Craft breweries Toronto drinkers actually visit sit in four walkable pockets: Ossington through Geary Avenue to Sterling and Symes Road in the west, Queen Street East from Riverside to Leslieville, the rail lands and the Distillery downtown, and a set of big industrial taprooms in Etobicoke and the inner suburbs. The Ontario Craft Brewers association counted more than 340 locally-owned breweries province-wide in May 2025, and says craft accounts for more than 80 per cent of all brewing jobs in Ontario. Close to 30 rooms are listed below, counted as taprooms rather than companies, since several breweries now run two. Each entry gives the address, the flagship beers, whether there is a kitchen and a patio, and the nearest TTC stop.
Why Toronto craft beer is having a moment
This is a mature scene rather than a booming one. Ontario’s licensed-retailer registry listed around 40 brewery retail stores inside Toronto proper in August 2026, and roughly 65 across the immediate GTA — considerably more than the “couple of dozen” older guides settle on, because second locations and production-site bottle shops keep multiplying.
The economics turned on 15 May 2025, when the provincial budget cut the Basic Beer Tax for microbrewers in half — from 35.96 cents per litre to 17.98 on draught, and from 39.75 to 19.88 on non-draught, effective 1 August 2025. Ontario had carried the highest craft beer taxes in Canada. Ontario Craft Brewers president Scott Simmons called it “one of the biggest things to happen to the industry in a generation.” A further restructuring on 1 April 2026 folded the basic, volume and environmental taxes into a single rate.
What has changed since the last guide you read
The shake-out was real. Silversmith Brewing bought Black Oak in 2022, and the Etobicoke site at 75 Horner Ave now trades as Silversmith’s own taproom — Wednesday to Friday 15:00–20:00, Saturday 11:00–17:00. Mill Street has been Labatt-owned since 2015, part of AB InBev, and is not independent craft. Muddy York has moved out to 50 Innovator Ave in Whitchurch-Stouffville and Sonnen Hill to 20727 Heart Lake Rd in Caledon, so neither is a Toronto taproom any more, though Muddy York still pours at Cask Days. Indie Alehouse’s site now lists exactly one room, Birroteca at Eataly, with no mention of the old Dundas West brewpub.
Then there is the group that has gone quiet. As of August 2026 the websites for Duggan’s, Folly, Longslice, Northern Maverick, Radical Road and Shacklands were variously offline, parked, suspended or resold, and none of the six appears in the Cask Days 2026 lineup. Something in the Water is still brewing and still pours at Cask Days, but its own site is a holding page and no longer lists the Liberty Village taproom. Phone before you build an afternoon around any of them. Working from a list written before 2024 is how people end up outside a locked door — and the reverse error is just as common, since Rainhard has been quietly open on Symes Road the whole time.
Ontario’s beer rules changed — what visitors need to know
Beer, wine, cider and ready-to-drink cocktails reached convenience stores and gas stations on 5 September 2024, and all eligible grocery and big-box stores on 31 October 2024, after the province ended its agreement with The Beer Store early with a one-time $225 million payment. The Beer Store had a reported 438 locations at the time; the province’s licensed-retailer registry listed 315 in August 2026, eight of them in Toronto.
One consequence to plan for: since 1 January 2026 grocery stores holding a liquor licence must accept empty containers and pay out deposits. Convenience stores under 4,000 square feet are exempt. Licensed grocers can also negotiate an arrangement with The Beer Store — approved by the LCBO — that lets them post a sign directing you to the nearest return depot instead. Do not assume the shop that sold you the cans will take them back.
Opening hours are set by licence type, not by habit
This trips people up, because a brewery taproom and a brewpub can be licensed differently. Under AGCO rules, a brewery taproom operating on a Manufacturer’s By-the-Glass Endorsement may serve from 09:00 to midnight. A venue on a full liquor sales licence — most brewpubs and restaurants — can serve 09:00 to 02:00. Either way, all signs of liquor have to be cleared 45 minutes after service stops. Retail is a separate window: brewery bottle shops, the LCBO, grocery and convenience stores may sell 07:00–23:00, with delivery running 09:00–23:00. A 24-hour corner store still cannot sell you beer at 03:00.
Craft breweries Toronto by neighbourhood: how the map works
There is no single brewery district. The west-end run from Ossington to Sterling Road is the densest and most walkable; the east end strings along the 501 Queen streetcar; downtown has the biggest rooms; the suburbs hold the production sites, which reward a trip for retail prices and space rather than atmosphere. Left Field, Bellwoods, Burdock, Lost Craft and Great Lakes each run two rooms, and the second is usually the quieter one.
West End: the Junction, Bloordale and Ossington
Henderson Brewing
Henderson (128a Sterling Rd, Junction Triangle) is named for Robert Henderson, who founded Toronto’s first commercial brewery in 1820. It sits next door to MOCA on the West Toronto Railpath — the natural finish to a west-end art walk, covered in the galleries and street art guide. Open 10:00–22:00 Sunday to Thursday and to 23:00 Friday and Saturday, with a kitchen and the 300-capacity Sterling Room. Drink Henderson’s Best amber ale ($3.90 a can) or FIGO Italian pilsner ($4.90). The shop is pickup only — no shipping, no home delivery. TTC: Lansdowne or Dundas West, 10 minutes; 505 or 506 to Sterling, five.
Blood Brothers Brewing
Blood Brothers (165 Geary Ave) brews in a renovated hundred-year-old horse stable: 50 seats indoors, 50 more on the patio in warm weather, and up to 26 taps — the widest house list in the city. The brewpub opens at noon seven days a week and runs to 23:00, with Friday and Saturday advertised simply as “late”; the kitchen serves noon to 22:00 daily and retail matches the pub. Hazy IPAs are the calling card (Cactus Head, Doll’s Eye), plus Bloodvar pilsner and Iron Eye dry Irish stout on nitro. Dogs are not permitted inside the taproom or kitchen at any time, though the patio is dog-friendly in season. TTC: Ossington or Dufferin, 10 minutes north.
Bellwoods Brewery — Ossington
Bellwoods opened as a small brewpub in 2012 and grew without losing the room. Brewpub at 124 Ossington Ave, bottle shop next door at 126; the street-side patio has been an Ossington summer fixture for a decade. The brewpub opens at 17:00 Monday and Tuesday and at noon the rest of the week, closing at midnight midweek, 01:00 Friday and Saturday and 23:00 Sunday. The bottle shop runs 11:00–23:00 daily. Order Jelly King, the dry-hopped sour that became its own brand, or Bellweiser pilsner ($3.98 a can, $85.95 for a case of 24). Barn Owl wild ales are the deep end — No. 39 is $12.39 for a 500 mL bottle. TTC: Ossington station, then the 63 bus south.
Burdock Brewery — Bloordale
Burdock (1184 Bloor St W) makes pale, food-friendly beer — mostly lagers and pale ales, plus Grape Ales borrowed from winemaking — and doubles as a music hall. The beer shop is the reliable one: 11:00–23:00 daily, and every page of their site agrees on it. Restaurant hours are published four different ways across four different pages, so check the day you go rather than trusting any listing, this one included. Cans: Ducks, a double dry-hopped IPA ($4.40), Deluxe helles, and Spaltz, an Alsatian pilsner brewed with French Strisselspalt hops ($4.25). TTC: Lansdowne or Dufferin.
Halo Brewery
Halo (247 Wallace Ave) calls itself the friendly neighbourhood brewery — odd ingredients, unusual yeast strains, and a list that borrows from how the city eats: Italian pilsner, Vienna lager, gose, saison and an English best bitter almost nobody else here brews. Small room, no full kitchen. Open noon–21:00 Monday to Wednesday, noon–23:00 Thursday to Saturday and noon–22:00 Sunday. TTC: Lansdowne, eight minutes. The multicultural food guide is the companion read.
Junction Craft
Now trading as Junction Craft Beverage Co., it brews inside the Symes Road Destructor at 150 Symes Rd — a municipal waste incinerator that opened in 1934, heritage-designated in 2013, and an unusually handsome building for a brewery. The brewery shares it with the event venue The Symes. The taproom keeps its own schedule: noon–21:00 Sunday, 14:00–20:00 Tuesday and Wednesday, 14:00–21:00 Thursday, noon–22:00 Friday, and from noon on Saturday. Junction Craft Pilsner is $3.50, the Hazy IPA $3.80; they also make Woodhouse amber lager. Free same-day Toronto delivery on weekday orders placed before 10:00. TTC: 71 Runnymede or 168 Symington bus — one of the few west-end breweries where a rideshare is fair.
Rainhard Brewing
Rainhard (100 Symes Rd, unit 108) is a five-minute walk from Junction Craft and turns that awkward bus trip into a two-brewery outing, which is the only sensible way to do Symes Road. The house line is blunt — “we brew the beer we want to drink” — and it means IPAs and pale ales, sold fresh and meant to be drunk fresh. Open noon–19:00 Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and noon–21:00 Wednesday to Saturday. Kids and dogs are both welcome, indoors and out, which is rarer here than it should be. There is an event space attached, and Rainhard pours at Cask Days. TTC: 71 Runnymede or 168 Symington.
Bandit Brewery
Bandit (2125 Dundas St W) sits between Roncesvalles and Dundas West and works as a brewpub first: food, long tables, separate bottle shop. It closes for private events on scattered Saturdays and posts them on the homepage, so glance at the banner before you set out. TTC: Dundas West station or the 505 streetcar.
Bickford Brewing Co.
Bickford (292A Harbord St) is the smallest room here, near Bickford Park on a residential stretch that sees no beer tourism at all. Founder Andrew McCready went from award-winning home brewer to professional and leans on local ingredients. Open seven days: 16:00–22:00 Monday to Thursday, 14:00–22:00 Friday, noon–22:00 at weekends. It pours at Cask Days, which is the clearest sign a small room is being taken seriously. TTC: Ossington station or the 511 Bathurst streetcar.
True History Brewing
True History (1154 St Clair Ave W) brews German and Czech lagers by the methods those styles were built around, in a room designed to feel like a European gathering hall. Note the address — St Clair West, not King West, which plenty of listings get wrong. Open 15:00–21:30 Monday, 14:00–22:30 Tuesday to Thursday and noon–23:30 Friday and Saturday. Also on the Cask Days 2026 lineup. TTC: the 512 St Clair streetcar.
Indie Alehouse at Birroteca
Indie Alehouse started in 2012 and anchored the Junction for a decade. Its site now lists a single room: Birroteca, on the concourse level of Eataly Yorkville in the Manulife Centre at 55 Bloor St W, open noon–22:00 Sunday to Thursday and noon–midnight Friday and Saturday. The beers still run from easy-drinking to hoppier, fruitier and longer in stranger barrels. TTC: Bay or Bloor–Yonge, two minutes.
East End and Riverside: the brewery alley
Left Field Brewery — Leslieville
Left Field (36 Wagstaff Dr) was founded in 2013 by Mark and Mandie Murphy and has run a baseball theme ever since — Sunlight Park Red Ale, Eephus Oatmeal Brown, Wrigley IPA. Production brewery with a tap room and bottle shop, listed at 11:00–21:00 Sunday to Thursday and 11:00–23:00 Friday and Saturday, though their own contact page gives a shorter set, so confirm the day you go. No tap room reservations, stated plainly. TTC: 501 Queen or 506 Carlton to Greenwood, then a short walk; the Leslieville and Beaches guide has the rest of the neighbourhood.
Rorschach Brewing Co.
Rorschach (1001 Eastern Ave) is the east end’s big-flavour brewery — fruited sours, vintage bottles and a seasonal rooftop patio that opens Friday from 16:00 and all day at weekends. The bottle shop runs from noon, closing 21:00 Sunday to Tuesday, 22:00 Wednesday and Thursday and 23:00 Friday and Saturday. Draught is $6.75 for 10 oz, $9.25 for 12 oz and $11.50 for 16 oz, with $5 full pours Monday to Friday 14:00–18:00 outside holidays. They do not do flights, and pour sizes flex with strength. For skyline alternatives, see the rooftop bars guide.
Godspeed Brewery
Godspeed (242 Coxwell Ave) is where to go if you care about lager. The brewmaster has deep ties to Japan and, more recently, Czechia, and the list runs authentic Czech-style lagers alongside hoppy pales and saisons carrying Japanese ingredients. The kitchen is WVRST, the King West sausage hall — the best food attached to any brewery here — serving noon–21:00 Sunday to Thursday and noon–22:30 Friday and Saturday. Taproom and shop open at 11:00, closing 22:00 midweek, with the taproom running to midnight Friday and Saturday. TTC: Coxwell station or the 22 bus.
Eastbound Brewing Company
Eastbound (700 Queen St E) is a proper craft brewpub in Riverside, just east of Broadview, with a dine-in menu built to match the tap list. Hours are not consistently published, so check before a late arrival. TTC: 501 Queen to Broadview.
Avling Kitchen & Brewery
Avling (1042 Queen St E) grows produce on its own rooftop farm and cooks with it, which makes it more restaurant than taproom and the best of the east-end group for a sit-down meal. Closed Mondays; dinner Tuesday to Sunday 17:00–21:00, brunch Friday to Sunday 11:00–15:00. TTC: 501 Queen to Carlaw.
Downtown and South: the brewery district
Steam Whistle Brewing
Steam Whistle (255 Bremner Blvd) has occupied the John Street Roundhouse since 2001 — a building put up for Canadian Pacific steam locomotives from 1929, designated heritage, and one of the last roundhouses in Canada. They make one beer: a Czech-style pilsner with four ingredients, on the principle of doing one thing really well. The founders were three men fired from another brewery who branded themselves the Three Fired Guys. Tap Room, kitchen, and leashed dogs welcome on the patio and inside. Hours shift seasonally. TTC: Union Station, five minutes.
Great Lakes Brewpub
Great Lakes runs a downtown brewpub at 11 Lower Jarvis St, Units 5–8, which spares you the trip to the Etobicoke mothership — same Canuck Pale Ale and Octopus Wants to Fight IPA, far easier to reach. TTC: Union, or the 504 King streetcar.
Mill Street Brew Pub
The brewpub at 21 Tank House Lane is the most visitor-friendly beer stop in the Distillery District, with a long menu and beer pairings. Worth knowing before you order: Labatt bought Mill Street in 2015, and Labatt belongs to AB InBev, so this is a big-brewery brewpub rather than an independent. Organic Lager is the gateway, Tankhouse Pale Ale the classic, Cobblestone Stout the nitro pick. The Distillery is open 364 days a year — 10:00–20:00 Monday to Wednesday, 10:00–21:00 Thursday to Saturday and 11:00–20:00 Sunday. TTC: 504 King to Parliament.
Old Flame Brewing Co.
The Port Perry brewery has taken 43 Tank House Lane in the Distillery District and now appears in the site’s dining directory a few doors from Mill Street. A second stop rather than the reason for the trip, but it makes a Distillery afternoon a two-brewery one.
Amsterdam Brewhouse
Amsterdam Brewhouse (245 Queens Quay W) is a multi-level waterfront brewhouse with lake-facing patios, a kitchen operating at scale and one of the biggest rooms in the city. More waterfront restaurant than beer pilgrimage, which on a July evening is the point. Book through OpenTable. TTC: 509 or 510 to Queens Quay.
Left Field Brewery — Liberty Village
The second Left Field (40 Hanna Ave) is the opposite of the Leslieville room: a big space split between brewery, tap room and kitchen, with a cold beer store attached. Tap room noon–23:00 Sunday to Thursday and noon–midnight Friday and Saturday; kitchen and beer store to 23:00. Tables are bookable online for groups of up to eight. TTC: 504 King to Hanna Ave, or Exhibition GO.
Lost Craft Canary — Front Street
Lost Craft’s downtown room (482 Front St E) has a taproom, kitchen and bottle shop in the Canary District, a short walk from the Distillery, with a pool table and a large patio. The company describes itself as the first BIPOC-owned brewing company in Ontario. The patio is dog-friendly, which puts it on a short list. Neither Lost Craft room publishes hours on its own site, so check the map listing before you set out. TTC: 504 King to Parliament.
Burdock Brewery — Kensington Market
Burdock’s second site at 6 Denison Square is a production brewery with a beer shop and a mezzanine over the brewhouse. This address used to be Kensington Brewing Company, so older guides send people here expecting something else. Beer shop 11:00–23:00 daily. TTC: 510 Spadina to Baldwin or Dundas — pair it with the Kensington Market guide.
Etobicoke, North York and Scarborough
Great Lakes Brewery
Great Lakes (30 Queen Elizabeth Blvd, Etobicoke) is one of Toronto’s oldest independents, still run by owner Peter Bulut. The retail store keeps the longest hours in this guide: 10:00–20:00 Sunday to Tuesday and 10:00–22:00 Wednesday to Saturday. Canuck Pale Ale, Octopus Wants to Fight IPA and Karma Citra are the takeaways. Ignore the COVID-era closure notice still stuck on their website — the store is open and running events.
Mascot Brewery — Etobicoke
Mascot (37 Advance Rd) combines production space, restaurant, beer garden and bottle shop, and keeps the latest hours out here: 11:30–23:00 Tuesday to Thursday, 11:30–01:00 Friday, 11:00–01:00 Saturday, and closing at 21:00 Sunday and Monday. Reservations online. For a full evening rather than a tasting, this is the Etobicoke pick.
Lost Craft Stockyards
The second Lost Craft (837 Runnymede Rd) also has a taproom, kitchen and bottle shop, with 12 rotating taps and a patio that is both winterized and dog-friendly — rare in a city with a short patio season.
Bellwoods Brewery — Hafis Road
The North York production brewery (20 Hafis Rd) has a bottle shop and taproom open 12:00–19:00 daily and houses the Foeder Pyramid, where the barrel-aged and wild beers live. Quieter than Ossington, and where you find bottles that never reach downtown.
Brunswick Bierworks and Common Good
Brunswick (25 Curity Ave, East York) is a large facility with a taproom and a contract-brewing arm aimed mostly at other brands. Common Good (475 Ellesmere Rd, at Warden and Ellesmere just south of the 401) is candid about being a contract brewery as well as its own label, and its production site has a retail shop and taproom with a regular events calendar; it pours at Cask Days too. One name needs a caveat: Cool Beer, at 164 Evans Ave, now trades as Cool Beverage Co and is a working contract plant with a bottle shop closed on Sundays, not a visitor destination.
Brewery tours and crawls
Expectations imported from Portland or Denver do not survive contact with Toronto. Most small taprooms here — Bellwoods, Blood Brothers, Burdock, Halo, Godspeed, Bandit, Rainhard, Left Field — run no scheduled public tours at all. The model is walk in, drink, buy cans.
The exceptions are worth the effort. Steam Whistle runs tours of the John Street Roundhouse covering the founding story and the building’s railway history, booked online through AnyRoad; book ahead for weekends, though walk-ins are taken when space allows. One caveat, in their own words: “due to the historic nature of our production facilities, the tour route is not wheelchair accessible.” The Distillery District’s website lists bookable tours from several third-party operators — walking, Segway, a lantern-lit haunted walk, a sake tasting and Mill Street’s own brewery tour — plus a free self-guided PDF route across the heritage site.
For a guided crawl, Intrepid Urban Adventures runs “Toronto: Brews, Bacon & Butter Tarts,” three hours, from CA$85 for adults, 19 and over. It includes a coffee at a local roaster, a half peameal bacon sandwich, a butter tart and a half-pint of local craft beer, with non-alcoholic and vegetarian swaps. Toronto Brewery Tours, which appears in plenty of older articles, no longer has a working website — the domain does not resolve at all.
Two self-guided crawls
West end: Ossington to Sterling Road
The best beer walk in the city, and it doubles as an art walk. From Ossington station take the 63 bus south to Bellwoods (124 Ossington), walk 15 minutes north to Blood Brothers (165 Geary Ave), 10 minutes west to Halo (247 Wallace Ave), then 12 minutes west to Henderson (128a Sterling Rd), next door to MOCA. Finish at Lansdowne or Dundas West. Roughly 40 minutes of walking; allow four hours with food, and go Thursday to Sunday, since Bellwoods opens late on Monday and Tuesday.
Symes Road: the two-brewery detour
Not a crawl so much as a correction. Rainhard (100 Symes Rd) and Junction Craft (150 Symes Rd) are five minutes apart in the same industrial pocket, and neither is near a subway, so most guides drop both. Take the 71 Runnymede or 168 Symington bus, do them back to back on a Wednesday to Saturday afternoon when both are open, and you get two taprooms for one awkward journey. Rainhard takes kids and dogs, which makes it the softer landing of the pair.
East end: Coxwell to Corktown
Start at Godspeed (242 Coxwell Ave) and eat first, since the WVRST kitchen is the strongest food on any of these routes. Take the 501 Queen streetcar west to Avling (1042 Queen St E), on to Eastbound (700 Queen St E), and finish at Lost Craft (482 Front St E) in the Canary District. Add Rorschach (1001 Eastern Ave) at the start if the rooftop is open. This one lives or dies on the 501, so build in streetcar time; the TTC guide covers fares and transfers.
What to drink: Toronto craft beer styles
Czech and German lager — what the city does best right now, and what most visitors do not expect. Godspeed and True History both brew traditionally; Steam Whistle’s pilsner is the commercial benchmark; add Burdock’s Deluxe helles, Blood Brothers’ Bloodvar and Junction Craft Pilsner. Italian pilsner is a small local obsession too: compare Henderson’s FIGO with Halo’s version.
Hazy and New England IPA — Blood Brothers built its name on Cactus Head and Doll’s Eye. Also Burdock’s Ducks, Junction Craft’s Hazy and Left Field’s Wrigley. Rainhard sits here as well, and is unusually insistent that you drink its hoppy beer fresh rather than cellaring it.
Sour and wild ales — Bellwoods’ Jelly King is the city’s signature beer and the Barn Owl blends are the deep end, sold in 500 mL bottles from the Ossington shop and the Foeder Pyramid at Hafis Road. Rorschach does big fruited sours and keeps vintage bottles; Halo brews a gose.
Amber, brown and bitter — the quiet corner. Henderson’s Best, Junction Craft’s Woodhouse amber lager, Left Field’s Eephus Oatmeal Brown, Halo’s English Best Bitter, and Silversmith’s Nut Brown Ale, which carries the old Black Oak recipe out of Etobicoke.
Stout, saison and no-alcohol — Blood Brothers’ Iron Eye on nitro for everyday stout, Rorschach’s barrels for occasions, Mill Street’s Cobblestone for availability; Godspeed and Halo for saison. Non-alcoholic is a real category now, and most of the bottle shops above carry at least one no-alc option alongside seltzers.
Beer festivals and 2026 dates
Cask Days — 16 to 18 October 2026
The 20th annual cask ale festival, founded by Volo in 2005, and the best beer event in the city. Note the venue: 2026 runs at the Clock Factory, 282 Campbell Ave, at Dupont and Campbell, outside Unit 106 in the parking lot — not Evergreen Brick Works, where most articles still send people. More than 100 casks from breweries across Canada and beyond; tokens $3.75 plus tax, every beer poured at 5 oz, most pours costing one token and specialty or stronger ales two, with a commemorative 2026 vessel included in the ticket. Sessions run four hours, rain or shine, part indoors and part under tents. Friday and Saturday are strictly 19 and over; Sunday is an all-ages, family-friendly session. Tickets are non-refundable but transferable, with door sales if a session has not sold out. There is one cask of each beer and no replacements, so book an earlier session for anything specific. The site is accessible but the washrooms are not wheelchair accessible. Details at caskdays.com.
Henderson Picklefest and All Things Fermented — 3 to 4 October 2026
Henderson’s self-described biggest and briniest event of the year, at 128a Sterling Rd: Saturday 11:00–18:00 and Sunday 12:00–17:00, with more than 50 vendors. General admission is $24.95 plus fees and HST, VIP early access on the Saturday is $34.95, and children under 12 go free. The same brewery runs a Rush Day, built around its Rush partnership beers, and has run an Oysterfest in past years.
What is and is not running
Steam Whistle’s Roundhouse Winter Craft Beer Fest takes over Roundhouse Park with an après-ski theme, a live DJ all day and seven food stations; the most recent edition ran on 21 February 2026 and it is a 19-plus event, so watch for the next date rather than assuming one. Toronto’s Festival of Beer has not updated its website past the July 2025 edition and advertises no 2026 event, so do not build a July trip around it without checking directly. Ontario Craft Beer Week’s domain no longer resolves, and Session Toronto’s site now returns a WordPress error rather than a schedule. For what is actually on, start with the events and festivals calendar.
Practical tips for craft breweries Toronto
Hours and reservations
Brewery retail and bottle shops usually open at 11:00 or 12:00 and close between 21:00 and 23:00. Brewpubs skew later — Bellwoods and Mascot to 01:00 on Friday and Saturday, Blood Brothers to “late”, Godspeed’s taproom to midnight. Several taprooms close Mondays or open late afternoon only, and the production sites out in North York and Scarborough shut earliest of all: Bellwoods Hafis Road is done at 19:00 every day. The best window for a crawl is Thursday to Sunday afternoon. Online reservations are taken at Mascot Etobicoke and at Left Field Liberty Village for groups of up to eight; Left Field Leslieville states plainly that it does not take them. Everywhere else, walk in.
What it costs
Draught is priced by pour size rather than by a standard pint, which catches visitors out. Rorschach publishes the clearest scale in the city, though it notes that pours vary with strength.
| Item | Where | Price (2026, CAD) |
|---|---|---|
| Short pour, 10 oz | Rorschach | $6.75 |
| Full pour, 12 oz | Rorschach | $9.25 |
| Long pour, 16 oz | Rorschach | $11.50 |
| Happy hour full pour, Mon–Fri 14:00–18:00 | Rorschach | $5.00 |
| Core single can | Junction Craft, Henderson, Burdock | $3.50–$4.90 |
| Case of 24 pilsner | Bellwoods (Bellweiser) | $85.95 |
| Wild ale, 500 mL bottle | Bellwoods (Barn Owl No. 39) | $12.39 |
| 30-litre keg, amber ale | Henderson (Henderson’s Best) | $172.95 |
| Cask Days token, one 5 oz pour | Cask Days, October | $3.75 + tax |
| Guided beer and food walk, 3 hours | Intrepid Urban Adventures | from $85 |
Getting to craft breweries Toronto by TTC
Almost everything here is reachable without a car. Line 2 stations — Ossington, Dufferin, Lansdowne, Dundas West, Coxwell — cover the west and east clusters; the 501 Queen streetcar links the east-end run; Union serves Steam Whistle and the Great Lakes brewpub. The exceptions are the two Symes Road breweries and the Etobicoke and Scarborough production sites, where a bus connection or a rideshare is the honest answer.
Buying takeout beer
Nearly every brewery here has an on-site shop, and since 2024 beer is also sold in convenience stores, grocery stores and gas stations alongside the LCBO and The Beer Store. Henderson sells 30-litre kegs, with or without a pony pump on a refundable deposit, but is pickup only — it does not ship or deliver. Junction Craft is the opposite case, delivering free within Toronto on weekday orders placed before 10:00.
Patios and dogs
Verified patios: Blood Brothers (50 seats in warm weather), Rorschach’s rooftop, Mascot’s beer garden, both Lost Craft locations, Amsterdam’s lakefront decks and Bellwoods on Ossington. Few breweries publish a dog policy, so the ones that do are worth knowing. Steam Whistle welcomes leashed dogs in the Tap Room and on the patio. Rainhard says kids and dogs are always welcome, indoors and out. Both Lost Craft patios are dog-friendly and the Stockyards one is winterized. Blood Brothers does not allow dogs inside the taproom or kitchen at any time, but runs a dog-friendly patio in season. Elsewhere, the patio is the safe bet.
Craft brewery FAQs
Can I take beer home in a growler or crowler?
Most Toronto brewery shops sell cans, bottles and kegs rather than filling growlers, and availability varies brewery by brewery rather than following one provincial rule. Bellwoods, Great Lakes, Burdock, Rainhard and Blood Brothers run proper bottle shops with takeaway fridges. If you are carrying a growler, phone ahead.
What is the legal drinking age?
Nineteen, across Ontario. Brewery websites age-gate visitors and festivals enforce it at the door — Cask Days keeps Friday and Saturday strictly 19-plus, and while Sunday is an all-ages session, you still have to be 19 to buy alcohol. Carry photo ID; you will be asked, including at brewery retail counters.
Can I bring kids to a brewery?
Brewpubs with full kitchens are the family option: Left Field in Liberty Village, Eastbound, Avling for weekend brunch, Mascot Etobicoke, Bandit, Burdock, Godspeed, Great Lakes Brewpub and Mill Street. Rainhard states outright that kids are always welcome. Small retail-focused taprooms like Bellwoods Hafis Road, Bickford and Halo suit adults better. Venues set their own rules, so call ahead for anything after dinner.
How late can a brewery actually serve me?
It depends on the licence, not the sign on the door. A brewery taproom running on a Manufacturer’s By-the-Glass Endorsement has to stop serving at midnight. A brewpub or restaurant on a full liquor sales licence can go to 02:00. In both cases everything has to be cleared 45 minutes after service ends. In practice most Toronto taprooms close well before their legal limit, which is why the published hours in this guide matter more than the rules do.
How do I get home afterwards?
The subway stops before a late brewpub closing, so a 01:00 finish at Bellwoods or Mascot means the TTC’s overnight Blue Night buses and streetcars, or a rideshare. All three routes above end within a few minutes of a Line 2 station or the 501 Queen streetcar, which is the practical reason to run them in that direction.
Do Toronto breweries run tours?
Far fewer than visitors expect. Steam Whistle is the reliable one, booked through AnyRoad on its own site, with walk-ins when space allows and a route that is not wheelchair accessible. Mill Street runs a brewery tour out of the Distillery District. Almost every small taproom here runs none at all — you walk in, order, and buy cans on the way out.
Which one should I pick if I only have time for one?
Steam Whistle if you want the building and the history and you are already downtown. Blood Brothers for the widest tap list. Godspeed if you care about lager and want good food attached. Henderson if you are combining beer with MOCA and the Railpath. Bellwoods for the beer the rest of the country talks about.
Round out your Toronto food and drink
Breweries are a daytime-into-evening option; our Toronto nightlife guide picks up from there. Pair brewery visits with the rest of Toronto’s food scene: best bars in Toronto, best restaurants in Toronto, cheap eats in Toronto, Distillery District guide, and things to do in Toronto. For the post-brewery dinner, our best pizza Toronto guide pairs well with West End brewery hops.
Craft breweries Toronto are spread across the city but cluster naturally — pick a neighbourhood, walk between three or four taprooms, and you’ll have one of the best afternoons the city offers. Just check the hours on the day, because in this scene they move.
