Northern Ontario Microbrew Festival: Two days of delicious craft beer
The Northern Ontario Microbrew Festival is an annual event hosted by Stack Brewing. It is meant to showcase Northern Ontario craft beer as well as local restaurants, businesses, and musicians. Attendees have the opportunity to sample craft beer from all over Ontario and in many cases, meet the person who brewed their favourite beer! Not a fan of beer? That’s totally okay, (we’ll try not to judge you) Rheault Distillery will also be onsite both days mixing up some delicious concoctions with their Loon Vodka and Sinful Cherry Liqueur.
This year the Northern Ontario Microbrew Festival to a two day event for the first time – what can we expect to see each day of the event?
Friday March 10th (6PM-11PM) is set up to be for the true Beer Connoisseur; it’ll feature a smaller amount of breweries showcasing many unique brews including one-offs, seasonals, sours, and casks. This day will also have a strong focus on live music and will feature local legends Murder Murder opening for Elliott Brood Sudbury Burlesque will also be performing a few numbers.
Elliott Brood is a three piece Juno Award Winning alt-country band. Their songs are loud and quiet but mostly loud. Across five subsequent albums, Elliott Brood have become one of the premier acts in Canadian roots music.
Saturday March 11th (1PM-9PM) will feature more than 17 different craft breweries, Education Sessions, Giveaways, announcement of the winner of Stack’s Homebrew Competition, and more. This day will also include various acoustic acts and a performance from TooNice. TooNice is a reggae band from Wasaga Beach!
How do you select what breweries attend the event? Is there a selection process – what is the criteria?
We focus on including Northern Ontario breweries each year from cities such as North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Manitoulin Island, South River, Gravenhurst, and Hearst. We also invite other Ontario breweries to partake in the festivities as honorary northerners.
We like to invite smaller breweries that we personally enjoy and we know many Sudburians would appreciate as well. We also make sure that each brewery is bringing product that is not sold in the LCBO, Beer Stores, or in Sudbury, in general.
What are the Education Sessions all about?
Education Sessions are for “Baller Pass” holders, which are very limited. Baller Passes include admission into both Friday and Saturday festivities and into the Ed Sessions. This year, they will include a Q&A with brewers, a talk with Marcel Rheault from Rheault Distilling, and a food and beer pairing session. The food and beer pairings will be done with amazing local restaurants: Laughing Buddha, P&M Kouzzina, and Hardrock42. We are looking into adding more sessions as well.
Tell us more about the after party at the Durham Social – is there a cost associated with this or is it included in the cost of the tickets?
The after party will be hosted by Durham Social and Stack Brewing. All three venues of Durham Social will have live entertainment! This will also include a Tap Takeover with some breweries attending the festival. There is absolutely no cost for Microbrew attendees, their wristband gets them in! There will also be shuttles from the Caruso Club to Durham Social directly after the festival.
Ticket information:
- Friday, March 10th (6-11pm): $35 including tax. Includes 12oz branded glass, 2 beer sample tickets, and entrance into door prizes.
- Saturday, March 11th (1-9pm): $25 including tax. Includes 12oz branded glass, 2 beer sample ticket, entrance into door prizes, and admittance into after party at Durham Social.
- Baller Pass: $70 including taxes. Admittance into both Friday and Saturday festivities, 12oz branded glass, 2 beer sample tickets, door prize entrance, Education Sessions, and admittance into after party at Durham Social.
Tickets available at Stack Brewing, Fromagerie Elgin, and Eventbrite.ca. Baller Passes only available at Stack Brewing.
19+ Event! Get your tickets here.
Sponsored by: Hot 93.5, Rewind 103.9, Studio123, Hiamedia, Durham Social.
Hotel deals at the Clarion Hotel and Holiday Inn Hotel. Mention the “Microbrew Festival” and receive a discount if you book before February 21st.
Brewery Information:
New Ontario Brewing – North Bay – North Bay’s first craft brewery and the first local brewery since the original brewery located on the Lake Nipissing waterfront burned down in 1915. New Ontario Brewing Company’s mission is to bring the craft beer revolution to North Bay, providing distinguished beer drinkers with flavourful, high-quality, all-grain, natural craft beer that explores a variety of styles.
Split Rail Brewing – Manitoulin Island – Split Rail Brewing Company began as a dream over five years ago, when long-time friends Andrea Smith and Eleanor Charlton set out to brew a high quality, great tasting craft beer on Manitoulin Island. Our Grand Opening on July 24 2015 was a great success with over 300 people in attendance. The ribbon cutting was presided over by Mike Mantha, MPP, Ron Lane, Mayor of Gore Bay and Glenn Fobes, Brewmaster.
Highlander Brew Co. – South River – Highlander Brewery’s story begins in 2009 with the brewery’s first beer, a traditional Scottish Ale, which remains one of our best-loved beers. Our beer is brewed from pure local free-flowing waters, with barley cracked onsite to ensure freshness. Our careful attention to quality in our small-batch brewing process, paired with expert selection of the finest ingredients gives all of our beers a distinctive taste and smooth finish.
Sawdust City Brewing Co. – Gravenhurst – Located in Gravenhurst Ontario, the gateway to Muskoka, Sawdust City Brewing Company is dedicated to the art and science of creating exceptional craft beers. We produce traditional ales in an array of styles, but there is nothing traditional about the flavour. Our brewmaster, Sam Corbeil, and his talented team create award-winning exciting beers that expand the borders of traditional flavour profiles. The rule at Sawdust City is there are no rules. We are just here to make great beer.
Outspoken Brewing – Sault Ste. Marie – A small brewery with a big voice.
Northern Superior Brewing Co. – Sault Ste. Marie
Union Jack Brewing Co. – Sault Ste. Marie – Union Jack Brewing Company first kicked open the doors in May 2015. We pride ourselves of creating premium craft beer that will be talked about after it’s long gone. Union Jack Brewing Company is our dream come true. We love beers, and if you do, too, you’ve come to the right place! We brew, in-house, several varieties of our own hand-crafted ales. All of our beers are available in-house and we recently began catering to the Beerstore.
Broadhead Brewing Company – Ottawa – Broadhead is a scrappy little beer company that aims to do big things. It’s the underdog – a long shot, a dark horse. What it lacks in size, it makes up for in spirit. With six feisty, flavourful ales brewed through good old-fashioned hard work and know-how, Broadhead proudly pays homage to the perfect pint.
Norse Brewery – Parry Sound
Beau’s All Natural Brewing Co. – Vankleek Hill – We’re a family-run craft brewery, located East of Ottawa in a little town called Vankleek Hill, Ontario, Canada. We make tasty, interesting and unique beer, using certified organic malts & hops and local spring water!
Lake of the Woods Brewing Co. – Kenora – Local, Fresh, Handcrafted Beer brewed in a 104 year old firehall, downtown Kenora.
Block Three Brewing– St. Jacobs – Brewed in-house, our small batch brews give us the ability to create new recipes while maintaining the classics. As locals, we have pride in our community and have learned that a great product starts with the right ingredients. As a result, not only do we brew an all-natural product, we keep our ingredients as local and fresh as possible. Nothing is more important to our team than providing our community with quality craft beers. Brewed right in St. Jacobs, we put the same artisan craftsmanship into each and every bottle we package and we look forward to seeing you soon!
Haliburton Highlands Brewing – Haliburton Highlands Brewing is an award winning nano-brewery producing handcrafted, premium ales as fresh and natural as the Highlands that inspire them! Incorporating local ingredients and operating with sustainable practices are HHB core values
Redline Brewhouse – Barrie- Redline Brewhouse is a family owned and operated Brewpub located in comfy Barrie, Ontario, Canada. We serve rustic yet refined pub food with a elevated twist We focus on American and Belgian ales using locally sourced ingredients that are brewed for your pleasure!
Rheault Distillery – Hearst – Rheault Distillery is a small, artisan distillery located in Hearst, Northern Ontario, which prides itself for creating hand crafted, small batch spirits for connoisseurs. Each product is created individually, from grain to glass, to meet the highest standards set in Ontario and to attract a palate that is both mature and unadulterated.
Stack Brewing – Sudbury – Stack Brewing officially opened their doors to the Sudbury community in June of 2013. Since then, Stack has won several awards from the Ontario Brewing Awards and the Canadian Brewing Awards, has gone through four expansions to meet the high demand for quality craft beer in Northern Ontario, and continues to not only make great craft beer but also new jobs in a growing industry. With beers like Shatter Cone, La Cloche, Saturday Night, Panache and Valley Girl; it’s clear to see the branding represents everything that makes Northern Ontario cool, quirky, and unique. Check out their products in your local LCBO or visit the brewery at 1350 Kelly Lake Road in Sudbury. Brewed in the North, Enjoyed by Everyone.
… More to be announced.
Emily Franceschini
Emily Franceschini is former full-timer and lover of all things purple. In a past life, Emily worked as a marketing manager and spent her free time searching for the perfect cup of coffee. Now all of her time is free time and she's spending it exploring the world.
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[…] you follow us on social media you probably saw that we were at the Northern Ontario Microbrew Festival all weekend and if you weren’t there, you really missed out! It was such a great time – […]