Halton-Hamilton Craft Brewery Invasion 1.0

Every journey begins somewhere and the journey to the 905 Halton-
Hamilton Craft Brewery Invasion began at Cameron's Brewing in
Oakville on the Friday night. The brewery stayed open an extra hour
so we could marshal our forces. That'd be me, Sudbury Danny, Greg,
Lady Polk and Drunk Polkaroo, all enjoying a beverage at the brewery.

Truth to tell, I had kind of forgotten about the 905 Halton-Hamilton Craft Brewery Invasion.

Not because it wasn't fun. No, it was A LOT of fun but it happened over a month ago, I was in Las Vegas for a eight day trip since, then, well, work happened and shit slips my mind. Regularly.

But Greg, who co-organized the day with Kimmy and myself, popped into my Beer Store last week to pick up that special edition of Nickel Brook Brewing's Glory & Gold Bourbon Barrel-Aged Cuvee that I had offered up on Twitter. He DMed me in milliseconds when I threw it out there. Not at all a fan of Cuvee's but much appreciate my Nickel Brook dude, Brandon, thinking of me.

Glenn and Adam Cherry, co-owner and Brewmaster at Stonehooker
Brewing in Port Credit, raise a glass during our visit. Since opening
in the Summer, Stonehooker has earned a lot of praise. They always
have a wide variety, some dynamite IPAs and are simply finestkind.

Granted, Greg also *huge sigh* brought his empties back. Greg's my good buddy so I'm not gonna say that's a dick move. Totally is, though, dude. (Kidding, empties are just part of the job. Yours were nothing compared to others.)

But while he was there, he mentioned that we hadn't seen each other in the month since the 905 Halton-Hamilton Craft Brewery Invasion. One night, the following day, seven breweries.

When he mentioned it, I stopped and thought, "I don't think I ever wrote about that." You know, precisely the sorta shit I might just write about in a space exactly like this??

As lame as it sounds, I blame Vegas. No joke, when I return each time, you may as well call me "Tabula Rasa" because frankly, at that point, my mind is a blank slate. My first shift back at the Beer Store, I stared at the alarm touch-pad, unable to remember my PIN. It's all of four digits.

Adam takes us all for a tour of the brewery, including Polk, Candice
(kinda hidden behind Polk), Kat and Kimmy. It was Kimmy who did
the organizing for the Stonehooker portion of the evening as she's
gotten to know Adam pretty well since they opened in the Summer.

Been the same for years. I drew a blank. I think someone's dropping goofballs in my Stone IPAs down there.

Okay, let's get this party started. Which is precisely what we did on the evening of Friday, November 1st. We were not the full squad yet but we were a decent core of it.

Rob, aka Drunk Polkaroo and the lovely Kat, aka Lady Polk had decided that they had missed too many of these Brewery Invasion shindigs so this time, they were full steam ahead, lending us a certain level of Ontario Craft Beer Royalty in the shenanigans. Also, as Hamilton was key to this invasion, well, you gotta have the Polks. That's their wheelhouse.

Okay, so the first stop on Friday night was Cameron's Brewing in Oakville. Basically, our launching pad for the evening.

Greg and Candice give us a howdy from the Brazilian food-
truck that was out front of Stonehooker Brewing. From all
accounts, the food was amazeballs. And hey, a Brazilian food-
truck is just a damn cool thing to have out front of a brewery.

Now, Cameron's traditionally closes at 6 pm on a Friday but I talked to Head of Sales, Kyle Riddell, who in turn talked to Director of Operations, Clint Israel, and the brewery stayed open for an extra hour so that we could marshal our forces. Also out-of-towners, such as Sudbury Danny, really wanted to see the place. Being a hometown boy has its advantages.

Now granted, both Kyle and Clint would have happily arranged for a tour except for one small thing. The brewery portion is being ripped apart to add new tanks. A portion of their core beverages are being brewed out-of-house simply because they don't have the capacity. Cameron's is looking to level that playing field a little.

Now the game plan was that me, the Polks, Greg and Danny would meet at Cameron's to wait for "The Big Peezy" Paul, coming from Newmarket, as well as Glenn and Candice, coming our way from Oshawa. But I warned Polk ahead of time that Glenn has this habit of getting side-tracked somewhere along the simplest A-to-B route. It's his hallmark.

If I thought Glenn and Candice were gonna get
side-tracked, I clearly had no idea what The Big
Peezy himself was capable of. Paul completely
overshot Oakville and just kept driving out to
Cambridge so he could pop into Barncat Artisan
Ales. Not exactly a quick sidetrip but their beers
are definitely worth the extra travel. Solid call...

Sure enough, I got a message from Candice, who was driving, saying that Glenn had insisted on a couple of Toronto stops along the way - Rainhard Brewing, Shacklands Brewing and The Indie Alehouse, all of which are in Toronto's somewhat traffic-congested west end. Only Glenn would think that was a good idea on a Friday night.

No matter. People catch up wherever they catch up. But we did have some fun at Cameron's, which was a great kick-off to the big weekend. Clint and Kyle made sure everyone's first beverage was on the house (thanks, guys!) and, of course, most of us were all about their big Summer releases, the Jurassic IPA and the Skeleton Crew Knucklebone IPA.

In retrospect, looking back on Cameron's over 2019, I suspect they created Skeleton Crew to be the off-shoot that does the beers that brewmaster Jason Britton has previously shied away from but knew in his heart of hearts, "Well, to some degree, you have to play to the market" - you know, the IPA haze bombs, the sours and other less-traditional styles. In a lot of ways, I admire Jason's previous resolve.

That said, my hophead patience was rewarded this past Summer with the release of two IPAs and one session IPA all in the space of two weeks. I think they knew, "We have a cash cow living just three minutes up the hill. This guy could pay our Hydro bill for a year!"

Hamilton artist-cartoonist David Buist had his own unique take on the
Skeleton Crew Skull-Mobile, which in actual fact is a 1966 Cadillac that
has been redone as a cool-looking hearse. A big hit at the various events.

(Jason, if it's any help, don't bother with Brut IPAs. That fad lasted all of 10 minutes.)

Anyway, because of my friendship with the brewery, our initial meet-and-greet at Cameron's set the tone for the evening. And I thank them for that. You guys rock and certainly deserve the many accolades you've received in 2019.

But it was Stop #2 where co-organizer Kimmy saw the spotlight shine on her and again, deservedly so. You see, our next destination was Stonehookers Brewing in Port Credit.

When co-organizer Greg and Drunk Polkaroo get to talking, you
just know it's about world politics and the socio-political impact
of the partisan divisions with society itself. Yeah, I'm just shittin'
ya. The pair talked about beer, more beer and then finally beer!

Since the brewery opened in the Summer, I think Kimmy has spent as much time there as the co-owners, Ross Noel and brewmaster Adam Cherry. While I met Ross just once in passing - long enough to introduce myself - it seemed Kimmy has a real connection with the Stonehooker folks.

She not only got a tour arranged for us prior to our arrival, it was actually run by Adam himself. That's right - the owner took care of us on this beautiful November evening.

Happily hoisting his own product right alongside of us, Adam regaled the Brew Crew with stories of the brewery's origins, the various challenges and pitfalls of business ownership and basically answered any questions we had.

And if you know this Brew Crew, as well as bringing along our thirst, we come armed with questions. As crazy as it sounds, I think we're always excited to discover a brewer is just a Regular Joe or Jane like the rest of us.

"No, Glenn," Adam patiently explained, "That is not what Stonehooker
means." Poor Candice shifts uncomfortably as Glenn labours under yet
another misconception. I'm joking, of course. We gave Glenn a list of
some acceptable questions long before we allowed him into the brewery.

I'm not saying we put them up on a pedestal or anything but then again, yes, we absolutely do and the Brew Crew is always thrilled when the hop-and-malt gods walk among us.

And the brewery name itself? Well, let's clear that up quickly as it's been known to raise an eyebrow or two in the past. Stonehookers are the men who, back in the mid-1800s, sailed along the northern shore of Lake Ontario. They quite literally would hook stone out of the shallower waters and drag it up onto their boats. Those stones were then sailed to the wharf at the base of Bathurst Street in Toronto where they were transported via horse and cart to be used as foundations for buildings or the base for roads. Keep in mind, there was no concrete or cinder blocks back in those days. But that stone-hooking often took place in Port Credit where the brewery is located.

Cheers at Stonehooker Brewing for a successful start
to the 905 Halton-Hamilton Craft Brewery Invasion.
And wait until you see what's coming up because on
Saturday, the Brew Crew swelled with countless more
participants and six breweries visited in one single day.

But back to the brewery invasion at hand. The big beers here were their flagship Broad Reach Nor'easter (New England) IPA, their Three Sheets Belgian IPA that Polk was very insistent that I try (no surprise there as it's fantastic) and, of course, their Mae West Bodacious Orange Milkshake IPA. I believe Kimmy and I were both singing the praises of the Mae West on Twitter late into the Summer so there was some interest in that one, for sure.

Anyway, Adam, thanks again for charting our course (you see what I did there?) on a Friday night and making the beginning of the 905 Halton-Hamilton Craft Brewery Invasion such a fun start to the proceedings. And, oh, Paul, the Big Peezy? Yeah, after a side-trip to Cambridge, he finally caught up to us just as Adam's tour of the brewery ended. That's our Peezy, always charting his own individual course.

Okay, next up, our first two stops on Saturday - Nickel Brook Brewing in Burlington and Clifford Brewing in East Hamilton. This is where it gets crazy as the Brew Crew more than doubles in size and the according shenanigans basically triple. But Scooby Doo Gang, that's it, that's all and I am outta here. Back soon with Part Two of the 905 Halton-Hamilton Craft Brewery Invasion. Until next time, I remain...