Batch brewing beer inspired by Creemore Nature Preserve

Creemore Springs Brewery has partnered with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) to create a unique beer in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the donation of the Creemore Nature Preserve, a 203-acre property gifted to the NCC in 1996 by Don and Mary Mingay, which is why it is better known locally as the Mingay Tract.

In addition to water from the Creemore Nature Preserve going into Creemore Springs brews, the 20th anniversary saison is also infused with the plants that grow within the preserve. A small batch of raspberry ginger saison was set to brew Dec. 14 at BATCH gastrobrewery in Toronto, an affiliate of Creemore Springs, under the expertise of brewmaster Andrew Bartle.

He and NCC program director for Georgian Bay-Huronia Kristyn Ferguson took a summer stroll through the property to find the local, native ingredients that would be the basis of the new beer: wild ginger and common red raspberry.

“It was exciting to learn about the process from start to finish – how hot water, milled grain, the addition later that afternoon of ginger sourced through BATCH’s kitchen, and the addition in a few days of 250 pounds of raspberries can almost magically, turn itself into a delicious beer that was not all that long ago just an idea,” said Ferguson.

The beer will now sit and age for several weeks. The batch will yield about 500-750 bottles. The beer will be released in January 2017.

The NCC has plans for launch events in the New Year.