All The Best B’s In Toronto

I go to Toronto a couple times a year. I don’t particularly like going but I may be a bit jaded because what brings me out there is work and my work out there usually isn’t fun. Dealing with suits with a bloated sense of self importance. I also spend a lot of time sitting in traffic and Toronto traffic sucks. Also, for whatever reason, I always seem to be there during crappy weather. In the winter it’s super cold and I’m always ill prepared. No gloves, no beanie, no parka. In the summer it’s crazy hot and humid and I have to change my shirt three times a day. Yes, from sweat! I’ve also never been to the Hockey Hall of Fame or the CN Tower. I mean, c’mon, those are staples any visitor should be doing in The Six.

But enough complaining, you get the picture. I guess it’s not all bad. I usually make time for my fav record store, Sonic Boom. It’s honestly one of the coolest stores you’ll ever visit, especially if you’re a music or movie nerd.

You Haven’t Heard Of Them??!?!

I also always try to carve out some time, when I can, to hit up Bellwoods Brewery. If you haven’t heard of these guys you’re definitely missing out. They make amazing beer and they’re doing a ton of work promoting craft beer in Toronto and promoting Toronto craft beer all around North America.

(Yes, these are the best photos I took at Bellwoods. What can I say, I was too excited about the beer). These guys are doing some great things with barrel aged beer and farmhouse ales. The also make some killer Milkshake IPAs with their Milkshark series.

The Key To Success

On my first of two visits in two nights to Bellwoods back in January I sat their and had a thought….. most of the best breweries in T.O. right now (in my opinion) all have names that start with “B”! Bellwoods, Burdock, Blood Brothers & Bandit. Blood Brothers even has two words that start with “B” in their name!

Hey, future Toronto craft breweries, the number 1 key to your success is, apparently, in your name. Here are some suggestions; Barrel Batter Beer, Bearded Billy’s Bar & Brewhouse, Bad Boy Brewing (shout out to Puffy!). Okay, so I might suck a little at coming up with brewery names. You get the (sarcastic) point though.

But I digress…. I had been to Bandit on a previous trip so with limited brewery time I figured I’d check out a new brewery (to me) on my first night, Blood Brothers.

Give Me Blood…..Brothers

I had heard of Blood Brothers before but never actually tried anything from them. After visiting I realized the errors in my ways. Everything I tried from them was so friggin’ good but the two standouts were ‘Presto Change-O’ Nitro Sour with Apricot & Vanilla and ‘Dark N Sour’ Barrel Aged Sour Stout with Cherries. Lucky for me they had them in their fridge for take home as well!

The “Hey Google” Trick

The next day, I used my trusty “Hey Google, show me craft breweries along my route” while using my maps and I stumbled upon Muddy York Brewing Co in East York, Ontario. What a great stumble! It’s a cool little brewery in an industrial area of York. The building doesn’t really look like a brewery from the outside and the inside has a cool locals feel to it. They had awesome beer and even had a snack flight to go along with my refreshments. Cheese, pepperoni, pretzels and olives. All of my fav snacks! One of the standout beers for me was their ‘Paper Moon’ Brut IPA. What?! A Brut IPA??!! Yes, that’s right. It was the first one i’d tried that had me thinking “this is how it’s supposed to taste”.

First Date? Go To A Brewery, Right?

After my snack lunch and a day full of meetings I finally had time to get out to one of my favorite dinner spots in Toronto, Burdock. Here’s a tip...if you’re on a date or a business meeting and don’t wanna take them to a brewery and look like an uncultured alcoholic. Burdock is the place to go. Great food menu, great atmosphere and great beer.

Unfortunately I don’t have any photos from Burdock because I felt weird being in a restaurant by myself taking voyeur photos of all the people on dates. Maybe I need to step my blogger game up and just be ‘that guy’?

To The Airport OR A Quick Stop In Hamilton?

The next day was my last day in T.O., well actually, I didn’t even spend it in Toronto. I had to drive to Southern Ontario for a meeting and then back up to Mississauga to catch my flight home. Lucky for me, the meeting ended early and the beautiful city of Hamilton was on my drive back. Home of Collective Arts Brewing, you may have heard of them?

I’ll be honest, from the outside of their massive facility and knowing how wide their distribution is now I was expecting a tasting room that looked more like a sports bar. Happily, that wasn’t the case. It was actually a very modest tasting room in size but had a cool beer can/art room and archive. It really felt like a small local craft tasting room.

There were a couple breweries I wanted to check out in Hamilton after Collective Arts but with my flight leaving in a few hours and the fact I still had to drive to the airport, there was a tough decision to make. My decision making process basically came down to the thought “hey, didn’t Twin Sails (one of my fav breweries) do a collab with Merit Brewing?” and that’s how I ended up at, yes, Merit Brewing. Hope to see you next time, Fairweather Brewing!

Merit is in an interesting spot, right downtown Hamilton. It’s interesting because at home (in British Columbia) many cities don’t allow breweries in city cores like that. They always have to be in the outskirts somewhere. Merit’s tasting room was a pretty large spot and had a cool open concept with picnic tables and really high ceilings. I liked it. The beer was good and they had a decent food menu as well. I probably shouldn’t have ordered food though as the kitchen was busy and it took a bit longer than expected. Not a good pickle to be in when you’re flight is leaving in a couple hours. I ate my food like a duck and drank the rest of my beer like a college kid (minus the funnel) and headed off to the airport!!

See You Next Time, Clarice

Toronto, maybe you’re growing on me. You do have great beer, great food and my favorite record store. I still hate your hockey team but I can look past that (maybe). Next time I’m in you maybe we can check out the Hockey Hall of Fame and CN Tower. Maybe we can even check out Medieval Times. “Hello Clarice. It’s good to see you again“.

Til next time!!