Between Two Fermenters

A few years ago, Josh Graham was living on a houseboat in Kenora and boating to work. Today he runs one of Niagara’s most visited breweries - and he’s still getting used to the title on the business card.

Troy sits down with Josh Graham, President and CEO of Silversmith Brewing. A Timmins-born, Sudbury-raised sports admin grad who had never set foot in a brewery before his Muskoka Brewery interview in 2014. Over six years at Muskoka, he built the Northern Ontario sales territory from scratch, launched the brewery’s spirits division, and took the brand across the country as export manager. Then came Lake of the Woods Brewing in Kenora, where he did everything but brew. In August 2022, a call from Gary McMullen brought him home to Silversmith - and within months, he’d brought Black Oak Brewing, one of Ontario’s original craft breweries, into the family. Four years in, Silversmith is back to growing, and the Black Lager keeps winning gold.

What’s in this episode:

• From hockey ops with the Sudbury Wolves to opening up Muskoka’s Northern Ontario territory - Thunder Bay, Manitoba and beyond
• Launching Muskoka’s spirits division in his early twenties (and the still that now lives at GLB)
• Houseboats, Airstreams and ice roads: the Kenora chapter at Lake of the Woods
• Inheriting a brewery down 30-40%, leading by listening, and hiring people you’d actually want to have a beer with
• The Black Oak acquisition: honouring a piece of Ontario craft history, an LCBO hand-slap, and the future of the Etobicoke taproom

Thank you for tuning into the #BetweenTwoFermenters podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on whichever platform you get your podcasts at and be sure to follow GreatLakesBeer on all social channels. greatlakesbeer.com. Supporting local never tasted soooo good!

Hosted by Troy Burtch, Between Two Fermenters, a podcast brought to you by Toronto's Great Lakes Brewery where craft beer and conversation collide - straight from the tanks to your ears.

In 2011, two brewers took over an old Ossington garage, filled four fermenters, and changed Toronto beer. Fourteen years later, they are still loving that life-changing decision. 

Troy sits down with Mike Clark and Luke Pestl, co-founders of Bellwoods Brewery. A would-be doctor stuck three years on a med school waitlist and a biochemical engineer who fled a pulp-and-paper lab - they met brewing at Amsterdam Brewery, hatched a plan between brews, and opened on a $640K shoestring budget. 

Bellwoods became one of Ontario’s original hype breweries: lineups down Ossington, bottles gone in minutes, RateBeer accolades, and some 60 international collabs. Then came the Dupont saga, the pivot to Hafis Road, an LCBO listing weeks before lockdown, and now their biggest-ever capital investment - all while leading a team of 100+ without ever naming a brewmaster. What’s in this episode:

• From med school waitlists and grad school labs to Amsterdam Brewery - and the location that started it all
• The hype years: lineups, bottle releases, and why they never manufactured scarcity
• The Dupont saga - the showcase brewery that never was, and how Hafis Road became Plan B
• A full packaging overhaul, a tunnel pasteurizer, and the push into non-alc
• Protecting culture, sharing creative control, and why there’s no brewmaster at Bellwoods

Thank you for tuning into the #BetweenTwoFermenters podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on whichever platform you get your podcasts at and be sure to follow GreatLakesBeer on all social channels. greatlakesbeer.com. Supporting local never tasted soooo good!Hosted by Troy Burtch, Between Two Fermenters, a podcast brought to you by Toronto's Great Lakes Brewery where craft beer and conversation collide - straight from the tanks to your ears.

In 1933, the Sleeman name vanished from Canadian brewing. Fifty-one years later, an aunt John hadn't spoken to in 15 years showed up with a recipe book, an old bottle, and one demand: bring it back.

Troy sits down with John Sleeman, the Founder and Chairman of Sleeman Breweries, founder of Spring Mill Distillery, and 2022 appointee to the Order of Canada. But this isn't the story you've heard. Before the brewery, John was a 16-year-old runaway who tried to buy an English pub with no money, built one in Oakville with a skill saw and a $50K loan, then talked the LCBO into letting him import draft Guinness when none of it was legal. Only then did he learn his family were privateers, brewers and Prohibition-era smugglers. In 1988 he revived Sleeman in Guelph - and within a decade it was Canada's third-largest brewer. This is PART ONE of his story - legacy.

What's in this episode:

• The pre-brewery years: a pub, a rugby club, and cold-calling UK breweries to become their Canadian agent
• Hauling Guinness, nitro cylinders and kegs down pub basement stairs at 3 a.m.
• Pirates, live chickens and Al Capone: the family history John didn't know until 1984
• Why cream ale, why a clear bottle, and why the recipe on page 64 won
• Stroh's, Okanagan Spring, Unibroue, Pabst - and the Upper Canada deal he admits he got wrong
• The $400M Sapporo sale, and why protecting his people came first

Thank you for tuning into the #BetweenTwoFermenters podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on whichever platform you get your podcasts at and be sure to follow GreatLakesBeer on all social channels. greatlakesbeer.com. Supporting local never tasted soooo good

Hosted by Troy Burtch, Between Two Fermenters, a podcast brought to you by Toronto's Great Lakes Brewery where craft beer and conversation collide - straight from the tanks to your ears.

Everyone else is dry-hopping the heck out of everything. Brandon Judd is still asking whether it's drinkable.

Troy sits down with Brandon Judd, Brewmaster at Avling Brewery - Toronto's brewery, restaurant, and rooftop farm all under one roof in Leslieville. Brandon's path to beer ran through freelance journalism, restaurant bartending, and Toronto's early craft scene at Indie AleHouse before a personal-challenge move to VLB Berlin, one of the world's most respected brewing institutions. From there it was off to Godspeed Brewery for their startup before finally landing at a new brewery, Avling, in 2018. He's spent seven years at Avling, building traditional lagers, barrel-aged mixed fermentation beers, and rooftop-grown ingredients like marigolds and pineapple sage into beers designed to work as hard at the dinner table as they do on their own.German techniques, North American beers - and a brewer still chasing the beer he hasn't made yet.What's in this episode:

• The road from freelance journalism and Indie AleHouse to VLB Berlin, and why “tradition is a good guide, but it shouldn't be a religion”
• What German brewing school really changed: less an engineering degree, more a new way of solving problems
• Assisting in Godspeed's beer program from poured concrete up, and the brew day that convinced he could go out on his own
• Avling's rooftop farm: brewing with marigolds and pineapple sage, and the limits of “100% Ontario”
• A year into new ownership at Avling, and a deep dive on his beers
• Rapid Fire: the business decision he'd redo, his favourite beer he's ever brewed, and what he's still trying to prove to himself after all these years

Thank you for tuning into the #BetweenTwoFermenters podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on whichever platform you get your podcasts at and be sure to follow GreatLakesBeer on all social channels. greatlakesbeer.com. Supporting local never tasted soooo good!Hosted by Troy Burtch, Between Two Fermenters, a podcast brought to you by Toronto's Great Lakes Brewery where craft beer and conversation collide straight from the tanks to your ears.

From the Between Two Fermenters Archives, one of our favourites....

Peter Bulut first appeared on Episode 1, helping set the tone for this show dedicated to preserving the stories, voices, struggles, and triumphs of the Canadian craft beer industry. Now he’s back for a deep, unscripted conversation about nearly four decades in beer, leadership, family legacy, hard lessons, and the relentless spirit that built GLB into Ontario’s fiercely independent local brewery. 

From the Between Two Fermenters Archives, one of our favourites....

In this episode of Between Two Fermenters, host Troy Burtch is joined by the dynamic Catherine Oppedisano, VP of Marketing at Steam Whistle Brewing. From a memorable one-night shift with Great Lakes Brewery in 2012 to spearheading major brand revivals across Ontario’s craft beer landscape, Catherine shares her inspiring journey through the industry.

Catherine reflects on her early beer days, her pivotal introductory role in beer at Flying Monkeys, educational years at Mill Street, the huge growth experienced at Collective Arts, and now the fun she’s having at Steam Whistle. She dives into lessons learned while navigating takeovers, driving innovation, creating memorable campaigns, and leading one of the country’s most recognizable beer brands back to its roots.

Get ready for a fun, fast-paced conversation full of branding gold, beer nostalgia, and candid insights from one of Ontario’s most respected marketing minds. 

From the Between Two Fermenters Archives, one of our favourites....

On this episode of Between Two Fermenters, Troy Burtch is joined by someone who’s had a profound impact on his life – a mentor, pioneer, and dear friend: Ron Keefe, founder of Toronto’s family-owned Granite Brewery. If you heard Episode 15 with his daughter Mary-Beth, you’ll know how much the Keefe family means to Troy. Ron welcomed him into the world of Ontario craft beer back in 2007, answering every question with patience and generousity, and later entrusted me with his Beer Appreciation course at George Brown College. His quiet leadership, deep knowledge, and genuine kindness have shaped not just Troy’s beer journey, but the paths of countless others in the industry.

In this wide-ranging and heartfelt conversation, we explore Ron’s life before the Granite, the origins of the brewery in Halifax (opened by his late brother, Kevin Keefe), and how it became a midtown Toronto institution. We talked about the joys and challenges of running a family business, what it means to build a legacy, and Ron’s role in pushing for licensing reforms that opened doors for so many Ontario brewers. We also discussed his battle with ALS and the powerful story behind Ron’s Lager. Ron may be modest, but his influence is undeniable – this is a conversation with one of Ontario’s true craft beer trailblazers.

From the Between Two Fermenters Archives, one of our favourites....

“My beers are the portfolio of my life.” In this episode, we’re thrilled to welcome Luc ‘Bim’ Lafontaine, the mastermind behind Godspeed Brewery, a “neighbourhood brewpub with an international reputation”, located at 242 Coxwell Ave in Toronto. Bim’s reputation as a world-renowned brewer precedes him, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with industry icons like Garrett Oliver, Yvan De Baets, Jan Van Roy, Sam Calagione, and others who define brewing excellence.

From his humble beginnings as a teenage homebrewer to his transformative years at Montreal’s famed Dieu Du Ciel, Bim’s journey has taken him across the globe—from perfecting his craft in Japan to building Godspeed into a showcase of Czech brewing in Ontario. Known for his meticulous approach, unwavering commitment for perfection, and innovative yet traditional styles, Bim’s influence resonates throughout the beer industry, inspiring brewers and captivating beer lovers alike.

Between Two Fermenters is taking a little summer break. We're taking the month of August off... you could say we've gone drinking... hitting up our favourite pubs around the province.

While we're taking a few weeks to recharge, we're not leaving you hanging. Over the next four weeks, we'll be revisiting some of our favourite episodes from the archives. Whether it's one you missed the first time around or one worth listening to again, we hope you'll enjoy them as much as we did.

Then, in September, we'll be back with an incredible lineup of brand-new episodes featuring some fantastic guests. We've already got some great conversations lined up, and we can't wait to get into the studio to record their words.

Thanks again for helping make Between Two Fermenters what it has become.

We're proud to be a truly Canadian beer podcast, celebrating the people, stories, and breweries that make this industry so special.

Have a safe and enjoyable August, support your local breweries whenever you can, and we'll see you back here in September.

Until next time, please remember to keep tippin' your glass of #FreshGLB in the right direction.

Not every brewery closure is a eulogy. Sometimes it's just a brief intermission... but rarely. 

Troy sits down with Carl Pratt, Co-Founder and brewer behind Beaches Brewing Co, the brewery that spent over a decade as a fixture on Queen Street East in Toronto's Beach neighbourhood. Carl's an accidental brewer - a self-described map nerd who traded a GIS career for weekend homebrew batches, then talked himself into opening a brick-and-mortar brewery just months before COVID hit. For years, he ran nearly every role himself: brewer, GM, and everything in between. 

In December 2025, after watching the numbers for over a year, Carl made the call to close the doors for good and wrote a heartfelt, unfiltered public letter to the community explaining why - one that got the craft beer world talking. But the story didn't end there: months later, Beaches Brewing reopened under a new ownership group with a new menu, a new look, and Carl still behind the kettle, brewing every batch. 

What's in this episode:

• Carl's path from a Mississauga map nerd to a homebrewer building Beaches Brewing from scratch
• Contract brewing, chasing the LCBO, and the reality of running every role solo for years
• Opening weeks before COVID, a landlord lockout, and the toll of doing every job at once
• The December 2025 closure and the “Peace Out Homies” letter that had the industry talking
• What the letter really meant to those that read it
• Beaches Brewing's rebirth: new ownership, a French-Indian-Southeast Asian menu, and a whole new look

Thank you for tuning into the #BetweenTwoFermenters podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on whichever platform you get your podcasts at and be sure to follow GreatLakesBeer on all social channels. greatlakesbeer.com. Supporting local never tasted soooo good!

Hosted by Troy Burtch, Between Two Fermenters, a podcast brought to you by Toronto's Great Lakes Brewery where craft beer and conversation collide - straight from the tanks to your ears.