Between Two Fermenters

From the Between Two Fermenters Archives, one of our favourites....

Peter Bulut first appeared on Episode 1, helping set the tone for this show dedicated to preserving the stories, voices, struggles, and triumphs of the Canadian craft beer industry. Now he’s back for a deep, unscripted conversation about nearly four decades in beer, leadership, family legacy, hard lessons, and the relentless spirit that built GLB into Ontario&...

From the Between Two Fermenters Archives, one of our favourites....

In this episode of Between Two Fermenters, host Troy Burtch is joined by the dynamic Catherine Oppedisano, VP of Marketing at Steam Whistle Brewing. From a memorable one-night shift with Great Lakes Brewery in 2012 to spearheading major brand revivals across Ontario’s craft beer landscape, Catherine shares her inspiring journey through the industry.

Cather...

From the Between Two Fermenters Archives, one of our favourites....

On this episode of Between Two Fermenters, Troy Burtch is joined by someone who’s had a profound impact on his life – a mentor, pioneer, and dear friend: Ron Keefe, founder of Toronto’s family-owned Granite Brewery. If you heard Episode 15 with his daughter Mary-Beth, you’ll know how much the Keefe family means to Troy. Ro...

From the Between Two Fermenters Archives, one of our favourites....

“My beers are the portfolio of my life.” In this episode, we’re thrilled to welcome Luc ‘Bim’ Lafontaine, the mastermind behind Godspeed Brewery, a “neighbourhood brewpub with an international reputation”, located at 242 Coxwell Ave in Toronto. Bim’s reputation as a world-renowned brewer precedes him, standing shoulder...

Between Two Fermenters is taking a little summer break. We're taking the month of August off... you could say we've gone drinking... hitting up our favourite pubs around the province.

While we're taking a few weeks to recharge, we're not leaving you hanging. Over the next four weeks, we'll be revisiting some of our favourite episodes from the archives. Whether it's one you missed the first time around or one worth listening to again...

Not every brewery closure is a eulogy. Sometimes it's just a brief intermission... but rarely. 

Troy sits down with Carl Pratt, Co-Founder and brewer behind Beaches Brewing Co, the brewery that spent over a decade as a fixture on Queen Street East in Toronto's Beach neighbourhood. Carl's an accidental brewer - a self-described map nerd who traded a GIS career for weekend homebrew batches, then talk...

In a province obsessed with what's new, Erica McOustra has spent her career perfecting what already exists - and that's a much harder job than it sounds.

Troy sits down with Erica McOustra, Brewmaster at Steam Whistle Brewing - the first woman to hold that title in the brewery's history. A Danforth kid who left university after first year, fell into homebrewing to save money, and never looked back. From a brew-on-prem...

Most people in the beer business talk about legacy. Andrew Oland actually carries it. As the sixth-generation President and CEO of Moosehead Breweries - Canada's last major brewery still owned by Canadians - Andrew is the great-great-great-grandson of Susannah Oland, who started brewing on a family farm in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia in 1867, the same year Canada became a nation. Six generations, 158 years, two world wars...

Some places earn their reputation one pint at a time, and True History Brewing on St. Clair West (Toronto) is exactly that kind of place. Co-founders Matt Tompkins and Adam Shier have quietly built one of the most singular brewery experiences in the city - rooted in German and Czech lager tradition, housed in a soaring former 1920s cinema and designed around one simple idea: make you want to stay for the “whole shift.&rd...

Tash Sundup has been quietly running one of Toronto's best craft beer pubs for over 25 years, and nobody's ever really told his story. The visor-wearing, sandal-loving, pug-admiring owner of Bryden's on Bloor sits down with Troy to talk about how a philosophy major from York University accidentally became one of the most respected licensees in Ontario's craft beer community.  

From macro taps and Moosehead-loyal ...

Most people never think twice about the glass in their hand, or the one they're "taking" from their local pub. Dan Silva does - and then he shows up unannounced with 24 custom ones to prove it.

In this episode of B2F, Troy sits down with Dan Silva, Co-Owner and VP of Sales & Procurement at Zenan Glass - Canada's largest glassware and ceramics decorator for the beverage and food service industry. Dan came up through nearly 1...

In this episode, Troy sits down with Mike Laba and Chris Goddard - co-founders of Craft Brand Co., and the new owners of Blackburn Beer Company in Niagara Falls. Two of Ontario craft beer's most restless minds, Mike and Chris have spent the better part of two decades putting together two of the more interesting careers in the Canadian beer industry.  They get into their origin stories on...

In this episode, Troy sits down with Chris Conway, General Manager of Old Credit Brewing Co. in Port Credit, a guy who traded in a PhD for a one-barrel brew system in a gastropub kitchen and never looked back. With stints co-founding Folly Brewpub in Toronto and building Landwash Brewery into one of Newfoundland’s fastest growing craft breweries, Chris is a builder and an operator....

In this episode, Troy sits down with Dan Johnston, VP of Sales at Equals and the man driving the bus at Collingwood's Side Launch Brewing Co. Known for his infectious energy, deep community roots, and a career that has taken him from the bars of Melbourne to the boardrooms of cannabis and back again to craft beer, Dan is one of Ontario's most recognizable faces in the industry - and one of its most enthusiastic advoc...

In this episode, Troy sits down with Alex Diamandas, Regional Sales Manager at Yakima Chief Hops (YCH), to explore the world behind one of beer’s most important ingredients: hops. From collaborations like Continental Rift and Karma Cryo IPA to experimental Flight Series releases, GLB has worked closely with YCH over the years and this conversation pulls back the curtain on how...

In this episode of Between Two Fermenters, Troy sits down with a true pioneer of Ontario craft beer: Jim Brickman, founder of Brick Brewing. Long before hazy IPAs, tall cans, and hundreds of Ontario breweries, Jim took a risk on a simple idea - that Canadians might want something different from the handful of macro lagers dominating the market. In 1984, he opened Ontario’s first modern post-Prohibition cra...

In this episode, Troy sits down with Mandie Murphy, the marketing mind, industry advocate, and co-founder of Toronto’s Left Field Brewery. Widely respected for her leadership and voice in Ontario craft beer, Mandie shares her journey from corporate marketing to building a purpose-driven brewery rooted in community, independence, a love of baseball, and doing so alongside her partner in business and in life...

In this episode of Between Two Fermenters, Troy Burtch sits down with Cam Fryer, co-founder of Royal City Brewing, a passionate beer industry veteran whose story has seldom been told. From early days hauling kegs at Great Lakes Brewery to studying German history and falling head-over-heels for classic European beer culture, Cam’s path into brewing feels both intentional and serendipitous. 

The conversa...

This week on Between Two Fermenters, we’re joined by two longtime friends, collaborators, and absolute heavyweights of Ontario craft beer: Steve “Bebo” Pilotto and Chris Steininger from Third Moon Brewing.  

Before Third Moon became one of the most talked-about breweries in the province, Bebo was a homebrewer turning heads with hazy IPAs, and Chris was a GLB superfan lining up for rele...