During harvest, you have to steer between the bines, as they do here at the Von Edgar Hop Yard. Photo courtesy of The Paris Beer Co. At the beginning of the Modern Era of Craft Beer in Ontario, the province’s breweries had a lot of catching up to do with their counterparts in the United States. Until 2012 there was no reliably available IPA on shelves at the LCBO, and breweries that had survived the 2000s were apprehensive about experimentation and branching out into various styles of beer. Fast forward to 2024 and not only is the range of beer styles in Ontario as diverse as any on the planet ..read more

Jordan St John photoNEWS Well, they done did it. Didn’t nobody think they’d do it, but they done did it. The LCBO employees have gone on strike for the first time since the advent of the organization in 1927. It has taken nearly a century, but they’ve finally decided to protest working conditions. This didn’t even happen in the 1950’s when you had to hand in your ration book and wait for them to come out of the back with your whiskey in a plain brown bag. You were then forced to leave the store wearing a small conical hat that just said “shame,” while neighbourhood gossips would point and hoo ..read more

Great Lakes Brewery Vienna LagerWHAT IS IT? A standard strength, amber-coloured lager that contains rich, toasty malt character without being heavy, and reassuring hop bitterness without being assertive. DANGER LEVEL May provoke waltzing at Quinceaneras. GLASS Willi Becher/Dimpled Mug STYLE STATS ABV: 4.7%-5.5% IBU: 18-30 Colour: Copper to light red Body: Medium Bubbles: Firm white head ORIGIN STORY It’s 1841! Anton Dreher has returned from England having learned new tricks and created Vienna Malt. It’s lighter than the malts being used previously and creates a clear beer with a reddish colour ..read more

iStock / Getty Images Plus / ~UserGI15613517 photo Look! Over yonder! There’s a beaver and a loon swimming arm in arm while patriotic music swells! Behind them a moose carefully waves a flag while standing in a canoe, never letting it crease the rippling waters. Nearby, a Polar Bear threatens a Mountie, but only in a playful two-for-flinching sort of way! It’s a regular hinterland who’s who as we head into the Canada Day Weekend here at The Growler Ontario.  iStock / Getty Images Plus / GoodLifeStudio photoNEWS The biggest news of the week is the potential LCBO strike that may potentially ..read more

The transition from beer enthusiast to brewmaster Ceridwyn (top right) and her graduatiing class celebrate a successful course. Photo courtesy of Niagara College Teaching Brewery I was sixteen when I decided to become a brewer. Well, maybe we’d have to go back further to when I joined my mother on take your kid to work day. She happened to work at Waller Street Brewing managing their social media/barrel program, so at just thirteen I learnt about the process of brewing from grain to bottle in their small square footage. They have since closed, but it was there that I told my mom: “Wouldn ..read more

Happy Father’s Day from The Growler. Getty Images/E+/ ozgurcankaya You will not be surprised to know that with the impending celebration of Father’s Day, the inbox at The Growler has been inundated with suggestions about what Fathers might want. Breweries from Toronto, Ottawa, and London paint a picture of a gentle urbanite who is as content to visit a farmer’s market as he is to bat the pickleball around. Breweries from rural Ontario depict a capable fellow who is elbow deep in oil filters and who might have opinions about this year’s corn. Both of these men wear plaid and desperately need yo ..read more

St. Veronus Cafe and Tap Room delivers an authentic Belgiam “brown café” experience Co-owner Shannon Mak behind the bar at St. Veronus Cafe. Photo courtesy of St. Veronus Cafe and tap Room Over the years of driving up the 115 and passing through the windswept and arcane streets of Peterborough, Ontario, a single restaurant tucked away on Hunter Street always beckoned me toward its dark, wood-paneled walls: St. Veronus Cafe and Tap Room. The moment you step past the pub’s 1890s brick facade, the Belgian beer tin tackers, golden light flooding in through large windows, and luxurious velvet banqu ..read more

More beer is coming to grocery stores, convenience stores and big box retailers in September. iStock / Getty Images Plus / Stockah photo Greetings from Chicago, where your intrepid editor is attending some training at the Siebel Institute related to beer. This is a pretty reasonable time to reveal that George Brown College will be offering WSET Certification in beer this coming Autumn, provided I don’t have an exam freakout and answer every question with “gruit.” Can recommend Dovetail’s Vienna Lager and the Haymarket Defender American Stout. NEWS The biggest news this week pertains to Doug Fo ..read more

…pretty great, actually On the way into Black Bellows Brewing Company. Mark Hajek photo Nestled snugly on the shores of Georgian Bay, Collingwood might be more renowned for its skiing escapades and scenic hikes, but let me tell you, my fellow beer enthusiasts, there’s more to this place than just picturesque landscapes, and silken slopes. After your late morning spring ski-runs, as the noon sun sits high over Blue Mountain, it’s time to dive headfirst into Collingwood’s bubbling beer scene. Picture this: four breweries serving a total population of almost 27,000. That’s a brewery for every 6,7 ..read more

Muddy York’s brewery mezzanine, affectionately known as “The Mezz,” is now OPEN for beer to stay. Facebook.com/mybrewingco photo You might question the wisdom of putting out a newsletter on the Friday before a long weekend. The reason we chose Fridays for this column was because we figure people are usually bored first thing in the morning. A few years back, most of the beer twitter slapfights would start Friday morning because people had functionally checked out of work sometime around 10:00 AM. I’m guessing most of you started the long weekend yesterday, and if we’re all going to be really h ..read more