Today’s stop in our tour of local spirits takes us a little further afield, but we couldn’t leave off without sampling some of the delicious brews of this Grey County brewery.
Back in 1857, Henry Huether arrived in Neustadt, and while he loved the village, he immediately realized something was missing. A brewery. The springs at Neustadt provided clear, cold waters perfect for beermaking, and he hired a large team of German stonemasons to build a brewery over the springs. Within two years, the Crystal Springs Brewery was delivering barrels to taverns far and near, and it continued to do so for the next 57 years – except for a brief period when fire damaged the building, which was quickly remedied by thirsty farmers who brought in fieldstone to rebuild the brewery in exchange for beer.
By 1916, prohibition and a decline in the local population led the brewery to shut its doors, and Neustadt’s brewing days seemed over.
Nearly 75 years later, a couple from England with experience at breweries in Lancashire and North Wales visited Ontario and fell in love with it. Andrew and Val Stimpson moved here in 1995, with plans to open a pub, but Andrew couldn’t find a local beer that he liked. So he decided to brew his own, and settled on the abandoned brewery in Neustadt, where the springs still flowed through a network of caverns below, as the perfect location. After nearly a year of renovations, and 81 years after the original brewery closed up, Neustadt Springs Brewery released its first batch of beer. It sold out within five hours.
Andrew and Val Stimpson in one of the vaulted stone cellars below Neustadt Springs Brewery.
In the years since, the brewery’s offerings have earned a host of Canadian and international awards, and you can find its biggest sellers (10W30 Brown Ale, Neustadt Lager, and Neustadt Scottish Pale Ale) at many LCBO outlets. But when you visit the brewery (and book ahead to take a tour), make sure you bring home its less well-known, seasonal brews: Big Dog Beaujolais Porter, Texas Tea Honey Stout, 456 Marzen Lager, Mill Gap Bitter or The Sour Kraut.
