Ivana MacDonald pours a sample of Highlander beer at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto over the weekend. Photos by Jeff Turl.
Fifty-five Northern Ontario businesses got to strut their stuff this week in front of more than 300 thousand visitors at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto.
The Fair is the world's largest combined indoor agricultural and equestrian show. This was its 92nd edition.
One business that drew lots of attention was the Highlander Brew Company from South River, with its beer tasting.
"It means a lot to us," Ivana MacDonald told BayToday as she handed out samples. "We like to get everybody to taste our beer and see how unique it is.
"Everybody is excited about it."
Blacksmith Smoked Porter is its signature beer with its chocolate-coffee smoothness.
“It’s popular because of its taste. It's not heavy," explained Macdonald.
The beer is available across Ontario in the LCBO.
Curious samplers were beating a constant path to the booth to try the brew.
Highlander is located in the Almaguin Highlands, from which it takes its name.
The brewery is on the Northern edge of Algonquin Park, making Highlander one of the most northerly craft breweries in Ontario.
But MacDonald says it's not just about spreading the word to beer lovers, but making business contacts.
"Especially restaurants and bars that want to carry our product."
The company’s product is proving so popular it is expanding next year into a bigger and better facility in South River thanks to a FedNor investment of $727,875 which will be used to construct an 8,500-square-foot public building in the Village.
The funding will also enable the community to extend municipal services to the development site, which will be located along Highway 124 in the downtown commercial district.
Grant Lauzon (on the right), assisted by Jocelyn Lacroix (on the left), generated a lot of interest in chaga at the 2014 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto. Submitted photo.
Meanwhile, Greenfoot, a North Bay company also attracted lots of interest.
The company harvests and markets a large mushroom called chaga, which is used for medicinal purposes.
Greenfoot promotes the sustainable harvest and chaga trade.
Chaga, a medicinal mushroom, is harvested in Canada's northern forests and has recently become popular in North America.
Demand is growing.
Greenfoot was established five years ago with its focus on efficiently harvesting medicinal mushrooms to create medical extracts.
The companies were featured as part of the FedNor-supported Northern Ontario Agri-food Pavilion.
A record number of agricultural, equine and agri-food operations were on display as part of the Pavilion, a 6,500-square-foot, exhibit at the fair.
