Railway City Brewing Co.
130 Edward St, St. Thomas, ON
(519) 631-1881
The railway has been a major part of St. Thomas since 1856 and it soon earned the title of Railway City. So naturally when this brewery opened up, they decided to name it after their home! Railway City started crafting beer in 2008 and then in 2013 they relocated to their current and more spacious 14,000 sq ft brewhouse on Edward st.
Most known for their Dead Elephant IPA and Iron Spike line, of 3 beers, they offer a wide spectrum to please all types of beer lovers, including a steady lineup of seasonals and a “Side Show” series where their brewers creativity can shine with circus inspired styles of beer. These have included Mystic Fortune Teller Gruit, Strongman Belgian Style Quad, and most, recently, FlameThrower, a spiced farmhouse ale with five different peppers.
The taproom has a certain ambiance to it, it always feels as if you are pulling up a stool for a beer after a long day of work at the factory. With railway ties worked into the flight boards the industrial feel is present in all the little details, but the beer takes you away from the blue collar taste and excites your taste buds in more exotic ways.
I started with a sample of their Gruit, as I am unsure of this style and wanted to give it a try. Gruit is made with herbs instead of hops for bittering and flavouring beer and was popular before the extensive use of hops - they help to preserve the beer. Their Mystic Fortune Teller was specifically made with lavender, juniper berries, honey, orange peel, and yarrow and I quite enjoyed my sample glass. It was a nice blend of flavours and the orange peel brought out some citrus and quite a bit of tartness in the Gruit that complemented the underlying lavender in both aroma and taste. With a pine notes coming from the juniper berries, the traces of honey rounded out the tartness of this beer wonderfully. The whole beer tastes like a citrus herb garden on your palette and I was noticing subtle new flavours with every sip - I’ve had more than a few bottles in my fridge since!
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