London Tap House

[fastcarsfreedom]

I've been through the brewhouse in Creemore several times--it's worth it if you're up in the Wasaga Beach/Collingwood/Huronia area--it's in a reno-ed hardware store with hardwood floors--Creemore's a beautiful town in a beautiful part of Ontario. The tour is informative (warm as hell if you go in the summer)--and if you're 19+ you get a little sippy-cup of pilsner at the end...nice folks up there, check it out. I tried the urBock last year, it was great.

There is nothing wrong, of course, with mass produced pasturized beer--it's perfectly acceptable--but the purity of taste of the all-natural product is incredible. The trick with Creemore is to keep it cold at all times and consume it within 6 weeks of buying it--I suspect the canned varied has a longer shelf life, not sure.

I don't know much about Rickards or it's formulation--aside from the fact that it's terrible--I'd bathe in Canadian before I'd drink that Rickards swill--it was hot when I was in University and I could never understand it's appeal. I do recall the Molson v. Labatt scuffle over Kokanee--Labatt had owned Columbia Brewing (Kokanee's maker) since the mid 1970s--but when it expanded the brand nationally it began selling "Kokanee" in Ontario that was not BC-sourced and didn't contain mountain stream water as the genuine article did--hence Molson ran full-page ads that said "BC or BS?" pointing out that "Kokanee-BC's Mountain Beer" was being cranked out in London, Ontario using muncipal-source water. Labatt ultimately took the "BC" descriptor off the label--and--I believe (but am not certain)--that all the brewing went back to BC, and out of London.