Summer of Suds

It may be over a month until it starts officially, but to most Canadians, the Victoria Day weekend is the annual kick-off to the summer season. And with summer comes afternoons on the patio, trips to the cottage, days on the beach - none of which are complete without a glass, bottle or can of sweet, sweet beer.

With that in mind, we thought we'd devote our first post-Victoria Day article to a round-up of local beer news. There's a lot happening in the brewing scene in and around Toronto right now, and some good stuff planned for the coming months, so hopefully this compilation of information will come in useful as the weather gets warmer and the brews start to flow more freely.

After several years of planning, brewpub chain Les 3 Brasseurs is finally close to opening a location in Toronto, their first outside of France and Quebec. Operating under the English name The 3 Brewers, the Toronto pub will be situated at 275 Yonge Street just south of Dundas and should be open sometime in June.  The core beer line-up will feature the same ales as the locations in Montreal and France, all named for their colour in typical French/Quebecois fashion: Blonde, Brown, Red and White. Also available will be La Belle Province, a strong amber ale originally created for the Montreal locations that’s brewed with a hint of maple syrup and served in 750 ml bottles.

Also set to open next month is Black Creek Historic Brewery, a small brewery and pub in the basement of the Half Way House restaurant at Black Creek Pioneer Village. Built in partnership with Pioneer Brewery Ltd., a new company created by the owners of Trafalgar Ales and Meads, the brewery is a reconstruction of an historic brewery from the 1860s, and will focus exclusively on ales made using recipes of the period including porter, dark ale and pale ale. The beer will be served in the pub as well as in the Half Way House, and growlers will also be available for take-home sales. An official website for the brewery will be online soon, but in the meantime, updates are being posted regularly to a blog called The Black Creek Growler.

Three well-respected local brewmasters have all started new breweries to craft their wares - or to be more accurate, one has started a brewery, while the other two are borrowing brewing time and tank space at existing facilities. The new full-scale brewery is the eponymous MacLean's Ales from Charles MacLean, formerly of Wellington Brewery and currently at F&M Brewery in Guelph. Having brewed his own Pale Ale and Scotch Ale at F&M for several years, he's now set up a small operation in remote West Grey and is producing several UK-style ales in small batches which can be found at beer establishments such as Volo and C'est What.

Meanwhile, brewers Paul Dickey (Pepperwood Bistro) and Mike Duggan (ex-Mill Street) have gone the contract brewing route for their new ventures. Dickey is using some excess capacity at Black Oak where he's been an associate brewer for many years to launch his new Cheshire Valley Brewing label. He debuted with an excellent Dry Stout available at Rhino as part of the Cask Ale Crawl last month, and there's rumours that he'll have an IPA available at another upcoming cask ale event. Duggan, who is now head brewer at Cool Brewing, is using his employer's equipment to make his own Number 9 IPA which has already been a big hit at a couple of bars around town.

Cool is also the current home for Denison's which brewmaster Michael Hancock has run on a contract brewing basis since the original Victoria Street brewpub closed in 2003. Denison's Weissbier has been acclaimed as one of the best in the world, but has only been available on draught for reasons of capacity and quality control. These issues seem to have been overcome, though, as the Weissbier will finally be available soon in 500 ml bottles via the LCBO.

Aside from being great seasons for beer in general, the spring and summer are also prime time for beer festivals and tasting events, and there are a few coming up that should be added to any local beer lovers calendar:

Friday, May 22nd - Spring Festival of Small Breweries at C'est What
Saturday, May 23rd & Sunday, May 24th - Ontario Cask IPA Challenge Round Two at Volo
Thursday, July 30th - Craft Beer Festival & Summer BBQ at Hart House
Thursday, August 6 to Sunday, August 9 - Toronto's Festival of Beer at Exhibition Place
Saturday, August 29th - Golden Tap Awards at beerbistro

And finally, looking into the future, there are rumours that a brewpub may be coming to Liberty Village, and a couple of guys named George and Craig have a website and blog online outlining their intentions of opening Square Peg Brewery. It's unlikely that either will come to fruition this summer, but maybe they'll be the lead stories if we run this feature again next year.

Photo by Jeremy Craigs - from Taste T.O. Flickr Pool