Beer Academy to be replaced by Creemore brewpub

A new chapter is being written in the long history of troubled beer ventures at 75 Victoria Street. Sources report that, by the end of the year, The Beer Academy, the brewery and event space run by Six Pints Specialty Beer Company, will close its doors permanently.

In its place, Molson, who owns Six Pints, apparently plans to open a Creemore Springs brewpub.

The news will probably be neither heartbreaking nor overly-exciting to Toronto's craft beer fans given that the location had and will retain its connection to a big corporate brewery, but those who had a chance to try the beers coming from the small and talented team at The Beer Academy (and were capable of looking past the brewery's corporate overlords), will know that this is a loss of a frequent source of some entirely respectable small batch offerings--regardless of who was footing the bill.

Indeed, it seemed as of late that The Beer Academy, long a confused hodge-podge of tasting room, brewery, and event space, was arguably just starting to find its legs.

Sources have also conveyed to me the fairly shitty news that almost the entire staff of The Beer Academy--including all the retail staff, the General Manager, the on-site chef, and the tour guides--have been unceremoniously fired just in time for Christmas.

The space at 75 Victoria was previously Duggan's Brewpub, which closed in 2007, and before that it was Denison's Brewing Company, which closed its doors in 2003.

I'm told the last official day for The Beer Academy will be December 31, 2014 and, while details still aren't entirely clear on the Creemore Brewpub, Molson allegedly hopes to open it in mid 2015.

Ben Johnson also writes about beer over on Ben's Beer Blog. Follow him on twitter @Ben_T_Johnson.

Photo credit: Paul Aihoshi