The Growler Ontario • Volume 3 Issue 1 • Spring 2020

PUBLISHER

Gail Nugent gnugent@thegrowler.ca

EDITOR

David Ort david@thegrowler.ca

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Crystal Luxmore

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Ben Johnson

Rob Mangelsdorf

Jordan St. John

Joe Wiebe

PRODUCTION & DESIGN MANAGER

Tara Ra q tara@thegrowler.ca

PHOTOGRAPHY

David Ort

COVER ILLUSTRATION

Cynthia Frenette

SOCIAL MEDIA

David Ort

ADVERTISING

Matthew Laing-Gibbard matthew@thegrowler.ca

DISTRIBUTION

Craig Sweetman (Newsstand)

SUBSCRIPTIONS on.thegrowler.ca/subscribe

© e Growler 2020

As the calendar turns over to February and we get set for the nal stretches of winter it’s easier to see the new year beyond the clouds of resolutions and celebrations.

e season is full of opportunities to challenge expectations—be it with a local oatmeal stout for St. Patrick’s Day or a clean, food-friendly, Belgian-style tripel with the brunch you make for Mother’s Day.

Mood and weather have a huge e ect on what beer I want to drink and this season means exploring new territory. We’re in luck because Crystal Luxmore has a guide to shopping smartly for beer (pg. 8). And if you still can’t nd something you like, consider joining a homebrew club to make your own—one day you might be entering an amateur competition (pg. 21).

A new year can also inspire us to look more closely at our nances and wonder what we’re paying for when we choose to buy craft. Ben Johnson nds out (pg. 4).

No matter what the weather, New York shines and we have your guide to planning a visit (pg. 18) full of interesting craft beer.

is issue also sees an updated and streamlined format for our brewery listing directory. Other than for our partners, we’re no longer publishing beer recommendations and news for the breweries in our directory, but will still have their essential details.

Join me in getting 2020 o to a great start lled with excellent beer. Cheers!

—David Ort, editor

Brewery Details

GROWLER F I LL S

BO TTLES / CANS

B EER F OR SA LE ON L INE

TAS T ING ROOM

O N-SI T E KI TCHEN OR FOOD T RUCK

T OURS

DOG-FRIEND LY

GL UT EN- F REE BOO ZE O PTIONS

Availability

B – brewery taproom

L – licensed establishments, pubs, bars and restaurants

LC – LCBO

TBS – e Beer Store

Suggested Glassware

STANGE

Kolsch

Alt

Gose

PIL SNER

Lager

Pilsner

Witbier

N ONI C PIN T

Pale ale

Stout and porter

Most ales, actually

W EI Z EN

Hefeweizen

Weizenbock

American wheat

TULIP

Saison

Double IPA

Strong ales

GOBL ET

Dubbel

Belgian strong

Tripel

SNIFTER

Barley wine Quad

Anything funky

FREE BEER tomorrow

Ontario beer drinkers show their love via their wallets. When they venture into the expensive end of the catalogue are they getting good value for their money?

by Ben Johnson

When you rst get into craft beer, your enthusiasm can make you behave as if money is no object. $22 bourbon barrel-aged stout? Better buy one to drink now and also one to age. $15 for 341-ml bottles of wild fermented cherry sours? Sign me up for a six-pack. $5 short cans of a double-dry hopped NEIPA? Is there a limit per person?? Who cares what these things cost? You can’t possibly miss out on this limited release!

Craft beer is exciting and interesting and there is seemingly no shortage of amazing-sounding beer that you must have. It’s easy for your excitement to push the limits of your daily withdrawal limit.

But, of course, this simply isn’t sustainable. At a certain point in your life, you tend to dial down the FOMO and start to prioritize things you really can’t avoid paying for—things like rent, car payments and diapers. And when that day comes (and it will come, gentle reader) you might nd, as I have, that the actual price of your beer starts to be a larger factor in your purchase decision and you may start to wonder, as I have, why the hell is some beer so expensive?

First, it should be said that, in the realm of all liquids, beer is not really that expensive when you’re considering the price per ounce. e cost is nothing compared to, say, the cost of Chanel perfume ($2,785.79 per litre), printer ink ($713.14/litre) or even human blood ($396.30/litre). Expensive is a relative term, really.

But while it might not be fair (and it might be a little weird) to compare the cost of beer to the cost of bodily uids, the evidence does seem to support my feeling that the cost of beer has risen substantially. Consider how much fuss was made back in 2012, for example, when the Trappist beer Westvleteran XII (considered by some to be the “best beer in the world”) hit LCBO shelves for the shocking price of $75.40 for a six-pack. Newspapers covered the beer’s release and beer nerds were hotly divided on whether or not this highly regarded beer was worth the cost.

On a per-litre basis, the cost worked out to $38.08. Considerably less than perfume, printer ink and blood, but these days that price wouldn’t even make it the highest priced beer at the LCBO. In fact,

there are currently 13 SKUs in the LCBO that work out to a higher price per litre than Westy. As you might expect, imports top the increasingly pricy list: Oxbow Brewing Company’s farmhouse pale ale works out to $39.30 per litre, Oud Beersel Bvba Geuze Barrel Selection Oude Pijpen is $35.90, and way out in front is Brouwerij 3 Fontein’s 3 Fonteinen Hommage which, at $49.85 for a 750-ml bottle, works out to a whopping $66.47 per litre and earns the spot as the most expensive beer by volume in our province’s state-run liquor stores. But it isn’t just the fancy-schmancy imports that seem to be breaking the bank. Many a “specialty craft” option weighs in at the fairly wallet stinging-area of 60 cents per ounce. London’s Forked River Flanders Red, Great Lakes Brewery’s Harry Porter, and Nickel Brook’s Glory & Gold are all

more than half the price of that storied Trappist beverage, for example.

e prices of “staple” styles seem to be climbing just as fast. It’s not unusual to see the cost of a can of IPA at the LCBO in the range of $4 or even $5. At the other end of the spectrum, of course, a lot of “beer” can still be had quite inexpensively. Most of the mainstream macro beers are priced right around ve bucks a litre. In the hyper-competitive world of utilitarian industrial lagers, a few cents can mean a pretty large shift in market share and so this vedollars-per-litre mark is typically where you’ll nd beers made in very large volumes that have likely been eld-tested to nd the sweet spot of a ordability and pro tability for their parent companies.

Budweiser and Molson Canadian, for example are in this pricing segment. A slew of beers at the LCBO clock in near the four-dollars-per-litre mark, including not just a handful of value brands like Molson’s Carling Ice and Old Style Pilsner, but also some “craft” brands like Cool Brewing Co’s Cool Lager and some Brick Brewing beers. And, of course, there are the few now-infamous “buck-abeer” o erings that are available the lowest possible price by law. Barley Days Brewery’s Loonie Lager, at $1.10 for a 355ml format, is available for just $3.10 per litre, making it the least expensive beer by volume in the province. So why the disparity?

Kevin Meens works in Corporate Development for Toronto’s Cool Brewery, one of just three brewers in the province, along with Brick and President’s Choice (aka No Name), to take advantage of the province’s new rock-bottom price oor and o er one dollar beers. He says it’s not really fair to compare discount beer prices with the rest of the market. “ ‘Craft’ full- avoured beers target a di erent market segment,” he says, “and would not be well served to participate at a buck.”

He also admits that the value in o ering a dollar beer isn’t going to be pro t for the company that opts to sell their product for such a low price, but rather that the value is in “guaranteed increased awareness, interest, trial, and media/word of mouth sharing of buck-a-beer events.” In other words, for many brewers o ering deeply discounted beer, the strategy is to o er the beer as a loss leader or to leverage the gimmick of buck-a-beer to drum up publicity for the brewery.

‘Craft’ full avoured beers target a di erent market segment, and would not be well served to participate at a buck.

—Kevin Meens, Cool Brewery

Some Ontario breweries, like Nickel Brook, specialize in covering both ends of the price spectrum. David Ort photo

e more expensive craft beers in Ontario can be priced the way they are because they really are specialty products being marketed to a speci c market segment. Kyle Teichart is a co-founder of the (very) small-batch brewery Half Hours on Earth located in Seaforth, Ontario. Teichart’s beers, like Cosmic Perspective, Into the Groovy, and Persistence of Memory enjoy fairly high regard among craft beer a cionados and, at an average price of about $25 per litre, his company is likely making the priciest beer by volume in Ontario.

“Economies of scale, amount of ingredients, and production time are the main factors that go into our pricing,” Teichart says. “We are incredibly tiny even compared to most ‘small-batch’ breweries. We have added costs to ingredients, packaging materials, as well as the shipping costs to get them to our [brewery]. We’re also usually known for our heavily-fruited oak-aged sours, and we assume we’re on the high end for the overall amount of ingredients that go into our average beer. For instance, our fruiting rates for our oak-aged sours typically start

around 360g/litre, topping out with Blue under with 630g of blueberries per litre of beer in our latest batch. With our batch sizes being anywhere from 100 litres to 450 litres, it is not a lot of beer.”

In other words, a lot of Teichart’s speciality beers feature considerable volume of ingredients that aren’t actually beer. Additionally, brewers that are attempting to o er up something more unique than a zzy yellow beer that is easy to drink when ice cold also have to factor in the possibility that some of their experiments don’t actually work. “Given the amount of oak-aged beers and/or beers with new ingredients or even new styles that we create,” Teichart says, “there is some beer that does not get released, likely a larger percentage than the average brewery. e time and cost of those beers need to be factored into what does get released. And we have very strict standards for the beer that makes it to our customers.”

So while it’s easy to gripe about beer pricing—as I often do—there might not be legitimate reason to complain. e Ontario beer industry is increasingly competitive and so one might argue that there is little room for brewers who would seek to o er beer with a price that isn’t supported by the quality of what’s in the can. It may not be Chanel number 5 or a vial of O Positive, but the price, it would seem, is likely justi ed. In other words, when it comes to beer, as it is with most things, you tend to get what you pay for. j

Economies of scale, amount of ingredients, and production time are the main factors that go into our pricing. —Kyle Teichart, Half Hours on Earth

LEFT: Sam Adams is another import that made headlines—with their annual release of Utopias at $110.75 for a 710-ml bottle. RIGHT: At $7.95 for 500 ml, Fuller's vintage is a more reasonable “collector beer.” David Ort photos

Canada’s contribution to brewery good times

by David Ort

Beer writers hear quite often from people about their own local breweries. is is a wonderful view of how important the buildings have become as homes for more than just beer-making equipment.

New parents love the Wednesday afternoons with playtime and pilsner. Yoga classes augmented by the aroma of stewing barley seem universally popular. And, of course, the list also includes painting workshops and introductory succulents seminars.

Personally, I’d rather spend my time locked in competition with a few friends (old or newfound) while working my way through a tasting ight of sample glasses. Games go with taprooms because they play to all the strengths of the space. Compared to bars, they are quieter, better-lit and generally have fresher beer.

My rst visit to Sawdust City’s home in Gravenhurst inspired the thought that this is the kind of place I could comfortably spend an afternoon in.

e chairs look like someone’s (talented) grandfather built them, there is a rack of personalized mugs behind the bar and—most of all—plenty of the quiet wood-on-wood “thwack” that can only mean one thing: crokinole.

In the race to be the most Canadian game, Crokinole has a very long lead. Its history dates back to just after Confederation. And according to the Wikipedia page, the rst crafted board was given as a fth birthday gift around 1870. Tavistock, Ontario hometown of Eckhardt Wettlaufer, the builder of that early board, is still home to the Crokinole World Championship.

ere are a few characteristics of the game that make it so well-suited for taproom play. From picnic tables to barrels, it can balance on a wide variety of tables. Unlike pool or darts it takes up less room and o ers less risk of drunken injury.

And like all great cultural keepsakes, crokinole brings us together by setting us apart. I’ve played it at Brothers in Guelph, Anderson Craft Ales in London and at Great Lakes in Etobicoke, amongst others. But never outside Ontario.

And, games are to breweries as magazines are to doctors’ o ces—they need to be relevant and kept up-to-date. So, let’s put crokinole in the spotlight!

I’d love to see Ontario craft breweries give it the attention it deserves. Why not crokinole leagues instead of euchre? Or let’s see more tutorials on re ning the icking technique.

If you haven’t tried crokinole, join friends at a taproom near you and give it a shot. If you’re a seasoned pro, maybe it’s time to try your hand at building your own board? j

e sleekly modern board at Great Lakes. David Ort photo

Happier beer shopping

With over 6,000 beers in Ontario and counting… how do you choose?

Advanced Cicerone® Crystal Luxmore shares her pro shopping tips.

by Crystal Luxmore

Shelley Beirnes, a former brewer and now Technical Sales Manager at Brewer’s Supply Group, is one of the most beloved people working in beer in Canada. So, when she threw a 40th birthday party at her house, her guests came laden with “special” beers. Bottles and cans of various sizes from all over the world soon lined her front porch.

“ ere must have been 35 di erent types of beer on my porch,” she says. And while her industry buddies had no problem choosing what they wanted, her other pals were paralyzed by choice and kept asking Shelley what they should try.

We are faced with a similarly dizzying array of options whenever we shop for beer in Ontario these days. ere are over 300 breweries in Ontario, many of them making dozens of di erent beers each year. e LCBO has 1,570 beers in its stores, and another 1,490 available to order online. Plus, there are thousands more beers available directly from breweries that never make it to the LCBO or e Beer Store.

ese numbers aren’t tracked anywhere, but my conservative calculation is: 350 breweries each making 10 beers per year that don’t go into the LCBO, that’s an additional 3,500 beers that can

be picked up at a taproom, or mail-ordered, any day of the week. And the numbers are likely much higher than that.

at takes us to nearly 7,000 beers to choose from in Ontario. All of this choice is something that brewers and drinkers have fought for in Ontario since Prohibition crushed small breweries 100 years ago, leaving us just 10 breweries controlling 96 per cent of the market by the early 1980s.

We love to celebrate this newfound variety in beer: beer bars seem to compete for the highest number of taps, and last year the team at Sawdust City challenged themselves to brew a new beer every week for the entire year — taking it to a gruelling total of 69 beers made at just one small Gravenhurst brewery in 2019.

So, consumers, blessed with the opportunity to purchase any of several thousand beers, must be happier than ever before, right? Not so much.

e irony is with more variety than at any time in Ontario’s history, shoppers often feel the least satis ed with the choices they make.

“Unlimited choice seems more attractive in theory than in practice,” said Dr. Sheena Iyengar in a 2019 TED Talk. Iyengar is the author of e Art of Choosing and a business professor at Columbia University. “My research shows repeatedly that when you give people ten or more options when they’re making a choice they make poorer decisions,” she says.

Iyengar has conducted numerous experiments and studies on choice. In 2000, she published results of these studies, including the now-famous “jam study,” which invited supermarket shoppers to sample jam varieties, all from the same producer. Customers who were invited to sample six jams were more likely to buy a jam and also reported being happier with their choice, than those who

were invited to sample 30 di erent jams. e reason why is simple: FOMO—the fear that you made the wrong choice, or could have made an even better choice—diminishes when you have fewer products to choose from in the rst place. Does this mean the craft beer revolution got it wrong? at we’d all be happier if the big breweries still had a headlock on the market, limiting our choices to a couple of dozen brews? e steady increase of craft beer sales indicates otherwise. And when the stakes are low (say choosing four beers to buy for the weekend, as opposed to choosing where to invest our savings for retirement), choosing doesn’t feel as stressful. But if we apply these insights on choice, they can help us shop for beer more easily, and feel happier about what ends up in our six-packs.

e rst strategy is to limit that endless variety. Here are my tips to help you narrow down your options:

STRATEGY #1: Shop at taprooms

Taprooms are the best places to buy beer in Ontario. Why? e beer is fresh and cold, you can sample before buying, and your choices are limited to what that brewery makes. Plus, the experience is miles above shopping for beer elsewhere: sta are educated and passionate about beer and the best ones are buzzing with the energy of other beer lovers.

STRATEGY #2: Ask a tastemaker

e best beer bars in Ontario get solicited by new breweries on a daily basis—and they taste a ton of beer. Hack their expertise by looking at their menus—note breweries and beers that keep popping up—and add those to your shopping list. Many of them aren’t in the LCBO or Beer Store, but you can order them directly from the brewery, and there’s nothing like getting a box of delicious, unusual beer on your doorstep. Beer bars I’d recommend looking at are Wvrst and Bar Hop in Toronto, Bar Lupulus in Ottawa, Arabella Park in Kitchener, and the Red Lion Smokehouse in under Bay.

STRATEGY #3: Buy cold

e only di erence between stale bread and stale beer is that stores don’t give you a discount on stale beer. From a taste perspective, they’re equally horrible. Over time a few things happen: rst,

Unlimited choice seems more attractive in theory than in practice.

—Dr. Sheena Iyengar

Found a beer you dig? Check the date code before you buy it.

hop aromas fall o , then hop avours and bitterness fades, then the malt character shifts from a bready avour to a sweeter, honey or caramel note. After that, you’ll actually taste stale avours, like old cardboard or chalkboard dust.

All beer stales over time, but refrigeration slows the rate of aging down dramatically. A Miller Coors study found a beer stored at room temperature for a month tasted just as stale as a beer that was stored in the refrigerator at 1 C for a year. So, limit your choices by only buying beers from the refrigerated section. Cold storage is the number one way to keep beer fresh longer. If you’re buying beer in a grocery store without refrigeration—don’t shop for beer there anymore. Ever.

is rule limits your choices to breweries, e Beer Store and about one-third of the beer in the average LCBO. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule: Higher alcohol beers, (say 9% and above) that are not hop-forward, like imperial stouts and porters, or Belgian quads or tripels, and also bottle-conditioned styles (most Belgian styles, and wild ales) can be quite nice when aged and are brewed to last for years, so these are OK to pick up o the shelf.

STRATEGY #4: Buy fresh

Found a beer you dig? Check the date code before you buy it. is isn’t a concern for the high-alcohol beers that I just described, but where you want to check date codes like a boss is on any hop-forward beer like pale ales and IPAs. Fresh is best on most beer styles, but especially those with delicate avours like pilsners, helleses, blondes and kölsches. Grab these within six to eight weeks of the “packaged on” date (usually stamped on the bottom of the can).

STRATEGY #5: Make a game plan before you go

Do you nd yourself always falling back on the same beer, even though you want to try new stu ? Decide to try a new style of beer before you go— like a saison, sour or brown ale—and buy a few di erent examples from di erent breweries. is limits your choices (and your FOMO).

STRATEGY #6: Get educated & take notes

Becoming an expert in any eld makes choosing a lot easier, according to Iyengar’s studies. Learn the basics of beer styles and taste by reading my favourite beer book of all time—Randy Mosher’s Tasting Beer (get the second edition). Or if you’ve read this one and want to go deeper, try Je Alworth’s equally entertaining e Beer Bible. Keep track of beers you loved and hated to narrow down your options: Untappd is a great app for this, notebooks work too. j

AARON SPINNEY

BREWER BREWER VERSUS

STEELTOWN EDITION

Hamilton is a hot spot for Ontario’s craft beer and Merit and Cli ord are leading the way

by David Ort

When I ask Ontario brewers about the beer they drink, many cop to being too busy to sample widely. ey tell me that when they’re not drinking their own stu , they fall back on established favourites.

Pressed to name names for who makes those standbys, none come up more often than Aaron Spinney and Brad Cli ord.

ese two head brewers lead small brewing teams at two of Ontario’s best-known and successful breweries. But, day to day, they both still have a hand rmly on the mash paddle.

Aaron Spinney—or just Spinney to almost everyone—left a prime gig as head brewer at Sawdust City to start Merit with partners Tej Sandhu and Jesse Vallins. Since opening in May 2017, they have become a thriving brewpub, drawing beer (and sausage) connoisseurs to the James Street strip in downtown Hamilton.

After leaving his nanobrewery at Get Well in Toronto to move to Hamilton, Brad Cli ord spent a few years searching for the perfect location to build a production-size brewery. About six months after Merit did, he threw open the doors on his taproom in East Hamilton.

e attention on Hamilton’s beer scene really came into focus in last May when Cli ord took home brewery of the year at the Canadian Brewing Awards. So, naturally, we talked about awards, but we also found out what their day looks like and the beer styles they’re excited about at the moment. Of course, they both had high praise for their Steeltown neighbours.

GROWLER: What’s your day like at the head of a brewing team? How has it changed in the few years since you opened?

SPINNEY: Opening a brewpub was a dream Tej and I were working on three years prior to opening. I was working at Sawdust before that and as we got everything going we decide to keep it small, at rst at least.

I had to reestablish [at Merit] and I really had to prove it, prove to myself. So I tried to take on every role in the brewing process for the rst year and a half, which worked out but then, obviously, growth starts to happen so you start to burn out pretty quickly.

March 27 was our rst brew and I didn’t take a day o until I had a buddy’s bachelor party on Labour Day weekend. It was a great way to start, but I feel like at some you just start having a hard time trying to nd the energy for the smaller details and processes and tweaking and stu so last January we ended up hiring another brewer

CLIFFORD: It’s a lot of managing how to do projects because we’re growing pretty fast. I’ve always gotta nd more e cient ways to do things.

I’m actually doing some training as well. I have a new hire right now who is washing kegs and we’re gonna brew our Vienna lager tomorrow morning.

I am the owner, manager—everything, pretty much—face of the brewery and I’m also still the head brewer. I do have a brewing assistant, which is very helpful.

It’s a mix every day. I end up getting involved with every aspect of everything going on all the time.

GROWLER: Do you have a agship beer? Is that an important idea for your brewery?

SPINNEY: It de nitely matters for sure. Especially in this constantly growing market. We have an IPA called Young Rival that’s our agship.

We’re really proud of the idea that it’s constantly evolving, not just with ingredients and what we’re learning but also with the trends and the new science coming out, too. Not only have we adjusted the yeast we use over the last couple of years but hopping rates. And also di erent ratios of grain with more oats and wheat to create more of that haze. So we were out in front of that even though it’s a agship brand and we’re really proud of it.

We’re also happy to tell everyone that this is going to change for the better because it’s a project that

e science behind the use of hops has totally changed our perspective.

—Aaron Spinney, Merit Brewing

With growler lls and top-notch food, Merit really is a classic, you-have-to-visit brewpub experience.

Porter is a constant for Cli ord—and the only beer in the lineup that doesn’t reference their East Hamilton home.

we want to continue to evolve with and learn new skills. e science behind the use of hops has totally changed our perspective. When Sammy [Corbeil] and I were brewing together at Sawdust we were focusing on hot side and putting everything in the kettle or the whirlpool. And now all the science is going to cold side fermentation and dry hopping—you have to grow with it.

CLIFFORD: Our agship is de nitely still porter. It’s our number one LCBO seller. I’m brewing more porter than any other beer. rough the spring and summer, even, I would say we average 100 hectolitres of porter.

I do tinker with a bit. Out of all my recipes, it’s probably the most consistent. I’ve been brewing it since I was homebrewing. and while all those years helped it grow, It is the exact same recipe.

all the time and Grain and Grit. We follow each other closely and it seems like there’s a lot of similarities. e quality is continuously growing which is amazing and that’s where the opportunity is.

GROWLER: What’s on the horizon?

CLIFFORD: e big thing is we’re doing a lot more live music here. My brother, who’s a musician, is booking bands from around Hamilton and also up from the States. A mix of Americana, rock, rockabilly. It’s bringing in a lot of people and I love music—partly because I used to play drums.

GROWLER: Are beer awards worth it? Brad, have you seen a bump since winning at the CBAs?

SPINNEY: As a branding,marketing and consumer standpoint the general public nds it fascinating. We don’t enter. It’s just so expensive.

From a Canadian standpoint, they are gaining some respect. It’s nice to see awards. We’re not brewing beer for that reason.

CLIFFORD: I can see their perspective.But it’s nice to be recognized for high quality. Obviously, there are hundreds or thousands of entries from breweries who do enter and do care. I’ve said: “ ey don’t care when they don’t win and they do care when do they win.” I’m the same way.

I was as surprised as anyone to nd out that we won brewery of the year. I’m still surprised.

GROWLER: Hamilton is great for drinkers because of choice—what’s it like brewing there?

SPINNEY: ey need a bag of sugar, we’re their neighbour. Super happy to work with Fairweather

SPINNEY: We’re really pushing the boundaries. We have a unique opportunity being on the doorstep of Niagara. I love wine. I like hanging out with winemakers. We love doing these hybrids. We just put out two white-wine lagers, which are fantastic. An orange wine concept with a rice lager base. ese are something that we’re going to slowly release over the year. We’ll have a gamayrosé-gose hybrid. We’re going to put it in clear bottles since there’s no hops. j

I was as surprised as anyone to nd out that we won brewery of the year. I’m still surprised.

—Brad Cli ord, Cli ord Brewing

Cli ord says Devil’s Punchbowl was developed when he dry-hopped leftover East Hamilton lager. David Ort photo

Spinney on agship IPAs: “ ey’re like caesar salad... if you can’t make a good one, the rest of the menu is going to suck.”

The wide world of wheat

by Joe Wiebe

Beer, at its most basic level, is a waste product produced by uncountable millions of yeast cells as they chew their way through a sugary slurry (called “wort”) that brewers prepare for their feasting. ose fermentable sugars can be derived from a wide variety of starches and grains, but malted barley has long been used as the primary brewing grain.

But why barley and not wheat? e earliest brewers in Babylonia and Egypt used wheat to make beer. However, the beer that our ancient ancestors drank was more of a boozy porridge, not really the same beverage we appreciate today. at’s because most of the proteins in wheat are glutens, and while those gummy, gluey, elastic proteins are ideal for making bread dough, they are not as well suited for making beer. Wheat also lacks certain enzymes that help convert unfermentable starches into fermentable sugars. And nally, it doesn’t have a husk, which can make brewing with wheat a challenging process.

ere is a positive side to wheat’s protein composition: it enhances foam stability, which results in a bigger, longer-lasting head on the beer. at’s one of the reasons why German and Belgian brewers have long used it as a complementary ingredient in several iconic styles, such as hefeweizens and

witbiers. And this is why today’s craft brewers seem to be using wheat more and more often in a variety of beer styles, especially hazy IPAs and pale ales.

Here is a look at some beer styles that use wheat in a variety of ways.

Hefeweizen

is quintessential German wheat beer is a classic Bavarian style that is brewed by most if not all breweries in Germany. e name “hefeweizen” literally translates as “yeast-wheat,” and that speaks to what de nes this beer. In Germany, it must be brewed with at least 50 per cent malted wheat, but that ratio is often closer to 60-70 per cent, resulting in its pillowy soft texture and thick, creamy head of foam. e beer’s de nitive banana/clove/bubblegum avour pro le comes from the characteristic yeast, a warm-fermenting ale variant that has been used in Germany for centuries. Today, if you travel in Germany you will generally nd three core beer styles everywhere you go: helles (light lager), dunkel (dark lager) and weissbier, which translates as “white beer,” but is used interchangeably with hefeweizen. You might also encounter dunkelweizen (dark wheat beer) or kristalweizen, which is ltered for clarity.

iStock photo

Berliner WeissE

Once the most popular beer style in Berlin, this light and tart wheat beer nearly disappeared in the 20th century before being revitalized as part of the craft beer movement. Typically very low in alcohol content (~3% ABV), the original brewing method did not involve boiling the mash, which must have led to some natural sourness. Contemporary brewers use Lactobacillus bacteria to sour the beer.

e grain bill usually includes up to 30 per cent malted wheat, mainly for the creamy mouth feel and u y head.

Gose

Another German style that has become popular in recent years, gose’s de ning character isn’t so much the fact that is brewed with wheat, but rather that it is slightly sour and salty. Typically, it is brewed with at least 50 per cent malted wheat, just like hefeweizen, but the type of yeast used does not impart the same sort of distinctive character. Souring comes from inoculation with Lactobacillus bacteria, and salt and coriander are also added.

Belgian witbier

Although similar to hefeweizen, this Belgian cousin is typically brewed with unmalted wheat, and sometimes other grains such as oats or spelt, as well as spices like coriander and orange peel.

e use of unmalted wheat results in a stronger grain avour, as well as cloudiness and, once again, a u y, foamy head. Much of the avour comes from the speci c Belgian strain of yeast, and a slight acidic tang might also be present; traditional Belgian brewers encourage a small amount of lactic acid production by letting the mash rest at a tepid temperature for an extended period of time.

Belgian lambic

Traditional sour beers in the Brussels area known as lambic beers are brewed with at least 30 per cent unmalted wheat. Apparently, one of the reasons this is done is to provide extra proteins and other nutrients to help ensure the vitality of the various microorganisms (yeast and bacteria) over months or even years of slow fermentation.

Wheat wine

is American take on the traditional British barley wine style was apparently rst brewed accidentally in the mid-1980s by a couple of California home brewers who put too much wheat in a batch of barleywine. e result tasted great,

and later, when one of them became a professional brewer, he recreated the recipe at the brewery and it became a hit. Today, it is still quite obscure, but a few Ontario breweries produce one from time to time. Basically, it is a strong ale (8-14% ABV) that is brewed with 40-60 per cent wheat to give it a softer texture and lighter avour.

Hazy IPAs

Wheat is often employed in hazy IPAs to encourage the hazy character as well as to punch up the head retention. Brewers use wheat, along with oats and various types of barley, to give hazy beers a complex mouthfeel. Some brewers even use wheat our to enhance the haziness. j

Required drinking

Wheat // Side Launch Brewing

Wag the Wolf // Beau’s

Haberdasher Hefeweizen // Muddy York Brewing

Waterfront Wit // Walkerville Brewery

Beat the Heat Belgian Wheat // Black Oak

Das Spritzhaus Hefeweizen // Abe Erb

Stone Road White Ale // Bench Brewing

Bobo Farmhouse Wheat // Matron Fine Beer

Wheat beers, like the traditional German hefeweizen, are characterized by their creamy mouthfeel and pillowy head. iStock photo

Spring Orecchiette from The Beer Lover’s Table

Paired with Left Field's Bang-Bang

BY CLAIRE BULLEN

When spring nally rolls around in Ontario, we’re so starved for sunshine and a good reason to drink beer that we tend to get ahead of ourselves. Who hasn’t found themselves on a patio in April, wrapped inside a cardigan and shivering the moment the sun goes behind a cloud?

Claire Bullen’s recipe—from the award-winning book she wrote with Jen Ferguson—is verdant spring on a plate. Between asparagus, peas and ramps she checks all of the early-season-produce boxes. And, if nature doesn’t cooperate and one of that trio isn’t in-season yet, you could get away with subbing in more of the other two.

More variety and prominence for kettle sours means that we have a new beer style for spring. e dry-hopping in Bang-Bang ties the beer even more tightly to the green avours on the plate. For my money, I’d rather spend a sunny and temptingly warm April day with around a table covered with dishes of pasta and glasses of beer.

—David Ort

INgredients

• 1 stick unsalted butter, divided

• 1 cup (100g) blanched almonds, roughly chopped

• 1 tsp dried culinary lavender, plus extra to garnish

• 1 lb (450g) dried orecchiette pasta

• 1/2 bunch asparagus (woody ends removed), cut into 1-inch pieces

• 1 ⅓ cups (200g) shelled peas

• Small bunch of ramps

• 4 ½ oz (125g) goat cheese, divided

• Zest of 1 lemon

• Sea salt and black pepper

• Freshly shaved Parmigiano Reggiano

directions

1. Melt 7 tablespoons of butter in a small skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the chopped almonds. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring frequently, or until the almonds are toasted. When the butter has darkened and smells nutty pour the buttery almonds into a bowl to cool. Add the lavender and stir.

2. Cook pasta in well-salted, boiling water for about 10 minutes or until al dente.

3. While the pasta is cooking, melt the remaining butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the asparagus and peas, and cook for 3–5 minutes, or until the vegetables are bright green and just tender. Roughly tear the ramps leaves and add to the skillet, stirring until they begin to wilt (about 30 seconds).

4. Drain the pasta, reserving approximately ½ cup of the cooking water. Return the pasta to the

pan, tip in the asparagus, pea, and ramps mix, and toss to combine.

6. Strain the lavender- avoured butter from the almonds into the pasta, then add half the reserved cooking water and crumble in three-quarters of the goat cheese. Stir until a light sauce forms, adding small amounts of cooking water if necessary to help the sauce bind. Season to taste.

7. Divide the pasta among plates, crumbling over the remaining goat cheese and adding the lemon zest, toasted almonds, extra lavender, and a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper. Sprinkle with the grated Parmigiano Reggiano and serve immediately. j

OPPOSITE PAGE: Orecchiette pairs with the veg-heavy sauce. TOP: e Beer Lover’s Table by Claire Bullen with Jen Ferguson, published by Dog ‘n’ Bone Books. BOTTOM: Bang-Bang is an all-year favourite at Left Field. Recipe and cover photo by Stephen Conroy © Dog ‘n’ Bone Books

New New craft craft City City

Get to the outer boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn to nd some of the most creative craft breweries in the United States

by David Ort

The space for New York City in everyone’s imagination is already pretty full. at’s partly because it does such a wonderful job of promoting itself—I can think of more cultural references to individual bridges in New York City than certain other major cities—but also because of the variety of experiences.

NYC boroughs seem to take turns in the spotlight. As Manhattan completed its revitalization in the 2000s, Brooklyn became the centre of the hipster world. And now that ad agency directors are the only creatives in that part of town, Queens is the new darling for early adopters.

roughout these transformations (and much further back through New York’s waves of immigration) beer has played an outsize role.

Back in the early 2010s, Beer School: Bottling Success at Brooklyn Brewery was one of the rst beer books I read. It’s remarkable that Steve Hindy and Tom Potter were already writing about their craft beer success in 2007.

Food & Beer is another signpost of New York’s rare ed love of beer. It’s a high-gloss cookbook created as a collaboration by the brewer at Tørst and the chef of Luksus. Fittingly, it’s in New York that beer nally took a seat at the ne-dining table.

Luksus closed in 2016, but for a few years, it was the poster child for craft beer in restaurants. In 2014, it became the rst restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star without pouring wine or liquor— instead, each course on the tasting menu was paired with a di erent beer.

e view of Manhattan and the Queensboro bridge is soon forgotten as your discover the inventive and creative beer near Hunter’s Point in Long Island City and Brooklyn. Julienne Schaer/NYC & Company photo

Others have taken up the challenge and new breweries have joined Brooklyn on their mission to make some elbow room amongst the wine bars and brown-liquor speakeasies.

You won’t nd too many sprawling beer gardens or production breweries in Mannhattan these days. But, luckily, the Queensboro, one of those movie-star bridges, will take you to a neighbourhood in Long Island City (yes, that’s still very much in NYC) with six breweries within easy walking distance of each other.

Brooklyn Brewery

Having clocked more than 25 years of selling beer, Brooklyn Brewery deserves a spot on the list of essential American craft breweries. And it’s not just a beer factory. eir dashing brewmaster, Garrett Oliver is the author of Brewmaster’s Table and the editor of e Oxford Companion to Beer so it should come as no surprise that his brewery o ers a complete experience.

e headquarters in Williamsburg (they also have an upstate outpost at the Culinary Institute of America) is a must-visit for the history mixed with innovation. Try to stick to what you can only get on-site—that means veering away from Brooklyn lager.)

You’re in luck if one of the Brooklyn Quarterly Experiments or something from the Brewmaster’s Reserve programme is pouring. Bel Air Sour (5.8% ABV) is a year-rounder that graduated from the BR. It combines the tartness from their house strain of lacto with tropical fruit from simcoe and amarillo hops.

Look also for Black Ops (11.5% ABV), an annual take on a Russian imperial stout. For 2019, they managed to hide an entire black forest cake (tastewise, at least) in each bottle of opaque goodness.

Other Half

After paying respects at the OG, we’re o deeper into the borough. ree decades of gentri cation have pushed brewery founders from areas like Williamsburg to neighbourhoods like Industry City, where Other Half runs their gritty-aroundthe-edges operation.

Where some breweries make a style or two that pushes the borders of what beer is expected to taste like, Other Half slams on the afterburners as they cross into airspace usually reserved for everything from smoothies to wine to milkshakes.

Broccoli (7.9% ABV) is an imperial IPA made with a quartet of hops that give it a smooth citrus pro le to match its opaque haziness. If you feel you need to ease gently into the hop-dominated madness, Forever Ever (4.7% ABV) is their session IPA, but it still packs in ve hop varieties and ts into the juicy, tropical New England-style family.

And if you want to preview your trip to New York there is an option closer to home. Other Half bought an old brewery across the lake in Rochester and converted it. ink the same wacky beer styles at a more relaxed pace.

Alewife Brewpub

What’s the di erence between Brooklyn and Long Island City? Fresher tattoos and even more tech companies with o ces in old warehouses.

LEFT: Brooklyn Brewery makes a dizzying array of beers from coal-black stouts to tropical, heat-beaters like Bel Air Sour. RIGHT: e cult-ish following is never more apparent than at their special events. Supplied photos

Plus LIC is the home to the current boom in New York City’s craft beer scene.

e beer menu splits between taps from other breweries and the house options. Among the latter there are plenty of IPAs (including the double and dry-hopped variety) but ousand Stars pilsner (5.2% ABV) has a good malt backbone that helps refresh the hop-tired palate. Meadow Maker (7.5% ABV) is a smooth, New England-style reintroduction to IPAs with notes of peaches and tropical fruit.

With everything from Bu alo fried pickles to the Mother Clucker fried chicken sandwich, this is a tough spot to stick to just beer at.

Fifth Hammer Brewing

Next stop north is relative newcomer Fifth Hammer. It’s a casual space anchored by a long bar and with plenty of seating.

Fruited sours like Palate Pigment (5.2% ABV) are a mainstay on the good-sized list of creative options. You’ll also nd a seasonal focus like the Iron Lotus (10.5% ABV) porter for the end of winter. eir 4-oz. taster glasses are a great way to tour the catalogue.

Once you’re done at Fifth Hammer there are four more breweries in this part of Queens—Rockaway, ICONYC, Big Alice and LIC Beer Project— that are worth a visit. e best part is that it will only take a half-hour walk for the grand tour.

Where else to go

With Broadway and world-class shopping (and hundreds of other attractions) Manhattan beckons those who can’t leave on beer alone. We get it.

e Je rey NYC is at 60th Street under the Queensboro bridge. Inside this rustic-looking bar they have an exceptional beer list that covers strong ales from Belgium, cult IPAs from California and whatever’s in-season from NYC breweries. Further downtown on Bleeker, Blind Tiger is a 24-year-old institution. Nearly 30 taps pour outstanding brews from (mainly) the northeastern U.S. You’ll also nd a deeper-than-average food menu of bar favourites.

For a pint before you pick up a few bottles to take home, Top Hops Beer Shop should be your go-to. ey cover a wide range including New York options like Other Half, Finback and Sixpoint.

I could ramble on for pages about pizza and hot dogs—two classics from the New York cannon. In a nutshell: get a slice from John’s on Bleeker Street and, on a nice day at least, it’s worth the trip to Coney Island for the Nathan’s dog.

Where to Stay

Expensive cities have expensive hotel rooms. So, for my money, you have two options. Either hunt for a good deal at one of the iconic Manhattan piles (the Algonquin, Pierre, Warwick, Roosevelt and Washington Square have patina without the sky-high price tag) or snag an AirBnB in LIC.

Getting to NYC

Newark’s airport has the connection (via Porter) to the island airport in Toronto. In the unlikely event that you swing a ight through JFK, BKLYN o ers 20 good beers on tap and top-notch food by chef Laurent Toroundel. e (slightly bizarre) consolation prize at LaGuardia is an outpost by the Boston Beer Company, makers of Sam Adams and fans of the Boston Red Sox.

e subway system is vastly cleaner and safer than it was in the days of Serpico and Taxi Driver. Now you’re more likely to need to keep your wits about you to avoid accidentally getting on an express train. j

ABOVE: e original John's in Greenwich Village is still the best slice. Supplied photo BELOW: Fifth Hammer strikes an eclectic mix with their 15 in-house taps. Molly Flores photo

Garage-brewed gold

Making beer you love is a rewarding experience— especially when actual judges recognize its greatness

by Jordan St. John

Homebrewing is a perennially popular hobby, albeit one that has gone through peaks and troughs over time. Making beer by yourself at home is an involving process that can be fun and interesting, but the best part is sharing that beer with other people. Someone has to drink the ve gallons of homebrew, and no matter how attractive going it alone may seem at rst blush, eventually you’re going to crave variety. For this reason, homebrew groups have long been an important resource for the zymurgically bent.

ese organizations tend to be run by passionate individuals in their spare time, which means that unfortunately, they can fall o the map at any time. Groups like CABA (the Canadian Amateur Brewers Association) and SOB (Southern Ontario Brewers) have come and gone, but the individual members tend to have amateur brewing careers that span the lifetimes of multiple groups.

GTA Brews currently holds the title as the largest homebrew association in Canada, and may very possibly be the largest in the country’s history. With 2,350 members on their Facebook group, GTA Brews is a phenomenal resource not just to learn about homebrewing, but for conversations about all things beer.

is popularity is particularly impressive when you consider that the group began with ve members in 2013, and featured something like two beers from each member at the rst club meeting. e January 2020 get-together at Toronto’s Muddy York Brewing will be attended by about 70 members, each of whom is likely to bring two or three of their recent e orts.

Lest you think of it merely as a drinking club, there are also presentations on highly technical matters including club president Eric Cousineau

delivering the fth iteration of his research on brewing water chemistry, a presentation on bock beers by longtime member Emily Storey, and special guest, Lizanne Pharand from Toronto Water. Looking ahead through 2020, the majority of the meetings scheduled are of this calibre. e online record for these talks (gtabrews.ca/presentations) is one of the best sets of brewing information available for amateurs.

Most importantly, however, is their annual competition: e GTA Brew Slam. It’s the largest amateur brewing contest in Canada, and, despite the name, features national competition in a plethora of styles. For 2019, the number of paid entries reached an incredible 819 out of the 850 cap maintained by the organizers, with the most popular category being Standard IPA. A whopping 281 separate participants entered the competition, with a restriction to two entries per participant in the rst week of registration to ensure that everyone gets a kick at the can. at rule

update came after three participants had entered 40 beers each in a previous competition.

All of this e ort requires 14 members of the organization to take on di erent administrative roles for the judging in order to make the event work. ere’s a head judge, head steward, cellar master, and registrar, not to mention a team of 134 volunteers and 77 BJCP certi ed judges, all of whom provide detailed feedback. It’s currently the single largest pool of judges in the country, and the quality of the event is such that in the last two years, judging has included homebrewing legends from the American scene like Gordon Strong and John Palmer.

It’s not unreasonable to suggest that Brew Slam garners more respect than the Ontario Brewing Awards and Canadian Brewing Awards in international circles, partially due to the supporting club meetings and moderated online group. It certainly seems to be the case that the judges prefer to judge Brew Slam.

is is partially due to the fact that it’s taken extremely seriously. e event takes three days to judge. For the last several years, the host has been Amsterdam Brewing’s Leaside facility in Toronto. Each beer is considered independently as part of a beer style group by a team of two judges, with an average ight size of seven samples. If it’s a larger group, the best examples from each ight move on to the second round of judging. e amount of time allotted permits for a relaxed, considered atmosphere where palate fatigue is unlikely to be an issue, even in hop-heavy categories.

Speaking personally, I have judged international competitions in which there might be 100

A medal from the GTA-Brews-run Brew Slam can be the push an amateur needs to join the pro ranks. Supplied photo

It’s not unreasonable to suggest that Brew Slam garners more respect than the Ontario Brewing Awards and Canadian Brewing Awards in international circles.

samples over the course of a single day. When I judged the comparatively reasonable Canadian Brewing Awards this year, it included something like 60 beers over the course of four judging sessions. Extrapolated over the same amount of time, I would have judged half as many for Brew Slam. It’s an environment conducive to better feedback, and when you consider the disparity in entry costs and therefore budget (10 dollars per beer for Brew Slam, 100 dollars per beer for the Canadian Brewing Awards), it’s entirely possible that Brew Slam is the best-run beer competition in the country.

In addition to bragging rights, the 2019 edition featured approximately $24,000 worth of prizes and the opportunity for pro-am collabs. Marcelo Paniza, who won the pilsner category in 2018 managed to parlay his collaboratively brewed bock with Toronto’s Henderson Brewing into a Best of Show award at the Ontario Brewing Awards and a gold medal at the Canadian Brewing Awards. He now has his own contract-brewed line of beer out of Junction Brewing in Toronto Stockyards district. Your mileage may vary.

One thing is for certain: as an organization, GTA Brews is a tremendous force for education, information, and companionship for anyone who’s interested in taking up homebrewing as a hobby or for anyone interested in learning more about the technical aspects of beer. Membership to their Facebook group is free, the conversation is lively, and the passion displayed by the members for their subject is not only admirable but unmatched in this country. j

When entering any judged contest, it’s a great idea to scout the vibe of the competition and determine what might be the keys to your success. Here are ve helpful hints from GTA Brews President Eric Cousineau that can help you win big.

Volunteer If you’ve never entered a homebrew competition before, the rules can be complex. e best way to get a handle on them is to see them in action. A competition the size of Brew Slam is always in need of volunteers to help catalogue entries, steward and organize logistics. Not only will you get a sense of the competition but you’ll get to learn how the judges think.

Don’t Enter the Most Popular Categories

Everyone wants to make an IPA. People have spent years nding the right blend of hops and the best technique for creating that omnipresent super current #hazeboi. Meanwhile, there are only 11 entries in bock. If you want to win a medal, it might be best to improve your odds by choosing a less heavily contested category.

Leave a Little Mystery

Selling beer (whether as a product to a consumer, or as a concept to judges) is about expectation management. If you’re entering a specialty category that calls for descriptive language, keep it simple. Too much might bias the judges against you, especially if the beer in the bottle doesn’t live up to the hype.

Understand Off-Flavours

A straightforward understanding of the most common o - avours in beer will allow you to assess your homebrew before you pay the entrance fee. It will prevent you from being disappointed by the results and allow you to make better beer in the long run.

Don’t Be Afraid to Ask For Help

With 2,350 members, GTA Brews is the largest online homebrew club in Canada, and easy-going discussion is one of the hallmarks of the group. Whether you want to tweak your recipe or get a sense of what other members are doing, you’re going to nd helpful, knowledgeable people who will assist in making you better.

Certi ed judges get to take a considered approach to feedback at the GTA Brew Slam. Supplied photo

The best music and beer mashups you've ever sampled

by Rob Mangelsdorf

Musicians like beer and brewers like music—it’s a fact. So it’s inevitable that the worlds of craft beer and music should collide. Usually it’s in the form of a one-o collab, sometimes the musicians themselves try their hands at brewing. And sometimes really weird shit happens, like beers that are blasted with music while they ferment in order to… change their molecular structure? We’re not really sure, but it’s a thing, apparently. Here’s a look at some of the most interesting music and craft beer mashups out there.

IRON MAIDEN / ROBINSONS BREWERY

Probably the most well-known beer on this list, Trooper is a traditional English ale developed by Iron Maiden frontman (and 747 enthusiast) Bruce Dickinson with the help of 180-year-old Robinsons Brewery. e beer has been a massive success since it was rst launched in 2013 and can be found in bottles and cans all over the world. Much like the band, it shows no sign of stopping.

METALLICA / STONE BREWING

Hot on the heels of their 2015 collaboration with… ahem… Budweiser, Metallica decided to team up

with Stone Brewing’s Arrogant Consortia to produce Enter Night Pilsner. I suppose it’s no surprise that the most boring band in metal came up with possibly the most boring beer on this list. According to drummer Lars Ulrich, "Our view of the worlds that we each inhabit, of creativity and process, and sense of place in relation to our peers and ‘ e Man’ are almost identical." Shut the fuck up, Lars.

PREVAIL / PHILLIPS BREWING

One half of four-time Juno award-winning Canadian rap group Swollen Members and all-around lovely human being, Prevail teamed up with Vancouver Craft Beer Week and Phillips Brewing in 2014 to create Prev-Ale, a 7.0% ABV California common. e beer was a one-o to promote VCBW 2014 and sold out in a matter of days. Probably because I drank it all.

RUN THE JEWELS / BRLO

El-P and Killer Mike love them some craft beer, having released four di erent beers with breweries around the world so far. eir latest is the DOWN

Double IPA, a collaboration with Berlin brewery BRLO that’s infused with CBD (a non-CBD version is available stateside). Seriously, though, guys, maybe take a break from the cannabis beer and get to work on RTJ4, K?

SHRED KELLY / COLLECTIVE ARTS

East Kootenay alternative folk rock band Shred Kelly was part of Hamilton-based Collective Arts Brewing’s Vancouver Artist Series last year (despite not being from Vancouver), with their own limited edition can of Ransack the Universe IPA that featured art inspired by their song “Archipelago” on the can.

DEFTONES / BELCHING BEAVER

California alt-metal pioneers Deftones teamed up with San Diego’s Belching Beaver for a series of collaboration beers, beginning with Phantom Bride IPA in 2016, a West Coast style hop bomb loaded with Mosaic, Amarillo, Simcoe, and Citra hops, all handpicked by Deftones frontman, Chino Moreno. e latest in the series, Digital Bath, is a New England IPA.

WU TANG CLAN / FORTNIGHT BREWING

So what happens when you purposely stress yeast during fermentation by blasting them with Wu-Tang Clan’s seminal 1993 album Enter e Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) for 12 days straight? Probably nothing. But it’s great marketing. e end result is Bring e Ruckus IPA; its makers believe the heavy dose of Wu-Tang increased the microorganism’s metabolism, resulting in di erent avour compounds. Personally, I’m a little disappointed no one has come up with Craft Rules Everything Around Me C.R.E.A.M. Ale yet.

SUB POP RECORDS / ELYSIAN BREWING

Sub Pop celebrated its 20th anniversary by collaborating

with local Seattle brewery Elysian to create Loser Pale Ale. e beer’s tagline of “Corporate Beer Still Sucks” did not age well given Elysian’s 2015 sale to AB InBev. Yikes.

BARENAKED LADIES / FLYING MONKEYS CRAFT BREWERY

National musical embarrassment Barenaked Ladies teamed up with Barrie, Ontario’s Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery to create BNL Strong Beer. Developed and brewed with full participation of members of the band, with artwork designed by BNL keyboardist Kevin Hearn, the beer is described as “a fudge-y imperial chocolate stout with an 11% ABV that really lives up to its name.” I haven’t tried this beer, but if it’s anything like BNL’s music, it’s probably sickly sweet and generally awful.

HANSON BROTHERS BEER CO.

If you’re wondering what ever happened to Children of the Corn lookalikes/’90s bubblegum pop boy band Hanson, you are de nitely alone. But as it turns out, the three brothers actually went and started their own craft brewery in their hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma, with all that sweet “Mmmbop” money. ey literally have a beer called Mmmhops Pale Ale. I shit you not.

MASTODON / MIKKELLER

Prog metal juggernauts Mastodon teamed up with Danish brewery Mikkeller to release Ancient Kingdoms Czech-Style Pilsner a few months ago, the third beer the band’s done with the Scandinavian super brand. e bottle literally has a dude with half his face melted o , yet in true Mikkeller fashion, is still somehow adorable. Go gure. j

N

GREAT LAKES BREWERY

30 Queen Elizabeth Blvd., Etobicoke | GreatLakesBeer.com

MON-TUE 10AM-6PM ^ WED-SAT 10AM-9PM SUN 10AM-6PM

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.

AS FAR BACK AS I CAN REMEMBER

Small-batch: B,L

e masters of IPA ride the wave to New England with haze, dankness and juicy hops.

OCTOPUS WANTS TO FIGHT

Year-round: B,L,LC

Eight hop varieties lend tropical aromas and just the right bitterness to match the malty body.

Year-round: B,L,LC,TBS

A great value in the APA style, Canuck balances tropical citrus, pine and smooth carbonation.

Seasonal: B,L,LC

A light to medium body balances the chocolate and espresso in this all-day stout.

A Great Lakes Milestone

February 12 marks the 33rd anniversary of GLB! at’s 33 years of focusing on quality, innovation, community and fun. All of that from their home in south Etobicoke. ey do what they do for you, Ontario. GLB is #BrewedForYouOntario

BANDIT BREWERY

2125 Dundas St. W. | BanditBrewery.ca

INDIE ALEHOUSE BREWING CO.

2876 Dundas St. W. | IndieAleHouse.com

As well as their production brewery in Etobicoke and the Junction brewpub, they also have the new Birrotecca on the bottom oor of Eataly Toronto on Bloor West.

SAFEWORD

KVE IK PALE ALE

MADE W I TH G ALAXY & M OSA IC Seasonal: B,L

GRANITE BREWERY

245 Eglinton Ave. E. | GraniteBrewery.ca

I PA

e updated kitchen here keeps turning out favourites like grilled picanha and mushroom risotto. Look for seasonal releases like their Anomaly sour stout.

MEADOW W/ PASSIONFRUIT

BARREL- A GED S OUR

W. FRU IT

ELEMENTS #6

BARREL- A GED

F LA N DERS A LE

Seasonal: B

e SOBDL collab launches Mar. 8 (all welcome) and on Mar. 9 they have an annual trivia night fundraiser for International Women’s Day. Proceeds from both to Sistering.

EXPAT

F ORE IGN E XTRA S TOUT

COLLAB W/

Seasonal: B Small batch: B, L

Seasonal: B,L

HALO BREWERY

247 Wallace Ave. | HaloBrewery.com

ey’ll mark their fourth birthday with a celebration in mid-May. As well, the brand new outdoor patio will open the moment the weather permits!

MAGIC MISSILE DRY-HOPPED PALE ALE

LEFT FIELD BREWERY

36 Wagsta Dr. | LeftFieldBrewery.ca

RUBY GRAPEFRUIT SHAPESHIFTER SOUR IPA W/ RUBY GRAPEFRUIT

Weekday or weekend, much of the calendar at this neighbourhood brewery o ers special events from yoga to cross-stitching. Plus pop-ups from food vendors like Island Oysters and Petojo.

GLORIOSO ITALIAN PILSNER

LASER SHOW DOUBLE IPA

Seasonal: B,L Year-round:

MUDDY YORK BREWING CO.

22 Cran eld Rd. | MuddyYorkBrewing.com

Muddy York continues to grow with Staring

Down e Sun Clementine Sour (seasonal) and Working Hard New England IPA (full time) hitting LCBO shelves this spring!

WORKING HARD NEW ENGLAND IPA NEW ENGLANDSTYLE IPA

One-o : B,L

PEOPLE’S PINT BREWING CO.

90 Cawthra Ave. | PeoplesPint.com

eir second anniversary party is March 21 and they’ll be holding a fundraiser in honour of brewery cat Maris’s rst anniversary for OSPCA on April 10.

MANGO FETT NEW ENGLAND-STYLE IPA W/LACTO

Seasonal:

Year-round:

STARING DOWN THE SUN CLEMENTINE SOUR FRUITED SOUR IBU ABV 80 8% IBU ABV 0 6.5% IBU ABV 18 5.2% IBU ABV 5 5.5%

31 Sponsored content TORONTO TORONTO TORONTO TORONTO

AMSTERDAM BREWING CO.

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

BLACK LAB BREWING

818 Eastern Ave., Toronto

BlackLab.beer

AVLING BREWERY

1042 Queen St. E., Toronto Avling.ca

BLACK OAK BREWING CO.

75 Horner Ave., Toronto

BlackOakBeer.com

BATCH

75 Victoria St., Toronto BatchToronto.com

BLOOD BROTHERS BREWING

165 Geary Ave., Toronto BloodBrothersBrewing.com

BEACHES BREWING CO.

1953 Queen St. E., Toronto

BeachesBrewing.com

BRUNSWICK BIERWORKS

25 Curity Ave., Toronto BrunswickBierworks.com

BELLWOODS BREWERY

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

BIG ROCK BREWERY (LIBERTY COMMONS)

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

BURDOCK BREWERY

1184 Bloor St. W., Toronto BurdockTO.com

COMMON GOOD BEER CO.

475 Ellesmere Rd., Toronto

CommonGoodBeer.com

EASTBOUND BREWING CO.

700 Queen St. E., Toronto

EastboundBeer.com

JUNCTION CRAFT BREWING

150 Symes Rd., Toronto JunctionCraft.com

FOLLY BREWING

928 College St., Toronto

FollyBrewing.com

KENSINGTON BREWING CO.

299 Augusta Ave., Toronto KensingtonBrewingCompany.com

GODSPEED BREWERY

242 Coxwell Ave., Toronto

GodspeedBrewery.com

GOOSE ISLAND BREWHOUSE TORONTO

70 e Esplanade, Toronto

GooseIsland.com

HENDERSON BREWING CO.

128A Sterling Rd., Toronto

HendersonBrewing.com

LONGSLICE BREWERY

484 Front St. E., Toronto Longslice.com

LOUIS CIFER BREW WORKS

417 Danforth Ave., Toronto LouisCiferBrewWorks.com

MASCOT BREWERY

37 Advance Rd., 220 King St. W., Toronto MascotBrewery.com

HIGH PARK BREWERY

839 Runnymede Rd., Toronto

HighParkBrewery.com

MILL ST. BREW PUB

21 Tank House Ln., Toronto MillStreetBrewery.com

NORTHERN MAVERICK

BREWING CO.

115 Bathurst St., Toronto

NorthernMaverick.ca

RADICAL ROAD BREWING CO.

1177 Queen St. E., Toronto

RadicalRoadBrew.com

THE SIX BREWING CO.

777 Dundas St. W., Toronto

eSixBrewingCo.com

STEAM WHISTLE

255 Bremner Blvd., Toronto

SteamWhistle.ca

RAINHARD BREWING CO.

100 Symes Rd., Toronto RainhardBrewing.com

VEGANDALE BREWERY

1346 Queen St. W., Toronto

VegandaleBrewery.com

RORSCHACH BREWING CO.

1001 Eastern Ave., Toronto RorschachBrewing.com

VON BUGLE BREWING

249 Evans Ave., Toronto VonBugle.ca

SAULTER STREET BREWERY

1-31 Saulter St., Toronto SaulterStreetBrewery.com

WOODHOUSE BREWING CO.

303 Landsdowne Ave., Toronto WoodhouseBrewing.com

SHACKLANDS BREWING CO.

101-100 Symes Rd., Toronto Shacklands.com

FALCON BREWING

30 Barr Rd. | FalconBeer.beer

THE SECOND WEDGE BREWING CO.

14 Victoria St. | eSecondWedge.ca

Weekends—especially Friday night when they often have live music from local favourites— are popular at this Ajax standy.

Spring is beer garden weather! ey host the Springtide Music Festival main stage on Mother’s Day Weekend. Uxbridge Farmers’ Market returns Sundays starting in May.

RED FALCON IRISH-STYLE RED ALE SMOKED WHEAT ON RYE SMOKED WHEAT BEER

B,L,LC

5 PADDLES BREWING CO.

#3-1390 Hopkins St, Whitby 5PaddlesBrewing.ca

BROCK STREET BREWING CO.

244 Brock St. S., Whitby BrockStBrewing.com

ALL OR NOTHING BREWHOUSE

439 Ritson Rd. S., Oshawa AllOrNothing.beer

CHRONICLE BREWING CO.

422 Lake Rd., Unit 3, Bowmanville ChronicleBeer.com

ARCH BREWING CO.

4-11 Pony Dr., Newmarket ArchBrewing.ca

COUNTY DURHAM

BREWING CO.

1885 Clements Rd., Pickering

LAKE WILCOX BREWING CO.

3-1033 Edgeley Blvd., Vaughan LakeWilcoxBrewing.com

ROUGE RIVER BREWING CO.

8-50 Bullock Dr., Markham RougeRiverBrewery.com

LITTLE BEASTS BREWING CO.

2075 Forbes St., Whitby LittleBeastsBrewing.com

TOWN BREWERY

1632 Charles St., Whitby TownBrewery.ca

MAGNOTTA BREWERY

271 Chrislea Rd., Vaughan MagnottaBrewery.com

MANANTLER

CRAFT BREWING CO.

182 Wellington St., Unit 18, Bowmanville Manantler.com

MARKET BREWING CO.

4-17775 Leslie St., Newmarket MarketBrewingCo.com

OLD FLAME BREWING CO.

135 Perry St., Port Perry

OldFlameBrewingCo.ca

Brant & w est G ta

NI C KE L BROOK

BREWIN G CO.

864 Drury Ln. | NickelBrook.com

SUN-TUES 11AM-6PM ^ WED-SAT 11AM-9PM

EST. 2005

Visit their taproom and bottle shop in Burlington for exclusive beer releases, weekly events and great bites.

WINEY BASTARD

P IN OT NOI R-AGED IMP ER I AL STOUT

Seasonal: B,L,LC

A BV IB U 11%80

Wine barrels add pleasant fruit notes and a mild tartness to the delicious rich chocolate of this imperial stout. It’s a cellar gem.

CAFE DEL BASTARDO BOUR BON BARREL-AGED IMP ER IAL STOUT W I TH COFFEE

Seasonal: B,L,LC

A BV IB U 11.9%80

Heaps of co ee beans go into every barrel, creating notes of bright co ee, bourbon, vanilla and chocolate, followed by a warming alcohol nish.

FURNACE ROOM BREWERY

1 Elgin St. | FurnaceRoomBrewery.com

COLLECTIVE ARTS BREWING

207 Burlington St. E. |

e brewery periodically features musical acts and a food truck serves several beer friendly dishes on an evolving schedule. Call the brewery or follow on social for the latest news.

DUBBEL 07 BELG

BREWING COMPANY

13926 Chinguacousy Rd., Burlington BadlandsBrewing.ca

BELL CITY BREWING CO.

51 Woodyatt Dr., unit 9, Brantford BellCityBrewing.com

CALEDON HILLS BREWING COMPANY Caledon CaledonHillsBrewing.ca

Collective Arts Fest 2020 on June 6 picks up where Liquid Arts left o . With live mural artists and live music, food trucks, and of course more than 50 breweries. Tickets on Eventbrite. COLLECTIVE

GOODLOT FARMSTEAD

BREWING CO.

18825 Shaws Creek Rd., Caledon

GoodLot.beer

GRAIN & GRIT BEER CO.

11 Ewen Rd., Hamilton

GrainAndGritBeer.com

SHAWN & ED BREWING CO.

65 Hatt St., Dundas

LagerShed.com

SONNEN HILL BREWERY

20683 Heart Lake Rd., Caledon Instagram.com/SonnenHill

MASH PADDLE BREWING CO.

111 Sherwood Dr., unit 3A, Brantford

MashPaddleBrewing.com

STEEL WHEEL BREWERY

105 Powerline Rd., Brantford SteelWheel.ca

MERIT BREWING

107 James St. N., Hamilton MeritBrewing.ca

STONEHOOKER BREWING CO.

866 Lakeshore Rd. E., Mississauga Stonehooker.com

OLD CREDIT BREWING CO.

6 Queen St. W., Mississauga

OldCreditBrewing.com

THIRD MOON

BREWING

295 Alliance Rd., unit 3, Milton

irdMoonBrewing.com

ORANGE SNAIL BREWERS

1-32 Steeles Ave. E., Milton

OrangeSnailBrewers.ca

wide range of brewed o erings—from sessionable to very specialized—make this

BREAKWALL BREWING CO.

46 Clarence St., Port Colborne

BreakwallBrewery.com

NIAGARA BREWING CO.

4915-A Clifton Hill, Niagara Falls

NiagaraBrewingCompany.com

BRIMSTONE BREWING CO.

209 Ridge Road N., Ridgeway

BrimstoneBrewing.ca

NIAGARA COLLEGE TEACHING

BREWERY

135 Taylor Rd., Niagara-on-the-Lake

NCTeachingBrewery.ca

COUNTERPART BREWING

3659 Stanley Ave., unit 6-8, Niagara Falls

CounterpartBrewing.com

NIAGARA OAST HOUSE

BREWERS

2017 Niagara Stone Rd., Niagara-on-theLake | OastHouseBrewers.com

KAME & KETTLE BEER WORKS

25 Pelham Town Square, Fonthill

KameAndKettle.ca

LOCK STREET BREWING CO.

104-15 Lock St., Port Dalhousie

LockStreet.ca

THE MERCHANT ALE HOUSE

98 St. Paul St., St. Catharines

MerchantAleHouse.com

SILVERSMITH BREWING CO.

1523 Niagara Stone Rd., Niagara-on-the-Lake

SilversmithBrewing.com

H

CO WBE LL BREWING

40035 Blyth Rd. | CowbellBrewing.com

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

EST. 2016

Cowbell’s skilled brewing team brews a deep catalogue of styles for the world’s rst closed-loop brewery. e restaurant ups their road trip worthiness. eir beer is available online for home delivery.

Year-round: B,L,LC,TBS

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

Year-round: B,L,LC,TBS

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

Seasonal: B,L,LC

At the LCBO in early March

Bursts with tropical hop aromas and juicy avours of mango, pineapple, papaya and orange.

Year-round: B,L,LC,TBS

Warm fermentatoin provides more avour than most kölsches. Crisp and refreshing.

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. Total contributions as of November 30, 2019 is $374,517.

RETURN OF THE Renegade

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND , Cowbell Brewing’s Renegade Series returns in 2020. Five new, limitededition, small-batch Renegades, featuring bold and exciting flavours, will be available on draught and in 473mL cans. The Renegade Series allows the Cowbell Brew Team to express their courage and creativity. Ensure you get to try them all with

the Renegade 2020 Subscription. Each release month, 6-473mL cans, fresh o the canning line, will be shipped directly to you. The first month will also include 2 Renegade snifters and 2 VIP Guided Tour vouchers. The 2020 Renegade Series will be exclusively available at The Farm, at the Cowbell General Store and online at store.cowbellbrewing.com .

GUELPH

WE LL I NG T ON B REWERY

950 Woodlawn Rd. W. | WellingtonBrewery.ca

MON-SUN 11AM-7PM

EST. 1985

A favourite brewery in Guelph, Wellington has a lineup that crosses from late winter into early spring with ease. eir imperial Russian stout is chocolate-y and rich, while Upside announces warmer weather with its bright, tropical avour and aroma pro le.

HELLES LAGER

HELL ES LAGER

Year-round: B,L,LC,TBS

Easily one of the consistently best lagers in Ontario with just the right amount of hops.

IMPERIAL RUSSIAN STOUT

Seasonal: B,L,LC,TBS

FACES DOUBLE IPA

Seasonal: B,L

A BV IBU 4.5%20 A BV IBU 8%40 A BV IBU 8.5%80 A BV IBU 6.8%58

Latest in the DIPA series has grapefuit and mango hop notes over the creamy malt pro le.

is award-winner is a bold, full-bodied stout that’s jet black with a deep tan head and an inviting aroma of dark chocolate and co ee.

Cask of Characters

Did you know that Wellington is the oldest independently owned microbrewery in Canada? Founded in 1985, the brewery was built to exclusively produce English-style cask ales. Now 35 years later, Wellington brews a wide-range of craft beer styles (and they still make cask beer!)

48 Sponsored content

This hazy, juicy, tropical IPA is available year round!

ELORA BREWING CO.

107 Geddes St. | EloraBrewingCompany.ca

MACLEAN’S ALES

52 14th Ave. | MacLeansAles.ca

ALES INC.

Queen of Craft head to Elora in February for open dialogue about women as part of beer’s history. Kman and the 45s will be there on Feb. 22 for a show presented by Riverfest.

FRIENDS

JOBSITE BREWING CO.

45 Cambria St. | JobsiteBrewing.ca

FARMHOUSE

ey have increased seating in the Workshop (their production area) to accommodate larger groups of people. Look out for specials on pizza or pints on certain nights of the week.

DUTY PA L E AL E

PRICKLY PEAR SOUR SPLINTER

B

ABE ERB

151 Charles St. W., Kitchener; 15 King St. S., Waterloo; 143 Northumberland St., Ayr; 1-5 Edinburgh Rd. S., Guelph | AbeErb.com

BROTHERS BREWING CO.

15 Wyndham St. N., Guelph BrothersBrewingCompany.ca

BAD APPLE BREWING CO.

73463 ON-21, Bay eld BadAppleBrewingCo.com

COUNTERPOINT BREWING CO.

#4-935 Frederick St., Kitchener CounterpointBrewing.ca

BARNCAT ARTISAN ALES

1600 Industrial Rd., Unit B5, Cambridge BarncatAles.com

DESCENDANTS BEER & BEVERAGE CO.

319 Victoria St. N., Kitchener DescendantsBeer.com

BITTE SCHÖN BRAUHAUS

68 Huron St., New Hamburg

BitteSchonBrauhaus.com

FIXED GEAR BREWING CO.

20 Alma St. S., Guelph FixedGearBrewing.com

BLACK SWAN BREWING CO.

144 Downie St., Stratford BlackSwanBrewing.ca

FORMOSA SPRINGS BREWERY

1120 Bruce Rd., Unit 12, Formosa FormosaBrewery.ca

BLOCK THREE BREWING

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

GRAND RIVER BREWING

295 Ainslie St., Cambridge GrandRiverBrewing.com

GREY MATTER BEER CO.

726 Queen St., Kincardine GreyMatterBeer.com

HALF HOURS ON EARTH BREWERY

151 Main St. S., Seaforth HalfHoursOnEarth.com

HERALD HAUS BREWING CO. 21 Market Pl., Stratford @HeraldHaus

NORTH WORKS BREWING CO.

46 Sta ord Ct. Unit B, Cambridge NorthWorksBrewing.com

RED CIRCLE BREWING CO.

137 Glasgow St., Unit 385, Kitchener RedCircleBrewing.ca

RIVER ROAD BREWING AND HOPS

35549 Bay eld River Rd., Bay eld RiverRoadBrewing.com

HOCKLEY VALLEY

25 Centennial Rd., Orangeville HockleyBeer.ca

RHYTHM & BREWS

BREWING CO.

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

JACKASS BREWING

100 Sheldon Dr., Unit 36, Cambridge JackassBrewing.ca

ROYAL CITY BREWING CO.

199 Victoria Rd. S., Guelph RoyalCityBrew.ca

NEUSTADT SPRINGS BREWERY

456 Jacob St., Neustadt NeustadtSprings.com

RURAL ROOTS

BREWING COMPANY

21B Industrial Dr., Elmira RuralRootsBrewery.ca

SHAKESPEARE BREWING CO.

2178 Line 34, Shakespeare ShakespeareBrewingCompany.ca

UPPER THAMES BREWING CO.

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

SHORT FINGER BREWING CO.

20 Hurst Ave., Kitchener ShortFingerBrewing.com

WATERLOO BREWING

400 Bingemans Centre Dr., Kitchener WaterlooBrewing.com

SQUARE BREW

430 Parsons Crt., Goderich SquareBrewCo.com

WAVE MAKER CRAFT

BREWERY

639 Laurel St., Cambridge WaveMakerBrewery.com

STONE HOUSE BREWING CO.

76050 Parr Line, Varna StoneHouseBrewing.ca

WILLIBALD FARM

BREWERY & DISTILLERY

1271 Reidsville Rd., Ayr DrinkWillibald.com

STRATFORD BREWING CO. Facebook.com/StratfordBrewing

TOGETHER WE’RE BITTER

CO-OPERATIVE

300 Mill Street, Unit 1, Kitchener Brewing.coop

27 Adelaide St. S. | SonsOfKent.com

ANDERSON CRAFT ALES

1030 Elias St. | AndersonCraftAles.ca

Feb. 29 takes them to the Hamilton Convention Centre for the 4th annual IHeartBeer & Taco Festival. Tickets are on sale at bruha.com. ZEPHYR

D RY-HOPPED S OUR Seasonal: B,L,LC Year-round: B,L,LC JUICE BOX HAZY IPA IBU A BV N/A 5.3% IBU A BV 45 6.9%

eir biggest event of the year will be their 4th Anniversary Celebration on August 8 at the brewery. It will feature over 40 unique beers, live music all day, food and prizes.

CREAM

Year-round:

L ONDON WINDSOR

LONDON BREWING

521 Burbrook Pl. | LondonBrewing.ca

Year-round: B,L,LC,TBS

FRONT

525 Argyle Rd. | WalkervilleBrewery.com

On Feb. 29, they have their rst Craft Market: Foodie Edition of the year. Look for vendors from the Windsor/Essex area plus live entertainment and plenty of beer.

RED

EASY

Seasonal: B,L

Year-round: B,L,LC

JUICY IBU A BV 44 6.2% IBU A BV 32 5.5% IBU A BV 30 4%

56 Sponsored content

BAYSIDE BREWING CO.

970 Ross Lane, Erieau

BaysideBrewing.com

CAPS OFF BREWING CO.

Unit C-168 Curtis St., St. omas

CapsO Brewing.com

BEERLAB!

420 Talbot St., London

Beerlab.com

BREW MICROBREWERY

635 University Ave. E., Windsor

BrewWindsor.com

CHAPTER TWO BREWING CO.

2345 Edna St., Windsor ChapterTwoBrewing.com

CHARLOTTEVILLE

BREWING CO.

1207 Charlotteville West Quarter Line Rd., Simcoe | CharlottevilleBrewingCompany.ca

CONCESSION ROAD

BREWING CO.

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

KINGSVILLE BREWERY

15 Main St. W., Kingsville

KingsvilleBrewery.ca

CRAFT HEADS BREWING CO.

89 University Ave. W., Windsor CraftHeads.ca

LONSBERY FARMS

BREWING CO.

7781 Howard Ave., Amherstburg

LonsberyFarms.beer

DUNDAS & SONS BREWING

400 Adelaide St. N., London DundasAndSons.com

MOTOR CRAFT ALES

888 Erie St. E., Windsor isIsMotor.com

FORKED RIVER BREWING CO.

45 Paci c Crt., Unit 4, London ForkedRiverBrewing.com

NATTERJACK BREWING CO.

25292 Talbot Line, West Lorne

NatterjackBrewing.ca

FRANK BREWING CO.

12000 Tecumseh Rd., Tecumseh FrankBeer.ca

NEW LIMBURG BREWERY

2353 Nixon Rd., Simcoe

NewLimburg.com

GL HERITAGE BREWING

COMPANY

8728 Howard Ave., Amherstburg

GLHeritageBrewing.ca

POWERHOUSE BREWING CO.

100 Kellogg Ln., London

PowerhouseBrewery.beer

RAILWAY CITY BREWING CO.

130 Edward St., St. omas RailwayCityBrewing.com

RAMBLIN ROAD BREWERY

FARM

2970 Swimming Pool Rd., La Salette RamblinRoad.ca

STONEPICKER BREWING

7143 Forest Rd., Plympton-Wyoming StonepickerBrewing.com

STORM STAYED BREWING CO.

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

REFINED FOOL BREWING CO.

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

STRATHROY BREWING CO.

62 Albert St., Strathroy StrathroyBrewingCompany.ca

RIVER RUN BREW CO.

146 Christina St. N., Sarnia Facebook.com/RiverRunBrewCo

THE GROVE BREW HOUSE

12 Main St. E., Kingsville BrewEatSleepRepeat.com

RUSTY WRENCH BREWING CO.

9 Front St. W., Strathroy RustyWrench.ca

TOBOGGAN BREWING CO.

585 Richmond St., London TobogganBrewing.com

SANDWICH BREWING CO.

3230 Sandwich St., Windsor @SandwichBrewing

S PE ARHE AD BREWING

675 Development Dr. | SpearheadBeer.com

SUN-MON 11AM-9PM ^ TUE-THU 11AM-10PM

FRI-SAT 11AM-11PM

EST. 2018

is Kingston xture has a truly impressive roster of events in their taproom. at runs from the musical for rowback ursdays and Open Mic Fridays to oysters and tacos on Tuesdays.

MOROCCAN BROWN ALE

Year-round: B,L,LC

AB V IB U 6%35

BIG

KAHUNA I

AB V IB U 10%100

It gets warrior, cascade and hallertau blanc hops to go with the pure pineapple juice.

61 Sponsored content K IN G STON

GANANOQUE BREWING COMPANY

9 King St. E., Gananoque GanBeer.com

MIDTOWN BREWING CO.

266 Wellington Main St., Wellington

MidtownBrewingCompany.com

GILLINGHAM BREWING CO.

1316 Wilson Rd., Hillier

GillinghamBrewing.ca

KINGSTON BREWING COMPANY

34 Clarence St., Kingston KingstonBrewing.ca

LAKE ON THE MOUNTAIN

BREWERY

11369 Loyalist Pkwy., Glenora LakeOn eMountainBrewCo.com

MACKINNON BROTHERS

BREWING

1915 County Road 22, Bath

MackinnonBrewing.com

MATRON FINE BEER

65 Barker Lane, Bloom eld

MatronFineBeer.ca

NAPANEE BEER COMPANY

450 Milligan Lane, Napanee NapaneeBeer.ca

NORTHUMBERLAND HILLS

BREWERY

1024 Division St., Unit 1, Cobourg NHB.beer

THE OLDE STONE

BREWING CO.

380 George St. N., Peterborough OldeStone.ca

PARSONS BREWING CO.

876 County Road 49, Picton

ParsonsBrewing.com

PIE EYED MONK BREWERY

8 Cambridge St. N., Lindsay

PieEyedMonkBrewery.com

PRINCE EDDY’S BREWING CO.

13 Macsteven Dr., Picton PrinceEddys.com

STONE CITY ALES

275 Princess St., Kingston StoneCityAles.com

PUBLICAN HOUSE BREWERY

300 Charlotte St., Peterborough PublicanHouse.com

STRANGE BREWING CO.

371 Chase Rd., Hillier facebook.com/ e-Strange-BrewingCompany

RIVERHEAD BREWING CO.

631 Fortune Cres., Kingston RiverheadBrewing.com

WESTPORT BREWING CO.

41B Main St., Westport WestportBrewingCompany.ca

SIGNAL BREWING COMPANY

86-87 River Rd., Corbyville Signal.beer

SKELETON PARK

BREWERY

675 Arlington Park Pl., Kingston SkeletonPark.ca

SMITHAVENS BREWING COMPANY

687 Rye St., Unit 6, Peterborough SmithavensBrewing.ca

WILDCARD BREWING CO.

38 Gotha St., Trenton WildcardBrewCo.com

WILLIAM STREET BEER CO.

975 Elgin St. W. #4, Cobourg WilliamStreetBeer.com

WOLFE ISLAND SPRING

CRAFT BREWERY

1570 County Road 96, Wolfe Island WolfeIsland.beer

MICROBRASSERIE CASSEL BREWERY

2 Racine St. (right o the Hwy. 417) CasselBrewery.ca

BEAU’S ALL NATURAL BREWING CO.

Address

Cassel’s new location at 2 Racine St. is now open for business. Hold onto the last strands of cold weather with their Caboose IPA. 1844 PILSNER PILSNER

Live music lls the taproom in Vankleek Hill every Friday. ey also have a food menu, which is served Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

1,000 ISLANDS BREWING CO.

65 King Street West, Brockville 1000IslandsBrewery.ca

BEYOND THE PALE BREWING

250 City Centre Ave., Bay 108, Ottawa BTPShop.ca

4 DEGREES BREWING CO.

275 Brockville St., Smiths Falls

4DegreesBrewing.com

BICYCLE CRAFT BREWERY

850 Industrial Ave., Unit 12, Ottawa BicycleCraftBrewery.ca

ASHTON BREWING COMPANY

113 Old Mill Rd., Beckwith AshtonBrewingCompany.com

BIG RIG BREWERY

103 Schneider Rd., Kanata; 1980 Oglivie Road, Gloucester; 2750 Iris Street, Ottawa BigRigBrewery.com

BRAUMEISTER BREWING CO.

19 Moore St., Carleton Place Braumeister.ca

COVERED BRIDGE BREWING

119 Iber Rd., Unit 6, Stittsville CoveredBridgeBrewing.com

BROADHEAD BREWING CO.

1680 Vimont Ct., Unit 106, Orleans BroadheadBeer.com

CROOKED MILE BREWING

453 Ottawa St., Unit 3, Almonte CrookedMile.ca

CALABOGIE BREWING CO.

12612 Lanark Rd., Calabogie; 105 Schneider Rd. Unit 130, Kanata CalabogieBrewingCo.ca

CARTWRIGHT SPRINGS BREWERY

239 Deer Run Rd., Pakenham CSBeer.ca

DOMINION CITY BREWING CO.

5510 Canotek Rd., Unit 15, Ottawa DominionCity.ca

ÉT

IENNE BRÜLÉ BREWERY

893 Notre-Dame St., Embrun EtienneBrule.ca

CLOCKTOWER BREWPUB

575 Bank St., Ottawa Clocktower.ca

EVERGREEN CRAFT ALES

21-767 Silver Seven Rd., Ottawa

EvergreenCraftAles.com

CONSPIRACY THEORY BREWING COMPANY

2172 Robertson Rd., Bells Corners CTBrewing.ca

FLORA HALL BREWING

37 Flora St., Ottawa FloraHallBrewing.ca

HALCYON BARREL HOUSE

10 Terry Fox Dr., Vankleek Hill

Halcyon.beer

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

BREWING CO.

25 orold Ln., Ingleside

HumbleBeginningsBrewing.ca

KICHESIPPI BEER CO.

2265 Robertson Rd., Ottawa KBeer.ca

PERTH BREWERY

121 Du erin St., Perth PerthBrewery.ca

RIDGE ROCK BREWING CO.

421 Donald B. Munro Dr., Ottawa RidgeRockBrewCo.ca

RURBAN BREWING

412 Cumberland St., Cornwall Website

LOWERTOWN BREWERY

73 York St., Ottawa

LowertownBrewery.ca

NITA BEER CO.

190 Colonnade Rd., Unit 17, Ottawa NitaBeer.com

OVERFLOW BREWING

2477 Kaladar Ave., Ottawa

Over owBeer.com

Contact

SMALL PONY BARREL WORKS

101 Schneider Rd., Kanata

SmallPonyBarrelWorks.com

SQUARE TIMBER

BREWING CO.

800 Woito Station Rd., Pembroke

SquareTimber.com

STALWART BREWING CO.

10 High St., Carleton Place

StalwartBrewing.ca

VIMY BREWING COMPANY

145 Loretta Ave. N., Unit 1, Ottawa

VimyBrewing.ca

WALLER STREET BREWING

14 Waller St., Ottawa

WallerSt.ca

WHITEWATER BREWING CO.

22 Fletcher Rd., Foresters Falls

WhitewaterBeer.ca

STRAY DOG BREWING CO.

501 Lacolle Way, Unit 4, Orleans

StrayDogBrewing.ca

WINDMILL BREWERY

5 Newport Dr., Johnstown

WindmillBrewery.ca

TOOTH AND NAIL BREWERY

3 Irving Ave., Ottawa

ToothAndNailBeer.com

WOOD BROTHERS

BREWING CO.

2980 Wylie Rd., North Glengarry

WoodBrothersBrewingCo.com

TUQUE DE BROUE BREWERY

189 Bay St., Embrun

TuqueDeBroue.ca

WHIPRSNAPR BREWING CO.

14 Bexley Pl., Ottawa

WhiprsnaprBrewingCo.com

THORNBURY VILLAGE CIDERY

90

e big news here is that 2020 is bringing a full-size, production brewery to ornbury. at includes a new patio. For more info see thornburycraft.com/our-story/

397 Muskoka Rd. N. SawdustCityBrewing.com

Funkfest, Muskoka’s Sour Beer Festival, is celebrating 5 years on Sat. June 27. With a special addition to this year’s beer lineup, lagers! Stay tuned for details on tickets.

BANCROFT BREWING CO.

4 Hastings St. N., Bancroft Website

HALIBURTON HIGHLANDS

BREWING

1067 Garden Gate Dr., Haliburton HaliburtonHighlandsBrewing.ca

BARNSTORMER BREWING & DISTILLING CO.

3-384 Yonge St., Barrie BarnstormerBrewing.com

BOSHKUNG BREWING CO.

9201 ON-118; 20 Water St., Minden Hills BoshkungBrewing.com

HIGHLANDER BREW CO.

309B Hwy. 124, South River HighlanderBrewCo.com

KATALYST

BREWING CO.

13 Taylor Rd., Unit D, Bracebridge KatalystBrewing.com

CLEAR LAKE BREWING CO.

4651 Southwood Rd., Torrance ClearLakeBrewing.co

KILANNAN BREWING CO.

103015 Grey County Rd. 18, Owen Sound KilannanBrewing.ca

COLLINGWOOD BREWERY

10 Sandford Fleming Dr., Collingwood eCollingwordBrewery.com

FLYING MONKEYS CRAFT

BREWERY

107 Dunlop St. E., Barrie FlyingMonkeys.ca

LAKE OF BAYS BREWING CO.

117-2681 Muskoka District Rd., Baysville; 59 Main St. E., Huntsville LakeOfBaysBrewing.ca

MANITOULIN BREWING CO.

43 Manitowaning Rd., Little Current ManitoulinBrewing.co

MUSKOKA BREWERY

1964 Muskoka Beach Rd., Bracebridge MuskokaBrewery.com

SPLIT RAIL BREWING C

31 Water St., Gore Bay Website

O.

NORSE BREWERY

11 Ritchie Dr., Carling NorseBrewery.com

THREE SHEETS BREWING

705 Goderich St., Port Elgin eWismerHouse.ca

NORTHWINDS BREWHOUSE

499 First St., Collingwood NorthwindsBrewery.com

TOBERMORY BREWING CO.

28 Bay St., Tobermory TobermoryBrewingCo.ca

OUTLAW BREW

CO.

196 High St., Southampton OutlawBrewCo.com

TRESTLE BREWING

CO.

9 Great North Rd., Parry Sound TrestleBrewing.com

REDLINE BREWHOUSE

8 & 9-431 Bayview Dr., Barrie RedlineBrewhouse.com

S

IDE LAUNCH BREWING CO.

1-200 Mountain Rd., Collingwood SideLaunchBrewing.com

LAKE OF THE WOODS BREWING CO.

350 2nd St. S. | LOWBrewCo.com

SUN-WED 11AM-11PM ^ THU 11AM-12AM ^

FRI-SAT 11AM-1AM

EST. 2013

e opening of their third location (in as many states and provinces) makes this a craft beer powerhouse. And Lake of the Woods continues to re ne their o erings with updates like a brand-new, wood- red pizza oven at their Kenora taproom.

Year-round: B,L,LC

A balanced lagered ale whose subtlety quali es it as an all-year-round session beer.

Year-round: B,L,LC

7.113

Strong fan favourite with balance and blueberry-patch aroma. Hides alcohol well.

Year-round: B,L,LC

Magnum and citra hops add interesting notes to this sessionable, thirst-quenching lager.

Year-round: B,L,LC

Tropical pineapple and bright citrus announce this dry-hopped IPA with plenty of malt balance.

Now Brewing in 3 Locations

Our agship location in Kenora, Ont. was joined in summer 2019 by a location in Warroad, MN on the south end of the Lake of the Woods. Late last year, our Hargrave Street Market location opened in Winnipeg! Closing the loop around Lake of the Woods with our locations in Ontario, Manitoba and Minnesota.

46 NORTH BREWING CO.

Unit 1-1275 Kelly Lake Rd., Sudbury 46North.ca

GATEWAY CITY BREWERY

600-612 Gormanville Rd., Unit 206

GatewayCity.ca

Vox Choir is a community drop-in choir that happens at the brewery every second Wednesday. No commitment or previous experience required. All ages welcome!

KLOCK AVE. BROWN ALE

DAWSON TRAIL CRAFT

BREWERY

905 Copper Cres., under Bay

DawsonTrailCraftBrewery.com

BIG WATER BREWING CO.

123 McIntyre St. W. , North Bay Facebook.com/BigWaterBrewing

FULL BEARD BREWING CO.

219 Wilson Ave., Timmins

FullBeardBrewing.com

COMPASS BREWING

20-1300 Riverside Dr., Timmins

CompassBrewing.com

NEW ONTARIO BREWING CO.

1881 Cassells St., North Bay

NewOntarioBrewing.com

NORTHERN SUPERIOR BREWING CO.

50 Pim St., Sault Ste. Marie NorthernSuperior.org

OUTSPOKEN BREWING

350 Queen St. E., Sault Ste. Marie

OutspokenBrewing.com

SLEEPING GIANT

BREWING CO.

712 Macdonell St., under Bay

SleepingGiantBrewing.ca

SPACECRAFT BREWERY

854 Notre Dame Ave., Sudbury Facebook.com/Spcrft

STACK BREWING

1350 Kelly Lake Rd.; 947 Falconbridge Rd., Subbury StackBrewing.ca

WHISKEYJACK BEER CO.

485 Ferguson Ave., Haileybury WhiskeyjackBeer.ca

To the

BEER GROUND

As soon as the groundhog gives us the go-ahead to take the snow tires o the car, let’s hit the road and visit some of Ontario’s new taprooms.

3 BREWERS

Greater Toronto Area (winter 2019) Late last year, the Montreal-based chain of brewpubs announced that it was closing four of its outposts in the GTA. e restaurants on Adelaide, in Liberty Village, the Heartland Centre in Mississauga and Richmond Hill have all been shuttered. e Toronto-area spots downtown at Yonge and Dundas and in Oakville are staying open. e group also has Ontario locations in other parts of the province, including a pair in the Ottawa area. @3brewersyonge

BREWERS

BL A CKBI RD BREWER Y

Ancaster (fall 2019) e Rousseau House, a longtime favourite with locals in the Hamilton area, has rebranded and added an on-site brewery. To start, the house-brewed lineup included a pale ale and a lager. ey also have revamped the menu to focus on wood- red pizza and beer-friendly snacks. @brewersblackbird

CA

N VA S BREW ING

Huntsville (winter 2019) Canadian Beer News reports that Je rey Woodworth and Steve Koncan’s brewery has opened after nearly two years of planning, contract brewing and construction. On opening day the tap list including options from other local breweries and two of their own—Canvas kölsch and Ember red ale. e spot at 12 John St., in downtown Huntsville, is easy to nd because of the eye-catching wildlife murals. @canvasbrewing

FENELON FA LLS BREW ING

Fenelon Falls (fall 2019) e last piece of the brewery puzzle fell into place for Vinh and Agatha Mac when their taproom opened in November

2019. It is in the old stone builiding—next to Lock 34 where the Trent-Severn joins Cameron Lake—that has also been home to the brewery and retail store. @fenelonbrewco

FORKED

RIV ER BREW I NG

London (winter 2020) One of the best-known breweries in the region has opened a newly renovated taproom. It brings a jump from 11 to 19, including one for house-made soda. Feb 1 was the big launch part for the new digs, which includes more seating for guests. @forkedriver

MEU SE BREW I NG

Scotland, ON (summer 2020) Mischa Geven and Estelle van Kleef are adding an entry to southwestern Ontario’s list of farm-based breweries. Geven brings his experience as head brewer at New Limburg to the project. Judging by their introductory beer, a saison that’s available at local bars and restaurants, the plan is to stick to a similarly Belgian-style programme. ey are aiming to have the brewery fully open by summer. @meusebrewing

TH REE SHEE T S BREW I NG

Port Elgin (winter 2020) e Wismer House (or “ e Wiz” to locals), a pub and restaurant in Lake Huron’s cottage country launched their in-house brewery in December 2019. ree Sheets started with summer-friendly o erings like Slo Pitch pilsner and Road Closure red ale. ey’re brewing under contract at an o -site facility while construction is underway at 705 Goderich St.

@threesheetscraftbrewing j

What other craft beer news should we know about? Send tips about brewery openings to david@ thegrowler.ca.