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Toronto Brewery District

Discuss beer or anything else that comes to mind in here.

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groulxsome
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Post by groulxsome »

Anyway. Meeting last night. Steve...

Image

Facebook page should be taken down soon. Hopefully some media retractions will happen too.

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FEUO
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Post by FEUO »

Reekris.... why must everything require a label?
Someone mentioned letting it be organic. Yes.

Himel is typical of everything that is craft beer these days. New guys entering the scene with a brewery. Branding, publicity, etc are all out there before a drop is brewed. Holy F. If I can buy a shirt and glass before I can even buy a beer you're out.

Also, I'm personally offended by Mike Layton's term "Cask Force" (from a CBC article).

ENOUGH ALREADY WITH CASKING EVERYTHING. WHY??????? Holy f I do not get this about Toronto.

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groulxsome
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Post by groulxsome »

The thing is, it already is organic. Like, everyone already talks, just more one-on-one than in a group. Hops, malts, and equipment are exchanged/traded as needed. Could it be better organized? Sure. Something like an Ontario Brewers Guild with a Toronto Chapter (as is organized in the States) would be great for interbrewery communication. Is that already a thing some people are working on without being public? Yes.

As for a marketing thing, the city is working on a map through economic development with everyone.

As for the "cask force." That was setup to act as a way to reduce the hurdles of brewery permitting. It had nothing to do with cask beer, it was Mike Layton's punny play on task force. The more marketing side of that has been taken over by economic development. City building inspectors now have a slightly better idea of zoning variances in relation to small breweries, which was the task of the cask force.

All, in all, the best part was actually sitting down with other brewers and drinking some beer. Hope that happens more often. Maybe Steve will even drink next time.

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FEUO
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Post by FEUO »

I understand the play on words aspect with "cask/task" force.
Just can't stand the term and obsession with "cask" anything in the GTA.

As for the Brewery District concept I was listening to a Toronto craft beer podcast and the co-host (who apparently owns or works at Left Field) and host made a lot of great points about this not being the best idea. Excludes breweries that paved the way for others in the city, too widespread an area (hardly a district), etc.

And to your point about the OCB having a Toronto chapter.... not sure its the best idea. While the GTA dominates the province for quantity of breweries it also gets enough attention from area drinkers. Excluding the outside areas will hurt those small town brewers more than it helps Toronto brewers.

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groulxsome
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Post by groulxsome »

FEUO wrote:I understand the play on words aspect with "cask/task" force.
Just can't stand the term and obsession with "cask" anything in the GTA.

As for the Brewery District concept I was listening to a Toronto craft beer podcast and the co-host (who apparently owns or works at Left Field) and host made a lot of great points about this not being the best idea. Excludes breweries that paved the way for others in the city, too widespread an area (hardly a district), etc.

And to your point about the OCB having a Toronto chapter.... not sure its the best idea. While the GTA dominates the province for quantity of breweries it also gets enough attention from area drinkers. Excluding the outside areas will hurt those small town brewers more than it helps Toronto brewers.
Totally echo Mark's concerns with the brewery district idea. That's one of they key reasons it's a dead thing now (Facebook page is down). There will never be a brewery district. There never was. There was just Henderson.

Not an OCB thing. OCB is mostly a LCBO/Beer Store lobby group. Can't think of too many small Toronto brewers that are involved. It's more like a BIA, where people that are nearby can share shipping (i.e. malt shipment to Rainhard for Folly and Halo, for example - or spotting a few pounds of Simcoe hops). Ideally it would be under a wider province wide umbrella that could make it more transparent when breweries are selling/looking for equipment (more local than probrewer) or other things (with, again, local chapters in other areas which help with the more local issues of shipping). Not exclusion. And also not an outward facing thing, just for sharing resources within a multitude of various local areas (i.e. Black Swan probably would find it easier to spot hops from Royal City than Bellwoods).

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FEUO
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Post by FEUO »

groulxsome wrote:
FEUO wrote:I understand the play on words aspect with "cask/task" force.
Just can't stand the term and obsession with "cask" anything in the GTA.

As for the Brewery District concept I was listening to a Toronto craft beer podcast and the co-host (who apparently owns or works at Left Field) and host made a lot of great points about this not being the best idea. Excludes breweries that paved the way for others in the city, too widespread an area (hardly a district), etc.

And to your point about the OCB having a Toronto chapter.... not sure its the best idea. While the GTA dominates the province for quantity of breweries it also gets enough attention from area drinkers. Excluding the outside areas will hurt those small town brewers more than it helps Toronto brewers.
Totally echo Mark's concerns with the brewery district idea. That's one of they key reasons it's a dead thing now (Facebook page is down). There will never be a brewery district. There never was. There was just Henderson.

Not an OCB thing. OCB is mostly a LCBO/Beer Store lobby group. Can't think of too many small Toronto brewers that are involved. It's more like a BIA, where people that are nearby can share shipping (i.e. malt shipment to Rainhard for Folly and Halo, for example - or spotting a few pounds of Simcoe hops). Ideally it would be under a wider province wide umbrella that could make it more transparent when breweries are selling/looking for equipment (more local than probrewer) or other things (with, again, local chapters in other areas which help with the more local issues of shipping). Not exclusion. And also not an outward facing thing, just for sharing resources within a multitude of various local areas (i.e. Black Swan probably would find it easier to spot hops from Royal City than Bellwoods).
Fair enough. I agree that a collective of brewers would definitely aid in ingredient sourcing on larger scales at reduced rates for volume. I just assumed a lot of that was being done to a degree already. Would making it a formal, public and transparent alliance help matters? If so, cool.

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groulxsome
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Post by groulxsome »

FEUO wrote:
groulxsome wrote:
FEUO wrote:I understand the play on words aspect with "cask/task" force.
Just can't stand the term and obsession with "cask" anything in the GTA.

As for the Brewery District concept I was listening to a Toronto craft beer podcast and the co-host (who apparently owns or works at Left Field) and host made a lot of great points about this not being the best idea. Excludes breweries that paved the way for others in the city, too widespread an area (hardly a district), etc.

And to your point about the OCB having a Toronto chapter.... not sure its the best idea. While the GTA dominates the province for quantity of breweries it also gets enough attention from area drinkers. Excluding the outside areas will hurt those small town brewers more than it helps Toronto brewers.
Totally echo Mark's concerns with the brewery district idea. That's one of they key reasons it's a dead thing now (Facebook page is down). There will never be a brewery district. There never was. There was just Henderson.

Not an OCB thing. OCB is mostly a LCBO/Beer Store lobby group. Can't think of too many small Toronto brewers that are involved. It's more like a BIA, where people that are nearby can share shipping (i.e. malt shipment to Rainhard for Folly and Halo, for example - or spotting a few pounds of Simcoe hops). Ideally it would be under a wider province wide umbrella that could make it more transparent when breweries are selling/looking for equipment (more local than probrewer) or other things (with, again, local chapters in other areas which help with the more local issues of shipping). Not exclusion. And also not an outward facing thing, just for sharing resources within a multitude of various local areas (i.e. Black Swan probably would find it easier to spot hops from Royal City than Bellwoods).
Fair enough. I agree that a collective of brewers would definitely aid in ingredient sourcing on larger scales at reduced rates for volume. I just assumed a lot of that was being done to a degree already. Would making it a formal, public and transparent alliance help matters? If so, cool.
Less so public or transparent... more so where there are always new folks, getting to know everyone is getting harder and harder. And with busy schedules, getting out for a beer can be hard too. Internal guild work could be helpful for newer folks to know who has what and who has extra. The SOB forum, type thing... what? That closed down? Well, more like GTA Brews for those brewing professionally in an area. Ya know?

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FEUO
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Post by FEUO »

I hear ya. :)

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saints_gambit
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Post by saints_gambit »

There is precedent. There was one in the 1890's before Davies unionized, everyone else went on strike and screwed up the alliance.
saintjohnswort.ca

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FEUO
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Post by FEUO »

Figured Jordan would come in at some point and drop the knowledge. Antiquated precedents more often impede the progress of craft/indie beer. ;)

sprague11
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Post by sprague11 »

"Hey guys, lets start a club. I call president!"
"A good light beer is one that doesn't taste like piss!" - Frank d'Angelo

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saints_gambit
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Post by saints_gambit »

sprague11 wrote:"Hey guys, lets start a club. I call president!"
That is inevitably the problem with guilds and organizations, especially in an industry like craft beer where being a little disdainful of authority is one of the reasons people do it at all.
saintjohnswort.ca

chris_schryer
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Joined: Wed Jan 27, 2010 2:06 am

Post by chris_schryer »

Hey guys, I wanted to chime in and say I'm flattered our thoughts from the podcast were brought up! Thanks for listening. I just need to point out, Mandie, not Mark, is my co-host. And she is, indeed, co-owner of Left Field.
Thanks again, for tuning in (or whatever the podcast-y digital equivalent is)
C

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