The Beer Baron - Road Trip: Elora Brewing Company Edition

This post comes from Matt, the Beer Baron. Find him on Twitter at @geekcanuck

I don’t know if it is all the agriculture in the area leading people to appreciate local fare or just a happy coincidence, but the Guelph area (which is about 90 minutes from the Clockwatching Tart home base) is one of the best craft beer parts of the province – a fact we’ve certainly taken advantage of in the past.

In fact, Guelph’s Wellington Brewery is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a cask beer festival in late September, so the area has certainly earned its craft beer bona fides. So, it was no surprise when I learned that the area would be welcoming a new craft brewery, this time in nearby Elora, Ontario with the aptly named Elora Brewing Company.

At this year’s London Beer & BBQ Show, I got to try Elora Brewing’s Lady Friend IPA, which was much more malty and balanced than most IPAs and was clearly one of the stars of the show to me. At the time, they were still building their brewery, so another brewer was making their beer for them using their recipe, so once their actual brewery recently opened, it was with much excitement that we loaded up the Subaru and headed for Elora.

Build in an old hardware store right on the main drag of the adorably cute “downtown” Elora, Elora Brewing Company is quite beautiful, with exposed stone walls and lots of Edison bulbs, wood and steel for a vibe that is very clean and modern but certainly fits in with the vibe of a town best known for the gorge and natural beauty.

So, the town itself and the brewery – with its still gleaming brewing equipment standing proudly and brightly lit in the back in contrast to the stone and wood up front – are both beautiful, but what about the food and beer?

Road Trips: Winter/Spring 2015

We've taken several short trips so far this year but I realized I haven't mentioned them much here on the blog. So it's time to fix that!

Back in December we took a drive back to Lexington, Kentucky for a few days for Matt (the Beer Baron)'s birthday. He had a fantastic time at Beer School at the Beer Trappe where he tried plenty of beer and met some friendly locals. 

Detour - Guelph, Ontario

It's been a busy fall season for us so far.  This weekend we were lucky to attend the wedding of dear friends out of town.  On the drive home we took advantage of the beautiful weather to make a stop in Guelph, Ontario for lunch, beer, and a little country market.

Guelph is a beautiful town.  I lived there for about a year when I first finished school and I have lots of good memories there.