Molson enters the busy Toronto brewpub scene with a new Creemore brewery and restaurant
Toronto’s brewpub scene will soon have another big, corporate player. According to BlogTO, the Beer Academy brewery at 75 Victoria Street, which is run by Molson-owned Six Pints, is being taken over by a new brewery and restaurant from Ontario-based Creemore Springs, which was acquired by Molson in 2005. Six Pints took over the corner space (previously occupied by the since-resuscitated Duggan’s Brewpub) in 2007, turning it into a combined retail store, tasting room and event space. Seven years later, Molson has apparently decided to go with something a little more mainstream. The Creemore brewpub is set to open in mid-2015, by which point it could have as many as four new competitors: Big Rock and 3 Brewers in Liberty Village, Lansdowne Brewery near Dundas West and the new Bellwoods Brewery in Dovercourt Village.
Over the last decade there has been an onset on Microbreweries and brewpubs throughout Toronto. Is there truly demand for these or are there just more government subsidies for breweries of this sort?
Many dates are incorrect in this blurb. Duggan’s opened at 75 Victoria St in December of 2009 and closed in April of 2011. The Six Pints Beer Academy didn’t open there until the fall of 2012.
I don’t believe there are subsidies per se, but the Ontario government has made changes to the liquor laws in recent years that make brewpubs more viable. Previously, legal limits on how much beer could be brewed and whether it could be sold to take home made the business model nearly impossible. For beer people, there’s definitely a demand, and for its population Toronto still has extremely few brewpubs compared to most US cities.