On The DL is a weekly series of reflective journal entries inspired by beer journeys past. Be it state, city, brewery or locale, the Drink Local crew loves to share a look back at the big things, the little things and the people that make the beer community so special.
We’re back again with another volume of On The DL and this week, the local community that I’m most excited about is Toronto, ON. There is a lot of energy surrounding Toronto that makes it really feel special right now, and you can feel it in everything from its rapidly increasing worldwide cultural imprint, to the great music, all the way down to the beer they’re brewing.
So, what brought a couple of Angelenos all the way across the great continent to Toronto? Well, part of it was the basketball. Most people know that the Toronto Raptors are the reigning NBA Champions and have brought a great deal of glory to the entire country of Canada by honoring it with its first NBA title. You may also know that they are also still an extremely good team and very much in the mix to capture another title.
The other part is that my sister-in-law’s husband happens to live downtown. His name is Kotaro, he’s from Japan, and when I met him, he barely spoke any English, and my Japanese was was even worse. Nonetheless, we bonded hard. It was like he and I had known each other for our entire lives. It’s wild because we’re complete opposites. I’m somewhat of a free spirit and he’s an unstoppable go-getter. Fire and ice generally don’t go together, but every now and then, you get a hot spring. One of the main things that attracted he and I to each other is that we both really share a strong passion for beer. Anyway, he started working for Sapporo in Japan, which now owns Sleeman Breweries in Canada. Being the go-getter he is, he learned English very well, very rapidly and now he works in Toronto, growing Sapporo’s brand through Sleeman.
So we thought, let’s go see this guy, and we did! What followed, was beer adventure!
Like I said, Kotaro lives downtown, which was great, because it put him walking distance from the first place that we went, a very cool 20 year old operation called Steam Whistle Brewing. At the time, they were brewing large batches of one beer, an absolutely unforgettable Pilsner. The Steam Whistle Pilsner is a perfect example of absolutely why I keep coming back to Pilsner style beer. It is pure, crisp, delicious and just flows down the gullet. My favorite thing about Pilsners that adhere strictly to German Purity Law, which Steam Whistle does, is that I 100% feel as if I’m getting a taste of the region it was brewed in itself; because the flavor is all about the water. It’s a fantastic location and they offered an exceptional tour with a wonderful tour guide. We could tell that they really care because if there is any distributed beer that they don’t sell after a period of time, they will come and take that shit back. They want every beer to be experienced with the freshness and quality that they’ve held themselves to. It looks like since our last visit, they’ve started brewing a pale ale. I can’t wait to go back and try it!
One of my favorite things about my relationship with Kotaro is that it is one of many marriages. Most obviously, he and I both married into the same family. But beer-wise, I represent craft beer, and he represents big beer. Lastly, he’s Japanese and I’m American. As a result of these dynamics, we both are able to learn so much from each other. A lot of people in the craft beer world tend to snub their nose at big beer, and I totally get that. But more and more, we’re seeing large corporations conduct acquisitions of craft beer breweries. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t. In my opinion, in works best when the large entities leave the microbreweries that they’ve acquired to their own devices and allow them to continue doing whatever it was that they were doing that attracted them to those microbreweries in the first place. It doesn’t work when they start sticking their finger into the brew tank, so to speak. However, that is always a risk when someone that is larger than you acquires ownership of your work or passion projects.
Sapporo is one of the largest Japanese breweries in the world, and there is literally no avoiding it if you live in or go to Japan. Having a relationship with Kotaro has taught me to appreciate their contributions to the beer community too. Luckily, their rice lager is good, so that doesn’t hurt, but what I didn’t know is that they also brew so many small batch, seasonal and special release beers in Japan that really help to push the culture forward. Knowing things like this has helped to abolish some of my prejudices when it comes to craft beer and big beer. Now I tend to be a little less judgmental and more respectful of people’s preferences. As a craft beer drinker, what I’ve come to realize is that I don’t want to alienate people who don’t necessarily understand craft beer culture or may even feel intimidated by it. Instead, I want to welcome them in, allow them the latitude to feel at home, and demonstrate the warmth that I’ve felt from the craft beer community. That’s not possible if I, myself, am not open-minded.
With that said, I want to talk about the next location that we checked out in Toronto that really represents that marriage of the east and the west, as embodied through craft beer. Godspeed is my favorite brewery in Toronto. Quite simply, I think that they are perfect. Godspeed may be the closest replication of the Japanese izakaya that exists among breweries in the west. What that means is that they specialize not only in delicious beer with classically Japanese flavor profiles, but they also have a well-curated menu that serves the types of appetizers, meals and snacks that you would find in an izakaya-style restaurant. Everything that they serve pairs so well with their beer. Many breweries are unique within their own communities and regions, but rarely do any offer the type of one-of-a-kind experience that Godspeed offers, that you simply will have a tough time indulging in anywhere else. As far as we know, it is the only brewery of its kind on the continent.
If you’re a taster like me, then you like variety. That’s where the Junction comes in. The Junction is a district in Toronto that just so happens to be where quite a few diverse craft breweries are collected together. The first one that we visited was of course, Junction Craft Brewery. It’s much more along the lines of your quintessential brewery/tasting room. It’s well-designed and possesses touch of class without veering too far from its roots as a microbrewery. It’s apparent that they host a variety of events but what’s most important to us is that they brew and can so much beer that their refrigerators feel reminiscent of a cornucopia. Their can-art is gorgeous, which is an absolute must for the Drink Local crew, and they are brewing all styles. We love this place because we love full fridges. And hey, if you’re living in the area, they’ll bring them to your doorstep!
Walking distance from Junction Craft Brewery is a great location called Rainhard Brewing. Rainhard is a much more old school type of brewery. Their aesthetic is very Big Masculine Energy with lots of hard lines, tanks and vehicles, resistance-glorifying themes and bold colors. It is a spacious and inviting joint with a lot of beers on tap. We think it’s a great place to go to bolster your education if you’re interested in tasting a lot of beers and experiencing very delicious on-or-close-to-profile flavors. We found Rainhard to be the most family friendly of the Junction locations that we were able to visit. They have tons of tables, games, pinball machines and a staff that seems super enthusiastic and passionate about what they do. When that kind of happiness shines through, it really makes for a memorable experience, no matter how many you’ve managed to knock back.
The last place that I want to bring some attention to is a quaint little spot called Shacklands, which is right in the same area as Junction Craft Brewery and Rainhard. We love people who are doing their own thing, and Shacklands is definitely that kind of spot. When you walk in, it’s like you’re transported to an alternate universe. It looks like the kind of place people would go if the zombie apocalypse occurred, but we still needed some delicious brews. It is awesome. Everything is in your face, whether it’s the brew tanks, or the bottles, any work in progress that happens it be going on at the time. This place is really, really visually cool! They specialize in Belgian-style beer, drawing a sharp contrast to their local contemporaries and the vibe is so chill. So many breweries these days are so cleanly and meticulously designed that we love something that feels a little more rushed and passionate. There are tools, classic cartoons, a piano… it’s almost as if the people behind this place are hoarding. But what we do know is that the gentleman that we met behind the bar, who I think owns the place was so kind and endearing. And I will never forget what he gave us when we were on our way out. He handed us a sticker that said “FASCISM SHALL BE DESTROYED” My! Man! We are right there with you buddy! I cannot wait to go back to this area, I cannot wait to go back to Toronto, and I cannot wait to try some more beer at the Junction!
Toronto is a great place to drink responsibly and have fun. It’s beautiful, welcoming, diverse and growing in popularity. We can’t wait to see what’s next for them and we can’t wait to go back. We want to thank Godspeed for giving us that old familiar feeling of the Japanese izakaya, give credit to everyone in the Junction for packing all of that personality into one little area, and we’ve gotta give love to Steam Whistle for their dogmatic commitment to doing what they do best and sticking to it. I have to show love to my brother Kotaro, and I’m so glad that he opened up so many doors for us and allowed us to experience the large batch and small batch brews of Toronto, ON. Drinking with friends and family, making new friends along the way and enjoying moments that can’t be replicated are values that Drink Local holds dear, and it’s really why we want to share our experiences with the community that has been so generous to us.
If you want to see more of Toronto, ON through the eyes of the Drink Local crew, we’re always populating our Instagram and will be spending this next week dropping images directly related to this week’s volume of On The DL! And we’d love for you to follow us on Twitter so that you never miss an update!
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