In Toronto for Work: How do I maximize my time?

If you're downtown, head over to Bellwoods on Ossington (north of Queen St W). There's also Burdock at Bloor/Dufferin, Rainhard in the Stockyards area, Great Lakes just off the Gardiner by Islington; all much easier for you to get to than Collective Arts (Hamilton) and Redline (up in Barrie). If you do make it over to Collective Arts, you may as well stop by Nickel Brook in Burlington too.

For a beer bar in Toronto, go to Birreria Volo on College Street (in Little Italy).

 

Birreria Volo and Bellwood's are the highpoints, the other breweries' beers will be on tap at any good tap room around the city. Would plan for a dinner at Bellwood's.

 

Volo and Bellwoods are definitely worth hitting. Redline is about an hour north of you in Barrie (I'm going up there early next week fwiw) Great Lakes is in Etobicoke and probably worth a visit, should be at least a couple of IPA's on. Burdock, Leftfield and Halo and Folly may be worth stopping into, depending on your tastes.

If you want a couple under the radar picks, Rouge River's Escape from the Planet of the APA's might be on somewhere and is worth trying at least once. Ditto Bronan from High Road.

 

Really enjoyed WVRST. And of course Bellwoods

 

What are the top two breweries in Toronto as far as kettle sours are concerned? And what is the best brewery for hazy IPAs?

 

Bellwoods on both counts.

 

I'm hitting up breweries in Toronto starting Thursday night so looking forward to trying lots of breweries. Also spending a few days in Kingston with a friend while I'm out there as well. If anyone wants to meet up with a San Diego based beer blogger while I'm there that would be great too.

 

Stone City Ales in Kingston should be on your can't miss list.

 

Ya it will be, I have a local guide in Kingston who knows the breweries.

 

Good God.

County road brewery blew me away yesterday in prince Edward County. Hill Farmstead level Belgian and farmhouse styles.

Now I'm at stone city and the gose, saison, and English mild are also blowing me away. This is more in the realm of better than the styles where county road seemed very to style.

 

I've only been to County Road twice. The first time was just before their official opening and the beers were either unremarkable, or flawed. Admittedly, they said they were still learning their system and weren't too happy with a couple of their offerings. The second time was a few months later, and I saw no real changes.

I figured your remarks to be hyperbole. I assume they have improved, but to the level of Hill Farmstead? C'mon! Then, just yesterday, I was speaking with the beer guy at the Wilson and Dufferin LCBO (they are carrying County Road 3 Saison now) and he was saying how it is the best saison he has ever had!

I picked some up to try. I'm hoping I agree with both of you!

 

I'm no expert but would guess this person hasn't tried many different saisons ;-)

 

On tap it was excellent as I tasted it and was close to Hill Farmstead. The first bottle I opened that I brought back was a little sweeter than I remember and not as well-attenuated or properly classic. So I certainly don't suggest picking up the bottles of their saison over HF yet. I don't generally write hyperbole for my blog or on here so if I include a reference to a brewery it is usually genuine. It was certainly one of the better saisons I had when I visited by what was pouring on tap. Then again I have similar experiences with Sante Adarius in that the version on tap and the bottle are usually fairly different because of the bottle conditioning. Most breweries don't give much instruction on how long to age their beers or if they need any additional cellaring.

I give most breweries my rating primarily by what I had on tap at the source which means Hill Farmstead gets a shorter end of the stick because they didn't have anything on tap except for a few pale ales when I visited and I wasn't interested in drinking a whole bottle on site myself. In that sense until HF opens a proper tasting room I generally don't recommend a visit unless you are able to stock up on bottles and get multiple cases (driving there). For someone flying to get there the experience is quite lacking.

 

Bellwoods, WVRST are always good spots.

 

Bellwoods was great but I was also very impressed by Halo's NZ Pale and Apricot Sour. Radical Road Yuzu Pale was also tasty for a drink regularly at home type of beer.

 

Best place for take home bottles?

 

That's gonna be Bellwoods again. Depending on what's available, your available time and carrying capacity, you might also consider hitting up Burdock, Blood Brothers, Halo, Folly and Indie Ale House, all of which are in fairly close proximity to one another. Slightly further afield is Great Lakes.

 

Looking more retail than brewery. Hoping to snag some lambic bottles that I can't get in Pittsburgh currently (Boon, 3F, etc.)