Location: Rainhard Brewing Co
Date: Monday January 13th, 2025
Time: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM ET

Water: You’ve drank it, you’ve swam in it, heck, some of you have probably even BATHED in it (at some point in the distant past). But did you know you could BREW WITH IT TOO?!

It’s time for our annual January tradition of diving deep (see what I did there?) into the world of water chemistry, and we are happy to have GTA Brews Member (and former club President) Eric Cousineau back to give us an updated presentation!

Also be sure to SIGN-UP for structured tastings if you’d like some feedback on your latest brew.

Also, please don’t forget to patronize our hosts!! Rainhard offers a wide selection of fine beers to go so don’t hesitate to grab some especially if you don’t get out to see them as often as you’d like!

Don’t forget to bring your tasting glass!

Location: Bickford Brewing Co.
Date: Monday December 9th, 2024
Time: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM ET

It’s been a very eventful year of beer brewing, competitions, club meet-ups, world events and happenings. We’ve come a long way, and now it’s [finally] time to chill out a bit, relax, and have a few beers with friends. That’s right, it’s the GTA Brew’s holiday social get-together. This is one you DON’T want to miss – fellow club member and homebrewer-gone-pro Andrew McCready has invited us into his dojo at Bickford Brewing for the celebration. Grab a beer on tap and some cans to go!

Also be sure to SIGN-UP FOR STRUCTURED TASTINGS if you’d like some feedback on your latest brew. This is a great way to get a judge’s feedback prior to (or without) the hassle of registering for a formal competition.

Other than that, there’s no presentation this month, this meeting is all about hanging out, reminiscing about old times, sharing brews and talking beer.

Don’t forget to bring your tasting glass! And we’re giving out special bonus high-fives to anyone who wears something particularly festive to the meeting.

Location: Rainhard Brewing Co
Date: Monday November 25th, 2024
Time: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM ET

Join us November 25th at West-End location Rainhard Brewing to get inside the mysterious brain of Toronto’s Brewer of the Year and Last Brewer Standing Wuilmer Venegas. He’ll be walking us through his process of creating award winning beer recipes from scratch, and sharing some secrets along the way. Note that we are meeting at a slightly later date than normal due to Brewslam activities earlier in the month.

And for those with Advent Calendar tickets, we will also be taking this opportunity to swap our 24 beers! Come prepared with your prelabeled beers and a carrying box!

And as always, remember to bring your tasting glass!

Also be sure to SIGN-UP for structured tastings if you’d like some feedback on your latest brew.

Don’t forget to patronize our hosts! Rainhard offers a wide selection of fine beers to go so don’t hesitate to grab some especially if you don’t get out to see them as often as you’d like!

Location: Rorschach Brewing Co
Date: Monday October 7th, 2024
Time: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM ET

Join us October 7th at East-End location Rorschach Brewing for a rare opportunity to check out the 2024 hop harvest with hop experts from Hops Connect. We’ll be hand-rubbing some varieties, talking through the aroma and flavor notes, and maybe even comparing them to their extract versions, live!

And as always, remember to bring your tasting glass!

Also be sure to SIGN-UP for structured tastings if you’d like some feedback on your latest brew.

Don’t forget to patronize our hosts! Rorschach offers a wide selection of fine beers to go so don’t hesitate to grab some especially if you don’t get out to see them as often as you’d like!

Location: Rainhard Brewing Co
Date: Monday September 9th, 2024
Time: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM ET

Join us September 9th at West-End location Rainhard Brewing for beers, cheers, tears (hopefully of joy) and fears (of empty beer glasses). In other words, a typical GTA Brews get-together. Our ex (president, that is), who we’re still not quite over, David Larocque will be regaling us of his brewing experiences with kids and how these many small hands have helped his brewing efficiency.

And as always, remember to bring your tasting glass!

Also be sure to SIGN-UP for structured tastings if you’d like some feedback on your latest brew.

Don’t forget to patronize our hosts! Rainhard offers a wide selection of fine beers to go so don’t hesitate to grab some especially if you don’t get out to see them as often as you’d like!

Location: Rorschach Brewing Co.
Date: Monday August 12th, 2024
Time: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM ET

We’re back in the East end to cool off with some brewskis with our buds. We’ll have our Structured Tastings, some announcements, some social time and a new exBeeriment complete with blind triangle taste test! You won’t want to miss it!

And as always, remember to bring your tasting glass!

Also be sure to SIGN-UP for structured tastings if you’d like some feedback on your latest brew.

Don’t forget to patronize our hosts! Rorschach offers a wide selection of fine beers to go so don’t hesitate to grab some especially if you don’t get out to see them as often as you’d like!

Location: Rouge River Brewing Co.
Date: Monday July 8th, 2024
Time: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM ET

This month we go slightly north and slightly east to visit our friends at Rouge River Brewing Co. We’re taking a bit of a relaxed approach for this first “real” month of the summer by having our Last Brewer Standing Finals at Rouge River Brewing.

We’ll have our Structured Tastings, some announcements, the judging of the Last Brewer Standing Finals between James Kennedy and Wuilmer Venegas, lots of social time and we’ll be able to chat with Jordan Mills of Rouge River Brewing. As always, remember, bring your tasting glass!

Also be sure to SIGN-UP for structured tastings if you’d like some feedback on your latest brew.

Don’t forget to patronize our hosts! Rouge River offers a wide selection of fine beers to go so don’t hesitate to grab some especially if you don’t get out to see them as often as you’d like!

Location: Rorschach Brewing Co.
Date: Monday June 10th, 2024
Time: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM ET

Muddy York’s abrupt departure from Toronto had us reeling for a little bit, but thankfully the good folks at Rorschach Brewing have offered to host us for our East Side rendezvous. Come grab a pint, some food (yes, the kitchen is planned to be open for a short time!) and catch up with your brewing buddies.

Brewer and co-founder Matthew Reiner will be there for a talk on Rorschach’s approach to brewing. These guys make some whacky beers so be sure to pick Matt’s brain. And as always, remember, bring your tasting glass!

Also be sure to SIGN-UP for structured tastings if you’d like some feedback on your latest brew.

Don’t forget to patronize our hosts! Rorschach offers a wide selection of fine beers to go so don’t hesitate to grab some especially if you don’t get out to see them as often as you’d like!

Location: True History Brewing
Date: Monday April 8th, 2024
Time: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM ET

Brewer and co-founder Adam Shier will be hosting us at True History Brewing for a talk on the genesis of True History, his approach to traditional German brewing, and a guided tasting of some of the current masterpieces on tap. Come prepared with some questions for Adam, and remember, bring your tasting glass!

Also be sure to SIGN-UP for structured tastings if you’d like some feedback on your latest brew.

Don’t forget to patronize our hosts! True History offers a wide selection of fine beers to go so don’t hesitate to grab some especially if you don’t get out to see them as often as you’d like!

Location: Rainhard Brewing
Date: Monday March 11th, 2024
Time: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM ET

What’s the difference between a Maibock and a Doppelbock? Is this SRM appropriate? Does my beer have notes of snozzberries? How are babies made?? These are questions only a certified Cicerone or BJCP judge can answer. Learn how to become one with Cicerone, BJCP judge and GTA Brews director Onur Çaka this month at Rainhard Brewing. Come share a beer and learn about the process of becoming a cicerone and BJCP judge from one of our own. And remember, bring your tasting glass!

Also be sure to SIGN-UP for structured tastings if you’d like some feedback on your latest brew.

Don’t forget to patronize our hosts! Rainhard offers a wide selection of fine beers to go so don’t hesitate to grab some especially if you don’t get out to see them as often as you’d like!

Location: Avling Brewery
Date: Monday February 12th, 2024
Time: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM ET

We’re exploring more of the GTA this month with a visit to Avling Brewery. Brandon from Avling will be giving us some insight on the mashing process for lagers and mixed fermentations, as well as LoDo (low oxygen) brewing, blending and bottle conditioning. We’ll also have a hands-on tasting component of Avling beers…so remember, bring your tasting glass! And homebrew is welcome too of course!

Also be sure to SIGN-UP for structured tastings if you’d like some feedback on your latest brew.

Don’t forget to patronize our hosts! Avling offers a wide selection of fine beers to go so don’t hesitate to grab some especially if you don’t get out to see them as often as you’d like!

Location: Rainhard Brewing Co
Date: Monday January 8th, 2024
Time: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM ET

It’s 2024; a new year and the perfect time to hone our technical brewing skills. To kick things off, as is now traditional, Eric Cousineau will be focusing on the controversial and mysterious dihydrogen monoxide molecule, a colourless and odourless chemical compound also referred to by some as DHMO, Hydrogen Hydroxide, Hydronium Oxide, or simply by its “street” name: “water.”

Despite this nefarious chemical being found to cause sweating and urination, being a major component of acid rain, contributing to erosion, decreasing the effectiveness of automobile brakes, and being deadly if inhaled, it’s still the #1 ingredient of beer at nearly 95%… More info on this in the video below:

Come visit us at Rainhard Brewing to get educated and learn how to manage this problematic molecule.

We’ll also be re-establishing the long lost art of Structured Tastings at the beginning of this meeting. Bring some homebrew (and some thick skin (just kidding)) to get an expert critique from BJCP-minded judges on what’s working for the beer, and how you might improve it further. Don’t worry, it’s all good-spirited and with the intent of helping everyone (including the judges) improve.

Also, please don’t forget to patronize our hosts!! Rainhard offers a wide selection of fine beers to go so don’t hesitate to grab some especially if you don’t get out to see them as often as you’d like!

And, Don’t forget to bring your tasting glass!