Your 5 favourite breweries right now

[Craig]

I'll be sure to check it out once it's up and operating....and I Google Maps "Ayr Ontario".

[midlife crisis]

Many of you are fortunate (or diligent) in having regular access to the high-end, low volume U.S. artisanal breweries but your lists, while interesting, are a bit irrelevant to those of us who don't make beer travel a top priority. I'm intrigued by the praise for Silversmith. I had their English Pale Ale recently (Dam Buster?) and really liked it. I also need to try harder to get to Five Paddles apparently. They are just 30 minutes from - no excuse!

[sprague11]

FWIW I'd have to put Grimm in my top 5 right now, at the expense of Firestone Walker. I liked the earlier stuff that Premier got (Bees, Gradient) but I've been really wild about Double Negative and their IPA's that I've been lucky enough to try. Gonna have to search more out.

[CoolB]

Great Lakes
Nickel Brook
Brimstone
Dieu du ciel
Unibroue

[Pub Style]

Southern tier/ the good Great Lakes (USA) - 2xone was a great beer this year and I rarely find a miss from their lineup. I love nosferatu and blackout stout. Both breweries are easy to find fresh as well which helps.

[Craig]

Southern tier/ the good Great Lakes (USA) - 2xone was a great beer this year and I rarely find a miss from their lineup. I love nosferatu and blackout stout. Both breweries are easy to find fresh as well which helps.

That would be a creative way to end the naming confusion with them. Officially change your name to "The Good Great Lakes".

[ckoop]

Southern tier/ the good Great Lakes (USA) - 2xone was a great beer this year and I rarely find a miss from their lineup. I love nosferatu and blackout stout. Both breweries are easy to find fresh as well which helps.

digging up a nearly 2 year old post? haha. must be pretty bored today. my thoughts back then were simply based on the fact that I found your readily available core lineup boring, the availability of tank 10 beers in the lcbos around niagara was poor and if they even were available were in the loathsome bomber format which I rarely buy unless forced to, especially for ipas.

things are much better now, i'd say. it seems tank 10s can be found pretty readily here (and in can format!), canuck and limp puppet hover around replacement level ipas so i pick them up when fresh. i thought harry porter was excellent and would have loved to see those cans make it to the lcbo, actually it'd be nice if there was a seasonal RIS stout like behind the wavy wall available in cans or small bottles at the lcbo.

not sure why anyone would care about what one dude on a message board thinks, but overall I wouldn't put the ohio great lakes above the ontario one anymore, especially with the dollar where it's at. keep those cans coming to the lcbo!


might as well update my list. these are my current top 5 breweries that i am enjoying at the moment based on a million factors, list is always changing. definitely not my top 5 if money/travel was no issue.

- trillium: their ipas were a revelation to me this past summer, even after having all the vermont ipas these were just amazing. might be a time and place thing though. i need more.
- jester king: i never get tired of their various shelf saisons and am fortunate to have a ready stock most of the year thank to a generous friend in austin.
- dieu de ciel: i wish they were readily available in ontario, it's a shame that they are not because their whole line up is just stellar.
- nicklebrook: the refinement of headstock make it my go to local ipa. bolshevik is a great stout at a amazing price and kentucky bastard continues to improve every year. their pilot project has gotten off to a nice start with the coffee bastard. now if only they would pump out malevolent and immodest on a more regular basis, they would unquestionably my favourite ontario brewer.
- founders: not as interested in their ipas as I once was, even if all day is a great beer for what it is. however, they produce three beers i could drink everyday at great pricing and formats in backwoods bastard, breakfast stout, and their imperial stout. the ease of grabbing those beers at any time when they are in season and not having to bend over backwards to chase them is just great.


i had to knock bellwoods off even though they have the best barrel aging program in ontario and produce some of my favourite beers year after year simply because almost all their ipas i find to be at best average and overpriced to boot. I really loved boogie monster previously and would've put it at the top of ontario IIPAs, but this recent batch I had last week was like an old dirt wolf to me, just overly sweet and not very tropical. right now only the monogamy series stands out to me, but since i'm rarely in toronto they just don't have a place on my top 5 right now.

[Pub Style]

Southern tier/ the good Great Lakes (USA) - 2xone was a great beer this year and I rarely find a miss from their lineup. I love nosferatu and blackout stout. Both breweries are easy to find fresh as well which helps.

not sure why anyone would care about what one dude on a message board thinks, but overall I wouldn't put the ohio great lakes above the ontario one anymore, especially with the dollar where it's at. keep those cans coming to the lcbo!

Don't care. Just wanted to use a smilie.

[jeremyg]

Bellwoods
Hill Farmstead
Maine Brewing
Cantillon
Jolly Pumpkin

honourable mention for: Trou du Diable, DDC, Fiddlehead

[Winter is Coming]

Nickel Brook
Sawdust City
Innocente
Muskoka
Stack