My fellow Canadian BA'ers...I'll be in Toronto for the coming weekend and would like to know any recommendations on where to get the best local craft beer in the city of Toronto (or near metro). I've look through the forums and have seen a few places that I might visit but am looking for the local suggestion. I'll be staying downtown Toronto and will have access to a car. Also, I've posted for a thread on getting some BA Peche Mortel in the in person forum if anyone is interested in trading. Thanks a ton. Cheers! JC
Grab some Bellwoods at the bottle shop at the brew pub. http://bellwoodsbrewery.com/product-category/bottleshop/ In the next few weeks Rodenbach Vintage is coming to the LCBO for under 10 bucks for a 750 mL bottle. The LCBO has Rochefort 10 for a good price, check this site for info on what beers are available at the LCBO. http://www.foodanddrink.ca/lcbo-ear/jsp/ProductSearchNonVintages.jsp?language=EN
As Augustus mentioned, 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, Roman Candle and the Monogamy Summitt, currently available are all well regarded though. Bring Out Your Dead is available on tap, and Grandma's Boy, Farmageddon 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. Harry Porter and the Bourbon Soaked Vanilla Bean is currently available at Barhop. 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.
The post above nailed it... I would also suggest trying to get to better LCBO locations in the city, Queens Quay, Summerhill. Checkout also: www.ontariocraftbrewers.com There are other great breweries on your route here, if you are driving that is. Check out the brewery map. Bellwoods/Great Lakes/The 5 Paddles (in Whitby) are my favourite Ontario breweries.
If you're going to be in the east end of Toronto I would have to recommend going to The Only Cafe. The Only is located right outside of Donlands subway station on the Danforth (about a minute walk from the station) and while they don't brew their own beer, they have a fantastic selection of local, quebec and international beers. The only has 24 taps and 1 cask, usually most taps are either local brewed beer, southern ontario brewed or are brought in from Quebec (which I sadly regret to admit is Canada's Mecca of beer). The taps rotate and are changing all the time so you can go there a week or two apart and find that at least 5 taps have switched to a different beer. In addition to the large number of taps, they also have a ton of bottles of different beers; they have 3 fridges full of different beers, most of those are imported but there are also a lot of local & quebec ones in there as well. Even if you end up staying in the west end or downtown, I would consider venturing here. It's not too far from downtown, a 10-15 min subway ride and the selection is unmatched; definitely my favourite bar in Toronto
