The Exchange Brewery

[BakaGaijin]

This is finally open. Looks very, very promising.

http://m.niagarathisweek.com/community- ... een-street

[CoolB]

Gonna have to hit this place up. Thanks for the post.

[jeremyg]

awesome, i was just wondering about them the other day. will have to take a drive out to visit them and oast.

[northyorksammy]

Looking forward to visiting as well. Potentional seasonals and one-offs sound interesting. Good luck, Robin!

[Dennis]

I'll be in Niagara-on-the-Lake in a few weeks - going to try to stop in.

[lister]

Excellent! Something to do whenever I'm forced to go to NOTL.

[BakaGaijin]

The Brewer was poached from Jolly Pumpkin. Should be interesting to what kind of Barrel aged offeringsn they put out.

[sprague11]

Excellent! Something to do whenever I'm forced to go to NOTL.

We were all thinking it....

[boney]

Made it out last weekend and was really impressed. Between my wife and I, we sampled all 7 of their offerings on tap. All were good to very good examples of their sytles. They also had a cask IPA that, frankly, was better than any of the cask IPA's I've had at cask days. Importantly, nothing I've tried had off flavors, like so many new start ups. Tasted like their brewer knew what he was doing and, in talking the staff, it sounds like they do indeed have an ambitious barrel aging and sour program planned.

Like the article mentioned, many of their staff are or were former Niagara College students, knew what they were talking about and were super friendly, which always makes an afternoon sitting at the bar so much more enjoyable. The space is really cool, with a small downstairs bar space and a second larger upstairs bar space. Looks like they will have some kind of outdoor back patio space in the super too.

The only nit picky thing I can come up with might be the cost of their 1L growlers, which I recall being a tad high. However, I didn't grab a copy of my bill, so I can't break it exactly down. Wont keep me from coming back though. Their tasting flights are a good value, however, as $12 gets you 7 good sized samples.

Overall, definitely recommend.

[Charchuk]

I believe when I was there 750ml bottles of their IPA were $11.50 and a growler fill (of their porter at least) was $15.

[TheSevenDuffs]

I believe when I was there 750ml bottles of their IPA were $11.50

Was this a collab with Lake of Bays and Oast House?

[Coronaeus]

I believe when I was there 750ml bottles of their IPA were $11.50

Was this a collab with Lake of Bays and Oast House?

That actually made me laugh out loud. Therefore, LOL.

[boney]

Yeeesh. OK. Super pricey.

[MatttthewGeorge]

All LB beer in a 750ml has been $9.95 for over a year. Can't say that about Monkeys, Nickelbrook, Wellington and Muskoka.

Plus the Spring Maple hitting the shelves in March will be the last seasonal in a 750ml.

Now that you have the facts, you can continue with your hate-on folks.

[ckoop]

I believe when I was there 750ml bottles of their IPA were $11.50

Was this a collab with Lake of Bays and Oast House?

That actually made me laugh out loud. Therefore, LOL.

I think I saw someone mention the price on untappd and I burst out laughing. This IPA better be Hill Farmstead, Trillium, or Alchemist level otherwise why would anyone buy 750ml of another average ontario ipa when they can get 1500ml of above average to good ipas in a superior format (cans) in headstock or whatever great lakes tank ten is on the lcbo shelves. It just screams tourist milking since they know tourists will walk through downtown NOTL, stop in for a pint or sample, and grab a couple bottles or a growler to bring home, never to come by again. Same model Oast House has with their complete indifference to establishing loyal, local clientele by overcharging for growlers.

I really need to stop in there sometime soon and see if they are at least brewing anything decent. One of my good friends stopped in and said it was a mixed bag, so I haven't been in a rush to check it out. With this pricing though, I think my best hope is that BA offerings will be very good and they charge $13-$15 a bottle for those which wouldn't be terribly out of line with the market. We will see...


TL:DR Someone open an 75% as good Sante Adairus or Jester King or Hill Farm in this region for fuck's sake!