 River Rd. | signal.beer

Located on a centuries-old family-farm, the estate-brewery grows their own hops and malts in the surrounding elds and has re-purposed the buildings to house brewing equipment.

8 MAN ENGLISH-STYLE PALE ALE

is brewery raises a glass to its local history by brewing beer in the historical distillery district that was once a big enough employer to have the whole town named after them.

GANANOQUE BREWING COMPANY

9 King St. E. | ganbeer.com

LAKE ON THE MOUNTAIN BREWERY

11369 Loyalist Pkwy. lakeonthemountainbrewco.com

e location makes this a popular spot for visitors to the 1,000 Islands and a bustling schedule of live music keeps the taproom full of local regulars, as well.

Appropriately for the area, this brewery is connected to a resort. Some of the hops used are grown on the property.

RED FOX ALE RADIO TUBE PILSNER

CREAM ALE CREAM ALE

HOOK LINE & CITRA I.P.A ENGLISH-STYLE IPA

BELL RINGER AMERICAN-STYLE IPA

KING’S TOWN BEER CO.

675 Arlington Park Pl., Unit 3 kingstownbeerco.ca

KINGSTON BREWING COMPANY

34 Clarence St. | kingstonbrewing.ca

Looking to serve Kingston’s underserviced West-End, the brewery will o er approachable lower ABV beers and aims to be a neighbourhood hub.

RIVERHEAD BREWING CO.

631 Fortune Cres. | riverheadbrewing.com

A mainstay brewpub in downtown Kingston has been making their own beer for several years. Food menu leans to pub favourites.

SPEARHEAD BREWING

675 Development Dr. | spearheadbeer.com

e Kingston Tied House o ers four mainstays brews plus an extensive menu and are, surely, the only brewery with a dedicated mascot— Brewster the beer-loving Sasquatch.

eir Hawaiian style-IPA helped convert many beer drinkers into the craft scene, fast forward to today and they have a bricks-andmortar setup in Kingston.

STONE CITY ALES

275 Princess St. | stonecityales.com

NAPANEE BEER COMPANY

450 Milligan Lane | napaneebeer.ca

Conveniently situated along vibrant Princess Street, the brewpub serves avourful food and beer, including special one-o s and barrel-aged gems. ey’ve just launched online bottle sales.

UNCHARTED

AMERICAN-STYLE IPA

SHIPS IN THE NIGHT OATMEAL STOUT

In 2017 the brewery won New Brewery of the Year at the Ontario Brewing Awards. ey have since lived up to the hype and continue to win awards.

BLACKLIST BLACK GERMAN-STYLE LAGER

555 BREWING CO.

124 Picton Main St. | 555beer.com

BARLEY

EXTREMIST BELGIAN-STYLE IPA

DAYS BREWERY

13730 Loyalist Parkway barleydaysbrewery.com

Drew Wollenberg’s beer and pizza from the wood- red oven draw visitors to the “Triple Nickel” on Picton Main Street in PEC.

LONG BLACK COFFEE BLACK

Open since 2007, this is the oldest brewery in the County. Look for their special-release stout brewed with oysters around the holidays.

HARVEST GOLD

WIND & SAIL DARK

e picturesque wine country of Prince Edward County really needed more beer. Parsons brings the malt with a long list of agship and seasonal brews.

In addition to a taproom, tasting bar and brewery, Prince Eddy’s also o ers a 1959 Chevy Suburban delivery vehicle and a beach volleyball court.

TRENTON WELLINGTON

WILDCARD BREWING CO.

38 Gotha St. | wildcardbrewco.com

MIDTOWN BREWING CO.

266 Wellington Main St. midtownbrewingcompany.com

e Trenton brewery isn’t afraid to experiment with styles and ingredients. Stop in at their bottle shop or they’ll send their creative creations to you through the mail.

BARREL AGED STOUT

An elevated brewpub is just what the upand-coming cottage town needed. eir shop o ers local produce, prepared food products and artisan goods.

DRY

IRISH

Year-round: B

WESTPORT BREWING CO.

41B Westport Rd. westportbrewingcompany.ca

WOLFE ISLAND SPRING CRAFT BREWERY

1570 County Road 96 | wolfeisland.beer

e charming community known for its boating culture along the Rideau Canal system welcomed its rst brewery in the fall of 2018. Will be a must for those dropping anchor.

UPPER RIDEAU

Year-round: B

Brewery attached to the Wolfe Island Grill. eir Cannonball is made by pitching a redhot cannonball into the brew.

CANNONBALL

OUT FOR A SIP

EXTRA SPECIAL BITTER ESB

BE AU’ S ALL N ATU R AL BREWIN G CO .

10 Terry Fox Dr. | beaus.ca

MON-SUN 10AM-6PM

EST. 2006

Organic trailblazers since 2006—Beau’s has entertained thousands through their epic, annual Oktoberfest and St. Patrick’s Day events.

Year-round: B,L,LC,TBS

ABV I BU 5.2%21

Certi ed organic and a province-wide bestseller since ’06. Graham cracker and fresh hay notes.

Year-round: B,L,LC,TBS

ABV I BU 6.7%60

Tropical fruit complemented by resiny pine make for a juicy, moreish IPA that nishes clean.

CROOKED MILE BREWERY

453 Ottawa St., Unit 3 | crookedmile.ca

ASHTON BREWING

COMPANY

113 Old Mill Rd. ashtonbrewingcompany.com

A small batch brewery that focuses on British ale styles. ey serve snacks and guests are welcome to bring their own food to the taproom in Almonte.

HIGHLAND

e Hodgins family has a decades-long association with running a pub in the area. Lorne Hart makes the beer for their authentic British pub.

CALABOGIE CARLETON PLACE

CALABOGIE BREWING CO.

12612 Lanark Rd. | calabogiebrewingco.ca

BRAUMEISTER BREWING CO.

19 Moore St. | braumeister.ca

Calabogie’s new second location in Kanata will increase brewing capacity by adding several new fermentation and brite tanks. Expect to see more of their popular beer.

A new brewery specializing in traditional German-styles, currently four clean, wellconstructed brews available for takeout. Expect this brewery to make a name for itself.

CARLETON PLACE CASSELMAN

STALWART BREWING CO.

10 High St. | stalwartbrewing.ca

CASSEL BREWERY

715C Principale Rue | casselbrewery.ca

When Cassel purchased land adjacent to their brewery in 2015, they acquired space to house a new packaging line, lab and cellar. Plus a fully functional car wash! THRILLER

One of the best bootstrap stories in beer. From kitchen-based brewery, called Stockpot Ales, to now drawing folks into downtown Carleton Place for three years.

RURBAN BREWING

412 Cumberland St. | rurbanbrewing.ca

ÉTIENNE BRÜLÉ BREWERY

893 rue Notre-Dame St. | etiennebrule.ca

Combining the hard-to-pronounce words of rural and urban, Rurban encapsulates their hometown of Cornwall—where the city and it’s agri-surroundings meet.

CORNWALL GOLDEN LAGER MUNICH-STYLE HELLES

Year-round: B,L

ALL THAT RAZZ

e brewery is perfectly located in a former rehall in the small Franco-community of Embrun. Like their namesake, the brewery explores new styles and ingredients.

CHERRY MILK STOUT MILK STOUT

B,L

B

B

TUQUE

One of two breweries in Embrun, the “Tuque” is a well-poured beer’s head, which seals in all the best aromas and e ervescence, to the bene t of the drinker.

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS BREWING CO.

25 orold Ln. | humblebeginningsbrewing.ca

WINDMILL BREWERY

5 Newport Dr. | windmillbrewery.ca

Big things brewing along the St. Lawrence River, as this 2018 brewery has already been embraced by the community and is heavily involved in giving back.

A family-run brewery operated by Sean and Amanda Lucey, with a focus on approachable, easy-drinking styles. MAD CANADIAN KÖLSCH

FOURTH AND OAK OATMEAL STOUT

Year-round: B

Seasonal: B

CARTWRIGHT SPRINGS BREWERY

239 Deer Run Rd. | csbeer.ca

1838 PILSNER PILSNER

Year-round: B

SQUARE TIMBER BREWING CO.

Seasonal: B

Andre Rieux’s Pakenham paradise is worth the drive - his enthusiastic tours are coupled with inventive brews and innovative brewery technologies.

SPRUCE TIP IPA

AMERICAN-STYLE IPA

Year-round: B,L

THAT

800 Woito Station Rd. | squaretimber.com

Pembroke’s history is married to the lumber industry, when squared logs would be oated down the Ottawa. e Valley brewery respects this history with its name and brews.

PEMBROKE PILS BOHEMIAN-STYLE PILSNER

Year-round: B,L

121 Du erin St. | perthbrewery.ca

A family operation that has a strong local fan base in Perth. eir beers also make it into bars and restaurants across Eastern Ontario.

When the community mall faltered, this Smiths Falls brewery stepped up and moved into the space, helping bring new life to the town’s centre.

HALCYON BARREL HOUSE

10 Terry Fox Dr. | halcyon.beer

e ‘C’ is soft but the beer is solid: specializing in sours, they are Beau’s sour start-up, operating independently under the umbrella and sharing the specialty for organic brewing.

SMALL PONY BARREL WORKS

101 Schneider Rd. smallponybarrelworks.com

Who knew Kanata would be home to Canada’s only brewery exclusively crafting barrel-aged sour beers? eir blends are outstandingly complex and have received wide attention.

ONE YEAR WISER

BARREL AGED SOUR WITH WINE POMACE AND TONKA BEANS

BIG RIG BREWERY

103 Schneider Rd. | bigrigbrewery.com

Big Rig’s Brewmaster Lon Ladell is the real deal. He’s been brewing professionally for over 20 (!) years, rst learning his trade with Victoria, BC’s Spinnaker’s Brewpub.

AMERICAN-STYLE ORLEANS OTTAWA

STRAY DOG BREWING CO.

501 Lacolle Way, Unit 4 | straydogbrewing.ca

Located in a suburban industrial park, the brewery has become a community hub for Orleans. Regular events include stand-up comedy, live music and burlesques shows.

THIS ONE

PINK FUZZ GRAPEFRUIT AMERIKANATA KANATA

DREAM SHAGGIN WAGON IPA

BARREL AGED SOUR IBU ABV N/A 6.9% IBU ABV 19 5.6% IBU ABV N/A 6.5% IBU ABV 35 5.2%

BEYOND THE PALE BREWING

250 City Centre Ave., Bay 108 btpshop.ca

With a penchant for fun, the brewery recently added a new play-space to their City Centre brewery, a large patio adorned with BTP’s signature picket fence.

ALPHA IBU ABV N/A 5% IBU ABV 83 6.6% IBU ABV N/A 6% IBU ABV 55 6.4% 105

MIDNIGHT KISSED MY COW MILK STOUT AROMATHERAPY AMERICAN-STYLE IPA

BICYCLE CRAFT BREWERY

850 Industrial Ave., Unit 12 bicyclecraftbrewery.ca

BROADHEAD BREWING CO.

81 Auriga Dr. | broadheadbeer.com

e brewery is well-named, as the bicycle represents owners Laura & Fariborz’s vision for the brewery—simple, traditional, and down to earth.

VELOCIPEDE AMERICAN-STYLE IPA

VINTERNAT LIQUOURICE STOUT STOUT

Super-nice guys live the Canadian Dream: quit their day jobs, grow beards and open a brewery in a west-end industrial park.

BLUEPRINT BLUEBERRY BLONDE ALE

CLOCKTOWER BREWPUB

575 Bank St. | clocktower.ca

DOMINION CITY BREWING CO.

5510 Canotek Rd., Unit 15 | dominioncity.ca/

In business for over two decades, Clocktower is the senior statesman of Ottawa craft beer. ey have six locations, Rideau is the newest, in addition to their HQ in the Glebe.

e pride of Beacon Hill, these Canadianaloving hosers brew some of the best hazy IPAs in the country. e team is committed to supporting their community.

SUNSPLIT

AMERICAN-STYLE IPA

PAPER SALESMAN AMERICAN-STYLE PALE ALE

TIGHT SQUEEZE TANGERINE IPA

OTTAWA OTTAWA

OTTAWA OTTAWA

FLORA HALL BREWING

37 Flora St. | orahallbrewing.ca

KICHESIPPI BEER CO.

866 Campbell Ave. | kbeer.ca

Flora is housed in a former garage-turnedengineering- facility-turned brewery. Owner David Longbottom has carefully preserved numerous historical aspects of the building.

e company takes its name, Kichesippi, from the former name of the Ottawa River, which means “ e Great River”. Fittingly, they’ve been brewing great beer locally since 2010.

LOWERTOWN BREWERY

73 York St. | lowertownbrewery.ca

NITA BEER CO.

190 Colonnade Rd., Unit 17 | nitabeer.com

is Byward Market standby makes great beer but also focuses on food (including from their smoker) and events in their York St space.

Fun fact: Head brewer Andy Nita commutes to the brewery (weather permitting) on a skateboard built from recycled beer cans.

OVERFLOW BREWING CO.

2477 Kaladar Ave. | over owbeer.com

RIDGE ROCK BREWING CO.

421 Donald B. Munro Dr. ridgerockbrewco.ca

With an impressive production space, the focus for Over ow is on events and a rotating selection of local food trucks while they wait for their taproom to be ready to open.

Carp’s easy-going brewpub features a focused food menu to go with their equally tight lineup of beers. Sundays are open mic night.

TOOTH AND NAIL BREWERY

3 Irving Ave. | toothandnailbeer.com

VIMY BREWING COMPANY

145 Loretta Ave. N., Unit 1 vimybrewing.ca

Tooth and Nail brews the beer that other brewers drink. Owners Matt and Dayna, met while working at Toronto’s Beerbistro but now call Hintonburg home.

e Sirko brothers travelled the world with the Navy, discovering new beers and avours in their travels. eir brewery celebrates Canada and its accomplishments.

WALLER STREET BREWING

14 Waller St. | wallerst.ca

WHIPRSNAPR BREWING CO.

14 Bexley Pl. | whiprsnaprbrewingco.com

Quite possibly the coziest brewery in the province. Custom built in the basement of a stone heritage building, the prohibition-styled space is as warming as the beer.

MOONLIGHT PORTER AMERICAN-STYLE PORTER

JUICE JOINT SOUR DRY-HOPPED SOUR SAISON

e taproom and bottle shop at Whiprsnapr has become a community hub for the Bells Corners neighbourhood. Outside food is welcome.

INUKSHUK CANADIAN IPA AMERICAN-STYLE IPA

COVERED BRIDGE BREWING

119 Iber Rd., Unit 6

coveredbridgebrewing.com

Every year, the brewery makes a new anniversary barrel-aged beer and a releases batch of the previous year’s anniversary ale, after a year of bottle conditioning.

WALK

Year-round: B

WITCHES BREW BLACK IPA / HARVEST ALE

B

BEER GROUND To the

e great thing about the next few months is that you’re almost guaranteed a seat in your favourite taproom and no lines in the bottle shop. Here are the new places to check out.

CAL AB OGIE BRE W ING

Kanata (winter 2018) is Eastern Ontario brewery (maybe the most fun name to say) is opening a second location. Word comes via Canadian Beer News that they’re adding a 7,000-square-feet space at 105 Schneider Rd in Kanata. With Big Rig and Small Pony nearby, it’s becoming a very beer-focussed neighbourhood.

@calabogiebrewingco

COWB ELL BRE W ING

Blyth (early 2019) Already one of the province’s largest breweries, Cowbell has ambitious expansion plans. ey’ve bought out their next door neighbour and plan to use the additional 18,000 square feet for much more packaging capacity and also a craft beer education centre.

@cowbellbrewing

GRA ND RIVER

Cambridge As we reported last issue, one of Ontario’s oldest breweries is no longer for sale. e familiar stalwart from Cambridge was purchased by Magnotta, one of Ontario’s oldest wine companies. eir plan is to stay the course for the beer lineup and recipes at Grand River.

@grandriverbrewing

HIG H PA RK BRE W ERY

Toronto e longtime contract brewery is getting set to move into their own home at 839 Runnymede Rd. in Toronto’s west end. While still waiting for permits they did hold an open house on the weekend before Halloween. News also came this summer that they have bought Draught Dodger, another contract brewing brand. @highparkbrewery

MASC OT

Etobicoke (winter 2018) e popular downtown brewery has found a new location at 37 Advance Rd. and plans to be open early in 2019. Like Mercer St., they'll have a full bar

and restaurant with two patios and a retail shop featuring Siobhan McPherson's brews.

@mascotbrewing

NATTERJAC K BRE W ING

West Lorne (autumn 2018) is new brewery in southwestern Ontario, has opened with a mission. It is owned by the parents of Matt Soos, a brewer who passed away in 2015 at the age of 26. e brewery will use Soos’s recipes and will also be donating to a scholarship fund to support brewing students at Niagara College.

@natterjackbrewingcompany

R IDGE ROC K BRE W ERY

Carp (autumn 2018) is small town just outside of Ottawa now has a brewpub with its own brewery. e opening lineup ranged from Flower & Farm saison to Diefenbunker Dark. ey’re located at 421 Donald B. Munro Dr. @ridgerockbrewco

S TONEPI C KER BRE W ING

Lambton Shores (summer 2018) Four partners hung out the open sign on their new brewery outside of Forest, ON, just in time to catch the end of August. Stonepicker is located on Joe and Mary Donkers’ farm and co-owned with Jim and Laura Soetemans. eir deep lineup of styles was developed over several years of homebrewing. @stonepickerbrewingcompany

WESTPORT BRE W ING

Westport (autumn 2018) On anksgiving weekend, as millions of Canadians got together with friends and family for a celebratory meal, the folks behind the newest brewery in Eastern Ontario were clinking glasses of their own blonde ale. Brewer omas Nelson also makes a German lager and plans to gradually expand their range. @WestportBrew

What’d we miss? Send tips on new brewery openings to david@thegrowler.ca. j

Some kids don’t get gifts over the holidays. Drink this beer to change that.

Over 18 years Donnelly Group’s employee-led holiday Toy Drive has donated nearly one million dollars worth of gifts and funds to families in need. The year with your help, we’re also giving back $1 from every can of Goodwill Lager, available at all of our pubs.

Learn more at donnellygroup.ca/toydrive