Posted : November 3, 2020
Our blog is chock full of great ideas for fun things to see and do in York Durham and Headwaters. We are always adding new content and updating old posts, but sometimes you might stumble upon something from our vault. If this article has inspired you to hit the road, be sure to double-check that the featured stops in this post are still welcoming visitors.
GoodLot Farmstead Brewing Co.
18825 Shaws Creek Rd., Alton
www.goodlot.beer
Videography by Barry Best
Caledon is home to the first organic farm-to-barrel brewery in the Ontario Greenbelt region. Hops farmers Phil and Gail Winters are the owners of GoodLot Farmstead Brewing Company, which brews high quality beer with premium ingredients grown on high quality land. At GoodLot, it’s about more than just good beer and local hops. It’s also about being a part of building a resilient, local economic system for the community.
The fact that GoodLot is an organic farm is one of the factors that sets it apart from its competition. Where many hops farmers in Ontario turn to chemical fertilizers and pesticides to grow this notoriously difficult crop, GoodLot works twice as hard to nurture the soil and natural environment. Differentiating the company even further is its commitment to a “post-carbon” business model, where they operate without emitting any carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and even generate their own solar electric power for their operations.
For Phil and Gail Winters, hops farming and brewing has been a supremely rewarding experience, and they wouldn’t choose to do anything else. Along with validating the idea that farming operations can carry on in an ecologically responsible manner, a driving force at GoodLot Farmstead Brewing Company has been demonstrating to the world that a strong agricultural system which operates on a local scale can thrive in rural communities… and it can produce some pretty darn delicious beer as well!
Story by Katherine Ryalen
