CORNWALL, Ontario – News of a purchase agreement between Labatt’s and Mill Street brewing has a Vankleek Hill operation patting itself on the back.
Labatt Breweries of Canada is buying Toronto-based craft beer maker Mill Street Brewery for an undisclosed amount. Mill Street had grown from a small brew pub in 2002 to Canada’s largest producer of certified organic beer.
But with the purchase agreement Beau’s All Natural Brewery in Vankleek Hill – a favourite of Cornwall-area beer drinkers – said it is the king now.
While the definition of craft brewery has a few variations, the three basic tenets are small (in Ontario, under 400,000 hL), traditional (no corn syrup or rice extract), and independence from large so-called mega-breweries.
Beau’s said in a media release the Labatt purchase means Mill Street no longer meets all of these criteria.
“We are happy to find out that we are now number one – although because all of our beer is certified organic, I would have guessed we already were. This news makes it official,” said Beau’s co-founder Steve Beauchesne.
Founded by father-and-son Tim and Steve Beauchesne, Beau’s All Natural poured its first pint of Lug Tread Lagered Ale in 2006.
The local family-run brewery has won more than 80 awards for excellence in brewing, sustainability, and business practices.
In 2013 Beau’s became Canada’s first B-Corp (Benefit Corporation) brewery, meaning that it meets higher standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.
