What are the top 3 brewing provinces?

Yeah, Viti brought them in on his own as he did for DDC, but now DDC and Le Trou are being distributed so should be available in many places and for probably less than before at Viti.

 

Yup, that's going to be nice. I think Untapped mentioned the actual lineup they're bringing over too, somewhere.

 

If DDC was an ontario brewer, youd see Peche Mortel once a year.

For whatever reason most ontario brewers are either unwilling or unable to regularly brew and release the odd beer they do nail.

 

Sorry. Must have mis-read your post, which probably explains why I couldn't find your argument (as you were apparently not attempting to present one).

As for your quote above, I would argue (based on my comments already posted) that Ontario is still a ways behind. As FondueVoodoo said, it is more like Quebec and BC as #1a & #1b with Ontario as #2. But, as I also said above, in a few years time I think the gap could be almost closed. I am still not entirely convinced that Great Lakes or Amsterdam is fully committed to stepping up their game, but I also wouldn't be surprised if one or both of them do. And aside from them (and Bellwoods) I am not sure that there's another current Ontario brewery that can be anywhere near where the big boys in BC and QC are now in 3 years time.

 

In East Vancouver we now have four new micro breweries open that you can visit mostly for growler fills, but in 3/4 you can sit and purchase some to sit and drink. Parallel 49, Powell Street, 33 Acres and now Brassneck. Unlike the original East Van micro breweries like Storm and R&B, they are single-handedly creating a new "bar scene" because they can't/don't serve food but now food trucks come by and park outside. Their seating spaces are packed and its a vibrant scene that spills outside due to the food trucks. The food trucks are definitely not just hot dogs (from 33 acres: Food Carts are fun. Here's who we've teamed up with this week: TUESDAY - CULVER CITY SALADS; WEDNESDAY – TACOFINO; THURSDAY - HOLY PEROGY; FRIDAY - LA TAQUERIA; SATURDAY - COMMUNITY PIZZA) The other night for my friends birthday we did a brewery crawl at 33 Acres/Brassneck and regular restaurants/pubs around there. I've heard there are buses taking people on tours of the breweries. They all have excellent beer. Brassneck and 33 Acres are right across the street from one another. I think this gives BC a new dimension that takes it even closer to Quebec, and if I moved to Montreal nomatter how many Unibrou or DDC beers I had, I think I'd miss this scene and would prefer BC because of it. But of course I'm biased, and based on what you can get in bottles/cans I admit Quebec is still #1.

 

Driftwood definitely distributes in BC well beyond the confines of their brewery. Someone from BC can probably provide the exact details, but it is certainly not brewery-only like Bellwoods and Amsterdam's one-offs.

 

I'm intrigued by how many people seem to have "range of styles" as the chief rating criteria for scene quality.

Lots of explanations (convincing or not) of why Quebec is the bestest, but what about BC? What are we thinking beyond Driftwood? Crannog then... Russell? Central City? Tofino? You'll have to try harder than that if you want to claim BC is far and away better than Ontario or equal with Quebec.

 

That's the point. If you want to truly be a craft brewery, supplementing with crap and weakening your name isn't an option. Great indie/metal/whatever bands don't play dance/pop on a part-time basis only to make money. Beer is (or should be) the same.

Only in Ontario does that seem to be a business model and that's what's keeping it off the top of this list. Could you imagine Founder's brewing some crappy, uninspired mass-market lager? And their expensive barrel-aged-in-a-cave beers seem to be doing just fine in terms of generating revenue. Granted, Ontario doesn't have the beer culture that Michigan does, but this is maybe a big part of the reason, right?

 

I am thinking Storm (e.g., Flanders Red, Black Plague Stout), Central City (e.g., RRIPA), Russell (e.g., Hop Therapy, Truth Serum, Nectar of the Gods), Lighthouse (Siren Imperial Red, Belgian Black/White, Uncharted, Numbskull), Parallel 49 (Hopnotist, From East Van With Love, Schadenfreude, Snap, Crackle, Hop Imperial Rice IPA) and Howe Sound (Megadestroyer Imperial Licorice Stout, King Heffy Imperial Hefeweizen, Pumpkineater). IMHO I believe that collection puts BC above Ontario, even leaving Driftwood off the table.

 

Throw in Phillips (Cabin Fever, Kaleidoscope, Hammer, etc), Townsite (YOGN 82, Shiny Penny, 7800), Powell (Old Jalopy Pale Ale, Dive Bomb Porter) and even Moon (Tranquility, Creepy Uncle), and it seems pretty damn strong. Good feelings about Four Winds too. Loved their Wildflower Saison.

 

Add in 33 Acres, Brassneck and North Shore.

The issue of course is almost all of these beers won't make it outside BC - some places do not yet bottle.

 

Yeah I was leaving out the non-bottlers for now… but yeah… no exports (which is a shame for the rest of Canada)

 

This is not contained to ON. Both Russell and Lighthouse have been putting out some exceptional beers of late - but these beers are supplemented by their regular offerings which are 6/12 packs of beer that rival Molson/Labatt in how bad they are. I expect the reason they have not dumped these offerings is that they are the big money makers.

 

I could chalk those up to being legacy beers that were first thrown on to the market when just being an independent brewery meant you were something unique in Ontario. But even newer breweries do it too. For example the Big Rig Brew Pub in Ottawa has all the Ontario standards in their regular beer lineup - blond, red, brown, stout, hefeweizen and (very mediocre) IPA even though they could easily do something far more adventurous considering the money they have behind them and their name recognition. They now have one of their beers in the LCBO and guess which one it is? It's their Gold. How is that supposed to stand out to anyone outside of Ottawa?

 

The results would probably differ if the question was bottled beers only. Most of the good beers in qc are often on tap only.

 

Alley Kat's quad was a one off. In fact, all of Alley Kat's best beers are one offs, which is very disappointing. Alberta is just a poor province when it comes to local brews! Lagging behind even Manitoba & Nova Scotia, though the brewery count is far greater in AB.