Anytime I visit a new city, I always try to find a local brewery or brewpub to check out. Recently, I was in London, Ontario and found a brewpub that had only been open for three months, so I made a point of stopping in to see what makes them unique.

Storm Stayed Brewing Company came together as a collaborative venture between Justin Belanger, Michael Naish and Nate Nedeiros, three friends who met in a local home brewing club. The three have very different backgrounds with Belanger a former chemist, Naish an engineer and Nedeiros a chef, but what brought them together was their passion for beer.

“We were home brewers and wanted to start a brewery,” said Belanger. “I had wanted to start one since 2009, but just didn’t have the means. After earning my degree in chemistry, I soon realized I didn’t want to do that and began focusing more on brewing.”

The name itself has some interesting roots. Storm stayed is an East Coast term that means the weather is so bad outside; you are stuck where you are. “The idea behind Storm Stayed is we wanted to create an environment that you were comfortable being storm stayed in,” added Belanger, who is originally from Prince Edward Island.

In addition to their interesting origins, Storm Stayed is doing some interesting things with their beer, particularly their Berliner Weisse, a sour wheat beer. “One of our specialties is adding syrups. It is traditional to have syrups with Berliner Weisse in Germany. They have specific flavours that usually go with it but we decided to make our own versions.”

Storm Stayed has pomegranate/clementine, fig and demerara, chestnut/vanilla and seasonal (most recently cinnamon heart) flavours to choose from. “I can’t remember where the idea came from,” said Belanger. “I just remember really liking the idea of adding syrups. I wanted us to push forward with something unique that would separate us from others in the area. The fact that all of the syrups are made in-house, makes it even more unique.”

So far, Belanger estimates that they have done about 12-15 styles of beer. Their facility currently has 13 taps and while most are their own, they do have rotating guest taps. “The beers that you will always find here are our blonde ale, Moonshadow, which is our Berliner Weisse and the Hunter Porter. The idea is that you should always find five styles: a blonde ale, sour beer, porter or stout, IPA or Pale Ale and a red beer.”

While the syrups are traditionally added to the Berliner Weisse, Belanger notes that they have also worked well with the other styles they produce. “Adding, for example, our pomegranate/clementine to the pale ale, or the chestnut/vanilla to the porter work quite well.”

Storm Stayed has no intention of limiting their creativity when it comes to their syrups. They say they will be working on more flavours and more beers to pair them with. The goal is to be as diverse as possible. They are working on a couple of saisons and wits and say they have more fun things planned.

Currently, the facility has 7bbl system and produces about 900 litres per batch. They don’t do growlers but you can pick up a large can to bring home. However, if you’re hoping to find Storm Stayed in the LCBO or Beer Store in the future, don’t hold your breath. “We don’t plan to become a production brewery. Our whole shtick behind this brewery was to be community-oriented. We plan to have a bottle shop with beers to go and a tap room available for people to come in and have a drink but no plans for the LCBO or Beer Store,” said Belanger.

With their current innovation and commitment to their community-based environment, one thing is for sure: the only way to see what’s next is to drop by the brewpub and be Storm Stayed a while yourself.

Cheers!

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