“We’ve gotten a lot of good feedback from the brewing community, they feel like it’s going to do very well,” De Ciantis said.

While the original plan was to open a brewery, within three years of launching Mad Quacker, their dream became reality much more quickly, Nicolini said.

They were hoping to set up shop in their hometown, but that didn't work out so they checked out Vaughan and found exactly what they were seeking.

“We’ve situated ourselves in this location for a couple of reasons. The first one being, there’s obviously the new development that’s happening down at the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre and the access that the TTC will bring,” De Ciantis said. “(This part of Vaughan) gets a lot of tourism activity so that’s why you see seven hotels within a kilometre of here. There’s a lot of people that are visiting the area. We’re trying to make this area a stop on the tour of Vaughan essentially.”

In addition to getting the brewery up and running, the guys are also launching their second beer dubbed Black Hops, a black, Belgian-style IPA with a 5.5 per cent alcohol content.

By the time the brewery opens, Lake Wilcox expects its lineup to have expanded to include a Belgian Blonde and a pale ale.

The long-term plan is to offer about six main brands plus “seasonal offerings,” brewed in much smaller quantities, possibly once a month.

The focus for the regular lineup will be beers “everyone can enjoy,” but they may delve into more exotic hop heavy or malt heavy offerings with the seasonal beers.

“We do have a two-barrel pilot system that will allow us to do some of that crazy, one-off stuff,“ said Martin, a former banker and Niagara native who joined the team in March and recently moved to Oak Ridges.

They’re also aiming to get their beers into several area bars and restaurants.

“We want these guys to take notice that this beer is made a couple of killometres away from where they’re pouring it,” De Ciantis said.

And, in case you’re wondering, they plan on sticking around.

“We’ve left ourselves lots of room for growth and our goal is to permanently stay in this location,” De Ciantis said. “It’s not like we’re going to grow and then say, ‘Oh we’re outta here’ and move the business somewhere else because it’s more economical and the rent’s cheaper somewhere else.”

De Ciantis, Nicolini and Martin are close friends who spend a lot of time together outside of work. And they’re looking to bring that friendly vibe to their brewery, where tours will be offered on weekends.

“We want people to come in here, sit down, enjoy something different, enjoy the space and come back again,” De Ciantis said.

Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua considers Lake Wilcox Brewing a welcome addition to the city.

“As the newest craft brewery in Vaughan, it will add another element of strength to the city’s dynamic tourism industry and it will complement our existing pillars such as Vaughan Mills mall and Canada’s Wonderland,” he said. “It will also play an important role in growing local culinary tourism and generating opportunities for collaboration with restaurants and hotels.”

Bill and Suzie King, owners of Newmarket’s Arch Brewing Company, are equally enthusiastic about another craft beer company opening a facility in York Region, where there’s currently a dearth of breweries compared to other GTA communities.

“We feel strongly that the craft beer community is just that. A community,” Bill wrote in an email. “We feel that more craft breweries in the area only benefits us as it raises the overall profile of craft beer in the region. We are happy to see Lake Wilcox building and to welcome them to community.“