Bandit Brewery
2125 Dundas St W, Toronto, ON
Springtime means the return of rain, mud, flowers, longer days, and raccoons - the mischievous mascot of Bandit Brewery in Toronto, ON. Though they just celebrated their 1st birthday, they are far from craft brewing rookies. Co-owner Stephane pulls inspiration from his home country of France and from time spent living in Germany, and it seems only appropriate that he met Shehzad (the co-owner) drinking Craft Beer at another brewery back in 2012. He is to blame for introducing Shehzad to the whole brewing process after they started to brew together in his backyard, all while enjoying their previous batches. They soon took the leap, quit their jobs, started Bandit Brewery, and haven’t looked back since.
They converted a former auto shop into an open-concept brewery, complete with a stunning taproom and patio, that brings people together through great beer. Though Stephane and Shehzad are great friends, they have opposite tastes in beer which keeps things interesting, but the deciding vote lies with Julian and Ben, the current brew-masters of Bandit. They have a focus on IPA’s and Saison styles and strive to never brew a beer too sweet or one that exceeds 1000 IBU’s.
Julian got his start in Montreal and brought some influence from the wonderful beers in that area - he is currently enjoying creating beer using fruit on the 10 barrel system at Bandit. Ben is another great result of Niagara’s Brewing program, he enrolled there after attempting a PolyScience program at UBC which resulted in him starting up a homebrew club on campus. These two seem happy and at home here at Bandit, and they continue to make a variety of beers that are worth exploring.
I particularly enjoyed their 8 Days a Week, single Citra Hopped session IPA (and not just because of The Beatles reference). It was crisp and refreshing with the aromas and flavours of tropical fruits like pineapple and guava punching through - a very clean tasting beer with smoothed out bitterness and a neutral malt bill, it’s an IPA that really showcases the Citra Hops.
Bandit’s APA is a staple in the line of Bandit beers and comes highly recommended for everyone. Pale Ales are generally straight forward compared to other styles with a simple malt bill highlighting the qualities of the hop varieties used. Bandit’s APA has notes of honey and fruit aromas to add a little more depth to this style.
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