Bandit Brewery in Roncesvalles does it Right

Bandit Brewery
2125 Dundas Street West

After an abortive attempt to visit Lansdowne Brewery, we ended up here instead. And the choice could hardly have been more serendipitous: last week I praised Muddy York for maintaining 12 active taps to give patrons more choice: I have to repeat that praise here. At the time we visited, they had 13 beers available. And here's the wonder: of the seven or so we tried, there wasn't a bad one in the lot, and several were very fine indeed.

  • "Mr. Pink" - Ginger Hibiscus Pale Ale. The worst we tried - and at that, I'd drink it again because it was pretty good. Teetering on the edge of being a sour, I could kind of get the ginger and hibiscus - but there were other interesting things in there as well. Strange but tasty.
  • "Dundas West Coast" - West Coast IPA. Lovely, mild, and citrusy, a very nice IPA. (I prefer my IPAs mild - I admit not everyone does. They also have a double IPA if that's your thing ...)
  • "Smoke on the Porter" - Porter. We were warned to drink this last because it was so smoky it would overwhelm everything else. None of us got that. Definitely smoky, but not overwhelmingly so, a very nice porter.
  • "Stouty McStoutface" - American Stout. If you like stouts but want them a bit more lightly flavoured, this is the one for you. Very nice, if a bit mild to my taste.
  • "Night Mist" - Imperial Stout. Excellent Imperial Stout - very good.

My friends also tried "Wizard of Gose" and loved it.

My only complaint would be that the kitchen was closed until 8:30 because of a private event, so we were unable to have a full meal as we'd hoped. They did provide us with a "Ploughman's Platter" (meat, bread, cheese), but it was more of a tasting thing than a meal and a bit expensive for what it was. Most nights you shouldn't have a problem - we just hit them when there was a special event.

photo: The bar and tanks

A bar with quite a few stainless steel tanks behind it

photo: Bandit's sign

A big painting of a racoon with reminders of the area

photo: The beer list when we were there

A menu of 13 beers

photo: The bottle shop fridge

A selection of six or so beers for sale