I have grown fond of taking a quick winter trip each year to escape what can feel like endless darkness and cold in Saskatchewan. Given the extremes of living on the prairies in winter, it means just about anywhere else for a short visit will be less harsh. Well, not so fast this past winter. I booked a four day visit to Toronto on account of my current boycott of the USA and the fact that a direct flight holds a lot of cachet when traveling across this country in the dead of winter. While my flights miraculously went off without a hitch, I clearly picked the wrong days to explore Toronto as I was hit with more winter weather and snow than I would see in Saskatoon for almost the entirety of the winter season.

My visit got off to a lucky start as I arrived in Toronto just after the first blizzard had cleared away and with my flight there being the first in about a day and a half to not be canceled out of Saskatoon into Toronto. As I waited for a street car to take me to some craft brewery exploring, there were blue skies above and a reasonable amount of fresh snow on the ground.

Visits to Toronto are always a mix of old favourites and new discoveries, especially when it comes to the craft beer scene. I started my first day with a couple of places I’m very comfortable in and love visiting. Bellwoods Brewery (photo on the left of a delicious pale ale enjoyed as the sun streamed in the large windows) and Birreria Volo on College where I enjoyed three of their house made beers including an exceptional Czech dark lager. This trip was off to a very delicious start!

The next day I headed to the east end of the city to visit some new to me breweries. First up was the baseball themed Left Field Brewery. There were a lot of things going in favour of this place – they open at 11:00am (vacation morning beers are always an indulgent delight!), all of their beers have baseball related names, and most importantly the beers themselves were lovely.

A short walk away was a brewery I was very excited to try and that was recommended to me by a friend who is also a beer connoisseur. Godspeed Brewery specializes in Czech-style beers and sitting down here to try so many different variations on pilsner was a treat for someone who once traveled to Plzen just to taste the original beer at its source.

After trying everything they had, I settled on a beautiful mug of my favourite from my tastings and paired it with duck fat fries and an amazing sausage. I was winning my first full day in Toronto.

The east end has a nice cluster of really good breweries all within walking distance. Rorschach made for a nice stop to enjoy a hazy IPA and some outstanding garlic pretzel knots.

To conclude my morning and afternoon west of downtown I headed to Black Lab Brewing. While I was sad there weren’t any dogs in their taproom this afternoon, I thoroughly enjoyed a tasting flight and spending some time reading a book.

Winter came back to Toronto the next day and made walking around the city atmospheric as I hopped between some more craft breweries, this time around Davenport, the Junction Triangle, the Annex and a few other neighbourhoods on the west side of downtown.

Burdock Brewery was a revelation to me. All of the beers I tried were outstanding and I picked up a few to take with me for hotel sampling later that day. And those onion rings….. I still dream of them, lightly seasoned with dill and perfectly battered.

Walking around a snowy city on this afternoon was part of the experience. The roads were messy, the streetcars and buses were severely delayed, but the temperatures were pleasant and the sounds of Toronto, for a very rare time, were muffled, making the city feel peaceful in a way that it never does.

Speaking of peaceful, I loved my visit to Halo Brewery later that afternoon. Sitting inside their cozy taproom watching snow fall outside, I was relaxed in a way that only an indulgent city vacation day can make me feel. Halo’s beers added to the charm. I had never tasted anything from them before and by the end of this tasting flight they were on my “must always visit” list.

My last day in Toronto was a full-blown blizzard. Walking around the city wasn’t quite so peaceful and required a lot of effort navigating unplowed sidewalks and intersections. It was still a lot of fun being out in the midst of it, though I didn’t end up venturing too far away from my hotel.

Luckily, there were a few nice places to enjoy a leisurely afternoon nearby. I started with a visit to Steam Whistle for a pint, a place dad and I frequented quite a bit before heading across the street to take in a Jays game. From there, I spent the rest of the afternoon at C’Est What, a lovely subterranean craft beer bar near St Lawrence Market and liberally sampled their amazing tap list including some exceptional dark beers including an otherworldly British mild.

Toronto ended up being unexpectedly snowy and wintery, but luckily, its craft beer was served up inside in cozy pubs from one end of the city to the other and that made for a perfect winter break.