TORONTO — Bellwoods Brewery is celebrating its 10th anniversary and the Ossington Brewpub location has nearly doubled in size to mark the occasion. The expansion has been designed by Toronto-based Futurestudio.
Launched by Mike Clark and Luke Pestl as a small brewpub in 2012, Bellwoods Brewery has since grown to produce about 12,000 hectoliters of beer every year, and is now available in Australia, Europe, Japan and every province in Canada. Next door’s Ossington Bottle Shop opened in late 2012, with the addition of a Beer Garden this month, and the Hafis Bottle Shop and Taproom opened in 2016.
The expanded Brewpub features a new eight-seat bar, positioned directly between the additional and original space. Under the direction of chef Jay Browne since 2014, the kitchen favours local and sustainable seasonal fare. Smaller plates include duck hearts with barbacoa sauce and smoked pumpkin seeds; Panzanella salad with Ontario heirloom tomatoes, Japanese cucumber, garlic croutons, red onion, Buffalo mozzarella and basil; and Hokkaido scallops, paired with sweet corn purée, made-in-house bacon bits, crispy garlic, chili oil, chives and topped with citrus and sea salt. Mains include smoked Bratwurst, ricotta cavatelli and the Bellwoods Burger.
Additionally, Bellwoods brews a range of styles, resulting in 634 unique beers in the past 10 years. Current efforts are devoted to aromatic and hoppy ales, crisp lagers, barrel-aged wild blends, fruit-forward zingers and barrel-aged stouts. Standouts include Jelly King, Jutsu pale ale and Motley Cru.
“We are incredibly grateful for all the support Bellwoods Brewery has received over the past decade. What better way to mark the occasion than by gifting the Ossington Brewpub, our first home, an expansion and update,” says Mike Clark, co-founder, Bellwoods Brewery. “We’ve had a lot to celebrate these past months. We’re really proud of the quality and creativity in our beer and we’ve recently had our largest production week ever. We owe a big thanks to our incredible team and close-knit community, and look forward to even more collaborations, good beer and good food in the next ten.”
The Brewpub is now open for lunch seven days a week, from 12 p.m. to 12 a.m. Sunday through Wednesday, and 12 p.m. to 1 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.
