California’s Russian River Brewing Company is one of those rare finds. A brewery, so often revered for its Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger IPAs but one that is also treasured for its barrel-aged output. Be that a strong dark ale aged in Cabernet Sauvignon barrels, or a sour aged in Pinot barrels, the level…
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It has been a phenomenal experience. Being able to bring Goose Island beers to Toronto and having the ability to experiment and adapt to drinkers’ tastes is something special. It’s great to be part of,” explains Bernard Priest, head brewer at Goose Island’s Toronto Brewhouse. The Goose Island Brewhouse in Toronto was six months young in…
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Re-coopering is essentially a process used to remove all the neutral oak on the interior surface of a barrel, re-toasting, re-assembly and leak sealing to complete the process. Re-coopering a barrels costs one fifth the price of a new barrel, which typically costs $1000 – $1300CDN per 225L/228L barrel. It is a practice that has…
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“The brewing industry is an extremely important part of the fabric on Ontario. As the sector grows, new breweries open and with that, jobs are created and there is a knock-on impact on the economy here in Ontario. And that is only a good thing,” explains Scott Simmons, the president of Ontario Craft Brewers. Simmons is…
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The Brewers Association Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo was a different animal in 1998 compared to the annual giant it is now. Held in Atlanta, Georgia in the April of that year, the Brewing Studies National Craft Brewers Conference, as it was known then, was a melting pot of brewing knowledge. Companies like Wachsmann Brewing…
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“In the first 12 days we have had seven thousand people through the doors. It’s an incredible feeling and we are really appreciative of that.” The people behind Cowbell want Blyth, Ontario and the people of Blyth, Ontario want Cowbell. It’s no surprise that Grant Sparling, general manager and vice president of the new brewery…
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“I’ve lived here for years and had no idea there was a brewery here!”. It’s something Ryan Mackey, owner of Vancouver Brewery Tours loves to hear when giving tours of the west coast seaport’s breweries. But for somewhere growing like Vancouver, you can’t imagine too many of the cities being able to keep a low…
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When David Cayer met Julien Niquet while studying business at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), a French-language university in Montreal, neither would have guessed that they’d be running a successful brewery, distillery and distribution group less than a decade later. But that’s just what they are doing. They employ a team of 60, export…
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A simplified definition would run as follows: in food chemistry, any heating steps involving the presence of sugars and amino compounds (ammonia, amino acids, proteins or polypeptides) lead to the complex reactions originally demonstrated by Louis-Camille Maillard (1878-1936) ca. 1912. Maillard demonstrated to scientists at the French Academy the formation of a yellowish-brown colored liquid,…
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The funny thing is that in the nineties, I don’t think the word ‘craft’ really existed in the world of beer. If you were making good beer, and people were enjoying it, then that was enough. I knew we were making good beer, drinkers were relating to our beer, and working with my dad (the…
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