Shacklands Brewing Company
Exploring…
I sat at the bar, across from Dave Watts, co-owner of Shacklands Brewing Company, while my eyes were exploring the eclectic mix of trinkets, vintage toys and nostalgic decor that decorates the taproom. I was immediately drawn back into conversation when Dave began to give me his take on what “craft beer lifestyle” means: “I mean, it started with the IPA movement, but really that was just the seed of what the overall movement – or you might say ‘lifestyle’ – was really doing. It was exploring flavour.”
Opening in January of 2017, the brewery was another (albeit, significant) step in the history of the Shacklands Brewing Company, which began its operations as a contract brewer with Junction Craft Brewery in 2012. The two breweries are now neighbours, bookending Rainhard Brewing Company in the Stockyards area. (Read about my visit to Rainhard here.)
…Shacklands Brewing Company’s neighbourhood
Like Rainhard before them and Junction Craft moving in shortly after, the three breweries are apart of a renaissance currently taking place in the Stockyards neighbourhood.
I covered a brief history of the area in my Rainhard post, but Shacklands Brewing Company does a more detailed job during their monthly “History Night.” The event, on every third Thursday of the month (next week!), explores stories from the history of the local area, and is an example of just how significant connecting with the local neighbourhood is to a brewery like Shacklands.
This connection to the neighbourhood and its history is clear in both the name and logo of the brewery. Besides the many meatpacking companies that dominated the area for the previous century, the few residents that lived in and around the Stockyards lived in temporary huts and shacks, built for families waiting for their actual homes to finish construction. These makeshift, DIY homes were the subject of a painting by Canadian artist Lawren S. Harris in 1919, entitled “Shacks.”
The brewery’s name, of course, incorporates this history of the area, and their logo pays homage to Harris’ painting. Shacklands’ craft – brewing beer – emulates the ethos of these DIY shacks.
Welcome to the shacklands
The atmosphere at Shacklands is one that is comfortable and incredibly unassuming. The taproom feels like a warehouse decorated like a teenager’s bedroom – a teenager from sometime in the 70s and 80s, that is. A small television plays old films from a VHS player; a pinball machine is wedged beside an old piano. It’s the sort of environment that one’s wondering eyes can get lost in for, well, at least 4 pints of Belgian-style ale. The decor is better entertainment than watching the game, and is an endless conversation starter. (See the full Shacklands Brewing Company photo gallery here.)
Along with the nostalgic decor, the bar was built with old doors that the team discovered in the building when they moved in, and the backbar was made of old skids from some of the original equipment deliveries they received during initial construction.
Doing their best to recycle and leave as little of an ecological footprint as possible is part of the plan at Shacklands: everything is manually operated, saving both energy and water. And their manual, DIY operations allow them to pay closer attention to the details of what they do best: brewing Belgian-style beer.
The folks at Shacklands Brewing Company
Co-owner and head brewer, Jason Tremblay, is the mastermind behind the brews. He started home-brewing 20 years ago, and quickly became hooked on the process and, of course, the result. Getting his chops properly wet working with Bar Volo and their “House Ales” project, Jason became accomplished enough to want to start his own operation.
Enter Dave Watts, Jason’s longtime friend. Dave was a lighting technician for Canadian film and a designer for a solar business prior to that, but he has been a huge fan of Jason’s beers since Jason’s first home brews.
When Jason came to Dave with an idea of starting his own brewery, Dave didn’t need much convincing to partner. The two are a fantastic pairing: one knows the intricacies of the science of beer, and the other knows how to engage and entertain beer drinkers.
In fact, Dave is that teenager in whose bedroom the taproom seemingly resides. The decor is all of Dave’s doing, and he roams the taproom as the centrepiece of the decor itself, with his constant smile and incredible head of hair. He’s a character amongst an endless decor of character.
A character amongst character
Chatting with Dave about the history of the brewery, their beer and his own journey to Shacklands revealed, for one, that Dave is an incredibly genuine, welcoming and entertaining gentleman. The beer is more than worth the visit, but Dave will encourage a drastically extended one.
He also knows beer very well, claiming outright that he’s tried every beer ever made (well, there’s a few he admits he hasn’t been able to track down). When he tells me that a craft beer lifestyle is one that “explores flavour,” it’s clear that Dave isn’t just talking: if his beer-drinking claim is even remotely truthful, then he obviously loves to explore.
Now, about 120 different brews in themselves, Shacklands prides itself on its Belgian-inspired beer menu. Dave was happy to let me know why: “A dubbel or a tripel is really a testament to the craft. You can’t hide any mistakes in the flavour because the key to the flavour is right up front with these styles: there is no hiding.”
Exploring Shacklands Brewing Company
Shacklands Brewing Company does not want to hide its aspiration to produce the best Belgian-style beer they can. It’s important to their brand, and to their craft, to be out in the open, exploring the endless possibilities of flavour that beer is capable of producing.
Of course, I was here to explore as well, and Dave was keen to show off his friend’s brews. With an endless array of “stuff” covering the Shacklands Brewing Company interior, I found myself in an inspiring place for my project: pairing those beers with “stuff” from life.
Pairingwith… Shacklands Brewing Company’s “Saison Davenport”
The “Saison Davenport” is Shacklands Brewing Company’s nod to a classic, the “Saison Dupont” from Brasserie Dupont in Belgium. With the brewery located closer to Davenport Rd. than Dupont St. in Toronto, the classic beer was given a cheeky name. The Saison Davenport is available year round at the brewery.
This fruity-spicy-funky offering is an excellent pairing with the book, “At the Existentialist Cafe,” by Sarah Bakewell. The complexity of the beer is perfectly complimented by the text on Bakewell’s pages: as we slowly appreciate the light pepper and mild lemon flavours of the beer, we also slowly navigate the apt mix of history, philosophy and character on display in the book.
Drinking with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simon de Beauvoir in Paris cafes while discussing existential concerns and how to politicize them is an experience similar to enjoying the Saison Davenport. They are both deep with flavour and excite with every turn of the page or sip from the glass.
To be fair, of course, JP and Simon spend most of their time drinking apricot cocktails, but given the subtle stone fruit flavours inherent to this saison, I think they would have no problem approving of this beer… In fact, I think this may get them to switch over to the brew side entirely.
Sip, ponder; read, ponder; sip, read: take your time.
“At the Existentialist Cafe”
At the Existentialist Cafe: Freedom, Being and Apricot Cocktails is Sarah Bakewell’s fourth book. Utilizing Jean-Paul Sartre and Simon de Beauvoir as main threads, it tells the story of existentialism and provides an investigation of its main concepts.
Along with Sartre and de Beauvoir, we meet thinkers like Albert Camus, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Martin Heidegger, and we find ourselves being drawn into their philosophical discussions. Their thinking is captivating in its revolutionary and liberating ideas: the freedom to create oneself and make one’s world. Yet, Bakewell also gives us reason to be critical of some of the characters behind it.
The history takes us through WWII, and the fight, both in actions and words, that this group of thinkers engaged in during occupied France. We are taken through their post-war years, and watch their eventual philosophical disagreements come into view. We also see the influence their actions and thoughts had on the world.
Both intelligent and alluring, At the Existentialist Cafe offers a wonderful look at a philosophical movement – a movement that engages the time in which it is born and takes form in political action.
Sarah Bakewell has been an author since 2002. Alongside At the Existentialist Cafe, she is also the author of The Smart, The English Dane and How to Live: A Life of Montaigne. She has a degree in philosophy from the University of Essex and a postgraduate degree in Artificial Intelligence.
Pairingwith… Shacklands Brewing Company’s “Fuzzier Peach” Brett IPA
The “Fuzzier Peach” Brett IPA from Shacklands Brewing Company is a one-off, currently (February, 2019) available at the brewery. It’s the sort of beer you hope they revive someday down the road.
It is also a delightful pairing with Junction City Wrestling. An afternoon spent watching one of their wrestling shows is an afternoon full of hilarious storylines, exaggerated, absurd characters and daring athleticism. In a word, it’s simply fun.
With the brew, Shacklands played with brettanomyces (a wild yeast) to draw out the uncommonly-used fruity favours the yeast is capable of producing. The resulting beer is a playful sort of IPA, with a tart peach flavour, light, mildly fizzy mouthfeel and dry, muted-bitter finish.
The playfulness of the beer pays compliment to the playfulness of an afternoon with Junction City Wrestling. The untamed, juvenile action of the wrestling is, indeed, like the “peach candy” that Shacklands has produced here.
Besides, not only did Shacklands host the first ever Junction City Wrestling event, but Shacklands’ own Dave Watts is also a reoccurring character on their shows, so I already know full well that these two are down to be paired – or, more appropriately, made into a tag-team.
Don’t forget to bring your yelling voice to the show.
Junction City Wrestling
If you’re familiar with the hey-day of Hulk Hogan, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Junction City Wrestling is that sort of ridiculous fun and engaging entertainment.
Established in 2017 by Andrew McRae, Junction City Wrestling is the vision of a life long wrestling fan. Andrew started wrestling in 2013, but had involved himself with the production side of the wrestling scene a year earlier. Years later, on July 16th, 2017, Junction City Wrestling held their first event.
Shacklands Brewing Company’s Dave Watts played a helpful role in the advent of the wrestling group, as he was the first to host their events. The wrestlers now come by for group gatherings at the brewery, quickly having become regulars.
But, “none of it would be possible without Battle Arts Academy in Mississauga and its founder, Anthony Carelli [(former WWE star “Santino Marella”)],” Andrew says. “Almost everyone involved in the show trains or has trained at that gym.”
Junction City Wrestling has performed six events, with future performances scheduled for May 5th, June 23rd and July 27th, 2019. Their first indoor ticketed event, the family-friendly “Destructor Rumble,” at Junction Craft Brewery in January, was a huge success, and where we shot the photo for the Shacklands pairing. Junction City Wrestling also began their own YouTube channel, now with two seasons worth of episodes.
For Andrew, it has taken some time to make Junction City Wrestling what it is, but now that it’s here, it seems to be moving fast. When I showed up for the shoot for their pairing, I wasn’t expecting to see the venue jammed with about 200 guests in attendance: standing room only for me. And that wasn’t a bad thing, because once the show began, most of the audience got out of their seats anyways.
Listen to the Andrew McRae interview with Dani Stover on BlogTO’s “Only in Toronto” podcast.
Pairingwith… Shacklands Brewing Company’s “Tripel”
The “Tripel” is one of the original brews that Shacklands Brewing Company has been producing since its contract brewing days. Being a staple of the Belgian style, this is of course a staple at Shacklands, available year round.
The Tripel is an astute pairing with this navy blue windbreaker from Scotch & Soda, out of the Amsterdam. The sweet, yeasty aromas of the beer give way to a dry, floral flavour that finishes with medium-bitterness and subtle citrus. The complex flavours are contrasted nicely by the consistent and solid blue of the jacket.
As one’s nose and tastebuds explore the many flavours inherent to the beer, one is armed and ready to do some exploring of their own in the jacket. And, to be sure, if you are in this region of the world, you’ll have endless opportunities for beer exploration. Indeed, the origin of the jacket (Netherlands) pays compliment to the origin of the beer style (Belgium), as they cross paths with each other, down towards another great beer culture (Germany).
Any quality exploration needs time to properly appreciate the wonders that are uncovered, and the Tripel from Shacklands provides a wonderful arc of time for a beer drinker. The more the beer sits and gets closer to room temperature, the more the flavours of the beer evolve the journey it takes you on.
Starting in Belgium, where beer is certainly king, is an excellent idea; but it’s also not a bad idea to detour through Netherlands to visit La Trappe Brewery before making your way toward Germany. And taking the trip to Netherlands will probably see you wanting a windbreaker anyways. I mean, the landscape there is littered with one of the Netherlands’ iconic images – windmills – and there’s no point in risking being blown off course.
Scotch & Soda
Scotch & Soda brands itself in a way that attempts to mirror the place from which it comes. Amsterdam is a colourful, diverse city that has acted as a hub for commerce and trade, bridging the west to the east, for many centuries. The style of clothing that Scotch & Soda produces is one that aims to look like Amsterdam feels: youthful, vintage, rugged, worldly, eclectic.
A 24 year old Laurens Hompes founded the clothing line in 1985, focusing solely on men’s fashion. The brand was most notable for its sportive jackets with colourful hoods. In 2000, Hompes sold his company, and in 2001 the company was given a relaunch. It then went through a number of expansions, to include a boys line, a women’s line, a girls line, a denim line and, finally, a perfume.
The Scotch & Soda design studio now resides in a former church in the heart of Amsterdam. It’s a place where one can allow one’s creative juices to channel history and converging cultures, youthfulness and curiosity. And for a fashion sense that screams travel and exploration, the setting seems like the perfect environment.
While not my typical, “small, local business” feature, I’ve paired Scotch & Soda here because their style speaks to at least one aspect of “craft beer lifestyle” that has been highlighted in this post: exploration. I also just simply love their stuff, owning a number of articles of their clothing beyond this windbreaker. I don’t normally like the “big names,” but there’s a few I do like, and Scotch & Soda is one I feel comfortable adding to my craft beer lifestyle.
See you next week when I’m Pairingwith… Radical Road Brewing Company!
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