{"id":1867,"date":"2018-10-29T15:08:54","date_gmt":"2018-10-29T15:08:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summerfunguide.ca\/blog\/?p=1867"},"modified":"2025-10-21T18:07:51","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T18:07:51","slug":"taste-your-way-around-ontarios-micro-craft-breweries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.summerfunguide.ca\/blog\/taste-your-way-around-ontarios-micro-craft-breweries\/","title":{"rendered":"Taste Your Way Around Ontario\u2019s Micro &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp; Craft Breweries"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"b12171e95ca29a06569361a76d0dc3e3\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6144103376590397\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>Ontario is in the midst of an explosion of <a href=\"https:\/\/ontariobev.net\/brewers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">craft beer and micro breweries<\/a>. In the past 18 years, Ontario has grown from 12 breweries to &gt;260 with 100 more in development. While \u2018microbrewery\u2019 and \u2018craft brewery\u2019 are often used interchangeably, they differ according to size: a microbrewery\u2019s maximum\u00a0worldwide annual production can\u2019t exceed\u00a050,000 hectolitres, while a craft brewer can\u2019t exceed\u00a0400,000 hectolitres. Craft brewers also have to be locally-owned &amp; use no added chemicals, fillers or preservatives. Both create unique flavours\/styles and both often have creative beer names.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1871\" src=\"https:\/\/www.summerfunguide.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/article1_oct252018.jpg\" alt=\"Ontario micro brewery\" width=\"257\" height=\"141\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Breweries around Ontario<\/h2>\n<p>We could list so many Ontario brewers here\u00a0 &#8211; each is different and each is worth a visit or a taste. We\u2019ll just highlight a few that appear on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.summerfunguide.ca\/wineries-microbreweries.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Summer Fun Guide\u2019s website<\/a>.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/muskokabrewery.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Muskoka Brewery Inc<\/a> offers yet another reason to visit the region. Taste the beer and take a tour of their Bracebridge facility to hear the story of how they began. <a href=\"http:\/\/walkervillebrewery.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Walkerville Brewery<\/a> (Windsor) handcrafts unique styles in small batches and also offers tours. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ramblinroad.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Ramblin\u2019 Road Brewery<\/a> in La Salette (Norfolk Cty) is Ontario\u2019s first brewery farm, growing their own hops and using pure spring water from their land to make small batch, handcrafted beer.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1870\" src=\"https:\/\/www.summerfunguide.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/article2_oct252018.jpg\" alt=\"Ontario craft brewery tours\" width=\"257\" height=\"141\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Craft Brewery Tours in Ontario<\/h2>\n<p>If you are a REAL beer lover, it can be super fun to go on a tour that visits multiple breweries. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.summerfunguide.ca\/companyprofile\/beer-lovers-tour-company.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Beer Lovers&#8217; Tour Company<\/a> GTA tours combine beer education, history &amp; culture &amp; are led by beer experts with a passion for story-telling. They offer international tours too! <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brewdonkey.ca\/pages\/ontario-brewery-tours\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Brew Donkey<\/a> offers several different tours of 3-5 breweries in both Ottawa as well as Kitchener\/Waterloo. <a href=\"https:\/\/ontariogroupoftouringcompanies.com\/tours\/ontario-craft-brewery-tours\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Ontario Group of Touring Companies<\/a> provides unique, behind the scenes tours of Ontario craft breweries in Toronto, Guelph\/Waterloo and Niagara. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ridethebine.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Ride the Bine\u2019s<\/a> owners want to share their love of the beverage and food industry with anyone who will listen! They offer tours across Norfolk County and London, ON. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.summerfunguide.ca\/companyprofile\/labatt-london-s-hometown-brewery-tour.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Labatt London\u2019s Hometown Brewery Tour<\/a> includes a guided tour of the brewery &amp; sampling session. You must pre book by email or phone.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1869\" src=\"https:\/\/www.summerfunguide.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/article3_oct252018.jpg\" alt=\"self- guided craft beer, cider and culinary itineraries\" width=\"257\" height=\"141\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Ontario Brewery Discovery Routes<\/h2>\n<p>There are 9 self- guided craft beer, cider and culinary itineraries that let you explore Ontario and its protected Greenbelt. Ontario\u2019s Greenbelt spans almost 2 million acres, and permanently protects green space, farmland, forests, wetlands, &amp; watersheds in S Ontario. Check the list <a href=\"https:\/\/ontariobev.net\/brewerydiscoveryroutes\/#\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">here<\/a> to find itineraries of routes such as Windsor Essex: Barrels, Bottles and Brews, HOP thru Ontario\u2019s Southwest, the True Brew Path (Niagara Escarpment), Brews, Bites and Barns in Peterborough and the Kawarthas (Central ON), Backroom Deals and Muddy Wheels Trail (Ottawa) and more. Each itinerary lists a bunch of places to stop, and what is cool about the area.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1868\" src=\"https:\/\/www.summerfunguide.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/article4_oct252018.jpg\" alt=\"Ontario beer festivals\" width=\"257\" height=\"141\" \/><\/p>\n<h4>Beer Festivals across Ontario<\/h4>\n<p>There are lots of Beer and Brewing festivals and events, all over the province. Check out a few below, and visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.summerfunguide.ca\/events.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Summer Fun Guide event calendar<\/a> for more. The following are annual events but if 2019 dates are not here yet, mark the month on your calendar and check back for more details later. <a href=\"http:\/\/torontobeerweek.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Toronto Beer Week<\/a> celebrates craft beer with a whole week of events plus offerings at bars and breweries (Sept).\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kingcraftbeerandfood.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">King City Craft Beer &amp; Food Truck Festival<\/a> (June) has been around for several years, featuring Craft Beer, Food &amp; non-stop entertainment! <a href=\"https:\/\/brewhafestival.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">BrewHa! Craft Beer Festival<\/a> on the Thunder Bay Waterfront in August has food vendors, live-local music, demos, &amp; craft beer tastes.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.canadiancraftbeerfestivals.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Canadian Craft Beer Festivals<\/a> has 4 \u201cCraft Beer\u201d only events throughout Ontario, featuring the best small batch brewers in the province as well as local food and music.<\/p>\n<p>Ontario is quickly gaining recognition for it&#8217;s quality craft brewers. Wherever you are located, you&#8217;re sure to find a craft brewery or festival to enjoy somewhere not too far away. And, as always, enjoy responsibly.<\/p>\n<p>For more things to do &amp; places to stay in Ontario, see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.summerfunguide.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Summer Fun Guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Shari &amp; Elisa, Publishers \u2013 Summer Fun Guide<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ontario is in the midst of an explosion of craft beer and micro breweries. In the past 18 years, Ontario has grown from 12 breweries to &gt;260 with 100 more in development. While \u2018microbrewery\u2019 and \u2018craft brewery\u2019 are often used interchangeably, they differ according to size: a microbrewery\u2019s maximum\u00a0worldwide annual production can\u2019t exceed\u00a050,000 hectolitres, while&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[134],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ontario-region"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.summerfunguide.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.summerfunguide.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.summerfunguide.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.summerfunguide.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.summerfunguide.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1867"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.summerfunguide.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3640,"href":"https:\/\/www.summerfunguide.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1867\/revisions\/3640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.summerfunguide.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.summerfunguide.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.summerfunguide.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}