Block Three Brewing branching out with Biergarten and beer festival

The industrious minds behind Block Three Brewing Company are doing more than just brewing beer in St. Jacobs these days. In addition to spearheading one of the most popular craft breweries in the region, Block Three is branching out with a few new endeavours this spring.

Just down the street from the brewery, The Village Biergarten is one of St. Jacob's newest locales. Graham Spence — co-founder of Block Three — is also the co-owner of The Village Biergarten. As an extension of Block Three, he said the style and atmosphere mimics that of a typical German biergarten.

“We’ve done some travelling around and traditional German biergartens were always something we were interested in,” Spence said. “The space was available, so we just went for it.”

The idea for the Biergarten ruminated for a few years, but Spence took possession of the property this past January. Formerly known as “Shadetree” in St. Jacobs now hosts a restaurant with a sprawling outdoor patio, situated perfectly in the shade, as an homage to the previous iteration of the building.

Where Block Three’s focus is primarily on the beer, The Village Biergarten branches out with a full menu from Mekong Brasserie. Spence wanted to keep the focus on Ontario-based beverages, which is why several of the beer taps feature Block Three beer and Ontario-based breweries.

“I think the food differentiates it,” Spence said. “It’s all Ontario products. We have Ontario wines, Ontario ciders, mixed cocktails from some of the distillers around here and some sodas from another craft brewery.”

When he’s not busy bouncing back and forth from Block Three and the Biergarten, Spence and company are putting the finishing touches on the Block, Stock & Barrel Festival. It takes place this Saturday at the St. Jacobs Community Centre and showcases a full lineup of barrel-aged offerings from over 20 brewers, cideries and distilleries.

“We wanted a wide variety of different beers and different styles, promoting the use of barrels and making beer and seeing what kind of different flavours and pairings you can go with,” Spence said. The festival will be locally represented by Block Three, Innocente Brewing Company, Wellington Brewing, Shortfinger Brewing Co. and Barncat Artisan Ales.

2019 marks the second year of the festival and one major change is the all-inclusive ticket. For one flat price, entrants will gain admission, a sample glass with no sample tickets necessary and a wood-fired pizza will be provided for everyone through the door.

Why the change? Spence explains that at a festival of this nature, attendees are generally seeking variety and unique brews. “A barrel-aged festival is not so much about over-consumption, it’s more about trying really unique beers than stuff that you’d normally try.”

It’s an opportunity for beer-drinkers to sample ultra-exclusive beers with rare offerings brewed exclusively for the festival. “Our hope is that they have a good time and that people learn that there are other beer styles other than big Russian imperial stouts,” Spence said. “Yes, there are those beers, but there are really nice wine-like saisons and fruited sours, too.”

The Village Biergarten is now open in St. Jacobs, just a short walk down from Block Three Brewing Company. The Block, Stock & Barrel Barrel-Aged Beer Festival happens Saturday June 1st from 12:00 pm to 10:00 pm at Woolwich Community Hall in St. Jacobs.