The Ontario Beer Scene: A Reflection
Two years ago, I came back from my first New York beer trip, and wrote about how the Ontario beer scene was blossoming (and then wrote again last September about how it is booming). I stated: “I’m excited to see what our selection will look like two years from now.” Well, two years from now is here! And it is exciting. A lot has happened. Let’s reflect.
Lambic is in the LCBO.
Oud Beersel and Drie Fonteinen are becoming regular releases we can look forward to, in addition to Lindemans and others. Affordable bottles of Cascade are our new shelfies. There are talks of Hill Farmstead releases. Okokok_ok.
We can buy beer through the mail.
The LCBO started offering online sales in July 2016, and gave customers the opportunity to ship cases of Keep6’s beer to their home or local store. Now, we can mix and match single cans/bottles. This has significantly reduced the amount of panicked case split meetups scheduled through Facebook groups. Thanks, Keep6.
Half Hours on Earth became the first Ontario brewery to offer home delivery of their full online inventory in October 2016. Since then, the list has been growing, and will probably never stop: Left Field, Burdock, Rorschach, Rouge River, Blood Brothers, Dominion City and Small Pony Barrel Works are among the increasingly long list of breweries realizing that ecommerce is the way.
People have speculated that mail delivery would make limited edition Bellwoods releases less valuable on the trade market, but they are now releasing so much beer that it’s hard to keep track of releases. There is good stuff all the time. There is limited stuff all the time. We can relax. Chilll.
Beer is available in supermarkets.
60 grocery stores got the government’s okay to start selling beer and cider in 2015, grew to 206 in 2017, and are steadily increasing to 450 stores.
Our sour beer selection is huge.
Bellwoods isn’t the only brewery releasing consistent kettle sours and barrel aged blends anymore. A ridiculous amount of breweries have barrel programs now. Like, most of them. A select few have foeders and koelschips, and this number is growing. If everything goes to plan, look out for Bellwoods’ first spontaneously fermented and blended beer in 2020.
Let’s talk IPAs.
Two years ago, IPAs were clear. Today, they are mostly hazy. Almost everyone is going hard on this thick and fruity New England IPA trend. And the lactose and lupulin powder trend. This trend is dividing people. It’s a bloodbath out there. Anyways. I’m getting sidetracked. The point is: we’re making IPAs that compete with ones from the US. Shoutout to Barncat, Bellwoods, Collective Arts, Dominion City, Left Field, etc etc etc etc.
We have kickass festivals.
Volo ain’t the only company importing beer from all over the world for one-of-a-kind festivals and events anymore. We have other world class festivals now, and it’s just the beginning. Here are a few upcoming ones:
Wild Things will offer 11 wild yeast-fermented Ontario beers, 5 one-off Ontario ciders and 7 biodynamic wines from around the world on June 9. Three delicious beverages you usually don’t see together at one festival!
Collective Arts is hosting the Liquid Art Festival on June 15 & 16. This festival features beer from near and far: Japan, Iceland, England, Australia, Spain, Estonia, Sweden and Denmark are among the featured countries we’ll get to try beer from (that aren’t Canada or the US).
The second annual Witchstock is happening September 29, and they’re bringing lambic in addition to all the hype IPAs and mixed fermentation treasures our thirst desires. The hype is real.
There you have it. More has happened for the Ontario beer scene in two years than we could have predicted. And there is so much more to come.
