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Published: March 9th 2009
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While looking over the Rideau Heritage Canal website, I discovered that a local pub, the Kingston Brewing Company, gave tours of their brewing process. So, I contacted the KBC for information regarding the brewery tour and was told the brewmaster was on site between 7 - 3, a tour would last about fifteen to twenty minutes, no appointment would be necessary and there was no admission. Fantastic! So that Wednesday we bundled up the baby and headed downtown. Upon arrival at the pub, we seated ourselves and were promptly greeted by a pleasant staff member. I explained I had called about doing a tour around 1pm and she went to get the brewmaster.
The location itself is downtown, near the waterfront (a prime tourist area) on a side street with a small hard top notice signage. The pub is located in a historical limestone building that was used as a telegraph office in the 1800’s. The exterior of the building doesn’t quite sell the quaint pub atmosphere within; as the windows have large heavy curtains that make it hard to see in. In one of the windows, the menu is displayed along with some retail clothing (a pair of underwear
Signage
The historical building and signage with the KBC logo on them tacked up beside the menu). Inside is an eclectic atmosphere; quaint old British pub with walnut stained wood as far the eye can see and the décor is of ashtrays, beer signage, old draught pulls, heritage signage and collages of the patrons from past events. On this day, the patrons varied from a business meeting, older couples, another young couple with a baby, to a table of Queens’s students discussing post college career options over pitchers. I was sent to the brewmaster, Peter, who directed me to their brewing area. Leaving my wife and the baby behind to peruse the menu, we walked through this sliding clear door right behind the bar to begin the tour. The brewing space itself is visible from the seats at the bar offering a unique perspective to those customers. The brewing area consists of a large janitor-like space with four wooden casks that the ales and lagers age in and three other steel casks that the brewing process takes place in. Peter first apologized that he had just replaced the wood of one of the wooden casks (all the other wooden casks are their original wood from 1986).
Brewery Street
They even have their own street named after them! I have toured both small micro breweries (Granville Island Brewery; Vancouver, B.C.) and large scale breweries (Guinness Brewery; Dublin, Ireland.) so I assumed that the tour would consist of how they brewed their ales and lagers but was uncertain as to whether they gave you samples to sip or a history. Peter was a very pleasant man who has been with KBC since it opened in 1986 doing all types of jobs and eventually was trained by the last brewmaster to become the next KBC brewmaster. His knowledge of the history of the pub and information regarding other related pub things was thorough, offering up tidbits of information like the fact there were four professional brewmasters that started with KBC in 1986 or that KBC wasn’t really the first brew pub in Ontario but that a strip club tried to start up a brew pub but that it fell through so KBC was officially seen as the first brew pub in Ontario. The tour itself was essentially Peter explaining to me how the brewing process happened (second fermentation) and the different tools used, how their brews differed from other beers (cask conditioned real ales) and what ingredients they used
The Decor
Rich cherry wood and pub paraphenalia everywhere (natural hops and no additives or preservatives). Throughout he would digress with personal stories about KBC and gave me the opportunity to ask any questions, which he thoroughly answered. Personally, the highlight of the tour was the beer engines. A beer engine is a mechanism that ‘pulls’ the ale into the glass without the aid of gas, most beers that you see in bars and restaurants use CO2 gas to ‘push’ the beer into the glass. KBC has two of these beer engines that were hand crafted by a company in England, Angram. On their website it states that they also brew their own wine, ciders and root beer. When I asked Peter about these he didn’t go into much detail other than the quick process and that they’re brewed in their cellar downstairs (I was never showed this cellar, so I assume this is not part of the tour). At the end of the tour, Peter also added an interesting fact: that they choose to support regional beers such as Picton’s Wind and Sail Dark Ale rather than carry any of the big brand beers on tap, except Guinness Stout and Montreal’s St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout.
Over an
hour later, I returned to my table where my starving wife and sleeping daughter were patiently waiting for me. Fortunately our server had warned her “the brewmaster was a little longwinded” so she knew it would likely be longer than the fifteen to twenty minutes that we had been told. Fortunately she had plenty to read at the table: from our placemats with a calendar detailing the pub special events and local Kingston events to the extensive menus with humourous subliminal messages and even a stack of Trival Pursuit game cards. By this point we had a new server taking care of us and I ordered a half pint of the KBC Real Ale to try. The menu offered standard pub fare (club sandwich, fish’n’chips, ploughman’s lunch) but with some personalization and signature additions: homemade sauces (“ghetto sauce” and a sweet and spicy mustard), local ingredients (such as the bison from a local bison farm, Pykeview Meadows on Wolfe Island) and use of their own brews in dishes; from gravies to soups to pasta sauces. Upon her return with my half pint, we ordered our meals and my wife was able to order a half pint of their Dickens Cranberry
Apple Cider. The half pint of KBC Real Ale was smooth with a bittersweet aftertaste - very enjoyable. My wife’s cider was sweet and crisp with a hint of cranberry, very refreshing. The second beer I chose to try was the KBC Whitetail Cream Ale; clear and crisp but not as impressive as the Real Ale. To eat, I decided to try the bison burger and their fresh cut chips (fries) with a side of beer infused gravy. The gravy was great and the burger was lean but a bit dry. My wife ordered a chicken clubhouse sandwich and chips; their chicken is smoked naturally on site with hickory and mesquite. She added their “ghetto” sauce on one side of her sandwich and the house sweet and spicy mustard to the other. The “ghetto sauce” turned out to be a good tangy barbeque sauce she enjoyed but the mustard wasn’t a good match for the sandwich. Our server listed off their dessert options and although I was tempted to try the Chocolate Ale Tart we decided to forgo dessert and call it a day.
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yansecret
joyce
Great detailed post!
You are lucky .looks like you had a knowledgeable and interesting tour guide (the brewmaster)! How would you rate the overall quality of food? How much? Expensive? Honestly I have never been to Ontario Is it one of the attractions for tourists as well? Next week if you come to Victoria, I recommend you to go to Marina Restaurant ..they have really good seafood!! And I bet your family will like the waterfront view and atmosphere! Don’t worry it is not a “quiet” restaurant so your baby will like it too J