The brewing history of Toronto is as rich and complex as the many beers produced in the city's breweries. Many of these breweries still exist, but dozens have been lost to time or development. Take a look back at these historically and culturally significant breweries and discover the influence they had on the city's past. Beer expert and author Jordan St. John details the stories of sixteen beer makers, from the locations of the facilities to the range of their offerings, and includes fascinating biographical information on the prominent brewers who were also notable members of Toronto society -- John Doel, Eugene O'Keefe, and Enoch Turner, to name a few. This important new contribution to the city's history is sure to be a fascinating exploration for beer enthusiasts and history buffs alike.

Ontario boasts a potent mix of brewing traditions. Wherever Europeans explored, battled, and settled, beer was not far behind, which brought the simple magic of brewing to Ontario in the 1670s. Early Hudson's Bay Company traders brewed in Canada's Arctic, and Loyalist refugees brought the craft north in the 1780s. Early 1900s temperance activists drove the industry largely underground but couldn't dry up the quest to quench Ontarians' thirst. The heavy regulation that replaced prohibition centralized surviving breweries. Today, independent breweries are booming and writing their own chapters in the Ontario beer story.