The Bar Towel

"Toronto’s Folly Brewing, currently on its third set of ownership, is slated to close in the very near future and has ceased production of beer."

https://on.thegrowler.ca/2024/03/22/new ... h-22-2024/

not specifically breweries, but Old Galt bottle shop in Cambridge is done:


and Mosaic in Hamilton, another awesome spot:

Old Galt was a neat place, but man every time I went there it felt really, really expensive. I'm not sure that business model is viable in Ontario. Which is a shame, because other than the prices on the beers that place was really cool.

Rumours have it that the Furnace Room Brewery in Georgetown has been sold to the Keenan’s Irish Pub chain. They have never had in-house food service at the brewery so I would think that this will lead to Keenan’s serving food there, and brewing beer to be served in the pubs.

In recent months Furnace Room has not released any new beers since their Oktoberfest lager and don’t currently have any brewing staff. They’ve been through 7 or 8 brewers in their 5 year existence so hopefully they can land someone to turn things around.

Craig wrote: ↑Thu Mar 28, 2024 7:25 am Old Galt was a neat place, but man every time I went there it felt really, really expensive. I'm not sure that business model is viable in Ontario. Which is a shame, because other than the prices on the beers that place was really cool.

This kind of sums up how I feel about bottle shops in Ontario. Unfortunately the cost made it hard to justify; paying upwards of 10 bucks for a can of beer to take home isn't sustainable. I don't blame the shops, they need to make a margin in the absence of wholesale pricing, but without serious regulatory change it'll continue to be a shrinking niche.

Tough spot for bottle shops. As you mention the lack of wholesale pricing for me only makes sense if there is something that doesn't ship.

I wonder if Quebec's system is better than ours. Depaneurs are cheaper than our bottle shops, but for good beer, I wouldn't really call it great. Five to seven dollar stuff is pretty common.

I'm glad to see that, after a brief disappearance, Maclean's seems to be back in production: their Pale Ale is on tap once again at my local (the Done Right Inn). It's a good beer and I hope it sticks around.

MattB wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2024 7:16 pm I'm glad to see that, after a brief disappearance, Maclean's seems to be back in production: their Pale Ale is on tap once again at my local (the Done Right Inn). It's a good beer and I hope it sticks around.

I'm glad Done Right Inn is still open. I haven't been by there in a long while. I don't get to the area much, though I did get to Squirly's recently.