Ontario's new craft beer craze: Just a big ol' can full of hops

PROVINCEWIDE—Finally reaching the logical conclusion they've been heading toward for several years, Ontario's microbreweries have embraced what many are calling the next wave in craft beer: Just a big old can of loose hops, jammed in through the hole in the top.

"It's a very exciting time for the craft scene," explains Morgan Church of the LCBO's Food and Drink Magazine.

"What we're seeing is breweries finally getting back down to basics, cutting through the distractions of fancy trends like alcohol and water and focusing on what craft beer is all about: Hops, hops, hops, and a can."

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"It's extremely refreshing – the movement I mean, not the beer, at all," added Church, "Craft breweries have completely thrown out the rulebook. Your beer still has to have hops in it and your brewery still has to have a name that invokes small town industry but other than that the rulebook is GONE."

So far popular Ontario breweries Railtown, Steelstreet, Townyard, Shiptown, Ironville, Trainboat, Factoryplace, and the Rendering Plant Boulevard Brewing Company have all caught on to this paradigm shift in beer, each with unique and exciting variations on dry hops inside an aluminum can.

"Our big seller right now is the Hopscotch Quadruple Imperial Can of Hops," said Greg Mueller of Trainboat Brewery.

It really captures the feeling of what biting into a huge thing of raw broccoli would be like, but with hops- Greg Mueller of Trainboat Brewery

"We use a very traditional process of just sticking the plant in the hole and calling it a day, instead of trying to jam it in there at all. It's a bit tricky to carry around, but we feel it really captures the feeling of what biting into a huge thing of raw broccoli would be like, but with hops."

"Honestly, the response from beer drinkers – or, I guess, eaters – has been so positive, it's blown the whole beer game open for us," added Mueller.

"And with summer on the way, we have some really exciting ideas for wheat beers. We can't tell you what though, you'll just have to be surprised."

"... we're just going to put it right in the can and then cut up an orange on it."

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