Here’s what happens when a bunch of Ontario’s top beer makers team up to make one exclusive brew
The 12th annual Terroir Symposium kicks off Monday at the AGO, and in honour of the event, two of the province’s biggest craft breweries came together to create a very Ontario beer. A few weeks ago, Great Lakes Brewery hosted Beau’s All-Natural Brewing at their Etobicoke brewery, along with representatives from local malt, hops and yeast producers, to make what they’re calling the Great Ontario Craft Brew. The collaboration beer, named Yours to Discover by contest winner James Hamilton of Barrie, will be unveiled (and tasted) at Terroir by Peter Bulut (GLB) and Robb Morra (Beau’s). Here’s a look back at what happened during brew day.
First, we went on a tour of the brewery, led by the Crazy Canuck himself:
Tanks a lot:
These submarine-looking tanks hold 58,000 litres of Blonde or Red Leaf lager, two of the brewery’s OG beers:
Here’s where beer is canned:
Kegs for days:
Then, GLB employee Alistair Thain (on the right, next to Brian O’Donnell from Beau’s) led a beer-and-cheese pairing:
There was beer from Beau’s:
This was their lineup:
And beer from GLB, of course:
And this was their lineup:
After the tasting, we got to work. This copper pilot system—the tank housing the Great Ontario Craft Brew—can produce up to 700 litres of beer. GLB’s owner and chief operation brewer Peter Bulut purchased it as a 30th birthday present for the brewery:
Four different grains from Barn Owl went into the brew: pilsner, pale ale, red wheat and Munich. Here’s Devin Huffman from Barn Owl pouring in the first bag of his stuff:
Each bag weighs as much as a medium-size child:
Next, we weighed out VQH Farms hops: chinook, cascade and centennial. Here’s TK from VQH Farms pouring in some of his hops now:
And, last but not least, Richard from Escarpment Labs added some of their Wild Thing wild yeast into the mix:
After all of the “work” we did, we had (more) beer:
And, thankfully, some food:
Update: Here’s the label art for Yours to Discover:
