Beer in Ontario

Canada's most populous province, Ontario, has an active beer culture. While globalization of the brewing industry has resulted in the major players in Canada being acquired by or merged with foreign companies, craft brewing has boomed in the province. In 2019, there were 340 craft breweries in Ontario, only 40 of which had been open in 2010.

Much like the popularity of smaller, regional breweries, brewpubs have become increasingly popular in some cities throughout Ontario. These brew unique beers within the restaurant that supposedly reflect local tastes and match some of the dishes offered.

The three largest beer producers are Labatt (owned by the international conglomerate, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV), Molson (merged with the Adolph Coors Company of the USA), and Sleeman (owned by Sapporo Brewery of Japan).

Carling and O'Keefe were once significant brands; Carling Red Cap was Ontario's best-selling beer in the 1960s. The two companies merged with each other in the 1930s, with Molson in the 1990s, and then into Molson-Coors. Today Carling Black Label is still sold across Canada, but is not remarkably popular; however it is the best-selling lager in the UK.

Canadian styles
Canadian mass-market beers (Molson's, and Labatt's) are generally a pale gold lager, with an alcohol content of 4 to 6 per cent.

The mass-market beers are not very distinctive (although Americans will notice that some beers made by these companies are not sold in the States). However, Canadian beer drinkers do support local brewers.

Cream ale
Although cream ale (referring to a creamy head) was an offshoot of North American light lager, this type is brewed as an ale, in accordance with individual brewers' preferences. Despite its name, a cream ale does not include lactose. Cream ale in North America is "somewhat of a hybrid... fermented like an ale at warm temperatures, but then stored at cold temperatures for a period of time, much as a lager would be. The resultant brew has the unchallenging crisp characteristics of a light pale lager, but is endowed with a hint of the aromatic complexities that ales provide. Pale in color, they are generally more heavily carbonated and more heavily hopped than light lagers."

The most widely distributed brand is the Sleeman Cream Ale, which was first crafted in the late 1800s by George Sleeman and possibly the first genuine iteration of Canadian cream ale. Sleeman Breweries current product, crafted from the original Sleeman family recipe book, is described by the maker as "an authentic North American style [that] combines the easy drinking nature of a lager and the rich fruity character of an ale". Muskoka Brewery also markets a cream ale across Ontario (at LCBO and the Beer Store), as do some smaller brewers. Muskoka describes its product as "... with its rich amber colour and inviting floral tones... a Cascade hoppiness and fuller body of flavour...."

India Pale Ale
India Pale Ale (IPA) originated in Britain around 1800, a heavily hopped brew for export to British India. Today it is produced in many places, unsurprisingly including India and the UK, but also many US breweries and some elsewhere. In Canada, Molson, Labatt and Sleeman each have an IPA among their range of beers.

By far the best-known Canadian IPA is Alexander Keith's. Keith was a Scottish immigrant who set up a brewery in Halifax in 1820; brewery tours are a tourist attraction today. The IPA was their first product, but now they make several other beers. They are now owned by Anheuser-Busch who market Keith's IPA in every Canadian province and in the US; they also produce it at several breweries in addition to the original one.

Ice beer
Ice beer originated in Canada, although it is essentially based on the German Eisbock style of beer. Common ice beer brands have approximately 5.5 to 6 per cent alcohol content. There is a Labatt Maximum Ice with a 7.1 per cent alcohol content.

One generic process of icing beer involves lowering the temperature of a batch of beer until ice crystals form. Since alcohol has a much lower freezing point (-114 °C; -173.2 °F) than water and does not form crystals when the ice is filtered off, this creates a concoction with a higher volume ratio of alcohol to water and therefore creating a beer with a higher alcohol content by volume. The process is known as "fractional freezing" or "freeze distillation".

Sizes
Draft beer (or draught beer) served at bars and restaurants in Canada is commonly sold in pints, defined as the imperial pint: 568 millilitres (20 imperial fluid ounces, which is 20% larger than a US pint). Depending on the bar, it might also be a half-litre, 500 mL.

Packaged beer is usually sold in 341-mL bottles, and in 355-mL or 473-mL cans.

Retailers
Until 2015, about 80 per cent of Ontario's consumer beer trade was handled by the Beer Store, a chain owned by the three large breweries — Molson, Labatt and Sleeman. It also sells craft brew from microbreweries and beers imported from other provinces. Older Ontarians may still call it "the Brewers Retail". The other 20 per cent was handled by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), a government corporation which is the only legal vendor of hard liquor in the province and also sells Canadian and imported beers.

Since 2015 beer is available in many Ontario supermarkets; as of 2023, the government is committed to permitting sales in convenience stores.

Despite wider availability in stores and the growth of independent local brewers, the variety of beer on retail shelves represents only a portion of Ontario's beer scene. Popular beers from smaller producers are often only available directly from a brewery's own bottle shop. Samples or tours are sometimes available, and staff are usually happy to talk about their beer and offer recommendations.

Quebec has long had more liberal laws about who can sell beer and it is fairly common for Ontario residents near the border (especially in Ottawa) to buy beer in a Quebec dépanneur (convenience store).

Imported beers
The Beer Store sells mainly brands produced by the major breweries that own it, but those include some owned by Anheuser-Busch &mdash; Corona, Stella Artois and several other Belgian beers &mdash; some from Molson-Coors &mdash; Coors, Budweiser, Miller, Creemore (formerly an independent Ontario brewery), Rickard's Red (originally from an independent Vancouver brewery) and Fosters &mdash; and Sapporo's Japanese beers. They also carry well-established international brands like Heineken, Carlsberg and Guinness, and some from smaller regional brewers.

The Beer Store also has some beers from independent breweries in other provinces:
 * Moosehead is Canada's oldest independent brewer, established in Saint John, New Brunswick in 1867. Today most of their product is exported to the US, but some is also sold in many Canadian provinces and in Mexico.
 * Unibroue are a relative newcomer, established in Chambly, a suburb of Montreal, in 1991; they are now owned by Sapporo. They brought in a Belgian brewmaster and brew mainly in a Belgian style where the beer continues to ferment after bottling; in some the process leaves sediment in the bottom of the bottle so pouring the beer requires care. Their beers have won awards and are popular with beer aficionados, including many in Ontario. Most are quite potent, 8 to 11% alcohol.

The LCBO has more exotic choices, in particular a range of European beers.

Golden Horseshoe

 * Amsterdam Brewing Co., based in Toronto
 * Bench Brewing Co., based in Beamsville
 * Black Lab Brewing, based in Toronto's East End
 * Brock Street Brewing Company, based in Whitby (in Durham Region)
 * Cameron's Brewing, based in Oakville
 * Collective Arts Brewing, based in Hamilton
 * Counterpart Brewing, based in Niagara Falls
 * Great Lakes Brewery, based in  Etobicoke
 * Henderson Brewing Company, based in Toronto's The Junction
 * Left Field Brewery, based in Toronto's East End
 * Mill Street Brewery, based in Toronto's Distillery District
 * Nickel Brook Brewing Company, based in Burlington
 * Oast House Brewers, based in Niagara-on-the-Lake
 * Old Credit in Port Credit, Mississauga
 * Rorschach Brewing, based in Toronto's East End
 * Something in the Water Brewing Company, based in Toronto's Liberty Village
 * Steam Whistle, based in Toronto
 * Taps Brewery, based in Niagara-on-the-Lake

Eastern Ontario

 * Beau's, based in Vankleek Hill (midway between Ottawa and Montreal)
 * Beyond the Pale Brewery, based in Ottawa
 * Haven Brewing Company, based in Peterborough
 * Kichesippi Beer Co., based in Ottawa
 * Riverhead Brewing Company, based in Kingston
 * Spearhead Brewing Company, based in Kingston
 * Whitewater Brewing Company, based in Foresters Falls (near Ottawa)

Southwestern Ontario

 * Brick, based in Waterloo
 * Craft Heads Brewing Company, based in Windsor,
 * Farm League Brewing, based in Cambridge
 * Gold Crown Brewery, a brew-pub in Waterloo
 * Refined Fool Brewing Company, based in Sarnia
 * Sleeman, Canada's third largest brewery, based in Guelph
 * Walkerville Brewery, based in Windsor
 * Waterloo Brewing, based in Kitchener
 * Wellington Brewery, based in Guelph

Central Ontario

 * Canvas Brewing Company, based in Huntsville
 * Creemore Springs, based in Creemore
 * Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery, based in Barrie
 * Lake of Bays Brewing, based in Baysville (just south of Algonquin Park)
 * Sawdust City Brewing Company, based in Gravenhurst

Northern Ontario

 * Lake of the Woods Brewing Company, Ontario's northernmost brewery, based in Kenora
 * Manitoulin Brewing Company, based in Little Current (on Manitoulin Island)
 * Northern Superior Brewing Company, based in Sault Ste Marie
 * Sleeping Giant Brewing Company, based in Thunder Bay