HELP! Traveling to Toronto this weekend

Great Lakes Karma Citra and Robohop are out now. Anything from Bellwoods bottleshop would make good trade bait.

 

My brother was there one or two years ago and wrote this travel piece on Toronto beer. Hope it helps. http://www.betterbeerauthority.com/2012/12/exploring-toronto.html

 

I'm pasting an edited version of a response I wrote for the same question asked by someone a few months ago. Hope it helps:

Bellwoods is the place to make sure you visit. They are generally recognized as brewing the best beer in the city. Their bottle shop opens at 11 AM. The pub is open from 2 PM on week-ends. If you only visit one brewery, this is the place to visit. Unfortunately, none of the limited bottling stuff that has helped to give them such a great reputation is currently available to take away. Hellwoods and Bounty Hunter are currently available and are well regarded though. Donkey Venom is available on tap, and Grandma's Boy and Skeleton Key are available as (very pricey) reserve bottles in the pub.
http://bellwoodsbrewery.com/

For good local selection on tap - and downtown - you might want to check out BarHop. You can check their twitter feed for a photo of the current tap menu. They usually have a couple casks on too.
http://barhopbar.com/barhop/home.html

Barvolo also has a great selection, usually with a little more on offer from Quebec breweries than Barhop. Again, you can see a photo of the current tap list on their website. Good bottle selection there too.
http://barvolo.com/

I like Indie Ale House. They are a little west of Downtown.
http://www.indiealehouse.com/#slideabout

Amsterdam's Brewhouse is a lot nicer place to visit in the summer time, but depending on how close you are to the water, it may be a good place for a quick visit.
http://amsterdambrewhouse.com/

Other breweries in the city that may be of interest:

Great Lakes Brewery. No relation to the Ohio brewery of the same name. Both Karma Citra and Robohop are currently available and are among the top rated IPAs in the province.
http://www.greatlakesbeer.com/

Junction Craft. Near Indie ALe House. Nothing earth shattering, but they always have 10-15 different beers available to either try on site or take away. A reasonably up to date list of what is available is on the web-site. Maybe worth a visit if you are in the area already.
http://www.junctioncraftbrewing.com/jcb/

The Granite Brewery. Again, if you are in the area it may be worth a visit. Check the web-site for their offerings. Nothing groundbreaking here, but they usually have three beers on cask.
http://www.granitebrewery.ca/

There are other places in the city, but most of what they offer is either available at the liquor store, or, the more interesting stuff can be had at one of the better craft bars.

If you are interested in heading out of the city, send me a BM and I can give you a few more suggestions.

Most would say our scene is generally ten years behind what is happening in the States. Keep that in mind if you decide to take the time to get to a place that is a little out of your way. There is a lot that is good here, but only a small portion is world class.

Cheers, and enjoy your visit.

 

In terms of bringing stuff home to trade, I've found there is limited knowledge of Toronto breweries south of the border.

 

Bellwoods *end thread*

 

Stop in at nicklebrook in Burlington on your way to toronto and grab some malevolent (Freshly releasedimperial black IPA). Then when you're almost in toronto stop in at Great Lakes brewery (the Canadian one) and grab some robohop and karma citra. Last go to Bellwoods brewery and grab some hellwoods (ris), Gotham (imperial black IPA), Catherine wheel (Belgian IPA), and bounty hunter (coconut coffee porter) all great beers.

Go to bar hop or bar volo for drinks and wvrst for crazy suasages and craft beer.

Don't bother going to the "beer store" or the lcbo those are the only stores that sell beer and aren't worth the effort and disappointment of buying non fresh beers.

 

I think ckoop nailed it. In terms of trading I have had some good success trading Bellwoods beers to people in the states. I would recommend going for a pint or two at Bellwoods. Their draft and bottle selection in the bar is great.

Enjoy!!