After two years brewing beer at other people's facilities, the brewing company behind Augusta Ale and Baldwin FishEYE PA has announced plans to open their own neighbourhood brewery. Yes, Kensington Brewing Company is officially coming to Kensington Market in more than just name.

The brewery, which will be located at 299 Augusta Avenue (the space formerly occupied by the Electric Theatre and perhaps better known as "that building with the big alien face on it"), is actually just part of a larger development that will also feature office space and apartments. It's always been part of the plan for company owner Brock Shepherd that his beer would be brewed in Kensington Market, and so when he caught wind of a well-suited development just down the road from his unofficial headquarters, Burger Bar (now sold), it seemed fortuitous. "There was a plan in place for this property before we were involved," he told me via e-mail, "but it will be a very unique space."

For roughly 90 years, Toronto's Junction neighbourhood was dry. Laws that forbid the sale of alcohol meant that, until as recently as 1997, restaurants in the area had a difficult time staying competitive. This, coupled with the migration of shoppers to suburban malls in the 1950s and 1960s, saw the area's property values fall drastically, and many Junction storefronts sat empty even through the late '90s.

Granted, it's hard to gauge how much the inability to sell alcohol contributed to the Junction's less-than-desirable reputation, but it would be hard to argue that, in addition to a cooperative community, booze isn't one of the factors currently driving the rebirth of the west-end neighbourhood.

While we've covered the spots with the best beer selection in Toronto, that doesn't necessarily mean those are the best places in which to drink a beer. Indeed, the right spot for enjoying a pint depends on a combination of things, from the beer selection to the ambiance, to the wait staff, to the food.

So where do the Torontonians who spend their time writing about, brewing, and pouring beer like to drink? I polled a handful of experts from the city's beer scene to find out their favourite spots to head to when they just need to relax with a pint.

I know it's not particularly Canadian of me to say this, but I hate winter. The cold, the slush, the shorter days--there's virtually nothing I like about Canadian winters, with one possible exception: winter beers.

Yes, while skating in the park and snowball fights are not my thing, strong, rich, and dark Canadian beers certainly are. That's why this coming weekend you'll find me at the 1st Annual Rhino Winter Beer Festival.

While a standard tribute to The Ploughman Poet typically involves consumption of Scotland's eponymous beverage, this year, as with last, I opted to forgo the more traditional drams of scotch and instead enjoy a Robbie Burns Supper with the folks at Mill Street Brew Pub.

Just in case there was any doubt that Bellwoods Brewery is taking the Toronto craft beer scene by storm, yesterday the brewers announced that the space they own next door to their brew pub will now act as a full time retail space.