Inside Northern Maverick: Toronto's newest brewhouse

Toronto just got a brand new brewery, bottle shop, and soon, beer school.

Northern Maverick Brewing Co. is newly opened at the base of a condo at Bathurst and Adelaide and is serving up beer so fresh, they’re not even kegging it… I mean, they are, but they also offer three of their signature brews straight from the beer towers and available on tap at the bar via champagne lines that run along the ceilings.

Founder and owner Jason Kaptyn is a restaurant industry veteran and hobbyist brewer now turned pro and he’s brought on Brewmaster Andrew Crowder to helm brewing operations while Chef Mark Cutrara (ex-Bar Hop, Cowbell) oversees the kitchen serving the 400-seat restaurant including a massive patio.

Northern Maverick’s Handcraft Lager is already available in cans at the LCBO but at the brewery, it’s joined by the First Day IPA, described as an extra hoppy happy accident, as well as the Gosezilla, an especially tart German-style Gose.

To eat, the opening menu aims to accommodate any sized appetite or craving. Nibble on snacks ranging from beer nuts and jerky to oxtail Jamaican patties or graze on cheese and/or charcuterie boards topped with cheeses and house-cured meats and friends like wort and malt mustard and sweet grape mosto.

More substantial options include sharing plates like the grilled octopus with seasonal accompaniments. On the opening menu, the tender and deliciously charred tentacles are paired with juicy peaches and plump kernels of corn straight off the cob.

On the list of mains, Cutrara revives his Cowbell burger and rounds out the offerings with a veggie entree, a steak, and a warm smoked trout, a supple, cold smoked fish paired with celeriac puree, tangy pickled swiss chard, and earthy roasted beets.

For dessert, soft serve. Because obviously it’s 2017 and no brewpub would be complete without it. Here you’ll find swirls of maple ice cream drizzled with warm bacon jam and vanilla topped with pretzel sponge toffee and peanuts.

While tasting flights in the restaurant offer the chance to get acquainted with the line-up of house beers, cans and bottles are also available for purchase from the retail bottle shop.

Coming soon, the second-floor event space will be available for private bookings and will also house a library of resources for beer-makers and Beer School, a venue geared towards Toronto’s homebrewing community and offered as a space to learn, experiment, and share new brews.

Northern Maverick Brewing Co.

Address: 115 Bathurst Street, Toronto
Phone:  416-540-4030

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See also

• There's a 'beer university' opening in Toronto this summer
• 10 of Toronto’s best brewpub patios (MAP)
• A guide to EVERY single craft brewery in Toronto