Waterloo – promise to love you forever more. Waterloo – couldn’t escape if I wanted to.
No, gentle reader, this week’s column will not be about the glorious lyrics of Abba, in all their majestic disco splendor. Instead, let’s talk about the city of Waterloo, Ontario.
The fans of German beer in the audience may recognize Waterloo as the location of the world’s 2nd largest Oktoberfest celebration, trailing only the original in Munich for debauchery and sheer gallons of beer consumed while wearing lederhosen.
The middle managers in the audience may recognize Waterloo as the birthplace of the Blackberry, a once-proud implement of corporate stooges the world over, now being soundly trounced by those artsy-fartsy iPhone users and unkempt Android ruffians who keep telling you that your phone platform should be free, dude.
We’re not going to talk about any of that stuff. Let’s talk about the craft beer industry in Waterloo instead.
It’s hard to talk about Waterloo beers without mentioning the Brick Brewery. Founded in 1984, this was Ontario’s first craft brewery, and they have grown to be one of the largest breweries in Canada..
Producing 5.5 million cases of frosty ales and lagers each year makes Brick Brewing pretty big for a microbrewery. In fact, they are the 5th largest brewer in the country, coming in behind Labatt, Molson, Sleeman’s, and Moosehead.
Fun fact; Moosehead and Brick are the only brewers on that list that are still Canadian-owned. Labatt is owned by Anheuser-Busch, Molson is owned by Coors, and Sleeman’s is owned by the Japanese beer giant Sapporo.
Your humble narrator’s favourite brand from Brick Brewing is the Waterloo Dark, a lager that tastes like an ale.
Faithful readers may recall that your intrepid liquor reporter often looks down his nose at the light and crisp lagers in favor of the darker and more full-flavoured ales, but the Waterloo Dark changes all that. This beer is made in the Schwarzbier style, which generally has a medium body with very little hop bitterness.
In other words, more flavour than the fizzy yellow water you find in a can of Bud Light, but not so much bitterness that it scares off the mass market.
If dark beers are not your thing, try the Red Baron Blonde Lager; it’s perfect for enjoying straight from the ice bucket while sitting out on the dock on a hot summer day.
Brick Brewing is not the only brewery in the city of Waterloo; there is another that is much older.
Way back in 1842, the Huether family built a small brewery and hotel in downtown Waterloo. The brewery remained in the family for three generations, but the land was sold out from under them by a greedy banker who very much resembled Ebenezer Scrooge.
Not to be deterred, the Huether family scraped up enough money to open another brewery down the street, just in time for the one-two punch of Prohibition to hit him like a stack of bibles swung by the Women’s Temperance League. Let me tell you, if there was ever a group of uptight ladies who needed to loosen up with a few beers, it was the Women’s Temperance League.
The Huether Hotel and brewery are still standing today, although they have gone through many changes in ownership over the years. The brewery was forced to close during Prohibition, but was quickly reopened by the Kuntz family, who were sort of the Waterloo equivalent to the Kennedy clan.
Unfortunately, the long arm of the law caught up with those dirty Kuntz, and the government shut them down for tax evasion.
The brewery is once again family owned, and has been operated by the Adly family since the late 1950s. In a nod to the historical significance, they decided to let go of the half-dozen or so names that the brewery had sported over the years, and renamed it back to its original moniker of the Huether Hotel.
Between Brick Brewing and the Huether Hotel & Brewery, the Waterloo craft beer market is pretty much sewn up. These brews are a bit hard to find in Alberta, but your humble narrator does come across them once in a while.
If you can’t find them at your local booze merchant, consider a trip to Waterloo in the fall; just make sure to be there for the Oktoberfest celebrations so you can enjoy the beers over and over again!
