The Votes Have Been Tallied - OCB Beers In At Queen's Park

Well, is this post ever late...

Steve Peters has done a lot for the Ontario Craft Brewers (OCB). Over the last four years the outgoing Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario has invited member breweries of the OCB into Queen's Park for a tasting with MPP's, Queen's Park staffers and a number of local beer media and brewerianists. Everyone gets to meet the brewers, sample their product and nimble on an outstanding selection of Ontario produced cheeses.

Each year, at the conclusion of each tasting, individuals lucky even to attend are asked to submit ballots with their nominations for the best beer in six different categories. When the votes are tabulated the winning beers will then be featured exclusively at Queen's Park for the year. Peters, who is a big supporter of local product, chooses a "Speaker's Beer" to round out the number to seven.

Over the years the tastings have become quite popular as more and more Queen's Park representatives make their way down to the event to sample some of Ontario's finest, and this year saw the largest turn-out to date. Even Premier McGuinty and Ontario's Lieutenant Governor made and appearance; though both men choose not to indulge in any samples.

This year was especially popular because it is the last time that Peters will be hosting the tasting as he has decided that he won't seek re-election in this years provincial election. Like I mentioned at the beginning, Peters has done a lot for OCB members over the years and let's hope that the next Speaker of the Legislative Assembly will come in and continue on what Peters started four years ago.



The April 19th tasting featured 18 breweries with 61 different beers being sampled. Those breweries included:
Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery, Lake of Bays Brewing Co.,  Muskoka Cottage Brewery, Nickel Brook Brewing Co., (Grand River Brewing, Black Oak Brewing Co., Great Lakes Brewery, F&M Brewery, Wellington Brewery,  Old Credit Brewing Co. Ltd., Neustadt Springs Brewery, Niagara College Teaching Brewery, King Brewery, Cameron’s Brewing Co., Railway City Brewing), Mill Street Brewery and Beau’s All Natural Brewing Co.

The winning OCB brands were selected in the following categories:

Golden Lagers, Pilsners & Light Beer
Mill Street Brewery - Organic Lager

Refreshing Ales 
Beau’s All Natural Brewing Company - Lug Tread Lagered Ale

Amber Lagers, Ales & Honey Beer 
Old Credit Brewing Co. - Amber Ale*

Malty Dark Lager or Ale 
Kichesippi Beer - 1855

Bold Flavoured Ale, Stout or Porter 
Railway City Brewing - Dead Elephant Ale

Wheat Beer & Specialty 
Nickel Brook Beers - Green Apple Pilsner

Speaker’s Selection 
Flying Monkey’s Craft Brewery - Hoptical Illusion Almost Pale Ale

A Visit To Southern Tier Brewing Co. In Lakewood, NY

Saturday April 30th - 8am: 16 beer lovers from Ontario boarded a bus in front of Union Station in Toronto to head south across the border to the booming Southern Tier Brewing Co. in Lakewood, NY. And despite the early start, everyone attending was in good spirits and were looking forward to hitting the road.

The trip was organized by the Roland and Russell Import Agency, the official agents of Southern Tier in Ontario, and for only $65 individuals were provided with transportation, free samples of the Southern Tier line-up, all you could eat food and a personal tour of the growing brewery. 

Here's how the day broke down, for those of you who couldn't make it... and there's even another video (bottom of post).

The worst part of any cross-border trip, especially on a bus with other folks who are dying to get to a brewery for beer, is the wait at the border. On the Bar Towel bus trip to Buffalo back in November both the entry to the US and the re-entry into Canada were long and painful. As we approached the border during this particular trip we all held our breath and we breezed through the first checkpoint, only to wait 1 hour for our bus to be pulled into the second bay for inspection. After a quick chat with border officials our group got back on the bus and we were off again, with no scheduled stops impeding our itinerary, and packed with a couple of beer movies (Beer Wars, LCBO/OCB video) the hours flew by.

We entered Lakewood shortly before one 1pm and drove alongside a beautiful lake that directs you almost all the way to the brewery. At 1pm the bus made a left hand turn into an industrial park and a gorgeous Southern Tier Welcome sign informed us that we made it.

We pulled up to the front entrance of the brewery and everyone marvelled at the size and beauty of it. Rock paths with a small stream of running water lined the driveway and a small bush around the brewery gave it a rustic vibe for a brewery situated in an industrial complex.

Everyone jumped off the bus and two Southern Tier employees greeted us at the door and ushered us inside where tasting glasses were quickly put in our hands. There were 14 beers to choose from, including the ever popular Pale Ale, IPA, 2x IPA, UnEarthly IPA, and Jah-va. Once everyone had a full glass we were led outside to their back patio to bask in the sunlight while eating delicious pulled pork sandwich's, pasta and sausage salad and coleslaw. Everything went down great with Phin & Matt's Extraordinary Ale.

After we couldn't eat anymore we headed inside for more samples from the open bar and moved on to the brewhouse. Phin DeMink, Southern Tier's Founder and President, made an appearance and welcomed everyone to his brewery before Mike, ST tour guide extraordinaire, explained each of the beers Southern Tier brews. He also made sure our glasses were full before, during and after the personal tour.

Southern Tier opened in 2003 and grew so quickly that they had to expand. The original brewery is just down the road from the new one that we were standing in (opened in 2009) and now produces 60,000 barrels (70, 408 hectolitres), which brings them right to capacity already. Their most recent success has seen them lease the old brewery again for logistics and storage as the new brewery, even with room to expand, is full.

The brewery exports product to 29 US states and 12 countries around the world, and according to Southern Tier, they don't go looking for export markets, they come to them.

I asked about how the relationship is with the LCBO and all they would say is now that they're listed, it's easy. Hard in the past. One thing that they did mention is that Ontario is the only export market that Southern Tier does different labels for - the only export market in the world! They don't change a thing for Sweden, but a province only a couple of hours away needs unique packaging?


Today, Southern Tier produces about 28 different beers annually and their 2x IPA recently became their number 1 selling brand, bumping their regular IPA to number 2. DeMink also mentions that he has a new set of blue-prints on his desk about another expansion that's necessary to keep up with demand, and with room to grow (he owns all the property around the brewery) there is opportunities to do so on their current site.

With the tour complete and numerous (and hearty) samples consumed it was back out to the bar for one last drink before our trip home. Rules about purchasing beer or swag were quickly overlooked as the eager group wanted to bring stuff back across the border. A lot of growlers were filled, mixed packs were put together, t-shirts were purchased - Southern Tier's retail store was booming. And the great thing - no one had to pay any duty at the border crossing, which by the way, only took 25 minutes!

It was a great day and well worth the $65 price tag.

The Brewery Market - Coming Soon...Toronto

Without going into detail, I recommend you follow @brewmarket on Twitter to get updates on a cool new idea being introduced by a good friend in Toronto very soon. And while you're at it, you might as well bookmark www.brewerymarket.com.

I can say that it will be great for the beer scene here in Toronto!

.... hint, keep Sunday May 29th open!

Propeller London Porter In Six Packs

I just received a press release from the Propeller Brewing Co. in Halifax, NS that indicates that the brewery will be introducing their London Style Porter in 341ml bottle six-packs for the first time.

Propeller Brewing Company is set to release six-packs of London Style Porter to Nova Scotia’s four private liquor stores this week. This product was originally limited to the popular “bomber” or 650ml single serve bottle. This additional format will give craft beer customers more choice. John Allen President of Propeller Brewing Company says “Recent expansions to our production line have now made it possible for us to act on what consumers have been requesting for some time now”.

The six packs of the London Style Porter will be available starting this Thursday (May 5th) at the brewery's retail store and at select Halifax private liquor stores. The brewery also indicated that they will still be packaging the porter in 650ml bottles which will continue to be sold at NSLC locations throughout the province.

Biking Across The Country... And Drinking Good Beer

Reid - about to hit the road again

Yesterday I packed some items into a backpack, dusted off my bicycle, grabbed a raincoat and headed out on Toronto's bike path to meet Graham Reid at the Steam Whistle brewery. It was to be a day of riding around Toronto, drinking some craft beer along the way.

Reid is the young guy behind the TrueCanadianBeers website. Sometime last year the 20 year old decided that he wanted to pedal across our vast country on his father's 1970's bike; nuts, I know! After making up his mind that this was something that he'd actually do, Reid started thinking about ways that he could make his trip a little more unique, a little more fun - visiting Canadian craft breweries and brewpubs is what he came up with.

He was working on a farm in Greece on a work exchange program and his father sent him a copy of the fall issue of TAPS The Beer Magazine, which helped shape his goal. Upon coming back to Canada, Reid, who once biked from Canada to Mexico, started contacting various breweries and whipped up a website (which is only temporary, he has another website that will be launching after his trip that will include video's, interviews with brewers, and more) and mapping out his travels.

Six weeks ago he started the journey in Halifax, stopping at Garrison, Propeller, Granite, Rouge's Roost and Hart and Thistle. Next it was New Brunswick with stops at Picaroons and Pump House. In Quebec he visited Dieu du Ciel, Benelux, La Barberie and more, and yesterday he was in Toronto where I joined him on the bike on behalf of TAPS. We wanted to make sure that he had a good experience and got good face time at certain breweries.

Our first stop was Steam Whistle, a brewery he is very familiar with. Reid stated that Steam Whistle was the beer that made him realize that beer has flavour and it set him off on a quest to try as many different beers as he could. We chatted with Sybil Taylor, who took Reid on a personal brewery tour and Steam Whistle graciously provided him with his very own Steam Whistle biking shirt.

After a short trip across Front to Bathurst we were at the Amsterdam brewery. We were treated to a number of samples, including Amsterdam's new Imperial Stout (!) and another personal brewery tour. After a brief interview with Amsterdam's Marketing manager, Blake van Delft, we set off for the 9km ride to Great Lakes in Etobicoke.

Checking out Steam Whistle's system

David Bieman was there to greet us when we finally made it. Reid barely broke a sweat. I on the other hand was exhausted and starting to wish my seat was a little more forgiving...

Reid interviewed Bieman, getting answers about the products brewed at Great Lakes and the history of the brewery. Mike Lackey, Great Lakes pilot brewer, ushered us into the brewhouse for a quick tour and taste. We sampled the Crazy Canuck while we strolled through the entire brewery.

By this time we were both quite hungry. It was decided that a trip to Bryden's was in order but climbing into the front seat of the Great Lakes hearse sounded better than biking, so we hitched a ride to the west end pub where we had some lunch and drinks with Lackey and John Graham, sales rep with Muskoka Cottage Brewery.

With bellies full of food and beer, it was time to say goodbye. I headed back home on the bike (sore today I'll tell ya) and Reid headed his way, getting ready for the next leg of his travels - west.

Check out his twitter account @truecanadianbeer and his website www.truecanadianbeers.ca.

Get In Line - Canning Great Lakes Crazy Canuck

After sitting through a couple of meetings today I thought I'd pop over to the Great Lakes brewery off the Gardiner Expressway to check out the canning of their Crazy Canuck Pale Ale, a beer that's really grown on me since its inception.

The Crazy Canuck will start making its way to LCBO retail stores shortly, so keep an eye out for the new cans.

Here is the canning line in action.

VCBW 2011 Collaboration Beer Video

The organizers of the 2nd annual Vancouver Craft Beer Week (VCBW) have just released another excellent video that they've put together, which is available on their Facebook page and Vimeo account and will soon be uploaded to the VCBW website.

This video highlights the 2011 VCBW Collaboration beer that 28 British Columbia brewers participated in. Some of the speakers featured on this video include: Gary Lohin (Central City Brewing Co.), Tariq Khan (Big Ridge Brewing Co.), Barry Benson (R&B Brewing Co.), Rick Dellow (R&B Brewing Co.), James Walton (Storm Brewing) and a handful of others. The proceeds of the Cascadian Dark Ale will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross Society Tsunami Relief Fund.

Canada Malting donated the raw materials for the collaboration beer, bottles have been donated by Richards Packaging, and it was brewed at Vancouver's R&B Brewing on April 1st, 2011..


VCBW 2011 Collaboration Beer from Vancouver Craft Beer Week on Vimeo.

The video was produced by Chris Bjerrisgaard and Soren Johnstone

Garrison Brewing Co. Thinks #momdeservesabeer

Garrison Brewing Co. may possibility have the best Mother's Day contest happening out there - a chance to win your mother a gift basket full of Garrison swag.

The Halifax brewery thinks that Mom Deserves A Beer this Mother's Day, so their looking for the most mischevisous picture of your little angels to back up their theory! Best image wins the basket, and so far there are some killer photo's that have been submitted, especially this one. You can view them all on the Garrison Facebook page.

CONTEST RULES

• All photos submitted must be of you and/or your children.
• Photos you submit can be recent or from your childhood.
• Garrison has the right to disqualify photos that are inappropriate or not in the spirit of this contest.
• Please make sure your submissions are 1MB or less – suitable for emailing.
• By entering this contest, you agree to have your photos made public via Facebook, Twitter and our website.
• Photo submissions will be accepted until midnight on Thursday, May 5, 2011.

Email entries to mom@garrisonbrewing.com for your chance to win!

Spring IPA Festival - Toronto's Burger Bar & Tequila Tavern

Brock Shepherd, the owner of Kensington's Burger Bar & Tequila Tavern, doesn't seem to stop. After putting his establishment on the craft beer radar with his involvement in Toronto Beer Week he then got involved with the cask scene and held one of the most successful CASK! Toronto Social's to date. He later founded the Kensington Brewing Co. and started to contract brew Augusta's Ale at Etobicoke's Black Oak brewery, which has received positive feedback from the beer community and is starting to make the rounds at various Ontario pubs.

Now Shepherd has announced that he his hosting the first annual Spring IPA Festival at the Burger Bar - taking place this Friday April 29 until Sunday May 1st.

From Shepherd: 

6 Rotating taps and 1 rotating cask full of IPA GOODNESS!
10+ Different IPAs will be available throughout the Weekend!
Some never to bee seen anywhere ever again

• Beau's Ip'eh 
• Amsterdam BoneShaker ON CASK
• Great Lakes Brewery - Robohop Triple IPA, Scurrilous on Tap and Johny Simcoe on Cask
• Taps Brewing Co. Chuck Norris & Choke Slam IPA 100 IBU's 7.3%
• Cheshire Valley's 1st ever IPA Official Launch!
• Muskoka Cabin Fever
• Grand River Curmudgeon
• Scotch Irish Sgt Major
• Flying Monkeys SMASHBOMB
• Wellington's - Welly One Off on Cask

To kick things off, Shepherd will be pulling out his Randall the Enamel Animal on Friday night. Beau's IP'Eh from Beau's All Natural Brewery will be the beer to run through the beast at 9pm with Beau's owner Steve Beauchesne looking on.

The Burger Bar & Tequila Tavern
319 Augusta Avenue
Toronto, ON
(416) 922-7423
www.theburgerbar.ca

Partake In A Pub Crawl This Weekend - Why Not

Sounds like a great idea! Head out and enjoy a number of great craft beer supporting pubs/bars.

Click on the link for some suggested routes/locations!

Toronto Pub Crawl Series

See you back here next week. Happy Long Weekend!!

Duggan's Brewery - Downtown Location - Officially Closed

Duggan's Brewery downtown location (brewery/restaurant) is officially closed, according to their Twitter account, ending two days of speculation and rumours.

A member of Bar Towel was the first to break the news about an eviction notice posted on the boarded up front entrance of Toronto's Duggan's Brewery at 75 Victoria Street. The poster (biegaman) shared the news on Tuesday morning and since then there was a lot speculation surrounding the closure, and a lot of rumours.

There were numerous tweets mentioning that the tied-house would re-open shortly, like the one below -

Mike Duggan says he hopes brewpub will reopen this week. Shut down because “landlord made a mistake. lawyers working right now to fix it.”
-Josh Rubin, Toronto Star beer writer @starbeer on Twitter

and there were tweets about its demise and that the closure is for good -

It's official Duggans is closed for good. There's going to be a lot of good staff looking for work in the city..tweet if you can help
- Ben Shillow @saison81 on Twitter

blogTO, a website dedicated to covering Toronto news, even weighed in on the matter, posting an article in their Deadpool series which including a photograph of the eviction notice on the front door.

There was also a lot of chatter at Queen's Park on Tuesday evening at the Speaker's Tasting that I attended. No one really seemed to know much about it; although some industry members did mention hearing about issues with the landlord.

Until now I felt it better to not put up a post about the news, or the photograph of the notice, without hearing from Michael Duggan himself or one of his General Manager's first. I didn't feel that putting more fuel on the fire without actually speaking to someone involved would benefit anyone, but the Twitter post this afternoon confirmed the worst. What hasn't yet to be confirmed is the real reason behind the closure.

However, while the downtown location closes down, there is  good news for fans of Duggan's No. 9 IPA.

"The production and distribution of Duggan's No. 9 IPA remains unaffected by events at the downtown brewery and we hope to have some very good news regarding a second beer any day now," stated Graham Duncan, a sales rep with Duggan's Brewery.

No. 9 IPA and this second beer are currently contract brewed at Etobicoke's Cool Beer Co.

The closure of the brewery/restaurant really is unfortunate news for the Toronto beer scene. Whether you were a fan of Duggan's Brewery or not, tied-houses don't come along to often here in Ontario and to have one close in the largest city is troublesome to say the least.

***
From Duggan's facebook page:
Duggan's Brewery
Duggan's Brewery at 75 Victoria St. will remain closed. Ongoing negotiations with the landlord were halted after the April 19 lockout. Thanks to all our customers and the beer community at large for the all the support. Here's to you. Meanwhile, Duggan's No 9 IPA is alive and well and will continue to be available at select bars, restaurants and local LCBO outlets.

Jack Layton Raises A Pint To Quebec

Jack Layton and his NDP party have moved ahead of other Federal parties in Quebec, including the Bloc Quebecois.

Is it because of this picture? With playoff action taking place between the Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins, Layton smartly dons a Habs jersey and raises a glass. Or is it the moustache?

photo taken by Shaun Best/Reuters

Canadian politicians have a knack for posting with a few pints during elections, but the question is - after the picture is taken, do they consume the beer? I think it's safe to say that Jack does!

Here's what Rick Mercer once told me about our leaders when it comes to beer:
Stephen Harper - Diet Coke guy. Okay, generic lager. Did you know that when he sat down to have tea with the Queen at Buckingham Palace he asked for a Diet Coke?

Michael Ignatieff - I think Ignatieff would be a craft beer guy. I would bet that he would order local always. That would be my guess.

Jack Layton - Jack Layton would drink anything that's cold. He likes beer. I talked to him when he was fighting cancer (luckily he seems to have beaten it) and he was bemoaning the horrible diet his wife had him on, but what he was really bemoaning was the fact that he couldn't have a beer. I saw him recently drinking a beer so I guess he's back at it. Full flavoured.

Gilles Duceppe - I don't know what to think. I bet he'd be a full flavoured guy. I would guess that he's a good beer drinker. He is one party leader I haven't spent any time with.

Elizabeth May - You know what, she's a bit of a party girl, but yeah, she'd be the Organic drinker of the bunch.

*Question and answers appeared in the Fall 2010 issue of TAPS The Beer Magazine.*

Session 99 Craft Beer Festival

I can tell - you're already excited about this news. I know I am.

The Session Craft Beer Festival is coming back, albeit with a new name: Session 99 Craft Beer Festival, so mark the following date (Saturday June 25th) on your calendars!

Last year the Session Craft Beer Festival ran into some bad luck - rain, G20 protests, TTC transit issues... yet the organizers, Jed Corbeil and Curt Dunlop, still did a great job getting people to the event to sample a number of excellent beers from breweries from across Canada.

This year, armed with a new location and a new focus, Corbeil and Dunlop have already put together a solid line-up of breweries that will be participating in the event at 99 Sudbury, capping off what is expected to be a great Ontario Craft Beer Week.

"We're doing it up big this year," said Corbeil over a pint at barVolo a couple of weeks ago. "Garrett Oliver (from the Brooklyn Brewery) will be in town for a Friday night beer dinner and he'll be our special guest to open the festival."

The guys are also introducing a "Best of the Fest" award, along with a "Best One-Off or Cask" award, so they are encouraging the pariticpating breweries to bring their A game.

Tickets are now on sale on the Session 99's website, so head that way and grab a couple early. The $35 ticket allows you entrance to the festival to be part of the opening ceremony with Oliver, to sample over 100 different craft beers (see list below), take in terrific bands and other entertainment, and it gets you a limited edition tasting glass.

1. Central City Brewing (Surrey, BC)
2. Phillips Brewing Co. (Victoria, BC)
3. Howe Sound Brewing (Squamish, BC)
4. Lake of Bays Brewery (Baysville, ONT)
5. Mill St. Brewery (Toronto, ONT)
6. Brooklyn Brewery (Brooklyn, NY)
7. Muskoka Cottage Brewery (Bracebridge, ONT)
8. Cameron's Brewing (Oakville, ONT)
9. County Cider Compnay (Picton, ONT)
10. Spearhead Brewery (Toronto, ONT)
11. Amsterdam Brewing (Toronto, ONT)
12. Wellington Brewery (Guelph, ONT)
13. Beau's All Natural Brewing (Vankleek Hill, ONT)
14. Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery (Barrie, ONT)
15. Great Lakes Brewery (Etobicoke, ONT)
16. Microbrasserie Charlevoix (Saint-Paul, QC)
17. Dieu Du Ciel (St-Jérôme, QC)
18. Trois Mousquetaires (Brossard, QC)
19. Trou Du Diable (Shawinigan, QC)
20. Black Oak Brewing Co. (Etobicoke, ONT)
21. Kensington Brewing Company (Toronto, ONT)
22. Railway City Brewing Co. (St. Thomas, ONT)
23. McAuslan Brewing (Montreal, QC)
24. Duggan's Brewery (Toronto, ONT)
25. F&M Brewery (Guelph, ONT)
26. Nickel Brook - Better Bitters Brewing Co. (Burlington, ONT)
27. Rogue Brewery (Newport, OR)
28. Spirit Tree Cidery (Caledon, ONT)
29. Thornbury Village Cidery (Thornbury, ONT)
30. King Brewery (Nobleton, ONT)
31. Weihenstephan (Germany)
32. Hop City Brewing Co. (Brampton , ONT)

On This Day In 1927

84 years ago today the provincial government in New Brunswick repealed prohibition for good as they became involved in the day to day control of alcoholic beverages. The province had been dry since May 1, 1927 - 9 years, 11 months, 354 days.

To celebrate this key period in New Brunswick history Picaroons Traditional Ales in Fredericton are encouraging their fans to go out and have a pint in honour of this news (responsibly), and to check out the Garrison District Ale House who will feature a live repeal reading by Fredericton's very own Town Crier. There will also be live fiddle playing by George Steeves and there will be a special on Picaroon's Simeon Jones all night long! The event kicks off at 7pm and

For more information on the event, check out Picaroons Pub.

Teaching Brewery Grand Opening Celebrations - Niagara College

On Wednesday April 13th, the Niagara College Teaching Brewery, the first of its kind in Canada, celebrated their official Grand Opening with a cask tapping, Brewmasters Lunch and Dinner, seminars on growing hops and brewery sustainability, tastings and more. It was a great day for the Canadian brewing industry and it was a privilege to attend the days festivities.

I've written about the Brewmaster and Brewery Operations Management program on here numerous times since I first ventured down to the campus, so I won't bore you again with the details about the program, but let me say that it has been a success from the very beginning, and the grand opening showcased the best of the first year program.

After arriving to the beautiful campus shortly after 11am, a short tasting in the brewery's retail store (separate building) was in order. A number of us went through a Kristal Wit (yes, Wit), Rauchbier, Gluten Free beer, Pilsner and a Porter. With the exception of the Gluten Free beer, all were quite well done and the nodding of the heads from other beer writers in the room showed they also received them nicely.

There were some handshakes and some "how ya doing's" before heading into the dining area for the Brewmasters Lunch. Three courses matched with three different beers and without going into detail, they were all exceptional, especially the Double Chocolate Cranberry Stout by Muskoka Cottage Brewery and the Sticky Toffee Pudding. Read Jordan St. John's blog, St. John's Wort, for his thoughts on the food pairings for both lunch and dinner.

After lunch there were a couple of seminars to sit through before the cask tapping to mark the official opening. The first seminar was presented by Mike Driscoll from Harvest Hop located in Guelph, ON. Driscoll presented some interesting information about commercial hop farms in Ontario and provided some industry numbers and some historical Canadian hop growing statistics. *Interesting fact - over 20 commercial hop growers are operating in Ontario today*

Steve Beauchense, co-founder of Beau's All Natural Brewing Co. in Vankleek Hill was the next presenter, firing up a powerpoint presentation on Brewery Sustainability while handing out some samples  of various Beau's product. Steve showed examples of why Beau's is a leader in the Ontario brewing industry in everything from social media to packaging, charitable work, environmental efforts, employee relations and more.

When the samples were finished and the presentation complete it was back outside for the cask tapping. Niagara College President, Dr. Dan Patterson, was getting ready to tap the shiny and decaled firkin, much to the amusement of his lovely wife, who was both excited and nervous for her husband's first cask tapping.

By 4:30pm a large crowd of brewers, media, politicians, and students had gathered under the party tent and watched a number of speeches, including one delivered by John Sleeman, who was quick to point out how exciting this program is for the brewing industry. Once the speeches were out of the way, onlookers watched as Dr. Patterson swung the wooden mallet, tapping the first official cask (Get Fuggled) to mark the grand opening.

Shortly after 6pm we were ushered into the dining room again for a five course Brewmasters Dinner that was simply amazing. The floor was shared between brewers and the chef (Michael Olson) who spoke about their creations respectively.

Here are some cool facts about the program:

• The student made beers, First Draft Campus Lager and First Draft Campus Ale, will start appearing in pubs near the college in the very near future. 

• Each student currently enrolled in the program has been successful in landing work in the brewing industry for the summer break. 

• Like last year, the admissions staff at the college have been assaulted with a barrage of student applications for the 24 student seats, over 200 applications in fact.

And here are two video's on the Grand Opening, one from the CBC that has been posted on the Ontario Craft Brewers YouTube channel and the latter from TAPS The Beer Magazine.