Whitby Craft Brewery Invasion: Prelude

This was our meeting place in Oshawa prior to the limo's
departure for Whitby. And I gotta say I was blown away
by the craft taps and fridge selection there. The owner,
Darryl Koster, has done a phenomenal job here. One of
the best craft beer bars outside of Toronto I've been to.

The day of the Whitby Craft Brewery Invasion 2017 was less than a month in the works. Beer Bro Glenn has long been bugging me to visit him in Oshawa, pointing that he's made countless trips to Burlington (and Hamilton and Oakville) to visit me but I had yet to return the favour. Finally, one day, on Twitter, I relented and said, "Pick a date." He almost immediately did - December 9.

Now the pot was sweetened considerably since two new breweries, Little Beasts Brewing and Town Brewing opened up this year in nearby Whitby, adding to the always considerable firepower of the town's craft beer mainstays, Brock Street Brewing and 5 Paddles Brewing. Damn right, I'll visit you, Glenn. For your delightful personality, sparkling repartee and those four craft breweries just miles apart!! (Please don't take that bold print at the end of the sentence as an indication that part is a little more emphatically said than the first two points. It totally is. Just don't take it that way.)

When the Brewery Invasion day was posted on Twitter, one-by-one, interested parties spoke up. First on deck was Twitter friend Josh, a carpenter by trade, who has done a lot of wood-work for Brock Street Brewing.

An on-site builder points out to Josh, left, and Joe, right, where
the brewing portion of the facility will be set up. The on-site
tour was arranged for us by Brock Street co-owner Mark
Woitzik, who, frankly, is one helluva guy. Couldn't be nicer!

Also in quickly was Barrie Beer Brother Hago, as was Paul, my buddy from a Newmarket Beer Store who I finally met at the beginning of the year at the Great Lakes Brewing 30th Anniversary Party in Toronto. Sales Rep Charles from Nickel Brook was down for the action but at the last minute, he got waylaid when he had to attend his brewery's launch of Kentucky Bastard Imperial Stout. Turns out he was the only one in the entire brewery with his Food Handling Certificate, something very necessary for the event. Which begs two questions - 1) Why is there not a second person there with that? And 2) You need a certificate to handle food?

I mean, I've been feeding my kid for 26 years without any formal training. I'm probably just lucky that I haven't been thrown in jail for that.

But as scientists say, "Nature abhors a vacuum" so two more stepped in to take Charles' place. Candice, the brave lass, was a last-minute Glenn invitee, a friend of his from Buster Rhino's Southern BBQ.

You like our ride? It was very shiny and white. Unfortunately, for our
driver, Gus, it was also very, very loud and rowdy. Oddly, the more
breweries we visited, the louder and rowdier we got. Go figure, eh??

Because she was with us in the (not so) confined space of the limo, I felt the need to tell the guys at the beginning, "There is a lady with us so no one goes Weinstein here." That's a pretty messed-up sign of these #MeToo times, having to reassure someone of their safety. Granted, given the crew of dudes we had, it was an unnecessary alert but it gave Hago to opportunity to yell, "You never go Full Weinstein!" That would become our catch-phrase for the day. Yelled out many times. Very loudly in the limo. Because yes, we're just that juvenile. Harmless and geeky but dammit, ladies, we'll always be juvenile. Yes, Candice knew she was in a limo filled with idiots... but nice idiots.

Victor Leone, who co-founded Brock St with Mark and
Scott Pepin, holds up their Bottomless Growler. Not
quite bottomless but one heck of a deal nonetheless.
Buy the growler for $30 and you get five refills of their
core line-up. My Math thinks that's about half-price!

And then there was Joe. You see, Joe, who's a pretty big deal in the General Motors sector of the Canadian Auto Workers Union, was sitting at the bar when I arrived at Buster Rhino's Southern BBQ in Oshawa. (I'll talk about The Shwa briefly in a minute.) Glenn introduced me and I asked if he'd be joining us. No, no, he assured me, just having a quick pint. Fair enough. But as more and more of our crew arrived, our table got louder and goofier. As he sat off to the side, I think Joe was chuckling and figuring this might be an adventure he was up for. So when I asked him a second time, he parked it at the table with us instantly. Game on for Big Joe.

And thus the Group of Seven was created. I've heard tell that a group of Canadian artists called themselves that but I think they're all dead so... you know, up for grabs now. Okay, lemme backtrack just a little. Since I was coming from Oakville, I took Highway 407 all the way in to the Simcoe Street exit and then south downtown to Buster Rhino's on King Street East. I have never been in The Shwa before but to be honest, in the rest of the GTA, well, it doesn't have the best of reputations. It's actually thought of as, well, not the nicest of places.

This would be my Beer Bro Glenn and his "Craft
Beer Brain" t-shirt in front of the vats at 5 Paddles
Brewing. This is Glenn's "distinguished" look. It
doesn't happen often. It's like a solar eclipse - rare!

Well, lemme tell you what I saw driving down Simcoe. I saw new townhouse developments and high-rises, both in the making and recently completed. I saw vibrant businesses. I saw tons of trees and beautiful old century homes. And I saw many, many people out enjoying their Saturday.

So I asked the Shwa residents at our table what the deal was - where was this bad rap coming from? Well, they all conceded, there were less desirable areas in the city. And what else exactly? Oakville has those. Hell, Toronto has 128 of those. Every town and city has those.

This place is getting dissed for reasons that are 10 or 15 or 25 years old. I call bullshit on this, man. Oshawa's not some ugly stain of urban blight. From what I saw, it looks like it's on the cusp of booming. I thought it was a pretty cool city. And the place we all met - and later, the hotel I crashed in - had a lot to do with that. Not to mention, four members of the Group of Seven live there and they are all awesome, cool folks. And that's what makes any city strong - its people. So kindly sell your anti-Shwa snake-oil elsewhere. This dude ain't buying it.  But let's keep this bag o' bones rolling.

This is what the NEW Brock Street Brewing will look like
by this Summer. And bottom right is the retail component
that holds a special place in Josh's heart as he will be the
one putting the finishing wood-work into place. Too cool.

During the meet-and-greet at Buster Rhino, swag was exchanged left, right and centre. When Hago arrived, he brought tons of Redline Brewhouse ball-caps and other trinkets, courtesy of our old friend, Kaitlyn Krawczuk. Actually, she's quite young but through my job, I've been dealing with her since her Flying Monkeys Brewing gig several years back. Josh gifted me a sweet Brock Street Brewing t-shirt, which was appropriate since our first stop would be Brock Street Brewing. But not the established one on Hopkins Street that I know and love. (It was the winner of my Spirit of Craft Beer Award in 2016.) No, this is the new Brock Street Brewing on the corner of Brock and Dunlop Street in Whitby. Yes, Toto, there will be a Brock Street Brewing on Brock Street very soon.

You see, Brock Street co-owner Mark Woitzik arranged for us to have a meet-and-greet with the builders right on the site.

Bob, quickly renamed Bob The Builder by us, points to the corner
where the retail component will be created. It was nice as the poor
builders waiting on frigid site for us to finally show up in the limo.

That, in itself, lead to some humourous exchanges as he had given me his cell number. I called him first but he had the furnace guy with him and had to get back to me. When he called back, I was at work and had to yell to my coworkers, "Someone take my cash register! I have a real live brewery owner on my phone!" Honestly, I've never seen them move quite that quickly.

But it was a great start to the day as the builders walked us through the entire process on the cold and barren lot with just the foundation poured thus far. Josh sidled up beside me at one point and we looked at where the retail component was to be built. What I saw is what was there - dirt, a fence and some concrete. Not Josh, who will (in the near future) be putting the finishing wood-work into the retail. "I'm already planning out in my mind what I'm going to be doing there," he smiled.

Here's a damn good example of Josh's handiwork - the
pop-up bar built at the Oshawa Centre Shopping Mall
by Josh and his team. It opened at the beginning of the
month and has been a haven to thirsty shoppers since.

Like I said, I saw what was actually there. But Josh saw what was going to be there. I love the creative mind at work and to be an integral part of the final product? Young guys like Josh, a Millennial, will always make me believe the future is in capable hands. Besides, when we went around the table, introducing ourselves and telling the others what we do, Josh said he was a carpenter. I had to yell, "Hey! You're like Jesus!" I can't believe we didn't get kicked out of the bar before the day started. And if you're a devout Christian reading this (okay, that's highly unlikely), I meant the Mexican guy, Jesus, who's also a carpenter, not that Son of God one. (This blog's seriously gonna land me in Hell.)

Okay, that's it for today but I'll be back in two days with the low-down on all four craft breweries in Whitby as the story of this day-long oddysey is just beginning to unfold. And believe me, it's even more epic than Homer's Oddysey (which is like this old ancient-Greek poem that, frankly, isn't all that epic.) But hey, here's a taste of our day, created by our videographer, Hago, that I can only call: Hago's Epic Look At The Whitby Craft Brewery Invasion. See ya in two days but for now, guys and dolls, that's it, that's all and I am outta here! Until next time, I remain...