Everywhere you turn, there’s a new microbrewery in the city. Some are tiny outfits in tiny spaces that sell their wares to others. Others are brewpubs where the food and the atmosphere are just as key as the homebrews.

“We’re in the middle,” says Jordan Rainhard of his sprawling brewery in the Junction.

Taking up 3,200 square feet, Rainhard Brewery — just off St. Clair Ave. W. and Keele St. on Symes Rd., behind The Stockyards — is very much a working brewery, with eight hectolitres in capacity and a beer fridge the size of a small cabin.

Yet when you walk into this industrial park space, you can immediately pony up to the long wooden bar (made by hand by Rainhard himself), or take a seat along one of the windowed walls.

The entire brewery is licensed and Rainhard — who’s working mostly alone with the help of his wife Katie Armstrong and their two dogs, the ancient Tyler and feisty Gus — plans to serve beer most nights of the week. Soon, he’ll bring in food (perhaps via food trucks in the nearby parking lot). He’s already booking parties and events.

Rainhard worked in marketing for a large retailer and about seven years ago took up home brewing. “I could not find the beer I wanted to drink,” he says. He soon was able to make the kind of strong, hoppy beers with a balanced palate that he loves.

He began entering local competitions: he always placed. He partnered with some local breweries and did one-off brews with them. Soon, his interest in his day job waned and all he wanted to do was brew and plot how to open his own place. “It consumes you,” he says of the hobby.

A year ago, he found this home, which offered great light, lots of space and a quick commute from his home near Bloor St. W. For the last 12 months, he’s been bringing in brewing equipment (some of which is custom made) and renovating the space mostly by himself.

Yes, this is a hands-on place with a mostly manual brewing process that includes hand-mashing, and manual capping and labelling.

Already, you can find Rainhard bottles and kegs in pubs and restaurants in the west end. And the locals — hungry for an independent business amongst the chain stores in the area — have started showing up for regular pints at the bar.

Rainhard, who worried he’d gone too big to start, is already thinking about expanding his capacity. Guess there are lots of microbreweries in town, but not enough of them just yet.

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