Ryan Corrigan

Rosewood Estates Winery, Beamsville, rosewoodwine.com

“I went to school at Brock University—the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute—and we studied beer as well as wine,” explains Ryan Corrigan. “Since then, I’ve been home-brewing and we also brew beer occasionally at the winery. Last year we made a barrel of a Belgian strong ale that helped the team get through the harvest.

I’m really big on sour beers, and our new local brewery, Bench Brewing Company, in Vineland, plans to do a lot of them. They’ve bought all the old oak barrels from Le Clos Jordanne and they’re experimenting with brett [brettanomyces yeast]—just the thing you don’t want in a wine, but perfect for sour beer. Their Ball’s Falls Session IPA is basically our everyday drinking beer at Rosewood. We’ve sold some of our barrels to Amsterdam Brewery and they also made a Scotch ale called Iona, using the honey we produce at Rosewood for our meads. They kindly dropped some off for us to taste after work on Friday, which is when we usually sit down and have a beer. It’s a great time for Ontario brewing!”