A Trip To Creemore

Last Wednesday, Jamie and I were invited on a press trip to Creemore, Ontario which is home to you guessed it, Creemore Springs Brewery. Jamie is a huge craft beer fan and while I enjoy craft beer, I was mostly just excited to take a trip out to a small town for the day (it was a win-win for both of us). We spent the majority of our day immersed in all things craft beer and finished off with a trip to The New Farm, a family run premium organic farm in Creemore, for a farm tour, pig roast and a whole lot of beer. Similar to when we were invited to South Pond Farms last year and this year, I wasn’t expecting to be posting a blog post sharing our trip, but I guess the moral is here that if you give me a day filled with beer and a farm, there is a 100% chance that I’m going to be sharing the experience with you. Be sure to keep reading to see what our day in Creemore looked like and hopefully, you’ll be inspired enough to take a little day trip for yourself this August…I hear the Copper Kettle Festival will be a ton of fun!
We began our day at 9am in downtown Toronto at Batch Brewery and restaurant. I had been wanting to visit Batch for quite some time but hadn’t yet gotten around to it. I actually didn’t realize that Batch is Creemore Springs microbrewery.  What I love about Batch is that their focus is on experimenting with new flavors, malts and barleys and using seasonal ingredients for their beers.
The drive to Creemore Springs was about 2 hours long, so when we arrived we were pretty excited to be handed a glass of beer upon arriving at the brewery. Before heading inside I had to snap a photo of the charming outdoor patio where the original copper kettle for brewing has found its new home.
After our first glass of beer, we were invited to take a tour of the brewery where we learned all about the Creemore Springs brewing process and that yes, the water used for brewing is in fact from local springs in Creemore, hence the name.  
One of my favourite parts of the day had to have been the beer and cheese pairing. Of course, I’d heard of wine and cheese pairings and have participated in my fair share, but this was my first experience with a beer and cheese pairing and it made so much sense. It was fascinating to listen to the Creemore Springs and Batch Brewery beer educator go through why he choose the specific beers to pair with each cheese and eating them was even more fun!
Arriving at The New Farm to even more beer, I opted for a shandy with Creemore Springs Lot9 and Thai basil lemonade. 
The food spread that was waiting for us upon arrival at The New Farm was unreal. Cucumber gazpacho with Thai basil, purple daikon radish with smoked trout (pictured about), rainbow swiss chard with hummus and oregano and the most delicious candied popcorn and hickory sticks that we ate together, naturally. 

I just loved the set up of this drink station!
This was the set up for our “build your own” sandwich bar. I snapped this photo before the spit-roasted pig came out in full.
Very excited about my sandwich. I don’t eat a lot of pork or beef, but since I knew exactly where our pig came from, I couldn’t say no.
How charming are these “Made in Creemore” linen napkins? We were even allowed to keep one!
Very excited about this spread.
Our after lunch desserts were fresh strawberry popsicles. I had one but Jamie LOVED them…he had 5.
It’s not a day at the farm without a dog, this is Zip.
After lunch, we stayed around the farm for a bit to play bocce ball. Jamie played with Carl Heinrich, who also happens to be the chef who created the menu our farm-to-table lunch. Carl is the owner of Richmond Station in Toronto but he’s actually living on the farm this summer to educate himself of farming practises…he even has his own garden on the farm!
The sweetest take away basket filled with beer, local milk and preserves and The New Farm book,