WineNot Ontario

Local taps in Toronto

Toronto is very obviously a city that wants to get serious about creating and supporting a vibrant beer culture.

Currently, this is accomplished by a dual emphasis on local craft offerings and carefully selected import choices. Smokeless Joe’s, for example, boasts an extremely extensive beer list with bottles from all over the world, as well as a sizable showing of local Ontario brews. This trend is mirrored in other beer bars throughout the city. BarVolo features a comprehensive and steadily rotating cast of beers, much like Smokeless Joe’s, while C’est What? departs from this dual showing—with a beer list comprised solely of Canadian beers. With the presence of such establishments, craft beer is given its proper stage: knowledgeable staff, proper glassware, local events, extensive and detailed beer lists, and quality aesthetics come together to form the ideal environment to raise awareness and craft appreciation for a sustained and healthy beer culture.

The necessary infrastructure is not all that is needed to develop a truly Canadian craft beer culture, though—it is merely the framework within which it will grow. So, attention must be given to the actual substance of said beer culture.

This can be explored in two different ways. First, via import selections, as it can be understood what styles and aspects are appreciated and enjoyed. Second, and more importantly, through consideration of the beers produced by the domestic craft breweries. This second point is very important because it demonstrates what the Eastern Canadian beer scene desires internally, and how it answers these calls.

Although the beer lists of the aforementioned bars are quite extensive and rather disparate at points, some key trends can be identified. Within these truly global selections (i.e. Smokeless Joe’s has beers from across North America, Europe, Asia, and even Africa); it is noted that there is an emphasis on beers hailing from the English and Belgian traditions more so than that of Germany, Austria, or the Czech Republic. That is not to say that beers from the latter regions are not represented, merely that, across the board, styles within the former’s canon enjoy a larger showing. Naturally, this results in an increased emphasis on ales over lagers.

This preference extends into the creations of the Eastern Canadian craft beer scene, as well. Unibroue from Chambly, Quebec is an extremely thorough Belgian-style brewery whose offerings hold up extremely well next to actual Belgian product. The focus for Ontario brewers, though, appears to be on beers of the English collection, and this is not unlike the trend of American craft brewers. As with American craft breweries, the breweries of the Ontarian craft scene consistently offer a collection of a few core styles, including: Pale Ales, India Pale Ales (IPA), Porters, Stouts, and ESBs.

In terms of the manifestation of these particular styles, here, is where Ontarian brewers depart from American brewers. Where American breweries have used the traditional English styles as a starting point to develop their own, stylistically independent styles, Ontarian breweries haven’t strayed too far from the original path.

Toronto craft beer pubs pull their weight

This can be illustrated with a brief analysis of two popular draught brews:

Railway City’s Dead Elephant Pale Ale is described as a “hop bomb, there is no doubt”. For me, with such a description, I expect hop bitterness and spiciness akin to the American tradition. However, this beer does not live up to what the marketing purports it to be. The aroma contains a light floral and citrusy hop touch; but any hopes of a hoppy experience are washed away with the first sip, and biscuity malts dominate this brew. The Dead Elephant Pale Ale’s hop presence is much less pronounced than even moderate contemporary Pale Ale offerings from the States. As such, this beer’s balance of hops and malt is more reminiscent of traditional English Pale Ale offerings than any ‘hop bomb.’

Another slightly confusing beer for the American visitor is: Mill Street’s Tankhouse Ale. This offering from Mill Street is billed as an American Pale Ale (APA) with a highly complex malt base (using five different varieties) accented with a hop profile featuring heavy doses of Cascade hops to round out the bitterness, flavor, and aroma. As with Railway City’s Dead Elephant, this beer falls a little short of the mark. Perhaps attributable to the lack of complexity of the hop profile, thus, this beer lacked dynamism of flavor and overall experience. The grapefruit hop aroma is very inviting; but upon drinking this beer one finds that the hops play but a supporting role to the malt’s lead. This is quite a departure from the standard of American Pale Ales. So, unless this is an attempt at a wholly Canadian style (i.e. Canadian Pale Ale), this offering from Mill St. presents itself more as a British Pub Ale, rather than an American Pale Ale.

The Ontario craft beer scene is at a crux of self-definition.

Neither of the two previous examples is meant to be disparaging; they simply are beers that highlight the current crossroads. Both are not by any means poor in-themselves; however, they are inappropriately titled and marketed, especially to tourists. This aspect seems to be rather consistent. Now, even Quebec’s St. Ambroise’s Pale Ale – similarly touted as an APA – is met with many of the same reservations. To be sure, it is a finely crafted Pale Ale; but simply does not occupy the same stylistic ranks of APAs from the States. By the same token, however, these Pale Ales are not just stylistic clones of their British brethren. In this way, Canadian brewers are certainly on their way to carving out their own particular stylistic niche within the world of beer.

Outside of Pale Ales, the Eastern Canadian (via Ontario and Quebec) craft beer scene seems keen to assert itself more strongly. County Durham Brewing’s, ESB (nitro), Mill Street’s, Cobblestone Stout are excellent examples of English styles reworked in the New World. And with a nod to neighbouring Quebec – the McAuslan St. Ambroise’s Oatmeal Stout stands out as brilliant example of the style – and as a testament to the prowess of St. Ambroise as a brewery. This dark as night brew offers an extraordinarily smooth mouth feel and a subtly complex malt profile that offers hints of dark chocolate, coffee, and roasted malts. It is this type of reinventing of European styles that brought success to the American craft beer movement; and can, here, as well.

So, the Ontario craft beer movement is faced with a question of what their signature style and scene will be. The necessary pieces are in place—there is a growing interest in and excitement about craft beer, and a support network – albeit small – of dedicated fine bars, pubs, and people—but will these pieces be used to assemble a neo-Euro or America-centric craft culture within Ontario, or will they be skillfully manipulated to create an entirely new face of craft beer that Canadians may irrevocably call their own?

- Grant Broussard

Photos: K. McCarron

Please welcome, Grant Broussard, a young and savvy beer writer from Pittsburgh. This is his first WineNot Ontario article detailing his thoughts on a recent visit to Toronto. If you would like to reach the author, please leave a comment or email: kaylea@winenotontario.com