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| John Hay (OCB President) and Steve Peters, 2008 |
The following interview appeared in the Spring 2010 Issue of TAPS The Beer Magazine on page 61. To obtain a copy, or other back issues of TAPS (dating back to 2007), shoot me at email for details.
*I've known Steve for three years now and I can say without hesitation that his passion for the historical aspect of beer, and his support for local breweries, is amazing. So much so that when the Toronto Beer Week committee was looking for someone to tap the ceremonial 'first cask' to welcome in the week, we looked no further than Steve.
Steve Peters has a pretty cool job … and a pretty great hobby. A career politician, Peters is the Member of Provincial Parliament for the riding of Elgin Middlesex-London and he is also the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. He is also a huge craft beer advocate and sees changes on the horizon for the Ontario brewing industry.
Since being elected to the Ontario Legislature in 1999, Peters has held various cabinet positions over the years, serving as Minister of Agriculture and Food as well as the Minister of Labour. In 2007, after being re-elected by the citizens from his riding, Peters was elected Speaker of the Legislature by his fellow MPPs.
One of his first initiatives in his role as the Speaker was to increase awareness of Ontario products at Queen’s Park (home of the Legislative Assembly). Peters, being a long time beer drinker, breweriana collector, and staunch supporter of local breweries, looked no further than the members of the
Ontario Craft Brewers (OCB) to assist him with his goal.
The Speaker, along with John Hay, President of the OCB, have organized two successful annual tastings of OCB members product at Queen’s Park, which are attended by MPPs and Legislature staff members. Individuals have the opportunity to sample the various beers and choose favourites in different categories and the winning beers will then have sway for a years time throughout the Legislature.
Peters, who has a hectic and busy schedule, recently sat down in his office to talk with TAPS’ Troy Burtch about his efforts to showcase Ontario breweries, his love of the fermented beverage, and his interest in brewing history and collecting beer relics of yesteryear.
Q - Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, craft beer advocate, long time breweriana collector, that’s quite the combination?
A – I always have fun with beer. I am a beer drinker. I’m not a wine drinker or a spirits drinker – strictly a beer drinker. I enjoy my beer! I grew up in a household with my father who enjoyed beer and two grandfathers who enjoyed beer. As someone who is interested in history, in Ontario history, I’ve discovered our brewing traditions in our province goes way back. It fits in quite nicely with me because in my own community (St. Thomas, ON) we had two breweries that started in the 1830’s, one in ’32 and one in ’33. One operated all the way until prohibition and the other closed in the 1880’s. As a collector of local memorabilia I have bottles from those breweries; I have a keg, a wooden crate, a glass mirror, and advertising from those breweries. It’s nice that I can tie some history into my love of beer as well.
I would say that part of my love of beer comes from my days as Minister of Agriculture. I spent two years doing that, trying to advocate and encourage people to buy local, buy Ontario, buy Canadian, and one of the things I did after I was elected Speaker, in 2007, was to ensure that we did what we could within this Legislature to promote Ontario product. We serve only VQA Ontario wine and for the past two years now we’ve proudly had local craft beer here – chosen by members and staff of the Legislature.
Q - Where did this passion for beer and collecting come from?
A – It was a family thing, I would certainly say that, as I mentioned earlier. But I can remember even in University in the 1980’s going into the Beer Store and we would buy a different brand of beer each week just to taste all the different ones. I remember one of my favourites for a long time was a Labatt product called Gold Keg. It was a nice beer, but long since disbanded.
Q - You’re a member of the Canadian Brewerianist Society. How did you get involved with collecting beer memorabilia?
A – I started collecting antique bottles around 1972, and I started to find bottles from the St. Thomas area and one in particular happened to be a beer bottle. I then became interested in the history of brewing in St. Thomas. I had no idea about a brewery once operating in my hometown, so my interest grew and led me to start looking for more beer bottles from the area. I joined an organization, which was then called the Canadian Brewerianists’ in 1982, a group that was dedicated to the history of Canadian brewing with members collecting everything from coasters, beer trays, caps, bottles, cans, posters, you name it. So I’ve been a member and a subscriber to their magazine for over 25 years. I attended their annual convention in Toronto in my first year (1982) and it opened my eyes to the diversity of breweriana collecting in Canada. I’ve made a lot of good friends all across the country that like beer and like collecting.
Q - Every collector has something they’re most proud of…..what’s your treasure?
A – Ahh! That’s a tough one. I have a lot of treasures. My number one piece? I guess it would be a mirror. It measures about 3 feet by 8 feet and it says “Ask For Rudolph and Begg Beer” and they were a brewery in St. Thomas. The mirror hung in a hotel, behind the bar and it disappeared before I was old enough to drink. It was gone for over 35 years. I got a call one day from a friend of mine who said, “Steve, a guy has moved back into town and I think he has the Rudolph and Begg mirror.” I got in touch with the gentleman, who had moved all over Canada with the mirror in his possession, and I was able to acquire it from him.
Not so much a treasure, but in the summer of 1995 a buddy and I discovered where the Rudolph and Begg bottle dump was. We got permission from the owners of the property and we rented a backhoe. We cleared all the top layer of earth and spent the summer digging through the old bottle dump and finding one whole bottle for every five hundred broken ones. It was quite a thrill.
Q - You played a key role in introducing Ontario-produced craft beers to members of the Legislative Assembly and fellow MPPs – what sparked this initiative?
A – The spark? Ensuring this building, which belongs to the citizens of Ontario and has been our Legislature since 1893, with over 300,000 visitors a year, that this building showcase the province; show off the great products we have in Ontario. As Speaker, one of my initiatives has been getting those products in the house. We have been serving VQA wines for over twenty-five years, chosen by MPPs and staffers, and I thought we should be doing this with beer. We worked with John Hay, the President of the Ontario Craft Brewers (OCB), and we modeled our beer initiative after the wine. We have six different categories plus a Speakers beer, the categories chosen by the OCB. We brought the breweries in and we’ve had two years of beer tastings here at the Legislature where MPPs and staff sample and pick the winning beers that will be served over the next year.
Q - What has the feedback been like from your fellow MPPs since you started the OCB tastings two years ago?
A – It’s been extremely positive. I think from the standpoint of people who have, over the years, been used to drinking beer from large breweries, this was their first experience at trying a craft beer and they quite enjoyed them. And by having the wide number of samples it gave them the opportunity to taste the different tastes coming from all over Ontario. I think people are extremely conscious of doing what they can to support businesses that are home-grown and operate in our own backyard, including breweries, and I’m a big believer in planting seeds and pouring beer on them and watching them grow.
From discussions I’ve had with other MPPs I’ve learned that they’re now aware of the local breweries in their respective ridings, which is great. I was just in Eastern Ontario touring around with MPP Jean-Marc Lalonde and one of the places he took me to was to
Beau’s All Natural Brewery in Vanleek Hill, ON.
If you follow beer in this province then you already know about barVolo's Cask Days.
