Brewing Culture & Community

No, club soda and sparkling water aren’t the same, and the difference matters most when you’re crafting cocktails, building a brewery menu, or choosing the right base for your next homebrew experiment. Club soda contains added minerals like potassium bicarbonate and potassium sulfate, plus occasional sodium bicarbonate for taste, while sparkling water is simply natural water infused with carbon dioxide and nothing else.
For craft beverage enthusiasts, this distinction goes beyond semantics. The mineral additions in club soda create a slightly salty, more pronounced flavor profile that can enhance certain beer cocktails …

Local drink culture is the set of beverage traditions, ingredient preferences, and drinking customs that define a region’s identity and directly shape the character, menu offerings, and community role of its coastal bars. When a seaside town has deep fishing heritage, you’ll find oyster stouts and salt-spritzed lagers on tap. Where surf culture runs strong, bars pour tropical IPAs and afternoon session ales designed for post-wave gatherings.
The relationship works both ways. Regional ingredients and drinking rituals give coastal bars their distinct personality, while those bars become the storytellers and curators who …

More than 90 percent of your finished beer is water, so whatever is in your source water ends up in your beer. While malt, hops, and yeast usually get the spotlight, water actually sets the limit for your beer’s flavor. If there’s an issue with your water, no amount of brewing skill can fix it later.
For years, Canadian brewers only had to deal with one disinfectant: chlorine. It reacts quickly, smells like a swimming …

No, Canada Dry is not beer. It’s a ginger ale, a sweet, carbonated soft drink that’s been around since 1904. The “Dry” in its name refers to the crisp, less sweet flavor profile compared to other sodas of that era, not to any brewing process or alcoholic content.
The confusion is understandable. The word “dry” carries weight in brewing circles, describing everything from dry-hopped IPAs to crisp lagers, and the Canadian connection might lead some to assume a link to our country’s rich beer heritage. …

Canadian Beer Day arrives on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, landing as always on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. This moveable celebration, organized by Beer Canada since 2019, shifts each year alongside the holiday calendar, which means your planning window changes annually but the spirit remains constant: raise a glass to the brewers, malters, hop growers, and craft pioneers who’ve shaped one of the world’s most distinctive beer cultures.
The timing couldn’t be more intentional. Wedged between harvest season and the long Thanksgiving weekend, …

In Quebec, the legal drinking age is 18, making it one of three Canadian provinces where you can legally purchase and consume alcohol before turning 19. This lower threshold has positioned Quebec as a destination for craft beer enthusiasts across the country, particularly those from Ontario and the western provinces who arrive eager to explore Montreal’s thriving taproom scene and Quebec City’s historic brewing traditions.
The age requirement applies uniformly across all settings: bars, restaurants, breweries, retailers, and …