Innocente Brewing Company
283 Northfield Dr E Unit 8A Waterloo, ON
(519) 725-1253
What do you get when you combine a PhD Doctoral Fellowship studying brewing yeast, with a brew making obsession for hopped up beer? Steve Innocente!
Steve Innocente is the brewer and co-owner, alongside his brother Dave, of Innocente Brewing Company. They opened in the North East of Waterloo, ON, in May 2014 in a strip mall. Steve did an eight year stint in Edinburgh, Scotland, doing his post-doc and pursuing his love of Craft Beer whilst contracting out of Alechemy Brewing. His first beer, "Innocente Bystander", a 4% ABV, 125 IBU American Pale Ale, took local pubs by storm and, upon returning home in 2012, Steve and his brother got to work creating a diverse selection of full flavoured beers for their very own brewery.
Their lineup consists of IPA’s, Double IPA’s, Porters, Dubbels, Imperial Stouts, Scotch Ales and a Pilsener for fun. Though he has dialed down a few of his beers to better suit the market around him, his beers are a great way to explore the layers of flavours a beer can have and learn what quality craft beer is all about. The Bystandard now clocks in at 50 IBU rather than 125, but is still accompanied by aromas of grapefruit and passion fruit and sweet malt undertone of German malts, it’s delicious!
The Charcoal Porter is a great example of the collaboration beers they do with local restaurants, with this being brewed with The Charcoal Group’s Beertown. With hints of roasted coffee and chocolate, the earthy hops come through and leave you with a crisp finish.
The Scottish influence is evident in their willingness to work together with other local breweries, their impressive collection of barrels that they brew in, and their love for creating cask beers. Every Friday they tap a unique cask that gets poured until it is gone.