Category Archives: Event

Canadian Homebrew Day

Canadian Homebrewers Association, Community, Event, ,
Canadian Homebrew Day Graphic

We are pleased to announce that our 2023 edition of Canadian Homebrew Day (CHD) will be in-person at Toronto Brewing!

Sat. June 3rd, 2023
Toronto Brewing (3701 Chesswood Drive, Unit 115)
10:00 AM – 3:00 PM

On Saturday June 3rd, we will have a live brewing demonstration and be available to answer questions and promote the hobby!

GTA Brews Members will be present and brewing on club equipment! Come, see, support and chat with fellow members and members of the public about the joys of homebrewing!

Recipe: Bia-Hoi by Chi-Linh Dinh

This year’s recipe, now available in the club recipe database, is Chi-Llinh Dinh’s “Bia Hoi” (Vietnamese for ‘fresh beer’). Chi created this recipe to emulate the type of beer her father and his friends used to drink back home in Vietnam! It’s a light (about 4% ABV), refreshing lager that’s meant to be drank very fresh once it’s fermented!

If you are indeed brewing that day, please take some pictures and share it with our community and beyond by tagging GTA Brews and #CanadianHomebrewDay in your posts!

2022 GTA Brews Advent Calendar

Advent Calendar, Event, Needs Current Membership, , ,

Exchange Date: Saturday November 26th, 2022 @ 1:00 PM (Don't be late!)Exchange Location(s): Brunswick BierworksParticipation Fee: $10

The Annual GTA Brews Advent Calendar is back for the 9th year ...

This content is only available for GTA Brews Members. Please visit our membership page to join today! If you are already a member, don't forget to Log In!

Canadian Homebrew Day 2022

Canadian Homebrewers Association, Community, Event, ,

We are pleased to announce that our 2022 edition of Canadian Homebrew Day (CHD) will be in-person at Toronto Brewing‘s Geary Ave location!

Sat. June 4th, 2022
Toronto Brewing (211 Geary Ave)
10:00 AM – 3:00 PM

On Saturday June 4th, we will have two live brewing demonstrations.

  1. David Chang-Sang of Chang Sang Estates Homebrewery will be joined by Colin Green to brew up a batch of his Oat N About pale ale, which he originally created in collaboration with our friends at Muddy York Brewing Co.
  2. Darrell Kelly (multi-award winning homebrewer and BJCP Judge) will be brewing up a batch of his famous German Pilsner

Recipe #1: Darkness English Porter by Matt King

The 2021 Canadian Brewer of the Year (BOTY circuit) was our very own Matt King. For CHD 2022, he graciously shared one of his favourite recipes for us to brew at home!

HomebrewDay2022-Recipe-Matt-KingDownload

Recipe #2: Betty Blonde by Barley’s Homebrew Supplies

Barley’s Homebrew Supplies from New Westminster, BC was voted as Canadian Homebrew Shop of the year for 2021. To celebrate CHD 2022, owner Curtis supplied his favourite Blond Ale recipe for us to brew!

HomebrewDay2022-Recipe-Curtis-Van-MarckDownload

If you are indeed brewing that day, please take some pictures and share it with our community and beyond by tagging GTA Brews and #CanadianHomebrewDay in your posts!

Summer Thirst Quenchers Bottle Share!

Advent Calendar, Event, Needs Current Membership, , ,

Exchange Date: Sunday June 26th, 2022 @ 3:30 PM (Don't be late!)Exchange Location: To Be Announced, but in TorontoParticipation Fee: FREE

Some feedback coming out of the member survey this yea...

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2021 GTA Brews Advent Calendar

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Exchange Date: Sat. November 27th, 2021 @ 11:00 AM (Don't be late!)Exchange Location(s): Common Good Beer Company (475 Ellesmere Rd, Scarborough, ON M1R 4E5)Participation Fee: $10

The Annual G...

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Canadian Homebrew Day 2021

Canadian Homebrewers Association, Community, Event, ,

Yet again our annual Canadian Homebrew Day (CHD) tradition of running Learn2Brew has been cancelled due to COVID-19. But CHD is about much more than just running L2B, and COVID-19 sure won’t stop us! CHD is an opportunity to take a moment out of what has been a hectic 12+ months for all of us an enjoy our hobby and craft. Similar to last year, we’ve organized a virtual brewing session on Zoom:

Join On Zoom (link)
Password: gtabrews
Date: Saturday June 5th, 2021
Time: 10:30 AM – 3:00 PM

If you’re free, get a brew going and join us on Zoom to talk all things brewing and some regular old banter. If you’re looking for something to brew, there are a few official Canadian Homebrew Day recipes from our friends at the Canadian Homebrewers Association:

David Chang-Sang, Eric Cousineau, and Colin Green will be hosting the virtual brew session:

  • David will be brewing the Tropical Stout
  • Eric will be brewing the Kolsch
  • Colin will be brewing a Triple IPA and partigyle’d Session IPA

If you are indeed brewing that day, please take some pictures and share it with our community and beyond by tagging GTA Brews and #CanadianHomebrewDay in your posts!

2020 GTA Brews Advent Calendar

Advent Calendar, Event, Needs Current Membership, , ,

Exchange Date: Sat. November 28th, 2020Exchange Location(s): James' House (Riverdale)Participation Fee: $10

The Annual GTA Brews Advent Calendar is back for the 7th year in a row! On Saturday ...

This content is only available for GTA Brews Members. Please visit our membership page to join today! If you are already a member, don't forget to Log In!

Canadian Homebrew Day 2020: Virtual Group Brew

Canadian Homebrewers Association, Community, Event, ,

Due to COVID-19, our annual Canadian Homebrew Day tradition of running Learn2Brew has been cancelled. We still wanted to celebrate Canadian Homebrew Day, so we’re excited to announce we’ve organized a virtual group brew session on Zoom!

Join On Zoom (link)
Password: GTA_Brews
Date: Sunday June 7th, 2020
Time: 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM

Note: This will take the place of our June club meeting

Hosts: David Chang-Sang and Eric Cousineau will be hosting the virtual brew session

  • David will be brewing a Munich Dunkel
  • Eric will be catching up on bottling some mead and kegging some beers

We were pleased to see lots of interest when we shared the plan on our Facebook Discussion Group a few days ago. We’re expecting at least 5 others to join the virtual brew session while brewing, so this will be a sort of virtual Learn2Brew!

Find Us in the Cask Days 2019 Homebrew Section!

Cask Days, Event

Cask Days is coming up this weekend and we’re very excited to have coordinated a whole section of the festival devoted to featuring homebrewers. Check out the full cask list here.

While these beers were brewed by many of the most talented homebrewers around, they don’t technically qualify as homebrew since they were brewed at commercial breweries. In addition to beer brewed by GTA Brews members, we also have casks from Durham Homebrew Club, Maple City Brewers Alliance, and Toronto Brewing!

Which one are you most excited to try? Hint, you want 182…

Our club member Guillaume (cask 183) has setup his Cask Helper website again, to help you track and plan your time at the festival!

Group Photo @ 3 PM (Session 1 Only)

As is tradition, we will be taking a group photo of homebrewers at 3:00 PM during session 1, in front of the homebrew section sign. Make sure to wear your GTA Brews swag for the photo, and don’t forget to set your phone alarm for 2:50 PM so you remember to make you way over.

Thank You To Our Partners

Big thanks to all our brewery partners for letting us brew with them! Please stop by breweries and say thanks by buying a pint, or some beer to go!

Big thanks for Nik Cole for coordinating the homebrew section again this year! Also thanks to Toronto Brewing for storing the empty casks, and Bear for storing the full casks!

2018 GTA Brews Advent Calendar

Advent Calendar, Event, Needs Current Membership, , ,

The 5th Annual GTA Brews Advent Calendar is just days away! 24 brewers will swap 24 beers at 7pm on Monday, November 26th at Muddy York. If you’re just hearing about it now, you missed the boat! K...

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If you are already a member, don't forget to Log In!

Announcing Brew Slam 2018 – Homebrew Competition

Community, Competitions, Event, , , ,
Click Here to go to the main competition page.

Press Release

August 10th, 2018 – Toronto, ON

GTA Brews is excited to announce our fourth annual, nation-wide, homebrew competition for beer, mead, and cider; Brew Slam 2018 (#BrewSlam)!

Last year saw 804 entries, from 8/10 provinces, judged by 73 judges, over just 3 days, making this the largest homebrew competition in country!

This is an AHA/BJCP sanctioned competition, and also part of the Canadian Brewer of the Year circuit. The judging will take place at Amsterdam Brewery (Leaside) from Nov 9th to 11th. Judging will be performed by BJCP ranked judges and Continue reading Announcing Brew Slam 2018 – Homebrew Competition →

Brew Slam 2017 – Wrap Up

BJCP, Brew Slam, Community, Competitions, Event, , , , ,
Brew Slam 2017 is finally wrapped up after almost a whole year of planning, and a ton of execution. What a year! The last of the prizes made their way into the hands of our winners this week, so it’s finally time to write my annual wrap up post. With 806 entries judged, I’m very proud to say that we met and exceeded our goal for 2017 of becoming Canada’s largest homebrew competition (by almost 300 entries)!

Saturday morning judging

The judging and awards for Brew Slam 2017 happened back in November, but we’ve been hard at work since then making sure that everyone got their prizes as fast as we could. Don’t stop reading now because some pretty amazing things happened this year that I want to share.
Continue reading Brew Slam 2017 – Wrap Up →

2017 GTA Brews Advent Calendar

Advent Calendar, Event, Needs Current Membership, , ,

When people think of advent calendars they usually think of candy, but since we are a homebrew club we are thinking beer. A homebrew advent calendar is the best kind of advent calendar since you g...

This content is only available for GTA Brews Members. Please visit our membership page to join today!

If you are already a member, don't forget to Log In!

Learn2Brew 2017 Recap

Community, Event, Learn2Brew, , , , , ,

This past weekend saw Toronto’s 9th annual #Learn2Brew event, with both east and west locations again this year! One change we tried this year is moving it to September, during Toronto Beer Week (TBW), to take advantage of the warmer weather.

Huge gratitude to our generous hosts Rainhard Brewing Company, and Common Good Beer Co. This event wouldn’t be possible without local breweries like these two that support the homebrewing hobby.

Learn2Brew is an event where a half dozen brewers set up and demonstrate the brewing process. We invite the public to come in, learn about homebrewing, and hopefully get inspired to join this wonderful hobby. Here’s a smattering of pictures to give you an idea Continue reading Learn2Brew 2017 Recap →

Grain Buy – Fall 2017

Bulk Buy, Event

The GTA Brews Fall 2017 Grain Buy is now open!

Thanks again to Toronto Brewing for hosting, please make sure to give them your love and make some purchases on pick up day! Don’t forget, now they deliver your online order to breweries all over Toronto for FREE!

All questions should be emailed to grainbuy@gtabrews.ca

Key Dates

Sign Up Open: Friday Sept 15th, 2017
Sign Up Close: Tuesday Oct 10th, 2017 (11:59 pm)
Payment Deadline: Tuesday, Oct 17th, 2017 (11:59 pm)
Split Date: Friday, Oct 27th, 2017
Main Pick Up Date: Saturday Oct 28th, 2017 (10:30 am – 1:30 pm) Continue reading Grain Buy – Fall 2017 →

Announcing Brew Slam 2017 – Homebrew Competition

Community, Competitions, Event
Click Here to go to the main competition page.

Press Release

August 29th – Toronto, ON

GTA Brews is excited to announce our third annual, nation-wide, homebrew competition for beer, mead, and cider; Brew Slam 2017 (#BrewSlam)! This is an AHA/BJCP sanctioned competition, and also part of the Canadian Brewer of the Year circuit. Judging will be performed by BJCP ranked judges and pro brewers, using the BJCP 2015 Guidelines.

Entry Deadline: Nov 4th, 2017
Judging: Nov 10th – 12th @ Amsterdam Brewery
Awards Ceremony: Nov 18th @ Henderson Brewing Company

Styles Accepted: All BJCP Beer/Mead/Cider styles
Entry limits: 1 entry per classic style subcategory (1-26, C1, M1).  2 entries per specialty category (21B, 27-34, C2, M2-M4), must be different beers. Max 15 entries per person.

Account registration is open now! Visit the Brew Slam page for details on rules, prizes, and more!

About Brew Slam 2017

This will be our 3rd year running this competition, and we’re excited to make it even better. Last year we had; 689 entries (117% increase over 2015), avg flight of only 8.67 entries/pair, 52 judges, 22 stewards, entries from 9/10 Canadian provinces, and over $7,000 in prizes. This year, we expect to become the largest homebrew competition in Canada.

About GTA Brews

We are Toronto’s local, as well as Canada’s largest, homebrew club. Since establishing in 2013, we have worked to strengthen and grow the homebrewing community through education, events, competitions, and camaraderie. We bring Toronto area homebrewers together in person, and online, to create a friendly community where we share knowledge, talk shop, and provide feedback on each others homebrews. We welcome members of all experience levels including; potential brewers, new brewers, experienced brewers, and pro brewers.

Brew Slam 2016 – Wrap Up

Community, Competitions, Event, , , ,

Brew Slam 2016 Awards wrapped up just over a week ago, results have been announced, scoresheets were posted, and prizes will be mailed (and emailed) out soon. I think it’s safe to finally start writing this wrap up post after what seems like almost a whole year of prep!

img_20161001_125947

Some notable accomplishments and improvements we made this year:

Announcing Brew Slam 2016 (#BrewSlam2)

Community, Competitions, Event, , , , , ,

Click Here to go to the main competition page.

Press Release

July 5th, 2016 – Toronto, ON

 GTA Brews is pleased to announce the dates and details for our Brew Slam 2016 Homebrew Competition in Toronto. These dates might seem like a ways away, but it’s actually under 3 months away so get brewing and mark the deadline in your calendar!
 
Entry Deadline: Sept 24th, 2016
Judging Dates: Sept 30th – Oct 2nd, 2016
Account registration is open now! Visit the Brew Slam 2016 page for rules and entry details!
brewslam small fb-01

Brew Slam 2015 (recap) was our club’s first big competition. It was a huge success with 318 entries judged in only 2 days, almost 50 amazing volunteers, and thousands of dollars in prizes!

We are excited to build on last year and make Brew Slam 2016 bigger and better. Our goal is to make this the premier competition in the area for both judges and entrants. Toronto has the largest pool of BJCP judges in Canada which allows us to focus on the best quality judging and feedback possible. We are also excited to work with some fantastic sponsors for even better prizes than last year!

About GTA Brews
We are Toronto’s local homebrew club. Since establishing our club in 2013 we have gained momentum and grown into Canada’s largest homebrew club with well over 200 Paid Members. We bring Toronto area homebrewers together in person, and online, to create a friendly community where we share knowledge, talk shop, and provide feedback on each others homebrews. We welcome members of all experience levels including; potential brewers, new brewers, experienced brewers, and pro brewers.

Toronto Big Brew for National Homebrew Day – May 7th

AHA Event, Community, Event, , , , ,

Presented by GTA Brews and Lansdowne Brewery.

Lansdowne

“In 1988, May 7 was announced before [US] Congress as National Homebrew Day. The American Homebrewers Association (AHA) created AHA Big Brew as an annual event to celebrate National Homebrew Day around the world. AHA Big Brew is held each year on the first Saturday in May.” – The American Homebrewers Association

This event is an AHA registered Big Brew for National Homebrew Day Event.

Homebrew clubs around the USA and around the world celebrate National Homebrew Day differently. Our club has decided to celebrate it by partnering with a great local brewery, Lansdowne Brewery at 303 Lansdowne Ave.

On Saturday May 7th, we will collaboratively brew a 10 bbl batch of wort and split it among 50 club members to take home for a fee of $10 each (to cover the costs of the wort and competition). You can straight up ferment the wort as is, or Continue reading Toronto Big Brew for National Homebrew Day – May 7th →

GTA Brews 2015 Hop Crop Bulk Buy

Bulk Buy, Event, , , ,

The GTA Brews 2015 Hop Crop Bulk Buy is now open!

Key Dates

Sign Up Open: Friday Dec 18th, 2015
Sign Up Close: Wednesday Jan 6th, 2016 (11:59 pm)
Payment Deadline: Sunday Jan 10th, 2016 (11:59 pm)
Split/Pick-Up Date: Saturday Jan 23rd, 2016
(Split: 10:00 am – 2:00 pm, Pick-Up: 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm)

Updates will be sent via email you sign up with on the Continue reading GTA Brews 2015 Hop Crop Bulk Buy →

Club Advent Calendar 2015 is under-way!

Advent Calendar, Event, Wrap Up, , , , ,

The 2015 GTA Brews Advent Exchange is done and we’re off to the races with two separate advent calendars this year! Twice the size from last year, and twice the excitement!

Note for participants: Please remember to indicate which calendar you are drinking when posting on the FB group. Eg. “Drinking beer 21E, great job Nick Perry!”

East Side Calendar

GTA Brews Advent 2015 East

West Side Calendar

GTA Brews Advent 2015 West Continue reading Club Advent Calendar 2015 is under-way! →

GTA Brews Fall 2015 Grain Buy

Bulk Buy, Community, Event, , , ,

The GTA Brews Fall 2015 Grain Buy is now open!

Thanks again to Toronto Brewing for hosting, please make sure to give them your love and make some purchases on pick up day!

Key Dates

Sign Up Open: Tuesday, Oct 13th, 2015
Sign Up Close: Tuesday, Oct 27th, 2015 (11:59 pm)
Payment Deadline: Tuesday Nov 3rd, 2015 (11:59 pm)
Split Date: Friday Nov 13th, 2015
Main Pick Up Date: Saturday Nov 14th, 2015 (10:30 am – 1:30 pm) Continue reading GTA Brews Fall 2015 Grain Buy →

Brew Slam 2015 Wrap Up

Community, Competitions, Event, , , ,

12094969_10100985846529330_1334500711766583317_o

Brew Slam 2015 judging and awards wrapped up last weekend and it was quite a whirlwind of activity. If you haven’t noticed yet, results from Brew Slam 2015 have been posted to the site. We ended up with 318 entries, 31 judges, and 9 stewards over both days of judging. Pretty great turnout for a first year competition!

PDF version of Brew Slam 2015 Results

Congratulations to everyone that placed in the competition. We already distributed many Continue reading Brew Slam 2015 Wrap Up →

GTA Brews Advent Calendar 2014

Advent Calendar, Event, , , , ,

When people think of advent calendars they usually think of candy, but since we are a homebrew club we were thinking beer. The idea was that we would get 24 people to sign up and brew a beer to put in the calendar. Each person would be assigned a day of the month so that we are all drinking the same beer on the same night, then we can discuss it. James Kennedy put in the effort to make it happen, organizing the exchange and making the calendar below. In the end we had 26 brewers participate in the exchange. Here’s to a month of great beers!

GTA Brews Advent 2014
The calendar schedule for 2014.

I took a few blurry pictures of the exchange, it was a bit cramped and everyone was moving around!

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