Until recently, wine was the only thoroughly local booze. But that’s beginning to change. A handful of grain and hops farmers have partnered with small-batch Ontario breweries; watch for 100 per cent local offerings from Beau’s All Natural Brewing Company and MacLean’s Ales this fall. Meaderies are also springing up around the province—the latest of them, Rosewood Estates in Niagara, had its grand opening in May. And thirsty locavores can turn to one of the oldest all-Ontario drinks around: hard apple cider. Apple farmer Grant Howes, whose family has run an orchard in Waupoos since the 1970s, got the cider bug in the mid-’90s. He travelled around North America’s “cider underground,” as he calls it, learning from cider makers in Washington state, Vermont and upstate New York, all the while collecting the distinctive (and generally inedible) sour and bittersharp varieties that would give his cider character. As his apple trees began to bear fruit, Howes learned to layer the flavours for a drink that was nothing like the cloying alco-pop ciders at the Beer Store. And two or three years ago, his Waupoos Premium Cider began to show the dry, refreshing, softly tannic tastes that the world’s best ciders share. It hasn’t been easy. Ontario cider producers—even local purists like Howes—don’t enjoy the same breaks the provincial government grants VQA winemakers. (When Howes sells directly to restaurants, for example, the LCBO collects 47 per cent of the tab. VQA producers fork over only two per cent.) And though sales of cider are booming in Ontario, brands from Europe and B.C. dominate the market. Every year, Howes’ product gets a little better. “We’ve got really good ciders even without these English apples,” he says. “Once we put that additional layer in there, there’s nothing stopping us from making the best ciders in the world.”

www.rosewoodwine.com, www.munrohoney.com, www.beaus.ca, www.fmbrewery.com, www.countycider.com. Waupoos Premium Cider $13.25 for four bottles at the LCBO, or draft at the Harbord Room.