Craft beer buzz

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Dundas is home to the province’s latest craft brewery. If you haven’t notice the trend yet small breweries are popping up all across Ontario and the Golden Horseshoe is becoming a haven for beer makers, with many more to come.

Ed Madronich along with partner Shawn Till created the aptly named Shawn and Ed brewing company, or Shed for short. Today, they sold a keg to their first local customer and are just a week shy of the grand opening

Shawn and Ed are McMaster alums who decided to open in Dundas by retrofitting the original Dundas Valley curling rink on Hatt street and making it about more than just brewing the beer, but also hosting their customers by having an event centre among the vats.

They are starting out with 4 different types of beer but their plan is to expand because in craft brewing, variety is the name of the game and variety is something that consumers are getting used to in this region with several new brewries popping up in the area, but experts say there’s room to grow. In fact, the last few years have seen more than twenty pop up all around the Golden Horseshoe, with the Shawn and Ed brewing company making it an even 22.

In some U.S. states, craft beer is as much as 50% of the market. The provincial government’s decision to add beer in grocery stores while making sure that 20% of shelf space is allocated for craft breweries has expanded their reach, making this area full of potential for new business.