Thank you, Cobourg!

Wow. It's Sunday afternoon and the William Street Beer crew and supporters seem to all be basking in the afterglow of a really tremendous Saturday at the brewery. As you may know, we opened our doors for the first day of retail sales on a very quiet note. At 10am, we announced that we were open via social media, we turned on the "OPEN" sign and we held our collective breath. As we hoped, the response was fast and dramatic.

In short, by about 3pm we had sold through our available stock of 650ml bottles of North Shore Blonde Ale. Thank you to all of you who came to support our efforts, and thank you to all of you who took the time to linger, chat and show an interest in our work. So what's on the horizon?

For the remainder of the spring, we will be opening the retail store on Thursdays (12-6), Fridays (12-6) and Saturdays (10-4). Our intent is to increase our supply and our hours once we get into the summer.

In the short term, we will be open next weekend with both Cliff Top Pale Ale and North Shore Blonde in the fridges. This week, we are also brewing the introductory batch of White Sail Wheat Ale in preparation for the patio season which is around the corner.

I am also excited to receive feedback from those of you who walked out of the brewery with some of our limited supply of Wheat King IPA. We have always been dancing around the issue of India Pale Ales, trying to establish a unique approach which would contribute a unique perspective to the style. We are hopeful that this beer fits the need. Offering a unique blend of Canadian barley, wheat and caramel malts, Wheat King IPA delivers a different perspective on the IPA, balancing the characteristic cloudy tang of an American Hefe with the warm sweetness of Caramel malts and the crisp citrus notes of west coast hops. We hope that you like it.

Finally, we are very proud to announce our first active draught presence. On Saturday afternoon, amongst the excitement, we finally delivered a keg of North Shore Blonde to 92 King, Cobourg's new and exciting gastro-pub. This place delivers an unbelievably sophisticated take on pub fare, fuelled by a spectacular Ontario beer line up. Thank you and congrats to Drew, Michael and the team there.

Cheers!