Niagara College’s Teaching Brewery is tapping into a nationwide campaign called ‘Glorious and Free’ that is inviting beer enthusiasts to support Canadian breweries and growers in a show of Canuck pride and solidarity.
Glorious and Free is a Trans-Canada brewery collaboration project conceived and launched earlier this year by Ottawa’s Dominion City Brewing Co. in partnership with beer makers from coast to coast to coast. The initiative encourages breweries to produce their own version of Dominion City’s Glorious and Free IPA recipe using 100 percent Canadian-sourced ingredients.
Just in time for Canada Day, the Teaching Brewery’s limited release Glorious and Free beer is a hazy IPA that is slightly malty with a woodsy herbal hop character.
Glorious and Free Canadian IPA
Brewed by second semester students from the College’s Brewmaster and Brewery Operations Management program, the IPA was made using Canadian ingredients sourced mostly from Ontario, including Cascade hops from NC’s on-campus hopyard in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Bertwell hops grown by Mike Driscoll in Guelph and Hops Connect Canada’s Sasquatch® hops grown at Andrew and Christine Boudry’s hopyard in Kingsville. Yeast from Escarpment Labs in Guelph and malts sourced from Canada Malting Co. based in Thunder Bay, Montreal and Calgary, round off the recipe ingredients.
“The Teaching Brewery decided to get involved in the Glorious and Free campaign to help raise student awareness and to show its support for the Canadian Brewing industry, including the farmers, manufacturers, suppliers, aluminum miners and the people who support us every day by buying Canadian,” said NC Brewmaster Professor Jon Downing.
The NC Teaching Brewery has participated in collaboration brews and initiatives in the past that stand for solidarity, awareness and change.
Since 2020, the Teaching Brewery has supported gender equality in the fermentable beverage industry through collaboration beers for Pink Boots Society Canada and in 2022, NC joined the Brave Noise movement that advocates for making the beer industry safe and free from discrimination for women, BIPOC, and LGBTQIA+ people. Also in 2022, following the onset of the War in Ukraine, Downing began to lead different classes of students in the brewing of Ukrainian beers as a show of solidarity and support, including NC’s award-winning Ukrainian Golden Ale.
A very small batch of the Teaching Brewery’s Glorious and Free Canadian IPA was released on June 23 and is available in cans at NC’s Wine Visitor + Education Centre retail store while supplies last ($3.95 per can). The beer is also available on tap for customers to enjoy in-store, while supplies last.
The Wine Visitor + Education Centre, located at the Daniel J. Patterson Campus in Niagara-on-the-Lake, is open daily and features products from the College’s Teaching Winery, Teaching Brewery and Teaching Distillery. Visit ncteachingwinery.ca.
