Brewery Hopping in Toronto, Ontario

The city of Toronto has many brewery options for those looking to sip their way through the city. We recently spent a long weekend in Toronto, Ontario at the Westin Harbour Castle for a spring staycation. It was the perfect location to see the main attractions of the city, and a great home base for our DIY-brewery hopping tour. As big craft beer fans, we decided to take the opportunity to visit the breweries in the downtown core. All of these breweries were within walking distance or a short Uber ride away. Here is my Toronto craft beer brewery hopping itinerary.

Steam Whistle Brewing

Our first stop on our brewery hopping tour was at Steam Whistle Brewing. The Steam Whistle Brewery is located in the heart of downtown Toronto, near the base of the famous CN Tower. This brewery is actually in the historic John Street Roundhouse which was once used as a repair facility for the CN Rail.

There are a few atmospheres to enjoy your Steam Whistle brew: the original Roundhouse where you can kick off a Steam Whistle Brewery tour, outside on their patio or in their newly opened Biergarten. As you may have guessed, the Steam Whistle Biergarten was styled after typical biergartens with communal seating at long tables with benches. There’s a basic menu of food to choose from and you order and pay for it at the food counter. Beers are served to you at the table and you settle your beer tab separately.

We were there the first weekend it was open and we really enjoyed the atmosphere. The beer was also tasty, and I highly recommend the s’mores pretzel.

Amsterdam Brewery (BrewHouse)

Next up on our brewery hopping tour was Amsterdam Brewery. Located on the Toronto waterfront with seating to accommodate 1000 guests – this is not your average brewery! At the BrewHouse you can do typical brewery activities – like touring the brewing facilities, trying out tasting flights and ordering food – but the menu here is quite extensive compared to most brewery locations. There are also 4 patio spaces to choose from – and seating on the patios is first-come, first-served. If you visit during non-patio season (especially on weekends) I strongly suggest you make reservations. Luckily for us I reserved online the week before, because when we arrived there was a line out the door!

While we did enjoy the beer here (and the food was pretty good too!) we found this to have a very different atmosphere than the smaller breweries we typically visit. For us, the inside experience definitely has a big city feel and is less personal. Though if you’re looking for a prime patio experience with water views – their numerous patios will make you feel like you’ve momentarily escaped the city.

Bar Hop

On our second day in the city we started our brewery hopping at Bar Hop. While Bar Hop may not be an actual brewery, this small chain (3 locations) offers more than 35 beers on tap. Bar Hop doesn’t stop at high quality craft beer – they also have an assortment of spirits, top-shelf bourbon, single malt scotch, and tequila. There is a decent selection of food offered on their menu and the knowledgeable staff can help pair the right drink with your meal (or vice versa!). You can order sample sizes to make your own flights, or to simply try before committing to a full-sized beer.

The atmosphere is more like a pub with good music playing and the King Street location is fairly small and when we visited they didn’t have a patio area open. We really enjoyed the feel of this place and the variety of beers available. In the future I plan to go back and try out some of their bourbon and scotch flights!

Goose Island Toronto

The next stop on the second day of our brewery hopping tour was at Goose Island Brewhouse. This brewery originated in Chicago, Illinois, but in recent years they opened a Toronto location. As a big fan of their IPA, I decided to go for a full beer here instead of sampling and also ordered some food for lunch. The menu here was rather large in comparison to some of the smaller breweries and their brussel sprout and bacon pizza was delicious!

There was a nice patio area outside and the brewhouse was connected to the Bier Market inside. I was surprised how large the inside area was, from the outside it didn’t seem so large. We had fantastic weather so we decided to sit on the patio and really enjoyed it. The patio fills up quickly, so plan ahead if you have your heart set on sitting outside as it’s a first-come, first-served seating system.

Overall I’d say this was the best food we had on our brewery tour, and I really enjoyed the patio atmosphere.

Mill Street Brew Pub

Our final stop on our brewery hopping tour was at Mill Street’s Toronto Brew Pub. Located in the historic Distillery District of Toronto, this brewery has some historic charm. The brewery offers numerous seating areas including a large patio, beer hall and dining area. You can learn how the beer is made on one of the tours (set times each day) and purchase merchandise at their large storefront.

We found the menu to have a good selection with food items ranging from brunch to dinner options. We decided to get some flights here so we could do some sampling and enjoy the atmosphere. This may make me sound like a cranky old lady, but it was quite loud in here. Typically we don’t mind music but the volume here made talking a little bit more difficult. Overall, the beer was great, but next time we’d try the patio to see if that helps with the noise level.

Brewery Hopping Tour Summary

Our brewery hopping tour was a great addition to our weekend itinerary. Despite what it may seem we did do activities other than beer drinking! If you’re looking to go brewery hopping in Toronto, any of these options would make a great stop. Toronto also has many other breweries located throughout the city, so one day I hope to do a future edition of Brewery Hopping in Toronto and try some of the smaller breweries. Hoppy beer sampling (see what I did there!?)!