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A neighbourhood A&P, a Chinese food wholesaler and an innovative Ontario-centric brewery. There’s no doubt which use of a hard-to-spot 1940s building in Toronto’s Leslieville area is my favourite.
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• Special to Postmedia News
Publishing date:
Nov 26, 2022 • 46 minutes ago • 4 minute read 
Founder Max Meighen sits at the bar in Toronto’s Avling Brewery, which focuses on Ontario ingredients and grows some of what it needs on its rooftop. (Barbara Taylor/The London Free Press)
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A neighbourhood A&P, a Chinese food wholesaler and an innovative Ontario-centric brewery. There’s no doubt which use of a hard-to-spot 1940s building in Toronto’s Leslieville area is my favourite.
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With good planning and bad timing, Avling Brewery opened in 2019 – just before COVID-19 arrived – after extensive renovations to its Queen Street East building, including removing a floor to gain the height needed for its brewhouse and blowing 150 cubic metres of soil onto the roof to create a farm to cool the building and supply brewer Brandon Judd and executive chef Eva Chin with fresh ingredients.
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Affable founder Max Meighen created Avling (Norwegian for “harvest”) after working as a chef and in other people’s breweries. After its pandemic-era start when bottle shop support from Leslieville neighbours was key, Avling has raced ahead to become one of the top craft brew destinatons for visitors to Toronto.
The space, the beer, the food. It’s all impressive, an homage to rural Ontario served to city folks.
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We started with a climb up to the rooftop farm.
While the tomatoes, peppers, apples and hops were obviously done for the season, not faded was Meighen’s enthusiasm for the role the garden plays in the brewery and the benefits of the newest innovation, using waste water from brewing to irrigate the crop and rooftop trees.
Beautiful achillea holding its own amid November’s snowfall in Avling’s rooftop garden. (Barbara Taylor/The London Free Press)
It’s also where he points out an off-site idea I think is unique to Avling. They buy grain used as a cover crop that might otherwise have been plowed under and have it malted for beer.
Down a few flights of stairs, past the drying garlic, and we’re in the tight confines of the brewhouse, where they’ve somehow found space for a dozen oak barrels for small-batch science experiments. Walk further where tours don’t normally go and we’re in the kitchen, where a staff butcher cuts and trims meat.
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Avling Brewery founder Max Meighen explains the brewhouse setup, including the use of oak barrels for creative small-batch beers. (Barbara Taylor/The London Free Press)
Back in the dining room – where servers include a bassist whose band has played places like London Brewing – we’re cozy in a soft industrial interior with a full-glass view of the brewery and a mural that seems like an ode to the Ontario countryside.
It seems only right I tuck into a Fallow Year Ontario Lager – remember Meighen’s grain story? – made with 99 per cent Ontario ingredients. With notes of grapefruit and sweet peach, it’s my new favourite Toronto-brewed beer. Across the table, my dark-beer-loving companion still chilled from the roof visit tucked into Oresund, a classic rich porter. (The name recalls the sound separating Denmark and Sweden, building on a Scandinavian theme.)
Smiling Alving server Tristan delivers a beer tasters selection, including brews from barrel-aged batches. (Barbara Taylor/The London Free Press)
Other Ontario showcase beers are Calm Sea, an all-Ontario pale ale, and Orpheus, which is brewed with rooftop marigolds, orange wine skins from a local winery and a touch of Rosewood honey.
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Avling’s food fans know it for the seasonal dumplings.
“Right now, they are chicken, and house-pickled ramps (a variety of wild leek) that we foraged in the spring,” Meighen says. “I would pair those with our Vienna lager, Salieri. The slightly biscuity flavour and rich malty character of the beer pair nicely with the warming and hearty dumplings.”
Pork sausage and mushrooms are a weekend brunch option from Avling’s kitchen. (Barbara Taylor/The London Free Press)
The bottle shop offers a variety of options for the beer-lover on your Christmas list, from a four-pack of fizzy, tart barrel-aged beers in 375 ml bottles, sales of which raise money for the Bartender’s Benevolent Fund, to 355 ml cans of broad-appeal lagers and the light Meercat Grissette (3.8 per cent with flavours of pear and passionfruit).
While the beer’s good and the food’s fine, what do we make of Leslieville as a tourist draw?
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Quite a lot, actually. A step-back streetscape lined with busy independent shops makes for a nice contrast to the steel and glass towers downtown.
“Start with a wander through Leslieville, looking into the craft stores, clothing, vinyl, and other independent retail we are known for,” Meighen suggests. “Drop by Avling for brunch, and then take a walk through Withrow Park. Have an early afternoon cocktail on the Broadview rooftop before taking a short streetcar ride downtown for a movie, or a show, etc.”
I believe I’ll have another.
Oresund, a classic rich porter perfect for cold days, and Fallow Year Ontario Lager are popular choices at Avling Brewery. (Barbara Taylor/The London Free Press)
NEW AND NOTED
- Kitchener Rangers – the London Knights’ nemeses – have their own beer. Rangers Light Lager, brewed by Four Fathers of nearby Cambridge, was launched officially Nov. 25 as the Rangers hosted the Knights. While the lower-tier London Nationals have their own beer brewed by London Brewing, the Knights and home rink Budweiser Gardens are thin on supporting craft. Four Fathers has craft beer pouring rights at Kitchener’s Memorial Auditorium and municipal golf courses. Thinking Knights coach Dale Hunter should have a brand – Nuisance Nordique Ale, anyone?
- London’s Storm Stayed is hosting holiday markets on Saturdays in December where special anniversary beers covering a variety of styles – looking at you, sour fans – will be released one at a time. The events double as a collection of non-perishable food items for the food bank.
- Elora Brewing has a new beer drawing attention to Link Up, a not-for-profit creating opportunities for BIPOC people looking to break into craft brewing. Link Up English Mild is a sweet, malty and light (3 per cent alcohol) quaffable beer available at the Elora pub and its shop.
- Railway City’s holiday beers are back: Twice Checked Winter Spice and Merry and Bright Cranberry.
- Cowbell has the new S’Mores Nitro Stout in its winter mix pack sold at the LCBO and grocery stores, along with a strawberry-rhubarb take on Hazy Days IPA, Smooth Sailing Light Lager, Shindig Huron County Lager, Hazy Days IPA, and, of course, its original beer, Absent Landlord Kolsch.
Wayne Newton is a freelance journalist based in London.
Twitter.com/WayneWriteOn
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