When Highlander Brew Co. founder Dwayne Wanner offered tastings of Pipers Loch at beer festivals in Toronto, smitten drinkers often asked where they could buy the mildly hopped yet full-bodied ale.

“How do you get it? You drive four hours to the brewery,” Wanner used to say since the ale was only available at the brewery’s South River bottle shop west of Algonquin Park.

Recognizing the geographic limitations of his rural brewery, and the challenges of strict criteria for selling in the LCBO (just two of Highlander’s beers are in stores for this reason), Wanner opened an e-commerce shop in February. There, he sells a dozen different beers and averages 20 to 25 orders a month, most of which are sent to the Greater Toronto Area.

Highlander Brew Co. is one of a handful of off-the-beaten-path Ontario craft breweries with no or limited presence in the LCBO or Beer Store that sells its beers online and has them shipped to the destination by courier or Canada Post. The turnover is usually one to seven days depending on the location.

Other Ontario craft breweries that count on e-commerce include Half Hours on Earth’s which sells sour beers and farmhouse ales brewed in Seaforth, Ontario, a two-plus-hour drive from Toronto, and Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Exchange Brewery. It relies on its online shop to retain customers who have come through the brewery during the region’s busy summer months.

“We have a lot of visitors — tourists from Toronto — so hopefully when they go back home, they’ll go on our online store and buy beers,” says Audrey Le Goff, Exchange Brewery’s marketing co-ordinator.

After a limited online promotion during the 2016 holiday season, the Exchange Brewery opened its permanent e-commerce shop in April. It follows the established practice of its winery neighbours and ships its product to customers’ homes. Barley Days and County Road Beer Company, two breweries in Prince Edward County, another popular wine region, also have e-commerce sites.

Shipping alcohol by mail isn’t new to the province. But the practice of ordering beer online was still relatively unknown until the LCBO launched its e-commerce site in July 2016 and put this lesser-known shopping method in the spotlight.

For craft beer fanatics, a notable offering of the LCBO’s web store is its online exclusives — products which can only be purchased through the e-commerce site.

“It’s a great way for smaller producers, or agents of smaller producers, to have access to a big customer base without stocking all the shelves,” says LCBO media relations co-ordinator Christine Bujold. “They may not have the ability or desire to go out to all store shelves and this gives them a vehicle for which they can introduce their product to the LCBO client base without going across the board.”

For The Brew Box Company, a monthly subscription-style service that has been shipping boxes of Ontario craft beers to customers since 2014, the LCBO’s e-commerce site is technically a competitor. But Brew Box co-founder Robert Jackiewicz says the site has helped legitimize sending beer by mail for skeptical consumers.

“A constant question we would get in the beginning was ‘You guys aren’t legal, are you?’ ” says Jackiewicz, who now ships up to a thousand orders a month, including “Beer Club” boxes on behalf of breweries such as Sawdust City Brewing Co. in Gravenhurst and Beau’s Brewery in Vankleek Hill. “(The LCBO has) impacted us positively because more people are now exposed to the fact that you can buy alcohol online.”

Shannon Rooney was one of Brew Box’s first customers when she received her first order in October 2014. Getting six-to-eight beers delivered directly to her Annex doorstep each month means the carless craft beer lover can easily enjoy hard-to-find beers, most of which can only be purchased direct from the brewery. “I never go to the LCBO anymore,” Rooney says. “I get everything that I need from (The Brew Box).”

With subscriptions starting at $58 per box, shipping included, Rooney pays a premium for her beer. “It’s not the most cost effective way to spend my money but a lot of it is about convenience,” says Rooney.

Most breweries, including Hamilton’s Collective Arts which started selling beer online in December 2016, don’t ship for free and expect modest growth of their e-commerce sales for that reason.

“While it’s great for purchasing merchandise and a few beers, it still has its limitations as delivery is paid for by the consumer and calculated by weight,” says Collective Arts’ communications manager Toni Shelton. “Beer is heavy.”

To incentivize his customers and expand his customer base, Wanner at Highlander Brewing offers free shipping, a cost of $30 for a case of beer that retails for $60. But despite the allure, Wanner reports that online orders have been slow to start and represent an insignificant proportion of his total revenue.

“I think it might help us get some sales but I don’t hold a lot of hope for the online stuff,” he says. “I think it might grow but it’s going to take a lot of time.”

Sites for suds

You’re just a few clicks away from beer to doorbell with these breweries and e-commerce sites.

Highlander Brew Co., South River

Shipping: free, delivery from one to seven days depending on location

Minimum order: case of 12

Website: highlanderbrewco.com

This brewery focuses on traditional Scottish-style beers and mills its barley on-site for freshness.

Try: Piper’s Loch, a refreshing, mildly-hopped ale with citrus notes.

LCBO, province-wide

Shipping: $12 delivery in one to three days. (Free pickup from LCBO store in four to 12 days).

Minimum order: $50

Website: lcbo.com

The province’s alcohol retailer with more than 200 retail stores and more than 1,000 online-only products.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Try: Trou du Diable’s Buteuse Brassin Special, an online-exclusive beer with aromas of vanilla, spice and caramel.

The Exchange Brewery, Niagara-on-the-Lake

Shipping: calculated by weight, delivery in one to two days.

Minimum order: no

Website: exchangebrewery.com

Specializes in Belgian-style beers with a notable barrel aging program.

Try: The #6 Pale Ale, a strong hop-forward brew with tropical fruit and herbal flavours.

Collective Arts, Hamilton

Shipping: calculated by weight, delivery in one to two days.

Minimum order: no

Website: collectiveartsbrewing.com

One of the larger craft breweries in the province which prominently features work from local artists on its cans and bottles.

Try: The Dry Hop Sour, a refreshingly tart beer with notes of grape, lime and plenty of hops.

The Brew Box Company, Toronto

Shipping: free, delivery takes place at the beginning of each month.

Minimum order: $58 per box of 6 to 8 beers

Website: thebrewbox.co

A beer subscription service that ships curated collections of harder-to-find craft beers.

Try: The Brewscovery Box — selections from three local craft producers, most of which are brewery exclusives.

Correction – May 23, 2017: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said Collective Arts is located in Burlington, Ont. In fact, it is located in Hamilton.