Folly Brewpub

[groulxsome]

Hey, hi, howdy Bar Towel folks. Just wanted to move the discussion from “Habits to be nanobrewing” over here for more general talk about our brewpub. On October 9th 2015 we released a press release (read it here) which outlined how Habits Gastropub is no more and that we’re relaunching as Folly Brewpub this Wednesday, October 14th. Still the same on most fronts (we’ve got some killer new glasses coming), just more obviously a beer place now. Plus, we’re keeping the whiskey wall that makes us the second largest selection in Toronto (though BlogTO seems to always forget we exist… not bitter!).

We're launching our website again (with a proper blog that is NOT just me posting on Bar Towel) before the relaunch, but as always, Bar Towel gets a little heads up. We should have a bunch of our own taps... looking like we're have all four of our main beers plus a few fun seasonal beers:

Folly Brewing - Flemish Cap - Old World Saison (Escarpment New World Saison Blend)
Folly Brewing - Praxis - New World Saison (formerly Habits Saison)
Folly Brewing - Imposer Syndrome - Hoppy (Galaxy and Sorachi) Farmhouse (Brett C.)
Folly Brewing - Inkhorn - Farmhouse Dubbel (Brett L.)
Folly Brewing - Fructidor - Ontario Peach Super Saison
Folly Brewing - Quesada - Farmhouse Trippel with El Dorado Hops
Folly Brewing - Sucellus - Basil and Lime Saison

Should have a wet hop beer done by the weekend too. Probably roll with the other two beer taps as guest taps with another (tap ten) always being a cider.

Look forward to seeing some of you in the next few weeks. We're doing a proper launch party before Cask Days (likely the 21st!) so mark that in your calendars!

As always, happy to answer any questions. I'll try to keep active in this one and not the review thread from now on, so the review thread can be properly used for reviews not my ranting news posts.

Cheers,
Chris

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Folly Brewpub, 928 College Street, Toronto, Canada

[BakaGaijin]

Any plans for bottles to go? I don't live downtown.

[groulxsome]

Any plans for bottles to go? I don't live downtown.

Bottle shop is in the works. We need to build it, brew enough beer to not run out on tap, and get permits to build it first (to open one you need to write every church, school, park, etc in the area and get permission! it's nuts!). Current time line is for next spring. May 24 at the latest.

[groulxsome]

Finally wrote that blog post I'd been saying I'd write for months! If anyone is interested, here it is: http://www.follybrewing.com/blog/2015/1 ... -the-folly

[Dennis]

More reading on Folly Brewpub: http://www.bartowel.com/folly-brewpub-f ... -portugal/

[beerstodiscover]

I really enjoyed the Inkhorn at Volo last week. Keep it up!

[groulxsome]

Hey Bar Towel peeps,

Just wanted to update you folks about how things are going over at Folly! We're been brewing like crazy over the last few months and have finally taken over most of the taps here at the brewpub. Trying to keep one or two guest taps, but you know, lots of fun things to brew. We're currently running nine taps (two of which are Peoples Pint collaborations with homebrewers!) and we've got two beers Colinet (old world single malt saison using escarpment labs fruit bomb brett/sasion blend) and A Million to One (100% brett, 10-brett blend from escarpment labs) waiting in the wings (they were sent out to some accounts this week).

Lots of things. We've also been getting around town to Volo, BarHops, Wvrst, Burdock, Indie, Lansdowne, Isabel, Commodore... and other fine places to drink beer. Our barrel program is souring up nicely and we hope to have a blend out soon. Hopefully we'll get construction done for a bottle shop soon so we can start to get take away beer out there too! (Was recently home in NL where you can sell your beer just from a fridge in the bar... and to the corner store without a middle man agency... what a place! Why we need a contrived second entrance that costs a bunch to install... goodness!)

Oh, and we've got a beer dinner coming up!





Thanks to all of you that have dropped by so far or tried our beer at one of our accounts!

[jeremyg]

growlers or nah?

[groulxsome]

growlers or nah?

It's a hotly debated topic! Seems some people love them and others find them a total pain. I kinda like a 1L growler, but a lot of people seem to think they are too big or don't get used often enough.

Not sure Toronto really has enough of a growler culture to work with... if I could take a growler to Bellwoods, Burdock, Folly, Indie, Junction, Rainhard, Duggans (soon Lansdowne, Halo, Bandit, Henderson)... all those places using the same growler we might have an argument to use growlers as they are used elsewhere.

But in Toronto we seem to still have a lot of bottles... which in one sense is easier as we have a bar which would be tied up filling/prefilling growlers... it's easier for tap rooms. We can't live fill for you if you're sitting at the bar, since you need to buy it from the SEPARATE bottle shop. If you wanted your growler filled, we'd need to have the person at the bottle shop walk over to the taps to fill it... then walk back for the exchange. During a busy service a fridge full of bottles is easier. And prefilling growlers risks old, flat beer. And old, flat beer is lame.

If we could just fill a growler without a bottleshop, we'd have them now. But because we need the extra installation of a separate bottle shop and don't want to duplicate our taps five feet away... it's a pain. Maybe one beer on a special tap for growler fills (like Indie?)... we'll see.

Also, we're gunning for lots of bottle conditioned stuff, so we need bottles too and with limited space...

Anyway, I'm pretty much the only advocate of growlers of our team here! Right now we're moving forward with just bottles... happy to hear more arguments for or against.

[jeremyg]

growlers or nah?

It's a hotly debated topic! Seems some people love them and others find them a total pain. I kinda like a 1L growler, but a lot of people seem to think they are too big or don't get used often enough.

Not sure Toronto really has enough of a growler culture to work with... if I could take a growler to Bellwoods, Burdock, Folly, Indie, Junction, Rainhard, Duggans (soon Lansdowne, Halo, Bandit, Henderson)... all those places using the same growler we might have an argument to use growlers as they are used elsewhere.

But in Toronto we seem to still have a lot of bottles... which in one sense is easier as we have a bar which would be tied up filling/prefilling growlers... it's easier for tap rooms. We can't live fill for you if you're sitting at the bar, since you need to buy it from the SEPARATE bottle shop. If you wanted your growler filled, we'd need to have the person at the bottle shop walk over to the taps to fill it... then walk back for the exchange. During a busy service a fridge full of bottles is easier. And prefilling growlers risks old, flat beer. And old, flat beer is lame.

If we could just fill a growler without a bottleshop, we'd have them now. But because we need the extra installation of a separate bottle shop and don't want to duplicate our taps five feet away... it's a pain. Maybe one beer on a special tap for growler fills (like Indie?)... we'll see.

Also, we're gunning for lots of bottle conditioned stuff, so we need bottles too and with limited space...

Anyway, I'm pretty much the only advocate of growlers of our team here! Right now we're moving forward with just bottles... happy to hear more arguments for or against.

certainly makes sense, i get it!

it'd be pretty cool if the toronto brewers jumped on the growler train though...

[Coronaeus]

I prefer bottles to growlers because I like smaller formats. It allows me to have two or three different beers in an evening if I want without drinking litre upon litre of beer. With a growler, I tend to feel the need to finish it off before opening something else, and my inner "ticker" rails against this. When faced with growlers, my preference is for those little 750ml jugs (grumblers? squealers?) you get at places like Dominion City and Old Flame. I avoid the big 1.89/2 litre growlers like the plague. I live a hop , skip and a jump from Granite, but have not bought from the bottle shop in years despite enjoying their beer.

I'm happy to see more and more breweries going the 500ml bottle route over the past year (Indie, Burdock, Blood Brothers). It is the perfect size for one beer with dinner, to my mind. I tend to buy more overall volume from a brewery when 500ml bottles are available as opposed to the 650ml bottle.

[Provost Drunk]

I will second everything that Coronaeus said above. I haven't been to Folly since it was re-branded from Habits but am looking forward to visiting more often once the bottle shop opens in the spring.

[groulxsome]

Updating the tap list for the good folk of the Bar Towel. Excited about ULLA! right now, our 100% Brett Black Ale (using Escarpment Labs Mothership 10-Brett Blend) that we fermented on raspberries. We'll have a new Rhizome beer (this one with Saphir/Saaz, old world vibes!) and a malty mixed fermentation Bier de Mars on soon. (Only Praxis and the barrel aged saison are NOT mixed fermentation). Our winter seasonal Farmhouse Porter is also around now until April probably.

Bottle shop logistics are coming together. Starting with 500 mL bottles and debating Boston Round Growlers in the future. Still targeting April/May. Just picked up some fresh barrels from Southbrook too and hoping to do some barrel fermented farmhouse stuff and some quicker barrels stuff (just brett, not like our underway souring program) in those for release around then. Hoping for some bottle conditioning, but space is tight!

Let me know, as always, if you folks have any questions.

[BakaGaijin]

Tried the Ulla and really enjoyed it. Hopefully, this gets bottled in the future.

[groulxsome]

Tried the Ulla and really enjoyed it. Hopefully, this gets bottled in the future.

Considering the response, it very well could. Right now it was just planned as a one-off. We have a bunch of beers in the hopper that we've already done pilot batches of that we're now rotating in as one-off brews in kegs. If any of them have a good reception, they'll likely become more frequent beers once we get to the bottle shop.

And thanks for trying it!