Recording from the April 2022 meeting of GTA Brews Homebrew Club in Toronto, Canada.
This month we were exceptionally excited to have Calum and Lauren join us from Sonnen Hill Brewery talk to us about lagers! Their presentation focused on brewing lagers and included a guided tasting of four of their beers
Recording from the April 2022 meeting of GTA Brews Homebrew Club in Toronto, Canada.
Emily returned with April’s BJCP Style Of The Month! This month, Emily looked at smoke, wood, and specialty beers (aka the beers that don’t fit nowhere else).
I work in the Maintenance Department for the York Region District School Board.
I always wanted to try making my own homebrew. When Covid came around it became the perfect opportunity for me to try just that. I started with a Brooklyn Brew Shop Kit and then went from there.
Date: Monday April 11th, 2022
Time: 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM ET
GTA Brews Members: You must login to see the link and password. If you have logged in and cannot see them, please refresh the page.
This month we are exceptionally excited to have Calum and Lauren join us from Sonnen Hill Brewery talk to us about lagers! Their presentation will focus on brewing lagers and will include a guided tasting of four of their beers, so make sure you check out some ways (see here) you can get their beers before April 11th!
As with any conference call, please mute your microphone if you aren't speaking, this really helps cut down on background noise. During Q&A segments we will make use of the "Raise Hand" feature.
Continue reading April Meeting: Lager Brewing and Tasting with Sonnen Hill!GTA Brews Members: You must login to see details related to the Sonnen Hill Group Order!. If you have logged in and cannot see them, please refresh the page.
This may be a wee bit early to be talking about a meeting that's about 2 weeks away BUT there's good reason for it! Our guests for our April meeting will be Calum and Lauren from Sonnen Hill Brewing and the focus will be on lagers!
Part of that meeting will include a guided tasting of four of Sonnen Hill's lagers (Low & Slow, Vienna, Munich and Gold). If you plan on attending the Club Meeting on Monday April 11 @ 7:30pm - and you'd like to participate in that guided tasting you can do one of the following:
If you have any questions regarding the guided tasting, please email meetings@gtabrews.ca.
Continue reading Pre-Meeting Post - Sonnen Hill Group Order!Recording from the March 2022 meeting of GTA Brews Homebrew Club in Toronto, Canada.
This month, Emily looked at Wheat and Rye beers and provides a brief presentation on the styles and offer some prime examples.
Recording from the March 2022 meeting of GTA Brews Homebrew Club in Toronto, Canada.
As we Marched towards spring this month (you see what I did there?) we were excited to have GTA Brews Member Lauren Richard (pronounced akin to “Rocket Richard”) with us to impart her knowledge on something our club has never looked at before – Beer / Food Pairings!!
Date: Monday March 14th, 2022
Time: 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM ET
GTA Brews Members: You must login to see the link and password. If you have logged in and cannot see them, please refresh the page.
As we March towards spring this month (you see what I did there?) we are excited to have GTA Brews Member Lauren Richard (pronounced akin to "Rocket Richard") with us to impart her knowledge on something our club has never looked at before - Beer / Food Pairings!!
As with any conference call, please mute your microphone if you aren't speaking, this really helps cut down on background noise. During Q&A segments we will make use of the "Raise Hand" feature.
Continue reading March Meeting: Beer / Food Pairings with Lauren Richard!Please RSVP using the form below to help us track expected attendees and make sure we hit our required quorum!
Date: Sunday March 6th, 2022
Time: 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM
Special note: When joining the Zoom meeting, please ensure your display name is your first AND last name! This will assist with attendance.
GTA Brews Members: You must login to see the link and password. If you have logged in and cannot see them, please refresh the page.
The annual GTA Brews AGM will be conducted from 8:00PM-9:30 PM on Sunday March 6th, 2022. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic this will be hosted virtually using Zoom, however we hope to make this an exciting annual in-person event in the future. To reach the quorum required to hold the meeting we need 43+ members to attend, so please mark your calendars and plan to attend!
The meeting will be chaired by current President, David Larocque.
Continue reading Annual General Meeting of GTA Brews - March 6, 2022Recording from the February 2022 meeting of GTA Brews Homebrew Club in Toronto, Canada.
In February we were happy to have GTA Brews Member Stephen Rodermond give us a presentation on opening up a brewery (yes… a legal brewery) in his garage!
Date: Tuesday February 15th, 2022
Time: 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM ET
GTA Brews Members: You must login to see the link and password. If you have logged in and cannot see them, please refresh the page.
It's February and this month we are happy to have GTA Brews Member Stephen Rodermond to give us a presentation on opening up a brewery (yes... a legal brewery) in his garage!
As with any conference call, please mute your microphone if you aren't speaking, this really helps cut down on background noise. During Q&A segments we will make use of the "Raise Hand" feature.
Continue reading February Meeting: The (REAL) Garage Brewery with Stephen Rodermond
Software engineering at Wave Financial working on our small business banking offerings.
The short answer is mirin and Merit SVP.
The long answer is that I made a bit of wine in university and helped my then-roommate Jesse with his meadmaking for a while (some members might remember Jesse’s excellent bochet from the bottles he was wandering around with at the Brew Slam 2019 award ceremony), but I only really got into homebrewing seriously was when I got frustrated with the poor availability of hon-mirin in Ontario and started making choujiu (a Chinese style of rice wine that’s sort of like nigori sake) in the hopes of eventually being able to make a decent substitute. Eventually I progressed into also making fruit wines for turning into vinegar, but I held off on beer due to the equipment requirements.
Luckily, I eventually stumbled upon Lars Marius Garshol’s blog and realized that I could adapt some of the techniques and ingredients that Norwegian farmhouse brewers were using to allow me to brew beer in my condo with absolutely minimal equipment. The final kick to start was having Merit SVP and wishing that I could have something that was similarly low ABV, complex, and quaffable available to drink without having to make my way to Hamilton to acquire it.
I haven’t really chased the SVP flavour profile consciously since my first few brews, but when I brought a can of it home from the Toronto Brewing bottle shop earlier this year, my girlfriend commented that she could taste a definite common thread between it and a lot of the things I brew, so perhaps it made a greater impact than I thought!
Recording from the January 2022 meeting of GTA Brews Homebrew Club in Toronto, Canada.
In January we were happy to have GTA Brews Member (and former club President) Eric Cousineau back to give us a presentation this month on water chemistry!
Recording from the January 2022 meeting of GTA Brews Homebrew Club in Toronto, Canada.
This month, Emily looks at Amber and Brown Ales of all types (English AND American) and provides a brief presentation on the styles and offer some prime examples.
Date: Monday January 10th, 2022
Time: 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM ET
GTA Brews Members: You must login to see the link and password. If you have logged in and cannot see them, please refresh the page.
HOPPY NEW YEAR! This month we are happy to have GTA Brews Member (and former club President) Eric Cousineau back to give us a presentation this month on water chemistry!
As with any conference call, please mute your microphone if you aren't speaking, this really helps cut down on background noise. During Q&A segments we will make use of the "Raise Hand" feature.
Continue reading January Meeting: The Shape of Water Chemistry with Eric Cousineau!This December we are being hosted by People's Pint Brewing Company. Thanks for hosting us! We request that everyone spend some money to support our wonderful host. They have plenty of beer-to-go in their bottle shop!
As we are still within a global Pandemic, and we want to ensure safety for our members and for People's Pint staff, please note the following:
A few months ago we opened sign up for our 8th annual GTA Brews Homebrew Calendar. The participation fee was $10/person, with 100% of the proceeds going to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). We also included the option to donate extra (in $10 increments) to CAMH to help us on our fundraising efforts.
We're pleased to announce that (as of writing) we have raised $370 for CAMH! There's still time to donate using the following item. Donations will be accepted until Tues Dec 14th.
As is tradition, James Kennedy has designed a custom advent graphic showing each beer that is part of the calendar. As is also tradition, he has taken artistic liberty based on the name given to the beer, at least for the members that gave their beer a name.
We are fired up to have the 2013 American Homebrewers Association Brewer Of The Year winner, Annie Johnson, here this month to give us a presentation on Czech and Italian Pilsners and to do some Q&A with us on these styles! Not only is Annie a winner of the AHA's Brewer Of The Year award but she also won Pilsner Urquell's Master Homebrewer competition in 2012 and has been actively involved in professional brewing since 2014. Annie is also a BJCP Nationally Ranked judge, the current president of the Seattle chapter of The Pink Boots Society and was elected to the AHA's Governing Committee in 2020.
Recording from the November 2021 meeting of GTA Brews Homebrew Club in Toronto, Canada.
In November we were exhilarated to have Annie Johnson, an American Homebrewers Association Brewer Of The Year award winner, give us a presentation this month on everything pertaining to Czech (and now Italian) pilsners!
Recording from the November 2021 meeting of GTA Brews Homebrew Club in Toronto, Canada.
Club member and "Style Manager" Emily takes us over a couple ponds to look at English, Irish, Scottish and Australian Ales!
Date: Monday November 8th, 2021
Time: 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM ET
GTA Brews Members: You must login to see the link and password. If you have logged in and cannot see them, please refresh the page.
This month we are exhilarated to have Annie Johnson, an American Homebrewers Association Brewer Of The Year award winner, give us a presentation this month on everything pertaining to Czech (and now Italian) pilsners!
As with any conference call, please mute your microphone if you aren't speaking, this really helps cut down on background noise. During Q&A segments we will make use of the "Raise Hand" feature.
Continue reading November Meeting: Those Czech (and now Italian) Pilsners with Annie Johnson!Recording from the October 2021 meeting of GTA Brews Homebrew Club in Toronto, Canada.
Club member and "Style Manager" Emily embraces the "Dark Side" in this month's "Style O' The Month" feature!
Recording from the October 2021 meeting of GTA Brews Homebrew Club in Toronto, Canada.
In October we were over-the-moon to have Dr. Richard Preiss, co-founder of Escarpment Labs, give us a presentation this month and take a Q&A on all things yeast related!
Date: Monday October 18th, 2021
Time: 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM
GTA Brews Members: You must login to see the link and password. If you have logged in and cannot see them, please refresh the page.
This month we are over-the-moon to have Dr. Richard Preiss, co-founder of Escarpment Labs, give us a presentation this month and take a Q&A on all things yeast related!
As with any conference call, please mute your microphone if you aren't speaking, this really helps cut down on background noise. During Q&A segments we will make use of the "Raise Hand" feature.
Continue reading October Meeting: Yeast Q&A with Dr. Richard Preiss of Escarpment Labs!
I'm a tech lead at Prodigy Game, where I work on making tools for people making the game that teaches kids math.
A friend bought me John Palmer's How To Brew, and Beer and Philosophy for my birthday saying I might like it. Read both books and learned a lot, but then did nothing until my wife bought me one of the Brooklyn Brew Shop 1 gallon kits. I had fun and kept at it after that.
Recording from the September 2021 meeting of GTA Brews Homebrew Club in Toronto, Canada.
Club member and "Style Manager" Emily presents all things Lager during this month's "Style O' The Month" feature!
Recording from the September 2021 meeting of GTA Brews Homebrew Club in Toronto, Canada.
In September we also had the results of our first club competition in over a year!! It was exciting and we were all appreciative of the time and effort it took to get this competition, that was both adhering to COVID protocols and health guidelines, off the ground!
Recording from the September 2021 meeting of GTA Brews Homebrew Club in Toronto, Canada.
In September we were honoured and excited to have author and brewer Scott Janish give us a presentation about making hoppy beers!
I am the General Manager at Folly Brewpub! We were recently purchased by new owners and have undergone some major renovations in the restaurant and brewhouse. I would love to show you what we have going on, so come on by and say hi!
I have always worked in restaurants and started off in the back of house cooking. When I took the step into bartending, I loved developing cocktails as it combined my love of people with my love of creating culinary delights. The deeper I got into working at beer bars, the more I knew that brewing was going to be my next step. Being able to create something so delicious is magical and brings me excitement and joy every time. I also love the freedom I have to create anything I want, so I am not just limited to what's available on the market.
Date: Monday September 13th, 2021
Time: 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM
GTA Brews Members: You must login to see the link and password. If you have logged in and cannot see them, please refresh the page.
This month we are honoured and excited to have author and brewer Scott Janish give us a presentation this month! He'll be talking to us about making hoppy beers!
As with any conference call, please mute your microphone if you aren't speaking, this really helps cut down on background noise. During Q&A segments we will make use of the "Raise Hand" feature.
Continue reading September Meeting: Making Hoppy Beers with Scott Janish!Recording from the August 2021 meeting of GTA Brews Homebrew Club in Toronto, Canada.
This month we were thrilled to have Bebo and Chris from Third Moon Brewing! They spoke to us about a topic we have not yet had tabled at our meetings; Pastry Stouts!
Date: Monday August 9th, 2021
Time: 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM
GTA Brews Members: You must login to see the link and password. If you have logged in and cannot see them, please refresh the page.
This month we are thrilled to have Bebo and Chris from Third Moon Brewing! They'll be talking to us about a topic we have not yet had tabled at our meetings; Pastry Stouts!
As with any conference call, please mute your microphone if you aren't speaking, this really helps cut down on background noise. During Q&A segments we will make use of the "Raise Hand" feature.
Continue reading August Meeting: Pastry Stouts with Bebo & Chris from Third Moon Brewing!
Nicholas ColeI work in account management for a tech company that helps small businesses with their marketing and operations.
Aside from the occasional Guinness or Duvel, I drank macro beer pretty exclusively in university and probably didn't know the difference between an ale and a lager. I also probably would have told you that Guinness was very "heavy." Then I went away for a few years, and when I came back all of my friends were obsessed with craft beer. I caught the bug pretty quickly after that and figured that the only way to be more into it than they were was to make the stuff myself.
Recording from the July 2021 meeting of GTA Brews Homebrew Club in Toronto, Canada.
This month we were SO excited to have author, brewer and the authority on sour / funky beers, Mr. Michael Tonsmeire as our guest presenter!
Recording from the June 2021 meeting of GTA Brews Homebrew Club in Toronto, Canada.
This month we were excited to have Nina Houts from Imperial Yeast with us to give us a virtual tour of their propagation process and facilities, discuss best practices for yeast handling and more!
Date: Monday July 12th, 2021
Time: 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM
GTA Brews Members: You must login to see the link and password. If you have logged in and cannot see them, please refresh the page.
This month we are SO excited to have author, brewer and the authority on sour / funky beers, Mr. Michael Tonsmeire as our guest presenter!
As with any conference call, please mute your microphone if you aren't speaking, this really helps cut down on background noise. During Q&A segments we will make use of the "Raise Hand" feature.
Continue reading July Meeting: Sour and Funky Beers with Michael Tonsmeire
I have worked for Air Canada Jazz as an aircraft mechanic since 2004. I hold an M2 A.M.E license and currently maintain Dash 8’s, Q-400’s CRJ 200,705,900 and Embraer 175’s.
After spending so much time traveling the world, a part of every trip I take is always sampling as much local cuisine as possible. This grew into also seeking out local breweries, which in turn got me more into craft beer locally as well. One year I got a Brooklyn Brewing 1 gallon kit for Christmas and the rest is history.
Our popular seasonal homebrew competition is back for 2021, in virtually judged format! As usual, we will be accepting all styles of beer, mead, and cider. Since this is our small competition, entry will be restricted to GTA Brews members only.
This seasonal competition is designed to be a “low stakes” introduction to BJCP competitions for club members to enter their beers for feedback and fun. The focus is on providing excellent feedback, so we keep the entry cap and fee low. Our hope is that lots of first-time entrants will find themselves on the winners list and be motivated to continue entering competitions. This competition will be judged by BJCP Judges according to the 2015 BJCP Guidelines.
If this if your first competition, please read our BJCP Competition Guide for tips on entering. If you aren’t sure which category to enter your beer, bring it to a club meeting, or email: comp@gtabrews.ca
Date: Monday June 14th, 2021
Time: 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM
GTA Brews Members: You must login to see the link and password. If you have logged in and cannot see them, please refresh the page.
This month we have Nina Houts from Imperial Yeast to talk to us about yeast propagation, yeast handling best practices, a virtual tour and more!
As with any conference call, please mute your microphone if you aren't speaking, this really helps cut down on background noise. During Q&A segments we will make use of the "Raise Hand" feature.
Continue reading June Meeting: Yeast Best Practices, Propagation and More with Nina Houts from Imperial Yeast!
I am an audio engineer for a post-production house that does sound and picture for tv shows and commercials.
As a lover of craft beer, I was looking into getting a keg fridge so I could buy kegs from breweries. All the places for info on buying/building kegerators were home brew sites, and I thought “hey, maybe I should just make beer instead”. So I ordered the equipment to do extract brewing, after 3 batches I was hooked. Ordered a Grainfather from Toronto Brewing and never looked back.
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:
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!