The weekend of Aug. 10, a teeming crowd of 20-somethings descended on Roundhouse Park in downtown Toronto for the Roundhouse Craft Beer Festival. Hundreds lazily milled between the 15 craft beer tents, and sampled the wide variety of beers, some made specifically for the event.
But between all the tents, crowds, and commotion, one thing was consistent—every brewery, no matter how big or little, was sampling beer made in small batches that wouldn’t be around for much longer.
Ontario breweries have discovered how exciting and profitable brewing seasonally available beer can be, as well as even shorter-run brews, produced only once-in-a-blue-moon, popularly called “one-off” beer.
“When you look at the LCBO, a couple years ago, they were bugging breweries to do seasonal,” Burlington-based Better Bitters Brewing Company owner, John Romano, says. “Now, they’re getting inundated with them.”
In response to the sudden growth, Ontario’s microbreweries have begun producing innovative beers that are often far removed from what would normally be found at the LCBO.
In addition to the spectrum of smooth, Guinness-style stouts and hoppy India Pale Ales, brewers have begun to create one-off beers aged in wine casks, fermented in open containers, and infused with flavours ranging from watermelon to pumpkin.
“The younger generation is more educated on beer,” Romano says. “People are more receptive . . . We can afford to do something crazy and stupid and only brew a bit, and it’ll sell.”
This fascination with experimentation has brought many breweries to expand their focus beyond a few flagship brands and invite consumers to visit the breweries themselves to try beers that would only receive a very limited release elsewhere.
“People love trying things they won’t get again. There’s immediacy to it, to get it before it’s gone,” Erica Campbell, brewery coordinator of Toronto-based Black Oak Brewery, says. “People love it, so most breweries now have a seasonal offering.”
Great Lakes Brewery, in Toronto’s West End, has taken this concept in stride, releasing a different brew every month, to be sold directly from the brewery, or in a limited run of bars.
“We were one of the first breweries to invest in a small pilot system, so we can produce small batches and send them to a few bars and see where they’re taken,” says Troy Burtch, who does sales and social media for Great Lakes Brewing Company. “People are excited, it’s a changing of the guard, and it’s fresh and new.”
The life of one-off beer can vary considerably. Some batches require such length to produce, or fail to catch on, so they are only available for a month before it’s gone for good, while others will appear and reappear throughout a brewery’s life, and become a seasonal or year-round production.
“We determine a beer’s lifespan through endless meetings with the brewmaster, sales and marketing, and the management,” says Tamsen Tillson, marketing manager at the Muskoka-area Lake of Bays Brewing Company. “If we brew something that’s a big hit, we start deciding what we can do with it.”
Seasonal beer comes in a dizzying array of types and styles, usually steering away from large-brewery style lagers and ales. Summer beers are frequently cloudy, carbonated, and citrusy, while winter beers are usually dark, spiced, and warming.
“Consumer’s palates change,” says Paul Meek, owner of Ottawa-based Kichesippi Brewing Company. “They’re looking for stews and pasta in the winter months, and we’re looking for beer that pairs well with those.”
Seasonals are usually easier to find at the LCBO compared to their one-off cousins, as they’re usually produced in a larger quantity and can be delivered to stores regularly. The focus tends to be on beer that can catch on quickly in the short period it is available, playing off the craft brew market’s desire for something different.
“Distribution is a really hard thing for all breweries,” Campbell says. “You want to be able to brand and market this badass beer you’re making.”
Despite these challenges, consumers are making the push to craft breweries in droves, and seasonal beers have become a way for craft breweries to differentiate themselves against the larger breweries, which have recently began producing craft-style drinks, like Molson’s Canadian wheat beer and Alexander Keith’s Hop Series.
“People bought a bottle of seasonal last year, and now they’ll buy a case this year,” Romano says with a laugh. “Beer is becoming the next wine.”
-@DKolanko
