The Bar Towel

As the holiday season approaches I'm sure many of us are thinking of checking out brewery bottle shops to get some interesting beer for celebrating with friends and family. I'd like to use this thread to rate bottle shops. What makes a good bottle shop? My criteria:

1) A variety of beer that's either not widely available or not in the LCBO/TBS at all. We'll assume if it's getting recommended that the beer actually tasted good as well.
2) Price
3) Packaging (gifting potential).

Here's a few that I think are worth a visit:

Indie Ale House: Very pleased the last time I visited. They had a 5 or 6 brews on, I think 3 were IPAs. All beer was between $5 and $6.50 for 500 ml bottles. I think the packaging is very attractive.

Left Field: I think they finally got some new tanks so they can actually produce a variety of beer unlike most of the summer where they had a core brand plus 1 other offering. I managed to get a porter, IPA, hoppy wheat, Pale All and Kettle Sour. Prices were between 5 and $7 and I think they are 650 ml. Glad to see the prices normalize from the original $9 for 750 ml.

Bellwoods: Many of us agree that this is a good one. Occasionally I have been when they only had 2 beers going but other times they had more like 7. I would recommend checking the site bottle shop page before heading over as they are good at keeping it updated.

Especially looking forward to recommendations on non Toronto shops or new breweries that are just starting up. Burdock is certainly on my list to check out.

those are not bottle shops.
those are breweries.
we do not have bottle shops in Ontario.

If you like sharing and gifting beer those are all great places. They usually have some interesting merch too, if you have anyone that would like a shirt or glass.

alsiem wrote:As the holiday season approaches I'm sure many of us are thinking of checking out brewery bottle shops to get some interesting beer for celebrating with friends and family.

atomeyes wrote:those are not bottle shops.
those are breweries.
we do not have bottle shops in Ontario.

We all know what the original poster meant, especially given that many breweries call their own shops "bottle shops" (see Bellwoods, Rainhard, Burdock in Toronto as examples).

Since when are the stores attached to breweries that sell bottles of beer under a big sign that reads "bottle shop" not bottle shops?

The trouble with the bottle shops at brewers in Ontario is you never know if they'll be worth going until a few days before. Amsterdam might have lots of 416 in their shop, or they might have Tempest, Sour Cherry Imperial Stout and Dewallen. So my advice is to call ahead before you go, to save a trip for nothing.

That said, Amsterdam and Great Lakes are sometimes worth visiting. A little further afield, Nickelbrook sometimes has interesting stuff (Immodest, Malevolent, Kentucky Bastard, Winey Bastard or whatever that call that spiced one) but it's hit or miss and their stuff often gets LCBO distribution.

I've only been in to Royal City a couple of times, but they've always had new things and they're never available elsewhere. They're still a little hit or miss, but they have a tasting bar so you can sample before you buy.

I almost hate to mention this one, but Wellington usually has some one-offs around. I personally think they've dramatically improved the quality of their beer in the last year or two, but it's still Wellington.

Beyond the Pale is probably farther than you want to go, but I've had good things come back from them a few times. Nice packaging too.

Does Indie keep an up to date list of what's available in their bottle shop? I can never seem to find it.

been pretty impressed with Burdock lately

nickw wrote:

atomeyes wrote:those are not bottle shops.
those are breweries.
we do not have bottle shops in Ontario.

We all know what the original poster meant, especially given that many breweries call their own shops "bottle shops" (see Bellwoods, Rainhard, Burdock in Toronto as examples).

because they're called Bottle Shops in every other part of the world that doesn't have our silly laws.
but why not just call them breweries? can't think of many bricks and mortar brewery that doesn't sell bottles.

Depending on how far you want to drive, I'll add.....

-Rainhard (TO)
-Innocente (Waterloo)
-Block 3 (St. Jacobs, but a 5 min drive from Innocente)
-Forrest City (London)

Dennis wrote:Does Indie keep an up to date list of what's available in their bottle shop? I can never seem to find it.

They are getting a bit better on twitter. They were terrible for a long time and it was a reason I didn't visit them on numerous occasions. But sporadic updates on twitter happen now.

atomeyes wrote:

nickw wrote:

atomeyes wrote:those are not bottle shops.
those are breweries.
we do not have bottle shops in Ontario.

We all know what the original poster meant, especially given that many breweries call their own shops "bottle shops" (see Bellwoods, Rainhard, Burdock in Toronto as examples).

because they're called Bottle Shops in every other part of the world that doesn't have our silly laws.
but why not just call them breweries? can't think of many bricks and mortar brewery that doesn't sell bottles.

You're being pretty willfully obtuse. Silly laws or not, in Ontario, a bottle shop is going to be what a lot people here are referring to when they're talking about the part of the brewery operation that sells bottles.

El Pinguino wrote:

Dennis wrote:Does Indie keep an up to date list of what's available in their bottle shop? I can never seem to find it.

They are getting a bit better on twitter. They were terrible for a long time and it was a reason I didn't visit them on numerous occasions. But sporadic updates on twitter happen now.

I have noticed the odd update on Instagram as well. Same for me, though - I often just go to Bellwoods or Burdock instead because at least I know what's available.

5 Paddles has the occasional really good beer (Sunrise Paddler was great). They usually have a few different things available and have a "hotline" telephone number that they update everyday that tells you what is in the fridge. I suppose a small bonus here is that Brock Street is a hop, skip and a jump away, though rather underwhelming in terms of offerings.

On updates:

Other than Bellwoods and Burdock, and increasingly Great Lakes, I can't think of any local/regional brewery that takes the time to update their in-stock list on a daily basis on their website. Others will post things on various social media sites. I prefer the former because it is easy/clear and always in the same place and in the same format. There is too much junk I don't care about that also gets put on Facebook and Twitter etc. that it makes those formats annoying for me. Moreover, the usual practice is to announce a new release and not update current stock. Why well established places like Indie and Amsterdam can't or won't have a regularly updated list of beers in stock in an easy to access place on their web-site is beyond me. Obviously, from this and other posts of mine, this is my biggest pet peeve with regards to craft beer.

Paranthetically, I once asked the cashier at Bellwoods if updating the bottle shop page was a nuisance for them as so few breweries do this. She laughed and said it takes about 30 seconds every few days as stock is added and removed. Sure, you have to set up the page, but maintaining it is not even work...

Bellwoods is great for that. Back in the day they used to have a list of what was in the works too, which was pretty great. Now they just tease us on social media and their blogs, which is great in a different way.

Junction Craft Brewing gets no love on here, but they update their bottle shop stock in the form of a blog post and on Facebook every Friday. Last weekend they had 15 different beers available in 500ml bottles. I think their offerings would please most newcomers to craft beer.

http://www.junctioncraftbrewing.com/jcb/tap-room/

I'm hoping Muddy York has another bottle shop pop up before Christmas. There was mention of the possibility on Twitter.