Mill Street Brewery buys Toronto’s Brickworks Ciderhouse

Just a few weeks after news broke that Mill Street Brewery had been purchased by Labatt, the Toronto brewer says it has acquired local cider maker Brickworks Ciderhouse. Mill Street brewmaster Joel Manning tells us that some of Labatt’s investment will go toward upgrading Mill Street’s Scarborough production facility so it can handle both cider and beer.

After less than two years in existence, Brickworks has become Canada’s top-selling craft cider. Co-founder Chris Noll explains that the new set-up will allow the company to greatly expand its distribution, while also allowing its cider-makers more time to experiment with small-batch and experimental offerings. Both Manning and Noll stress that the deal wasn’t led by Labatt. “We’ve been in talks with Mill Street about this since before the Labatt purchase,” says Noll. “Actually, a big draw for us to make this deal was the way Labatt has continued to allow Mill Street to operate autonomously. We’ll still have the same craft ciders as always—it will be 100 per cent unchanged.”