Next on our 30-mile spirits tour of the area around Meaford is Creemore Springs, which opened 25 years ago in the tiny village of Creemore, south of Collingwood. Start by enjoying the scenic drive that brings you there. From Meaford, head south on Grey Road 7, or as it’s known locally, the 4th line. This road climbs steeply out of town, and if you stop at the top, you can enjoy a beautiful panoramic view of Georgian Bay and the sweep of Cape Rich. (By now, you’re probably familiar with it – though we hope still in awe of it.)

Continue along the road and down into the wide Beaver Valley until you reach the stop sign at Grey Road 13, below the looming face of Kimberley Rock or “Old Baldy”. Turn right here, and proceed through the quaint hamlet of Kimberley before climbing back out of the valley toward Eugenia. The Beaver Valley Lookout on your right might be worth a stop to enjoy the view. Then, through Eugenia until the stop sign at Grey Road 4. Turn left, and head east for 10 minutes or so until you reach another stop sign at Highway 124. Turn right here, and about 8 kms. later, turn left at Simcoe Road 9. This winding road descends through tree-shaded curves to the village of Creemore.

A right on the main street of town, Mill Street, brings you to the Creemore Brewery. Back in 1987, retired ad man John Wiggins decided the town’s old hardware store, which he owned, would make a perfect place for a brewery. A friend, who was a retired bottle manufacturing executive and soon-to-be-co-founder, had an artesian well on his Creemore property. Another partner, also retired, who happened to be a pipe fitter and welder – handy for all that copper equipment – came on board, and the team hired brewmaster Doug Babcook to create the original Creemore Springs Premium Lager.

Creemore Springs opened its doors on August 15, 1987 (which makes its 25th anniversary just a few weeks away), and the original batches of beer sold out in four hours. But as the beer was welcomed throughout the province (and eventually Quebec and Alberta, and even further afield), the brewery expanded to accommodate.

Your blogger enjoyed his first taste of Bohemian-influenced Creemore Lager a year after its launch during a visit to Collingwood, and declared it delicious. But more reputable beer tasters were already noticing. Michael Jackson, world-famous beer writer, soon declared Creemore one of the two best lagers in North America (the other no longer exists).

Since then, the brewery has introduced such beers as it’s UrBock, a heavier winter beer, launched in 1996; a Pilsner, introduced as a summer beer in 2007, but now made year-round; and Kellerbier, an unfiltered German-style beer, first produced in 2009.

In 2005, beer giant Molson bought Creemore, but the distinctive brews continue to be produced in the village, and the quality and flavour of the beer doesn’t seem to have suffered.

Take a tour of the brewery while you’re there, and enjoy a sampling of the Creemore offerings. And don’t forget to bring some home with you.