What are you drinking?

The Growler Ontario is a magazine about beer, but beer doesn’t exist in a vacuum; it should be in the fridge. 

Beer is about the people who make it, pour it, buy it, and enjoy it. While The Growler‘s print edition is currently biannual, our new monthly online feature “What Are You Drinking?” will give us an insight into what people are enjoying around the province of Ontario and introduce you to some of the dedicated people that help get beer into your hands. I think you’ll find they’ve got pretty good taste and they might help you find something new to experience.


Alistair Thain. Supplied photo



Name: Alistair Thain

Occupation: Server at Birreria Volo/Cellaring Assistant at Granite Brewery (I clean growlers and consume the curry special every week)

Beer of the Moment: Dust Made Flesh, Double IPA, Third Moon Brewery

Having something to drink other than draft beer at one of your favourite watering holes (Thirsty and Miserable) seems a little perverse after this past year and a half, but seeing the beer that first started Third Moon’s canning program, I figured it warranted a setting more deserving than my bedside table. 

It pours a Blade Runner-orange sunset with some big honeydew melon aromas. Stupidly soft tangerine and mandarin orange on the taste and finish that masks the 8% ABV. Like most higher alcohol ‘hazys’ it is approachable without being too daunting. One is enough for sitting by the big open window at T&M and watching another day in the market come to a close.

(Side note: I believe this was the first beer that Third Moon ever canned. I was going to get all poetic and make it sound as if it was March/April 2020 all over again but people don’t need that from me)


April Star. Supplied photo

Name: April Star

Occupation: I’ve been in the craft beer industry for 2 years now. Started pouring #FreshGLB in Etobicoke, and while I’m still with Great Lakes Brewery I am now Licensee Client Support. Whenever you see our beer pouring in a bar or restaurant, I likely had some part in it ! 

Beer of the Moment: My favourite beer I’ve had this month has to be Sunny Afternoon brewed by The Granite. I enjoyed it fresh out of the tap on their cute Courtyard Patio in Midtown Toronto. 

This beer tastes like summer. Feels like summer. First thing I could taste was a lemon tea biscuit. Reminded me of summers in my Grandma’s backyard. She would tend to her garden while I enjoyed the fresh produce and these biscuits that tasted like fresh lemon zest. You continue to drink and you get the typical grassy, yet hay-like note. Perfectly bitter with a dry finish. It’s that summer lager that leaves you wanting more. 

Anyone who is looking for a refreshing summer beer, this is it. You won’t have to worry about it getting too warm or light stuck, because there is no way it will be in your glass long enough for that to happen. 


Jon Downing. Supplied photo

Name: Jon Downing

Occupation: Brewmaster Professor at Niagara College Teaching Brewery

Beer of the Moment: Last month, my wife Julie and I spent a few days in Bobcaygeon and visited several graduates at their breweries; Russell Gibson at Fenelon Falls Brewing Co., Tim Miller at Lindsay Brewing Company/Pie Eyed Monk, and Andrew Anker at Haven Brewing Co. in Peterborough. We had delicious meals and flights at the first two and took beers home to enjoy from both, but I had really been looking forward to seeing Andrew again.

He was the youngest of the first class of students from our Brewmaster and Brewery Operations Management program back in 2010 and, since graduating, had been working at breweries from coast to coast and helping other startup operations. Last year, he and his brother bought the old Smithavens Brewing and are in the process of rebranding to ‘Haven Brewing Co.’

Andrew’s Kellerbier was the perfect beer for a hot, albeit wet, day.

Do you want to be featured in a future edition of What Are You Drinking? Get in touch via email at jordan@thegrowler.ca

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