Hey all,
I'm visiting my family at a cottage in Prince Edward County next week. A cursory Google search shows that some new breweries have popped up there. Anybody been to any of them (other than Barley Days)? Anything worth hitting up?
Cheers!
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We have a trivia question in order to register to prevent bots. If you have any issues with answering, contact us at cass@bartowel.com for help.
Introducing Light Mode! If you would like a Bar Towel social experience that isn't the traditional blue, you can now select Light Mode. Go to the User Control Panel and then Board Preferences, and select "Day Drinking" (Light Mode) from the My Board Style drop-down menu. You can always switch back to "Night Drinking" (Dark Mode). Enjoy!
Breweries in Prince Edward County
This is great, thanks.
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Masterplan
- Bar Fly
- Posts: 509
- Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2012 11:00 am
The only new comer to the area is Matron in Bloomfield. Started this spring by the former head brewer at Stone City. They've only just opened, and they have two beers that they brewed at Brunswick in order to have beer when they opened.
I'd also add Signal to your tour of you're going through Belleville. Great patio and bar and the beer is on pat with Parsons.
Wild Card in Trenton is okish, they like to experiment but the QC is lacking.
Nappanee Brewing produces some quality beer, but no real tap room to sit.
I'd also add Signal to your tour of you're going through Belleville. Great patio and bar and the beer is on pat with Parsons.
Wild Card in Trenton is okish, they like to experiment but the QC is lacking.
Nappanee Brewing produces some quality beer, but no real tap room to sit.
Awesome, thanks. I didn't realize Signal was in Belleville (I'm taking the train there). I'll definitely be making a stop. I'm a big fan of their FireWire IPA.Masterplan wrote:The only new comer to the area is Matron in Bloomfield. Started this spring by the former head brewer at Stone City. They've only just opened, and they have two beers that they brewed at Brunswick in order to have beer when they opened.
I'd also add Signal to your tour of you're going through Belleville. Great patio and bar and the beer is on pat with Parsons.
Wild Card in Trenton is okish, they like to experiment but the QC is lacking.
Nappanee Brewing produces some quality beer, but no real tap room to sit.
My wife’s cousin asked if I wanted to jump in on a box from Parsons he was ordering. I’d had one of the BA stouts from them in the past that was pretty good so jumped in. On the plus side, our order was processed and delivered to Toronto in less than 24 hours. On the negative side were two cans canned on October 2nd! That’s almost 6 months old. One is a Summer Saison, the other a fruited pale ale. None of the bottles have dates on them.
Anyway... order with caution.
Anyway... order with caution.
I was in PEC for a bit recently, and the beer scene there has become quite crowded. Beyond what I considered the "new" breweries in the area like Matron, Slake and All My Friends, none of which I ended up visiting, there were a few other spots I'd never heard of I did go to:
Strange Brew: Hilariously small brewery, they literally have two bar stools in what seems like the owner's den. I imagine they have outdoor seating set up in the summer too. I chatted with the brewer a bit, he's a nice guy. Definitely a more experimental place, they had a variety of sours, adjunct beers, strong beers, etc. available when I was there. Dude had a Lichtenhainer, a braggot and a lambic all available at once. I tried the Lichtenhainer there, I'm not a smoked beer guy but I liked this one. Very mild smoky note, otherwise a nice refreshing wheaty kinda beer. I got a smattering of other stuff, but haven't tried any yet.
Garage Time: Another tiny shop, they had seating for like 10 plus outdoor seating. They also seemed to make a lot of non-standard stuff, tons of things with adjunct here. They weren't open when I went, but I did manage to get some bottles to go anyway. I got the County Cascade IPA, which was pretty good. Also tried an IPA with rosemary, which is not for me. I saw they had an altbier on before I got there, but it was gone sadly.
Gillingham: By far the largest brewery I visited, they could seat a whopping 15 people or so. Definitely the most stylish and polished of the places too, they clearly sank some money into that building and their brewing system which is very visible. They had a huge tap list of their own stuff, which was mostly much more traditional styles. I had their ESB when I was there (excellent, I can't think of a better Ontario-made ESB) and tried their black IPA (also great). I've since had their My Way West Coast IPA, which the brewer rightly described as a classic IPA with body which was also really good. I've got a few of their other things in my fridge waiting their turn, including one of several lagers they had on offer.
All three of these places impressed, for a variety of reasons. The beer at Gillingham stood out to me, but they'd all be worth a visit.
Strange Brew: Hilariously small brewery, they literally have two bar stools in what seems like the owner's den. I imagine they have outdoor seating set up in the summer too. I chatted with the brewer a bit, he's a nice guy. Definitely a more experimental place, they had a variety of sours, adjunct beers, strong beers, etc. available when I was there. Dude had a Lichtenhainer, a braggot and a lambic all available at once. I tried the Lichtenhainer there, I'm not a smoked beer guy but I liked this one. Very mild smoky note, otherwise a nice refreshing wheaty kinda beer. I got a smattering of other stuff, but haven't tried any yet.
Garage Time: Another tiny shop, they had seating for like 10 plus outdoor seating. They also seemed to make a lot of non-standard stuff, tons of things with adjunct here. They weren't open when I went, but I did manage to get some bottles to go anyway. I got the County Cascade IPA, which was pretty good. Also tried an IPA with rosemary, which is not for me. I saw they had an altbier on before I got there, but it was gone sadly.
Gillingham: By far the largest brewery I visited, they could seat a whopping 15 people or so. Definitely the most stylish and polished of the places too, they clearly sank some money into that building and their brewing system which is very visible. They had a huge tap list of their own stuff, which was mostly much more traditional styles. I had their ESB when I was there (excellent, I can't think of a better Ontario-made ESB) and tried their black IPA (also great). I've since had their My Way West Coast IPA, which the brewer rightly described as a classic IPA with body which was also really good. I've got a few of their other things in my fridge waiting their turn, including one of several lagers they had on offer.
All three of these places impressed, for a variety of reasons. The beer at Gillingham stood out to me, but they'd all be worth a visit.
That sounds like a great trip! I've also been to Gillingham and Strange Brew, as well as Parsons, Prince Eddy's and a couple of cideries and distilleries. The brewing scene there is crazy, although relatively spread out. It's just such a wonderful part of Ontario.Craig wrote: ↑Wed May 08, 2024 1:14 pm I was in PEC for a bit recently, and the beer scene there has become quite crowded. Beyond what I considered the "new" breweries in the area like Matron, Slake and All My Friends, none of which I ended up visiting, there were a few other spots I'd never heard of I did go to:
Strange Brew: Hilariously small brewery, they literally have two bar stools in what seems like the owner's den. I imagine they have outdoor seating set up in the summer too. I chatted with the brewer a bit, he's a nice guy. Definitely a more experimental place, they had a variety of sours, adjunct beers, strong beers, etc. available when I was there. Dude had a Lichtenhainer, a braggot and a lambic all available at once. I tried the Lichtenhainer there, I'm not a smoked beer guy but I liked this one. Very mild smoky note, otherwise a nice refreshing wheaty kinda beer. I got a smattering of other stuff, but haven't tried any yet.
Garage Time: Another tiny shop, they had seating for like 10 plus outdoor seating. They also seemed to make a lot of non-standard stuff, tons of things with adjunct here. They weren't open when I went, but I did manage to get some bottles to go anyway. I got the County Cascade IPA, which was pretty good. Also tried an IPA with rosemary, which is not for me. I saw they had an altbier on before I got there, but it was gone sadly.
Gillingham: By far the largest brewery I visited, they could seat a whopping 15 people or so. Definitely the most stylish and polished of the places too, they clearly sank some money into that building and their brewing system which is very visible. They had a huge tap list of their own stuff, which was mostly much more traditional styles. I had their ESB when I was there (excellent, I can't think of a better Ontario-made ESB) and tried their black IPA (also great). I've since had their My Way West Coast IPA, which the brewer rightly described as a classic IPA with body which was also really good. I've got a few of their other things in my fridge waiting their turn, including one of several lagers they had on offer.
All three of these places impressed, for a variety of reasons. The beer at Gillingham stood out to me, but they'd all be worth a visit.
Did you stay anywhere nice, visit any interesting places, eat at any good restaurants?
I rented a nice cottage and mostly stuck around there. The ostrich farm was kinda neat, I guess. Some terrific parks in Belleville for the kids.
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GtownRandy
- Posts: 322
- Joined: Fri Apr 15, 2016 8:17 am
Another new PEC brewery which started up last year is Dune Hopper, in Bloomfield, near Sandbanks.
https://dunehopper.ca/
https://dunehopper.ca/