A good beer is good. A great beer at the right time and in the right space, can salvage your entire week.
If your social media algorithm is at all like mine, you may have come across a somewhat viral list depicting all of the ‘best beers’ one could experience. Not by brand, not by country, no lager vs ale debate – but where you could enjoy them and how those experiences make you feel. There’s the pre-flight airport beer. The shower beer. The wedding beer. The first patio beer of the season. In this list, it’s the location and the experience that takes a beer from good to great.
Stepping into Endswell Beer’s new digs, an old Collingwood mechanics garage turned bright, upscale, cottage-core-basement-hangout-lair, could easily make its case as a ‘best beer’ contender. The Endswell beer is top tier, and that didn’t happen by accident; hell, it didn’t even happen with relative ease.
The vibe that sets in when you enter this plywood-clad, pizzeria bordered, 70’s inspired brewery and bottle shop, is one that feels grateful to be there – ready to enjoy every day to its fullest – ready to tip one in the name of appreciative ‘hell yeah, we did it’ energy. And as a beer drinker, dreamer, and business owner myself, I love that.
Endswell has an interesting beginning: jumping through hoops, redefining definitions, looking at zoning, requesting the amendment of bylaws. “This is a commercial space“ says co-owner Mike Noonan. “but it’s not zoned for “brewery use” because, [the Town] just kind of said ‘this what the book says.’”
Mike’s partner in business and in life, Dana Kaluzny, adds, “we weren’t aware at the time that the definition of a business and where businesses can be is dictated by who wrote the definition and what definition is in the bylaw. And so, the definition of brewery is so outdated and hasn’t been re-examined, so every single brewery in this town is not actually zoned a brewery.”
Working with the Town of Collingwood, it took Dana and Mike over five years to get their location into shape. Two and a half of those years were just working on the building itself, while the other two and a half years were doing deputations, trying to work with the planning department on where they could be. When it comes to opening, it took over a year filling out paperwork, paying development fees, engineers, planners and architects to get their building permit.“That was 25% of our overall capital,” says Dana. And we were paying rent the whole time… It was a very painful process overall, but we try to always see the silver lining, and there were many.”
It’s not often the story of a space like this in a magazine like ours would detail all of the nitty-gritty, but in Endswell’s case, it paved the way for their outlook on life and business, and helped them build bridges and partnerships to form the energy and the space they find themselves in today. From day one, they’ve allowed their struggle to play a powerful part in defining their success.
“We were relentless in our dedication to see it through,” says Dana. “And so we got so much support from people that really kept us going. I can speak for myself personally, there were several times where I was like, ‘I don’t know if I can keep doing this,’ but it was the community’s love and support, Mike’s love and support, and Mike’s stubborn passion and commitment to be like, ‘no, it’s gonna end well – that’s part of the name. It’s gonna end well.”
“There’s just this kind of a real fun irony, I guess, to the whole thing,” Mike smiles. “It became an affirmation… I almost forget all the shitty stuff from before. It’s just so much awesomeness that’s happened since we’ve been here and that just fills my cup now. There was a point in time where everything felt so impossible, but it’s all good feelings now.”
Onto the beer. We take a left at the entrance and step into the laboratory, a cordoned off section of the space that houses the team’s brewery equipment. It’s a tight space, but a functional one purposely built with a beautiful 26-year old Canadian-made Ripley’s Stainless brewing system that flows directly from tank to tap, supplying the taproom with fresh, cold beer.
Between the core owners, there’s over 50 years experience in the Canadian craft beer industry.
“As far as brewing history goes, I’m just a home brewer,” says Mike. “I never went to school for it. I got to jump on at a couple brew houses at Steam Whistle and at Left Field Brewing just to assist, never to like, press the buttons and stuff. Then we went on this trip. We stopped off at a bunch of breweries as we do when we travel, and I just fell in love with this one beer, and came back to Ontario. I went and made a black IPA and thought, ‘I’m just gonna learn how to make this’ – and that started off a whole journey of just trying to make this one beer. I think out of 16 or 18 times, I only successfully brewed it once. But it was all about that process and then learning everything else.”
Part of the Endswell ethos is clearly a dedication to a DIY spirit. Everything is imagined in-house, inspired by experience, and put together with what works, by hand. The brewing system is no exception. “I started on a manual system so it kind of made sense that I only want to grow in a manual system,” adds Mike.
We step into the taproom and start pouring a couple of pints. Stouts, lagers, ales, and cask offerings that pour through a classic, vintage English Beer Engine – it’s all here. It’s all fresh. It’s all delicious and deceptively smooth. I start by sampling the cask beer. Hints of smooth caramel and toasted hops blast through the low carbonation liquid. Then, we contrast with a hoppy, bright, and clean English and American Pale Ale. My favourite: the crowd-pleasing Haus Lager.
The location of Endswell has to be mentioned, too. Located adjacent to the Collingwood Waterfront Trail, its proximity to downtown and Georgian Bay became a central vision for how the team hoped people would use the space and enjoy their beer.
“The proximity to the trail was number one for us, because we always wanted to be able to ride our bikes to work,” says Dana. “When we first started in the brewing industry, I didn’t have a car.
I only rode my bike to work. It was brilliant, and we knew we wanted to do that here. We love cycling and so we saw this and thought of the potential of building off the trail and a trail connection. So you have the patio right on the trail so people can see their bikes.”
To help with your liquid lunch, the last piece of the puzzle for Endswell was their partnership with Collingwood pizza brand, Later Pizza, who occupy the north end of the space. A creative and innovative way of dealing with the fact that Endswell had to be zoned as a restaurant with an accessory use, and, quote, “didn’t want to be a restaurant.”
“[Later] didn’t want to be a restaurant either, and we both wanted to just focus on the things that we’re both passionate about – their food, our beer, and great experiences,” says Dana. “And so that was a beautiful thing that came through… this collaboration was a game changer for us too because it took the pressure off of us trying to figure out the food component, and also it’s so amazing when you meet people that have similar values and a similar vision to the type of experience they want customers and their staff to have.to have. And so, we were really aligned.”
A small group comes through the door and is greeted warmly by the entire team. At the time I write this, the brewery has only been open for a month or so, but these patrons are treated like old friends and regulars. The team does their thing and leaves me with a pint at the bar while they get settled. Mike pours. Eric, Dana’s brother, sits to my right. The sun pokes its head through the clouds of a gnarly South Georgian Bay late winter blast.
“It just feels like things are possible,” says Dana looking over the space from behind the bar. “And if we run into a challenge, we have the support of not just each other and Later and our staff, but also our customers and community. It just feels like we’re entering our era of ease and fun.”
All’s well that Endswell.
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Since writing this article, Endswell was awarded the Honorable Mention as Best New Brewery of 2024 by the Canadian Brewer’s Choice Awards.
Words and photos by Nelson Phillips
