10 Craft Beer Questions with Storm Stayed’s Justin Bélanger

This post comes from Matt Brown, the Beer Baron. Follow him at @geekcanuck

Opened in late 2017, Storm Stayed Brewing Company has quickly become one of my favourite craft beer spots in the city thanks to its modern but welcoming beer hall vibe, friendly and knowledgeable staff, unique location (169 Wharncliffe Road South in London’s Old South, whereas all the other breweries in the city are currently in the east end) and, of course, great craft beer. Aside from their own broad selection of craft beer, they also have a couple of rotating guest taps and a selection of wine and cider, which makes it an ideal stop for the Clockwatching Tart too.

I’m proud to kick off my new 10 Craft Beer Questions feature with Justin Bélanger, brewer and co-owner of Storm Stayed Brewing Company.

1. What was the first beer you tried that really opened up your mind to the idea that beer could be special? When did you first have it and how did you discover it?

The first beer that really got me to enjoy beer as a drink was probably Tankhouse by Mill Street. It was the first flavourful beer that seemed like it was brewed to be enjoyed and not just consumed quickly while cold. I first had this beer while looking for something to drink while grading lab reports, a job that needed liquid support.


2. What was your go-to style of beer five years ago? And what is it now?

Five years ago, my go-to style would have been an IPA everyday. Hops and more of it! That was probably one the reasons that made me brew more often, so that I could get those great fresh hop aromatics. Today, my beer of choice would be an Irish Red or a Pilsner, great beers with subtle flavour that compliment food instead of overpowering it.

3. How did you get into brewing?

I got into brewing because I thought the science behind it was interesting, and I think that the science has been what has kept me interested in it as a hobby and now as a career. What I love about it is how small tweaks in the water chemistry or fermentation temperature can drastically change a recipe.


4. What was your most epic fail as you were learning to brew and what did you learn from it?

During my early homebrewing experiments, I thought it would be a great idea to use brown sugar (in large quantities) to help boost the alcohol content. Well, the brown sugar didn’t fully ferment out and had a sickly sweetness that stopped you from drinking more than a sip or two. I learned that if you want to brew good beer, you need healthy yeast.

5. When did you decide to open Storm Stayed and what made you decide to choose Old South as a location?

Back in 2010, I did a bike trip across Canada and I would visit pubs and breweries as I biked along. I just loved the atmosphere and camaraderie, and that has followed through to today. The beer scene is such a supportive environment, brewers helping others whether for ingredients or questions. Storm Stayed was my effort to join a great group of people (I was tired of the grind of working for a large organization). While planning our brewery, we wanted to have a community-oriented business and to do that, we needed to be in one of the neighbourhoods. We considered Old East, which already houses most of London’s beer scene, Old North, and Byron; but the location that really drew us was Wortley Village. Unfortunately, there weren’t any buildings available in the village that would have been suitable for a brewery but in the process, we found our great location (still in Old South, but now located in The Coves).


6. What Storm Stayed beer are you most proud of and why?

I’m really proud of Sunburst and Patina. Sunburst is our New England-style Pale Ale and it has a low bitterness which makes it smooth and easy to drink but also has nice grapefruit aromatics. Our Patina is my version of an Irish Red and it has a nice caramel and slight roast character -- it makes for a great campfire drink.


7. If you could have created any specific beer from the past 20 years, what would you choose and why?

Right now, I’m really digging pilsners and have been looking for them everytime I’m out. Both Vim and Vigor by Tooth and Nail and Bellweiser by Bellwoods are ones that if I see it on tap, it’ll be the first and last beers of the evening. Who knows, maybe we’ll see a pils on tap at Storm Stayed in the future.


8. Is there anything specific about Storm Stayed that you think makes it appealing to different demographics?

The great thing about Old South, Wortley, and The Coves area is the great diversity in our population. We want our space to feel safe and welcoming and we’ve tried to make an accommodating environment that everyone could enjoy.


9. What is your favourite thing about the London craft beer scene?

What I love most about the London craft beer scene is how close knit it is and how much everyone supports everyone. We’ve worked together on bulk-buys to help with costs, we’ve taken part in festivals together (Forked Fest, Anderson Anniversary, etc.), and we’ve even competed against each other (congratulations Equals on your bowling win, we’ll bring our A-game next time).


10. Do you have any special beers planned for the winter? Anything exciting craft beer lovers in London should be looking forward to from Storm Stayed?

If you look into the brewery the next time you’re visiting the taproom, you’ll notice a couple of stacked barrels off to the side. I am super excited about them! Experimentation was a key factor in wanting to open my own brewery and being able to use wood of different origins (red or white wine, bourbon, brandy, etc.) is a further extension of our experimental goals. Look forward to those releases around our anniversary (early January).

I’m also looking forward to doing small batch tinctures. This is something that you’ve already seen in the past (e.g. Coffeebreak), but we’ve now acquired some new equipment that’ll allow us to work on a larger scale than our pilot system.

Thanks, Justin!  

If you have any suggestions for who you’d like to see from the London craft beer scene in the next 10 Craft Beer Questions column, let us know @geekcanuck

Review: Pizzeria Madre

This post is written by Matt, the Beer Baron

Pizzaria Madre

111 Wellington St. (Near Grey St.)

London, Ontario

519-432-4333

Like beer, pizza is one of those things that can range from merely adequate to monumentally fantastic depending on who is making it. Also like beer, margherita pizza has a limited number of ingredients (flour, water, tomato, cheese, basil, olive oil), so it really relies upon the right combination of skill and equipment to be great.

I am happy to report that the newly opened Pizzeria Madre at 111 Wellington Street in London is home to some truly great pizza — including a margherita pizza that I’ve been pining away for since having it earlier this week.

Pizzeria Madre — Italian for mother, and named in honour of the mother or starter dough they use in their dough making — is a bright and nicely renovated space with a small bar and a second room off of the main dining space.













While the decor is modern and welcoming, the heart of the place is the imported Italian pizza oven tucked away in the back. A hybrid oven running on a mix of natural gas and wood, it operates in the 750-900 degrees Fahrenheit range, which means it is capable of creating crusts that are both chewy and crisp — the holy grail of pizza crusts.








We started with a green bean salad with roasted local corn, arugula, pecorino, and lemon chilli dressing. I don’t know how long they will be able to keep this item on the menu now that the local corn harvest is nearing its end, but while it is here, it is absolutely lovely, light and crisp.



As mentioned, I had the margherita, which is what I tend to order any time I’m at a new pizza place. It is such a simple pizza, which means it can’t hide its faults if it isn’t well made. Thankfully, Pizzeria Madre delivers. Their margherita pizza has a perfectly chewy yet crisp crust, fresh and alluring sauce, and deftly balanced cheese and oil. (If you don’t eat the crust, there is something seriously wrong with you.)



The Clockwatching Tart ordered one of her favourites, a patata pizza with a cream sauce under shaved potatoes, rosemary, cheese and chile peppers. While the chiles were a little hot for her tastes, the pizza itself was perfectly cooked and wonderfully delicate. (The portion size also allowed for a slice for lunch the next day.)



If it isn’t obvious by now, we both absolutely loved Pizzeria Madre — and it is only going to get better. They are currently awaiting their liquor license and hope to have it in the coming weeks. They have two draft taps and plan on serving London-made and Ontario-made craft beers, along with other craft beer selections, wine and cocktails.

The only thing that could have made my margherita pizza better would have a local craft beer to pair with it, so there is no question at all that I will be back.








Find our more about Pizzeria Madre at https://pizzeriamadre.wixsite.com/book.

The Beer Baron’s Day Out

Thanks to the grand opening of London Brewing Co-op’s new space on Saturday, February 25th and a special Winter Pop Up Bar presented by Forest City Beer Fest over the weekend, it was a special weekend for craft beer fans in London.

To celebrate, we decided to make a day of it and the unofficial Forest City Craft Beer Day was born. We started the day in the newly trendy Old East Village and enjoyed a flight from London Brewing Co-op (including their robust Tolpuddle Porter, which I’ve always enjoyed) while marvelling at their expansive new space and equipment. They’ve come a long way since their pop-up shops!  

Our next stop was literally right around the corner at Anderson Craft Ales. I’d tried their beers at various craft beer festivals but am embarrassed to say I hadn’t visited their brewery before. Both the space itself and the beer were better than I was expecting, so I’m glad to have taken that visit off my to-do list.

As luck would have it, Anderson had been releasing one Belgian-style beer each weekend in February, saving the strongest - a 10.6% ABV Dark Strong that was similar to a Belgian quadrupel - for last. It was an unexpected and special treat, boozy but balanced and enticing. Sadly, I couldn’t bring any of the limited-quantities Dark Strong home but happily brought home some IPA in a fancy new growler approved by the Clockwatching Tart.   

After hitting up both London Brewing Co-op and Anderson, it felt right to pop over to Forked River Brewing to complete the trifecta. We were rewarded with the availability of two of my favourite Forked River brews: Reforest Kelly, a sour, barrel-aged imperial stout brewed with black cherries, and Hansel and Brett’el, a farmhouse blonde aged in chardonnay barrels. They are both tart and complex and will ensure that my unofficial Forest City Craft Beer Day is still appreciated in a few weeks when I crack them open.

We stopped in to Museum London to check out their amazing Brian Jones exhibit and lo and behold, the beer-related fun with “Canadian Eh? A History of the Nation’s Signs and Symbols”.

Even though it was unofficially Forest City Craft Beer Day, we are still just human, and besides, a friend from the best craft beer bar in the city, Milos’ Craft Beer Emporium, recommended Ritual Cafe, so who were we to argue? Both the dark roast coffee and Mexican mocha were excellent, so we repaid the favour by heading to have dinner and drinks at the aforementioned Milos’.

Presented by the Forest City Beer Fest, the Winter Pop Up Bar was held in a nice spot around the corner from Milos’ at the Hassan Law Gallery and featured a selection of carefully selected bottles and cans to sample from and a larger selection of 20 draft taps. As soon as we walked in, we were faced with bottles of Bellwoods Brewery’s 3 Minutes to Midnight, an imperial stout brewed with cherries, and Bounty Hunter, an imperial coconut porter, which is a wonderful way to start an evening.

On the draft side, we started off with a selection of Paradise Lost sour ales from Blood Brothers Brewing, sampled a new imperial stout from Cowbell Brewing, worked out way through a barrel-aged cherry sour and a sour brett porter from Indie Ale House, then finished the night with a sticky sweet, intense and unique “chewy imperial stout” brewed by Sweden’s Omnipollo while visiting Toronto’s Brunswick Bierworks. Any beer that is described as “deep-fried graham cracker chocolate chunk caramel bar” seems like a fitting end to a day of craft beer adventures. Cheers!

This post is my Matt, the Beer Baron. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @geekcanuck

The Beer Baron - One Beer, Six Years of Ontario Craft Beer Memories

This post comes from Matt, The Beer Baron. Find him on Twitter & Instagram @geekcanuck

The London Wine & Food Show might need to consider a name change, as there are just as many -- or more -- spirits and craft beers to sample as there are wines, which is no bad thing.

While exploring the craft beer section of the show, I ran across the friendly folks at the Side Launch Brewing Company booth.

After a nice chat with Marissa Begin, Side Launch Marketing and Event Coordinator, and her colleague and a sample of Side Launch Wheat, I thought about just how much the craft beer scene in Ontario has changed since I first tried that beer. Better still, I was reminded of how awesome that beer is and how friendly and welcoming the craft beer scene is. 

In 2010, I organized a beer pairing dinner called Hops for the Hospital in support of medical imaging technology at London Health Sciences Centre. With the help of Milos Kral -- now of the wonderful Milos’ Craft Beer Emporium -- my goal was to pick four of the better craft beers available in Ontario at the time. 

One of the easier choices to make was Denison’s Brewing Company’s Denison’s Weissbier, an award-winning Bavarian-style wheat beer, which has since then been rebranded as (you guessed it) Side Launch Wheat. 

In preparing for the event, I came in contact with Denison’s and now Side Launch brewmaster Michael Hancock, who couldn’t have been kinder and more supportive. Despite the fact that Denison’s Weissbier was an award-winning beer and consistently among the most highly rated beers in the province on Ratebeer, Denison’s was just a small operation and Hancock couldn’t afford to come to London for the event. He graciously sent along some glassware and his apologies, despite the fact that I had e-mailed him out of the blue and he had no idea who I was. 

So, when I heard that Denison’s merged with Side Launch in 2013 and then rebranded Weissbier as Side Launch Wheat and debuted their spiffy new cans in 2014, I couldn’t have been happier for Hancock and happier to know even more craft beer lovers in Ontario would get to try his beer.

Side Launch Wheat looks like a good weather forecast: sunshine with just a bit of cloudiness. From there, things get even better when you smell it and get notes of wheat, banana and spices. It is pleasantly carbonated and smooth and all the scents are backed up in the taste, the cloves you might expect and even a hint of bubblegum that Hancock says is a classic trait of the style. It speaks to how far the Ontario craft beer scene has come (and to my own affinity for darker beers and trying new styles) that a beer this fantastic hadn’t had a regular spot in my fridge -- a problem I've now rectified. 

The other three beers we served at Hops for the Hospital, (Black Oak Summer Saison, Mill Street Tankhouse Ale and Wellington Russian Imperial Stout) also tell their own stories of the changing and growing craft beer market in Ontario.

At the time, Black Oak’s 10 Bitter Years was one of the first superstar beers in Ontario. It wasn’t brewed year-round and was hard to find. If you found out someone had it on tap, your plans for the evening were set. It was also one of the first Imperial IPAs on the scene and now there are dozens to choose from each summer. While we would have loved to have it at Hops for the Hospital, we settled (albeit happily) for their Summer Saison. These days, Black Oak brews 10 Bitter Years year-round and it is pretty easy to find at the LCBO -- who knew how spoiled we’d be?


Mill Street’s Tankhouse Ale spawned countless knock-offs and even an inevitable backlash in one memorable blog post by Ben Johnson you should definitely check out. Mill Street was recently acquired by Labatt, which is representative of the times in itself.

As for Wellington Brewery, its Russian Imperial Stout is still wonderful but also downright ubiquitous. It has been easy to find those little red cans of awesomeness at most LCBOs for a few years now -- further proof of how spoiled we’ve become in just six years. In fact, most craft beer geeks probably move right past Wellington’s standard stout and seek out their many variations of stout in their Welly One-Off or Welly Re-Booted series. Wine-barrel aged, bourbon-barrel aged, milk chocolate, latte spiced… the list goes on and on.

So, thank you to Side Launch Wheat and the Side Launch team for reminding me not only of how awesome Side Launch Wheat is, but also of how far the craft beer scene in Ontario has come. Here’s hoping that in another six years, I’ll be looking back at how far we’ve come yet again.

The Beer Baron - Hunting Local Treasures

The Beer Baron is back! This post comes from Matt and you can find him on Twitter & Instagram @geekcanuck

When you think of great craft beer cities, you probably don’t think of my hometown of London, Ontario. While it may not be San Diego, Bruges, Grand Rapids or even nearby Guelph, Ontario, London does boast one of the province’s best craft beer bars (Milos’ Craft Beer Emporium) and a great little craft brewery (Forked River Brewing Company). It is also smack dab in the middle of some pretty wonderful agricultural land, so there is no shortage of locally sourced food to enjoy with our beer here.

So, when my Dad visited recently from Calgary and we had an afternoon to kill, I knew exactly where I wanted to take him. Even though both the Clockwatching Tart and I have loved their cheeses since first trying them at the London Wine & Food Show a few years ago, we’d never made it to visit Gunn’s Hill Artisan Cheese.

If you click the above Food & Wine Show link, you’ll see we had pretty wonderful things things to say about Gunn’s Hill upon discovering their cheese – “I think the tastiest thing I tried at the whole show was the Five Brothers cheese from Gunn's Hill Artisan Cheese in Woodstock” – and those feelings still stand.