Steam Whistle Brewery

The Steam Whistle Brewery is located in the heart of Toronto, Canada in the shadow of the CN Tower. It is an unsuspecting place for a brewery, an abandoned rail road house. This brewery is significant in that the rail house they built the brewery in was entirely steam powered, and they have kept it mostly steam powered. This isn’t some kind of “going green” gimmick either, they started the brewery like this too keep the tradition of the rail yard. That gets extra brownie points in my book.

Steam Whistle only does one beer, and they do it well. Their signature Steam Whistle Pilsner is a traditional German style pilsner, following the strict German Purity Laws of brewing. Again, brownie points for Steam Whistle for staying true to tradition. This local brewery serves only the greater Toronto area, but you can probably find some sixers in some of the North Eastern US states. The greatest thing about this brewery is their dedication to customer service… THEY DELIVER!! Not only to restaurants and beer shops, we’re talking HOME DELIVERY!! So, you and your buds are getting ready to grill it up and watch the Toronto FC match or the Toronto Argonauts CFL game and no one wants to make a beer run… What to do, what to do… You call up Steam Whistle and put in an order for a few 12ers and you’re set. Next thing you know, food is ready to eat, door bell rings, and viola! Ze beer has arrived. This is a brilliant idea!! More breweries need to do something like that state side. I kid you not, my jaw hit the floor when I heard they do home deliveries.

The brewery was very nice and tidy inside. Its pretty small, but they only serve the Toronto area, so they do not need a giant brewery. It’s the perfect size for the region they are serving. They offer brew tours for $8 dollars (Canadian). The tour includes a walk through of the facility, which includes pulling the factory steam whistle (I felt like sliding down the stairs’ hand rails a-la Fred Flintstone), and you get two beer tasters and a free gift. Choice of a bottle opener, or a Steam Whistle sampler glass. While you’re in the brewery, might as well pick up a sixer, 12er, or 24 pack. What’s this you say? Big party, well, you’re in luck, they also sell kegs of different sizes to go.


I really enjoyed my tour of the brewery. The staff was beer knowledgeable and friendly. They also mentioned they were looking at expanding the brewery. What kind of expansion, they did not say, but I can only hope they are going to build out a bistro/ restaurant next to the brewery. After drinking that delicious beer, I really could have gone for a burger…


I give Steam Whistle Brewery an 8 out of 10… pending the expansion. I’ll have to head back after the expansion for an updated review.

EDIT: I received an update from Sybil Taylor from Marketing Communications of Steam Whistle Brewery. "Just wanted to let you know that there was one bit of misinformation. Our beer is actually available across Ontario in almost all Beer stores and LCBO outlets as well as hundreds of bars and restaurants. What is limited to the GTA is the Home Delivery. Hope that clarifies things for you.

Cheers,

Sybil Taylor

Marketing Communications

Steam Whistle Brewing"

Thank you for the correction Sybil.

Oh, and just an FYI... GTA is the Greater Toronto Area; not so much Grand Theft Auto.