Facebook.com/Rose City Beer Works photo April is the cruelest month. So said T. S. Eliot in his epic modernist work The Wasteland. But that’s nonsense. Are we just going to start characterizing months based on vaguely attributed personality traits? March is recalcitrant! November’s increasingly obsequious! July’s self confidence is unearned! See? This is why we’re not a poetry magazine. Beer is a way more popular subject. If Alfred J. Prufrock had bothered to drink a peach flavoured sour, we’d be way ahead of the game and also he would have been less indecisive.  NEWS Unmentioned in previ ..read more

This issue’s cover art is by Elyssa Padillo. So far, 2024 has been a pretty wild year for craft beer in Ontario. As I write this, I’m still trying to figure out exactly how to represent the amount of change taking place on some of the maps. We try to bring you up to date information so that you can go and visit taprooms with complete confidence. And, given the quality of the beer in the taprooms across the province, that confidence is warranted. Just check out our Brewer vs Brewer column with Quayle’s and Paris. In this issue, we’ve got some new faces. Mel Iads relates to us the story of the O ..read more

Facebook.com/4degreesbrewing Don’t bother shoveling. It’ll be gone by the time the sun gets swallowed by a vengeful moon next week. ALL HAIL THE PATH OF TOTALITY! With the promise of warmer weather and with patios about to open across the province, the spring represents rebirth and renewal for a somewhat beleaguered Ontario Craft Beer industry. Some of us are feeling the sap begin to flow and are waiting to get out there and enjoy life. Some of us are groggily fumbling about like dormice emerging from a particularly brutal torpor.  Whichever camp you fall into, here’s what’s happening.&nb ..read more

Indie Alehouse Breakfast PorterWHAT IS IT? A style of dark ale initially brewed with Brown Malt in the 18th century, which has laterally become a robust malt forward beverage with lots of toasted malt, coffee, and chocolate notes. DANGER LEVEL Might fall in the Thames or participate in a Knees Up. GLASS Nonic Pint STYLE STATS ABV: 4.0-5.4% IBU: 18-25 Colour: Chestnut to black Body: Medium to medium full Bubbles: Measured British enthusiasm ORIGIN STORY Picture it! 18th century London! Cockney labourers dine on oyster and jellied eels when they’re not hoisting boxes of stuff around in the Thame ..read more

Signal Brewing has re-opened under new ownership. Facebook.com/SignalBrewingCompany photo Outside my window in midtown Toronto the snow is falling, but very gently. In fact, individual flakes hover amongst the pigeon netting. The old adage that March comes in like a lamb and goes out like a lion is not exactly accurate in this instance. Split the difference. April arrives like a limping Alpaca. While we’re waiting to go to print with the newest issue of The Growler, I realized it was time to convey the news from around the province of Ontario. OPENINGS AND CLOSURES Corbyville’s Signal Brewing ..read more

Original Local Lager has moved into the space once occupied by Good Prospects brewing in Ottawa. Facebook.com/LocalBeers photo Hello and welcome to The Growler News and Notes. It’s a roundup of all the happenings in Ontario worth mentioning including openings, closures, movers, shakers, and other ephemera! Closures Sarnia’s Big Family Brewing announced via Facebook on February 21st that they are taking a pause for the remainder of the winter months in order to re-evaluate their position as part of the brewing and restaurant industry. This comes after a short tenure as one of Sarnia’s leading b ..read more

Muddy York Brewing is moving their operations to Stouffville. Facebook.com/MYBrewingCo photo Can you feel that warmth, Ontario? That’s called sunshine! It represents that it will soon be spring and that patios are within the bounds of possibility in the near future. Of course, there’s no such thing as non-patio weather, just inappropriate clothing. I think Sir Edmund Hillary said that on his way down the mountain.  Closures As of February 17th, Toronto’s Muddy York Brewing has closed down their Cranfield location in East York, after a farewell party on February 3rd and a tearful session a ..read more

Mascot’s Frost Hammer IPA won Beer of the Year at the Canadian Brewer’s Choice Awards. Facebook.com/Mascot Brewery photo As the winter progresses, you can just about bet there’s doings transpiring in Ontario’s beer world. The Growler Ontario is here to relay all the news that you can reasonably fit into a bi-weekly newsletter on a website with theoretically unlimited space.  The Canadian Brewer’s Choice Awards were hotly contested at Niagara On The Lake’s very own Pillar and Post Inn last week highlighting the best in Canadian brewing for calendar year 2023. While full results are availab ..read more

Eastbound Brewing’s Tara Lee is offering a four-course beer-paired Chef’s Kitchen menu. Eastbound Brewing photo The idea of beer and food pairing, although the subject of a great deal of writing over the last decade, finds relatively few practitioners in the real world. While the role of sommelier is long established in Canada’s upscale restaurants, the idea that there might be a beer list designed to complement a bistro menu is a rarity. Many venues aim for a handful of options that reduce the potential of beer in a dining setting to mere function; as a refreshing beverage to wash a meal down ..read more

Paired with Black Bellows Ball Peen Nitro Stout Oyster mushrooms with corn custard. Lucien Command photo Lucien Command—owner of Duff Pies—was born in Geneva, Switzerland but is originally from the south of France. Growing up he was surrounded by food – his mom owned a restaurant and everyone in his family was either a chef or butcher, “Every aspect of my life was ruled by cooking,” he says. As a kid, he practiced his skills by attempting the recipes in his mom’s cookbooks. What makes this recipe special for Command is its minimal food waste, “You use every single part of the corn. Stock, kern ..read more