I had the opportunity to visit cowbell thanksgivin...

I had the opportunity to visit cowbell thanksgiving Monday and I will say that this brewery is one of the most beautiful breweries in Ontario. It absolutely catches your eye and I compared it to the distillery featured in the recent Kingsman movie. It is quite obvious that a lot of work went into this facility.

Unfortunately it saddens me to say that it seems about as far as the hard work has gone. They have an amazing facility with brand new equipment and have fallen prey to what seems to be the growing trend among craft brewers in Ontario. In a time where I can go to various brewers and sample unique flavours like flying monkeys raspberry hibiscus beer, sons of Kent berry white, grand river's pumpkin ale or blood orange sour, cowbell has simply adopted the tried and true, yet boring beer menu of a basic lager, a basic stout, a basic porter, etc. The closest thing to a unique beer they have is a Saison and even it is pretty generic. I would not honestly be able to tell anyone a suggested beer if I were asked as not a single one I sampled stood out, where as I could likely provide a favourite from many a craft brewery in Ontario.

That disappointment also reflected in their retail store. Their growlers, albeit very unique, run at a $20 deposit price, which I don't think I've paid over $5 or $6 at any other brewery. Their fills are only $12 which is a great price but given the lackluster flavours, I simply could not justify buying one, and this is coming from someone who often takes a growler home to provide family and friends an opportunity to taste. In addition, the products they sell are quite pricey. I own a few brewery shirts, my favourite being the aforementioned flying monkeys t-shirt, costing me $10. The cheapest clothing piece at cowbell was a t-shirt costing around $35.

We also found the actual bar a bit small given the size of the facility but it does seem to be more catered to a restaurant feel so that is more of a personal preference. I prefer having a decent spot to try the beer.

Regardless, it's disappointing that our experience was not as positive as I had hoped. It's obvious that cowbell is doing wonderful things for the Blyth economy and tourism (A TIM HORTONS RIGHT ACROSS THE ROAD) but I guess the locale must be content with a completely lackluster and generic sample of craft beer which is a real shame given the absolutely gorgeous facility. Cowbell is very young so perhaps they will venture out into some one offs, and when they do I will give them another chance but I simply cannot recommend their beer to anyone over any of the other ones available in the LCBO and beer store.

I will note that we did not try the food, but have heard nothing but great things in regards to it.