Von Bugle is a locally brewed Munich Lager that’s an offshoot brand of Steam Whistle.

A tap room and bottle shop adjoins the brewing facility where all Von Bugle is produced, along with all cans and bottles of Steamwhistle (the Roundhouse now solely responsible for keg production).

Basically, more space was needed for this regardless, so hey, why not bring the old Czech Steam Whistle master brewer out of retirement to create one last beer?

The idea was essentially to make the most sessionable dark beer on the market, seeing as most crushable beers tend to be in a much lighter colour spectrum.

The beer is traditionally produced using a long German aging process. Many beers age over the course of a couple weeks, whereas Von Bugle is aged for 28 days.

It owes its rich, original flavour to Kazbek hops, a hybrid of an indigenous wild hop cross-bred with Saaz hops. This leads to a hop that combines mild spice along with floral fruity citrus notes.

Try a sample or full 20-ounce pint of Steam Whistle, Von Bugle, or an unfiltered version of Von Bugle for $6.

Fresh tall cans are available from the bottle shop for $3.15, with six-packs for $17.75 and two-fours for $67.95. They’re also able to sell kegs to individuals, and fill growlers for $12, with an $8 deposit if you don’t have your own bottle (total $20).

The industrial tap room comes equipped with well-worn touches like a refurbished old shuffleboard table you can play with free of charge, as well as more modern features like USB outlets at the bar.

The canning and bottling equipment that’s now utilized here is originally from the Roundhouse.

As for the Von Bugle brewhouse equipment, it was actually built in Germany, set up and calibrated by German engineers, then entirely disassembled and reassembled here.

There’s also an on-site lab in full view of the tap room, where beers are sampled at every point of production for quality assurance. Seeing as Steam Whistle Pilsner and Von Bugle Munich Lager are both simple Czech-style beers, it’s important that they’re brewed perfectly.

Rather than being housed in a historic building like the Roundhouse, this tap room is situated in a historic neighbourhood that used to be home to a military training ground. In fact, the sounding of the bugle used to mean the start of a happy hour of sorts. 

Sometimes there may be live music or other events at the tap room, and the space can be rented out for private functions.