As part of our ongoing coverage of Toronto’s Festival of Beer, we’re profiling some of the many different local brewers that will be taking part in the festival. This week, we chat with Tom Paterson, the president of Junction Craft Brewing.
In four sentences or less, tell us who you are and what you do for a living.
I’m the president of Junction Craft Brewing.
How did you get involved with the brewery?
I ran the Paddock, a bar on Queen and Bathurst, for 15 years, and it’s through the bar that I met Doug Pengelly (Junction Craft’s Brewmaster and co-founder).
We had struck up a bit of a friendship, and I had told him that when the time was right I would give him a call to start a brewery. His response to this was, “Sure, whatever.” But when that time did come, I literally called him up and he said, “Let’s meet up to see where we’re at.”
At the time, we were at pretty similar places, so we decided to work together.
From what I understand, you first started brewing your beer at Wellington Brewery in Guelph. Was the plan always to eventually create a microbrewery in the Junction?
Yeah, that was the plan. When we were starting out, we had no money so building a production facility didn’t make a lot of sense.
Doug has been brewing professional for 15 to 20 years, and between his connections and mine we were able to find a place where we could brew large enough quantities of beer to start to establish the company. We then built a location where we could start brewing on our own.
That said, Do you still brew a couple batches at the Wellington Brewery?
We still brew our Conductor’s Ale there, and we’ve also started brewing our session ale there.
That said, we’ve pretty much maxed out our capacity there; they can’t brew anything else for us until they finish building their new brewhouse next spring. So, in the meantime, we’re probably going to be brewing at a couple other places.
At some point we want to consolidate everything under one roof. We’re in the process of trying to secure additional space right now.
Are you from the neighbourhood?
I live a block south of Bloor and Dundas, so I guess you could say I’m technically more in the High Park area. Doug is from Parkdale and our designer, David, is from the Junction.
What do you like about the neighbourhood?
It’s been one of my favourite neighbourhoods since I moved to Toronto some 20 odd years ago. It reminds me of Queen Street West when I first moved here. Queen was an amazing art space that was laid back and was a bit rough around the edges. It had everything I liked about a big city. Queen has obviously changed a lot in 20 years, but the Junction feels like it has taken its place.
What inspired you to jump into craft brewing?
I had a small company that produced its own wine, so the manufacturing of beverages has always been something I’ve had an interest in.
I’ve also never been much of an outgoing person. When I was running the Paddock, I enjoyed being at the back with the chefs. So, in that way, the whole manufacturing side of the brewery business was appealing and exciting to me.
What is it about your beer that has resonated with people?
Doug and I really put our heads together with the Conductor. We wanted to create a beer that was unique and broke down some of the flavour barriers that had existed in the beer world for a long time.
Doug was inspired by Liberty Brewing in the States. They helped break down some of those flavour barriers, as well as start to make beers with more intense flavour profiles.
No one in Canada was doing what Liberty was doing in the States. So we decided that we should be the ones to push those limits by creating a pale ale that had a bit of a hop flavour and a hint of malt. We wanted to make a beer that was forward in its flavour but still sessional.
And it’s the same with all our beers. We’re working on a session ale right now, so we ask ourselves, “What is it about other session ales that make them great? What can we do even better than those other session ales? In the end, we’re surveying the market to see what’s out there and to find ways we can our beers better.
What’s the most challenging part of your job? Conversely, what’s the most rewarding?
We’ve made 120 styles of beers since we’ve opened in this location, so it has been challenging to track, label and market all those beers. We’re pushing the envelope in terms of that.
The most rewarding part is that the hours are great. Compared to the restaurant business—where, towards the end, I was regularly working until 4 in the morning—it’s a much more humane business to run.
You mentioned that you’ve made 120 different brews at this point—is there a reason you’ve made so many different ones? Why not stick to one or two?
We’ve narrowed it down to about 30 to 36 that we make on a regular basis. We mostly do it because we like to experiment and to see how far we can push a brew. Our whole philosophy is to give people choice, so that every time they come back to the store, there’s something new for them to try. I think that makes for a good business model.
What’s next for you?
We’re launching a new beer through the LCBO in a couple of weeks. We have two more of our flagship brands, The Stationmaster and Engineer IPA, that we’re going to be bringing out in the next couple of years.
Besides that, we’re almost at the point where I can start concentrating on securing our new production facility. That’s probably going to take the next couple of years to secure, but it’s something that I’m looking forward to. Like I said, the plan with the new facility is to take all the production we’re doing elsewhere and bring it in house.
Do you want to end by talking about the beers you’re going to be bringing to Toronto’s Festival of Beer?
I could, but, to be honest, I don’t know all of them yet. I guess you could call it a problem for some, but for us it’s not much of an issue. What we’re packaging that week is probably what we’re going to bring. That’s about as specific as I can get.
We’re giving away tickets to Toronto’s Festival of Beer. Give us a “Like” on Facebook for a chance to win.
Toronto Standard is proud to be a media partner of Toronto’s Festival of Beer.
____
Igor Bonifacic is the managing editor of Toronto Standard. Follow him on Twitter.
For more, follow us on Twitter and subscribe to our newsletter.
