Toronto craft breweries will deliver to your door
Support a local business and drink beer while still social distancing
No matter how many times we wake up in this Groundhog Day existence, it takes a few minutes to process our new reality.
Staying home is harder than we might have guessed, especially since we don’t know how long this is going to last. What’s clear, though, is that it’s the right thing to do — the fewer trips we can make for our essentials, the better.
Lucky for us, dozens of local craft breweries in Toronto have got our backs when it comes to beer. Twenty-some breweries now do home delivery (many for free on $50 orders), so we can concentrate on groceries and pharmacy stuff on our once-a-week forays into the world for essentials. As a bonus, we’ll be supporting the local economy. And, as an even bigger bonus, some deliveries can be paired with cheese. Or chocolate. Or both.
“Everybody in the food and drink business is madly reinventing themselves right now,” says Jeff Brown, owner, with partner Jen Rashleigh, of Delight Chocolate and the Junction Fromagerie. “We’re switching over to mainly deliver food to people who are staying at home, and when all of this happened, we knew the People’s Pint was shifting gears and going in the same direction.”
An important piece in the puzzle for everyone is figuring out how to keep everyone involved safe and well — consumers and employees. Mill Street Brewery , which, after nearly 20 years of doing business in real life, has only just launched its first ecommerce site, along with social distancing best practices with guidelines for all employees. Drivers wear gloves, ask for identification from a distance so there’s no direct contact and offer to sign on behalf of the customer. It, too, offers free delivery on orders over $50.
Roughly speaking, that’s the going rate for most GTA breweries, although a few have different fee structures. Fortunately, Cass Enright, founder of the beer-centric publication and digital community, the Bar Towel, spent countless hours herding the cats and has the most up-to-date details available for the public at the Ontario Beer Delivery Index.
Craft beer delivery
Since this is a moving target, we can’t promise it’s exhaustive, but here’s a list of breweries in Toronto that, so far, are offering home delivery. Although they’re grouped geographically, many, if not most, have a large delivery area, so take a chance on trying something new and sampling an out of neighbourhood beer experience.
East Over in Leslieville, Black Lab Brewing has been making doggo-themed beers since long before drinking with your pet was trending. Yes, they deliver. So does Eastbound Brewing, and Saulter Street Brewery — known for its Krampus special releases.
If you ask really nicely, live close by and it’s not a busy day, it’s possible that Godspeed (Coxwell and Gerrard) will be attempting to provide food and beer together. For now, you can count on them for beer, for sure. Same with their neighbours, Left Field Brewery and Rorschach Brewing Co.
A little further north, you can pick up take-out and buy beer from the Granite Brewery and they also deliver their signature Peculiar Ale. The Muddy York
Brewing Co. is only open for deliveries, which are free on orders over $100. That’s a lot of growlers.
Corktown/central business district Mill Street and Steam Whistle, both now in the beer delivery game, need no introduction. Corktown’s Longslice Brewery has a “touchless” delivery system that involves e-transfers and delivery outside your door.
West end The world needs Jelly King now more than ever, so might as well order a case from Bellwoods Brewery ($15 delivery fee). Those looking to try other dry-hopped sours might try Bandit Brewery, which ships on Mondays. Novelty-seekers will appreciate Folly Brewing’s new selection of beers every Friday morning. People who like genre-bending collabs should check out Burdock Brewery, which is known for it’s work with local wineries such as Pearl Morissette. If you haven’t had Blood Brothers’ White Lies, you should stop what you’re doing right now and order some.
Henderson Brewing offers free shipping from Sherway Gardens to Vic Park (south of
Eglinton) on orders of $50 or more and Kensington Brewing Company is hoping to flatten the curve and still keep your fridge full from Roncy to Woodbine and St. Clair to the Lake. The Six Brewhouse delivers up popular brews such as its Trash Panda Coffee Porter for free to people living in M2 and M9.
Junction/Stockyards The Indie Alehouse may not be set up to deliver its fried chicken and beer combo to your door yet (take-out only), but they can definitely bring you beer. So can Halo Brewery, Junction Craft Brewing, Rainhard Brewing Co., and Shacklands Brewing Co., which specializes in Belgian-style beers. We’ve already covered People’s Pint collab project, but it’s worth noting that Gosé Cuervo is one of our all-time favourite names for a beer.
Way west Stonehooker Brewing Co. in Mississauga offers a drive-thru beer pick-up, which is kind of awesome, but for us carless folks, they deliver. And finally, when ordering from Great Lakes Brewery in Etobicoke, be sure to click on the Meanwhile … Down in Moxee IPA.