Peter Billings considers himself a beer connoisseur.

"I like the whole idea of craft brewed beer. It's local. It's not a commercial conglomerate," he says after buying some Stash Blonde ale at Collective Arts Brewing's new retail store that opened Sept. 1 at the old Lakeport Brewery site on Burlington Street East.

A former Amstel beer employee who once worked out of that same venue, Billings also likes that Collective Arts is within walking distance of his home, is locally involved in cultural events like Supercrawl, and is planning to open an entertainment venue at the brewery next spring.

Local craft brewers hope recent Ontario government approvals allowing grocery store beer sales starting in December will boost their customer base even further.

But Collective Arts co-founder and president Matt Johnston says Ontario needs to do more.

"Our fear is the cap per store (of how much beer can be sold). If a grocery store can't sell a lot, it will have less space and that means less craft beer."

Ontario already lags behind the rest of North America in craft beer development, he says. "If the floodgates open, it really needs to be opened wide for craft beer to be a true competitor to the beer stores owned by the international brands. We need a channel."

He applauds the government for at least "looking at how to do beer better in this province. It truly is better for the economy."

There are more than 160 craft brewers in Ontario "but it's hard to grow. As retail opens up, there will be more jobs", he says.

Warren Pyper, founder of The Hamilton Brewery (THB) is so busy trying to establish a downtown brewery and store — his Blue Collar Pale Ale is brewed in St. Thomas but is on tap at bars across Hamilton — that he doesn't know if the new grocery store sales will widen his beer's availability beyond the bars and the LCBO. But sees it as positive.

"Certainly, when a revenue stream opens up, you want to be a part of it. If I can get the beer into Hamiltonian hands, it'll only benefit THB."

Collective Arts, too, is busy building its business.

"Our hope is that Hamilton can be home to us, but we can also be very relevant in cities like Brooklyn where there are large art, music and craft beer communities," says Johnston.

Collective Arts is poised to grow its brand exponentially because of its niche promotions of the beer as well the arts through smartphone scans of the labels to find out more about artists, the exploding craft beer industry, and the recent beer retail changes.

Johnston promotes the company's "Hamilton grassroots" although the brewery started in Toronto two years ago and brewed in Burlington at craft brewer Nickel Brook's facility until June.

Both Collective Arts and Nickel Brook started brewing at the Burlington Street site owned by Hamilton Port Authority after the two companies partnered to form Arts & Science brewery, where they share facilities and a staff of 40.

The retail store however is strictly Collective Arts — with Nickel Brook keeping its Burlington store.

"Between Nickel Brook and ourselves, we've invested over $5 million in this space," says Johnston, noting that the Port Authority also put in a considerable amount for upgrades to the site.

The brewery introduced its newest five labels SERIES and corresponding artists for its next batch of beer in Toronto on Thursday at the Gladstone Hotel "where it all started."

"Our hope is we're a bit of lighthouse for the city (of Hamilton) … to bring in people from outside," says Johnston however.

Collective Arts has seven beer styles, three of them available at the LCBO. Four beer styles at the retail store are also sold in draft at Ontario and a few Manitoba and Saskatchewan bars, says Johnston.

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Rhyme and Reason is the flagship beer, but seasonal beers that are one-batch brews are also made.

"Craft beer is all about creativity," says Johnston.

Although he hopes to get into the grocery stores, he says "First and foremost we have to make great beer."