Burdock Kensington
Burdock Brewery now has this location in Kensington Market in addition to their smaller original location in Bloordale Village.
It's taken over the old SASMART space in the Market, and locals familiar with it will notice a nod to the old retro orange signage in a new sign that spells out BURDOCK in the same style.
You can still spy the old SASMART signage now hidden inside the interior brewery space.
Burdock was started by Jason Stein and Matt Park, who opened the original brewery, restaurant and music hall back in 2015.
Park describes the signature style of the beers they make as "pale, refreshing and crispy" but they've also become known for more experimental grape ales and beer-wine hybrids.
"We're heavily inspired by the world of wine and love to experiment with ways to bring the best of both worlds, beer and wine, into a single beverage," Park tells blogTO. "But most of what we brew is easy-drinking beers that we would want to drink every day, like lagers and pale ales."
The larger space has been a long time coming for the brewery that's had people loving their beers, resulting in brewing over capacity for about four years by 2019.
"It was either we move out of the city where space would be cheaper, more accessible, or do the hard thing and open another location downtown," says Park.
The SASMART space in Kensington fit the bill perfectly with its tall ceilings and good amount of square footage, plus its location nestled in the middle of an array of vibrant businesses.
They can now brew five times more beer at the Kensington space, which functions as a production brewing facility and retail store.
The new top-of-the-line equipment at the Kensington space was manufactured in Abbotsford, BC and has greatly enhanced their technical accuracy and abilities.
The extra tank space lets them age beers for longer, which is especially helpful since they specialize in brewing lagers which take about twice as long as pale ales.
It'll also help them get more beer out to more restaurants, bars, grocery stores and LCBOs.
The new space also expands on the tiny retail shop area tucked away at the back of the original Burdock, which sells snacks, merch, beer to go and other products.
At this new larger retail area, you can still find Burdock merch as well as products from local businesses like Daily Dumpling, ChocoSol, Propeller, Forno Cultura, Scout Canning and Rosewood.
Ultimately, this local flair is what Burdock hopes to retain at the core of their brand even as they continue to grow.
"Our goal is not to become a huge brewery, otherwise we would have moved to an industrial park in Etobicoke," says Park. "We're here to make the best beer we can and in a way that everyone can see for themselves right from the shop."
Fareen Karim
