If you look at the overall brewery numbers, they continued to rise through the late 1990s and early 2000s, which certainly suggests that the micro/craft market was healthy, even robust during that time.”Įventually however, the craft beer craze that was making “hopheads” out of ex-lager loving Americans hit Canada too, and it was bolstered by the rise of the local food movement, which focuses on small, community-based producers. However according to Stephen Beaumont, co-author of The World Atlas of Beer, who has been chronicling the beer scene in Canada since 1990, it was “more the shedding of poorly conceived or performing players, as would happen during the maturing phase of any industry. This has led to some beer experts describing a “bust” period. In the early 1990s, some of the new entrants went out of business, including Mountain Ales Corp and Bryant’s Brewing in BC, Halton County Brewing, York Brewing and Conners Brewery in Ontario and Highland Breweries on Cape Breton Island. And these new unpasteurized lagers and ales were designed with flavour, not long shelf life, in mind.īut not all Canadians were primed for bolder brews - and not all of the new breweries were making good beer. They churned out a variety of beer styles, like stouts, pale ales and Belgian witbiers (wheat beers), that hadn’t been seen in Canada for decades - moreover most microbreweries eschewed corn and rice in favour of barley, which gave the beers more oomph than light-tasting commercial lagers. Five years later, 42 new breweries opened, mostly in British Columbia and Ontario. Inspired by the burgeoning home-brewing and micro-brewing scene in the United States, Canadian entrepreneurs began installing mash tuns (insulated vessels in which a mixture of grain and water is heated during the process of brewing or distilling) - and the country’s first microbreweries (a new term denoting a small, independent brewery) opened in 1984 with Granville Island in Vancouver, BC, and Brick Brewing, in Waterloo, Ontario. On the first day of business in 1982, he sold seven. To break even, Mitchell figured he needed to sell one keg of beer at Troller each day. ![]() Inspired by the cask ales of his British homeland, Mitchell teamed up with ex-brewer Frank Appleton (who had quit Carling because he detested making their bland lagers) and fashioned Canada’s first “cottage” brewpub out of old dairy equipment. When the Carling-controlled taps at his Troller Pub went dry for a few weeks in 1979 after the brewery went on strike, Mitchell got angry. It all started with a disgruntled publican, John Mitchell, in Horseshoe Bay, Vancouver. It was out of this monopolized market, dominated by straw-hued, fizzy brews, that Canada’s microbreweries were born. Most Canadians were drinking lagers, like Labatt Blue and Molson Canadian, made with minimal hops and hefty amounts of corn or rice (up to 50 per cent) to lighten beer’s traditional barley base. But by the early 1980s, just 10 brewing companies remained in Canada - and the three largest, Molson, Labatt and Carling O’Keefe - owned 96 per cent of the market. Prior to the First World War, Canada boasted 117 independent breweries. You can take free brewery tours here, but it’s a first-come-first-serve basis so put your name on the list as soon as you get there.īe prepared for a fairly expensive food menu, the beer mac & cheese is the best! Also, this is one of the most popular north county breweries in San Diego so it’s often busy.Beer flight of six sampling mugs of light and dark craft beer. The brewery covers an expansive complex that includes a rock garden and a few different areas to sip your beer in a relaxing setting. The brewery that started it all for me, and where I had my first taste of good California craft beer.Ī kick to your taste buds – in a good way – Stone Brewing is all about the hops, high alcohol, and strong beers. ![]() Anderson Valley Brewing Company – Boonville.Bear Republic Brewing Company – Healdsburg (Sonoma County).Speakeasy Ales & Lagers – San Francisco.Firestone Walker Brewing Company – Paso Robles.Green Flash Brewing Company – San Diego. ![]()
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