Burdock Brewery

Burdock Brewery has been making beer in Toronto since 2015. It now operates three locations: a production brewery and tavern in Kensington Market at 184 Augusta Ave., with a mezzanine viewing area over the brewhouse; a bar at 6 Denison Square; and this restaurant and retail beer shop at 1184 Bloor St. West in Bloordale Village. The Bloor St. location is the only one built around a full kitchen, serving food made with seasonal, local ingredients alongside beer from the shop, and — like the Kensington site — it hosts live music through Burdock's Music Hall programming.

Where most breweries' non-alcoholic options come from an outside supplier, Burdock brews its own zero-proof beer in-house. DuckZ is a 0.5% ABV non-alcoholic IPA — described as "our tiny 0.5% IPA with all the hop flavour and foam of a Burdock IPA — and none of the buzz," with tasting notes of grapefruit, lime zest, melon and papaya (it contains barley). Deluxe Zero .5 is a 0.5% ABV non-alcoholic lager, pitched as carrying "the same smooth-honey-biscuit foam-lovin' greatness as it's full strength daddy, but with zero point five % alcohol," tasting "smooth, malty, refreshing, ahhhhh" (it contains barley and wheat). Salt Lick rounds out the line as a 0.5% ABV non-alcoholic lime sour beer with a hint of salt — "key lime, not too sour, not too salty." All three are sold in 355mL cans through Burdock's shop and online store.

Burdock's non-alcoholic beer has drawn outside recognition: in a roundup of the best non-alcoholic beers for St. Patrick's Day, ELLE Gourmet's Bobbe Hayes wrote that "Toronto's Burdock Brewery has an incredible non-alcoholic stout," citing it as a standout among the city's zero-proof options.