Congratulations to Great Lakes Brewery for winning the inaugural Brewery of the Year contest! You guys won with 58% of the votes with 101 people responding!

Great Lakes has been a craft beer institution over the last 30+ years in Toronto. We all recognize their stuff at the LCBO, and offer a wide selection of beers that are consistent and dependable while still packed with flavour! It's a well-deserved victory over a stacked list of breweries!

The Stats: Voting for Seeds:

The initial seedings were based on how people ranked breweries for each region. 1st place was 5 points, 2nd place was 4 points, and so on. 180 people responded, and the results are shown here for the following regions:

• East End of Toronto: Left Field just edged out Godspeed for the first seed, despite Godspeed having more first-place votes overall.
• The Downtown Bracket really wasn’t a contest, since Bellwoods had almost double the amount of points that the second-place Burdock Brewery had. This was the bracket that made me realize that I should have approached this tournament differently.
• The GTA Bracket was by far the most stacked one since it had the most breweries on top of a lot of amazing breweries overall. The top three were pretty close in this bracket, but the point variation in the lower seeds was extremely close.
• The West End had two clear front runners, with Blood Brothers edging out GLB by two points. It was very close, which was fun to watch.
• Here was the overall points independent of region. This is what I used to re-seed breweries going into the IP-8.

The Stats: First Four Rounds

• Round 1 had 189 votes overall, with the top seed winning each matchup.
• Round 2 had 168 votes, again with the top seeds winning
• Round 3 had 313 votes, which is where the re-seeding happened. This finally had some shifting where the top seed didn’t win each round
• Round 4 had 281 votes, with the split being almost identical for both matchups.

My thoughts about the tournament

Overall, I loved that we did this. It engaged the subreddit, and generated discussion (mostly positive, some negative). With that said, there are things I want to change for next year. First, I don’t want to do brackets by region. The GTA is heavily stacked whereas the downtown bracket was weak by comparison. Second, I realized too late that I never restricted the polls to one response per account, which makes me wonder if people were voting over and over again in Rounds 3 and 4. Finally, I was undecisive if I should have kept it to Toronto or expanded it further to include Hamilton or Niagara.

This is where your opinion matters!

What did you think of this tournament? What did you like and what didn’t you like? Any suggestions to tighten everything up to make it better? I want to know how I can improve this to make it a better experience for everyone!

On top of that, I want to know how you voted. Who did you initially vote for? Which brewery lost that you felt was undeserved? Which breweries do you think will make an impact in 2025?

Is anyone else here right now and just absolutely floored at how badly they messed up? Completely oversold it and it's not safe the amount of people that are smushed in here.

I have a whole fridge full of Third Moon 4-packs. Anyone want to split and maybe take 1 or 2 cans?

I'm in Bloor Islington area.

• Double Return To Nothingness
• The Long Winter
• Kills Pils
• Tranquility
• Horizons

It's the weekend!

Post your fridge, post your beer pics, or just tell us what you're drinking!

Welcome to the Unpopular Opinion Thread! Think a style of beer is overrated, how a beer should be served, opinions on a brewery? This is the place to post it!

Remember to keep it civil. You're allowed to disagree with someone without resorting to insults or name calling.

I know people hate this stuff in here. But I have been looking for a very light tasting Canadian craft beer option for some time. With the US tariffs coming it’s time to make a switch.

I honestly don’t like hoppy, flavourful beer. I like boring light beer.

Any suggestions?

Hi Everyone!

The final four polls concluded last night, and here are the results! The final four were tough matchups since each brewery was distinct in their own way, but two had to be eliminated.

At the end, we are left with our final two breweries. First we have Godspeed Brewing, who immediately made its presence felt through top-tier lagers with a Japanese spin. Up against them is Great Lakes Brewery, one of the original Toronto craft breweries that has a wide reach with their cores, yet doesn't shy away from brewing any style!

Polling for this round will close this Friday January 31st at Midnight! I'll make a post on Saturday announcing the winner, as well any discussion about the brackets and feedback!

Happy voting!

https://forms.gle/smzmG4ioABnFiujg6

Limited release alert. This is very tasty and super quaffable. Very reasonably priced and next day delivery. High Park/ Lost Craft smashing it out the park. What are you drinking?

Other favourites are Bellwoods Jutsu and Slake’s Hatch.

What are your favourites?

It's the weekend!

Post your fridge, post your beer pics, or just tell us what you're drinking!

Hi Everyone!

Round three concluded last night, and the results can be found here. For the first time, some of lower seeds won out against the higher ones, with Third Moon triumphing over Left Field, and Great Lakes winning against Burdock.

The Final Four matchups can be seen here. Polling for this round will close this Sunday January 26th at Midnight, with the final two being posted on Monday.

Happy voting!

https://forms.gle/8uTHJL6c7exLqhJL7

Guess because its so cold... Might stop in the summer.

Is now at the LCBO. Pitter patter!

Hi Everyone!

The Sweet Stout 16 has concluded, and here are the results. Again, the higher seed from each match-up made it through, but this time it was much closer than in the first round. Now that the second round is concluded, the divisional brackets are over! All the breweries have been re-seeded based on their performance in the first two-rounds based on percentage of votes.

It's time time to vote for the top 8! The match-ups can be seen here, which looks to be the hardest round yet (obviously). You can vote using the link below, and will be up until Midnight on Thursday January 23rd. Based on people voting rather early, a week per round is not necessary since most votes were in by Thursday.

Happy voting!

https://forms.gle/JJMT4vjmusfXUfpw8

Any one know if they still have the case price and what it is.

It's the weekend!

Post your fridge, post your beer pics, or just tell us what you're drinking!

Free delivery over $30. love the Big Money can art.

Some of the service staff will transition to the new place but I couldn’t get details on what that will be.

Hi Everyone!

The first round has concluded, and here are the results. While the higher seed from each matchup made it through the first round, some of them were close (see: True History vs Rainhard). The two largest winners of the first round were: Bellwoods with an astounding 92% of the votes, and Godspeed with 90%.

I screwed up with Round 1 by calling it the Sweet Stout 16 when there were 32 Breweries. If anyone has a term that I can call the first round in the future let me know!

With that, lets move to Round 2! The matchups can be seen here, and you can vote using the google form link below. We have some TOUGH matchups, particularly the 2nd vs. 3rd seeds. Same as last week, the poll will be up until Midnight on Sunday January 19th. Once we reach the final eight - or the "IP-Eight" - we will re-seed so that it is no longer by region.

Happy voting!

https://forms.gle/ADiyNLmfrRNhTujSA

RGH Beer Olympics is Here!
Get ready for an epic night of beer, games, and fun at Rama Gaming House!

Date: January 24, 2025 at RGH, Mississauga
January 25, 2025 at RGH, Scarborough
Time: 7:00 PM – 9:30 PM

Location:
991 Kennedy Road, Scarborough, ON M2J 1K2
2295 Battleford Rd, Mississauga, ON L5N 2W8What’s Happening?
Play games like Beer Pong, Ring Toss, Beer Trivia, Darts, and even Axe Throwing – compete for awesome prizes!
Enjoy $3 Beers from Cameron’s Brewing Co., locally crafted in Oakville.
Sing along or cheer during live music featuring beer-themed songs!
Don’t Miss Out!
Bring your friends, enjoy a great night, and create unforgettable memories! This is a 19+ event, so make sure to bring valid ID.RSVP Now by visiting our website.

https://www.ramagaming.com/events

Let the games (and beers) begin! 

P.S.: It's a FREE event !!

This was my original post from 5 years ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/torontocraftbeer/comments/g9nd57/what_is_your_top_10_beers_from_gtaontario_that/

It's the weekend!

Post your fridge, post your beer pics, or just tell us what you're drinking!