Best breweries in Collingwood
Collingwood: Blue Mountains Brewery Tour with Tastings
What are the best breweries in Collingwood?
Side Launch Brewing Company is Collingwood's best-known and largest brewery, with a spacious taproom in a converted industrial building near the waterfront. Northwinds Brewhouse & Eatery and Collingwood Brewery are the two other established names, both smaller and more neighborhood-focused.
A smaller scene, a different pace
Collingwood’s brewery scene is a fraction of Toronto’s in size, but it benefits from a genuinely different context — Georgian Bay water, a ski-town clientele that treats a taproom as a natural après-ski stop rather than a destination in itself, and none of the weekend crowding that defines Toronto’s busiest west-end taprooms. For visitors already spending a day at Blue Mountain or exploring the wider Blue Mountains region, adding a brewery stop costs little extra time and rounds out a day that might otherwise be entirely ski hill or hiking trail.
Expect CAD $7-9 for a pint, slightly below Toronto taproom pricing, and CAD $15-20 for a 4-pack to take home.
| Where | downtown Collingwood, ~10-15 min from Blue Mountain Village |
| Cost | CAD $7-9/pint, $15-20 for a 4-pack |
| Time needed | 2-3 hours for one or two stops |
| Getting there | car, tour, or ride-share (no direct rail) |
| Best time | winter après-ski or a calmer summer afternoon |
Side Launch Brewing Company
Side Launch is Collingwood’s largest and most established brewery, operating out of a converted industrial building near the town’s waterfront with a spacious taproom that comfortably handles a busy Saturday crowd without feeling as packed as a similarly popular Toronto spot. Named for the historic shipbuilding method once practiced in Collingwood’s harbor (wooden ships launched sideways rather than bow-first), the brewery leans into local maritime history in both its branding and its taproom decor. Its year-round lager and rotating seasonal releases are the most widely distributed Collingwood beers across Ontario, meaning you may recognize the cans from an LCBO shelf even before visiting.
Northwinds Brewhouse & Eatery
Northwinds is the pick if you want a full meal alongside your beer — it runs a proper kitchen rather than relying on food trucks, with a menu built around hearty, ski-town comfort food that suits an après-ski stop particularly well. It’s smaller and cozier than Side Launch, with the kind of low-key, wood-paneled taproom atmosphere that fits the Blue Mountain area’s overall character. Reservations aren’t required but are worth making on winter weekends when the ski crowd fills tables quickly after the lifts close.
Collingwood Brewery
The town’s smaller, more neighborhood-oriented brewery, Collingwood Brewery keeps a lower profile than Side Launch but is worth a stop if you’re exploring downtown Collingwood’s main street rather than driving directly to a brewery destination. It’s a good fit for a quick pint break between shopping stops rather than a dedicated brewery outing.
Combining breweries with a Blue Mountain day
The practical appeal of Collingwood’s brewery scene is proximity — Side Launch and Northwinds both sit a 10-15 minute drive from Blue Mountain Village, making a brewery stop a natural end to a ski day in winter or a hiking day in the warmer months.
The Blue Mountains brewery tour and tastings covers multiple stops with transportation included, useful if your group doesn’t want to designate a driver after a day that likely already involved some form of exertion. Our Blue Mountain skiing guide and things to do in Blue Mountain guide both cover the daytime activities that pair naturally with an evening brewery stop.
Getting there and getting around
Collingwood sits about 2 hours from Toronto by car via Highway 400 and Highway 26, the same general route used for Blue Mountain. There’s no direct rail service to Collingwood, so a car, organized tour, or ride-share from Blue Mountain Village is the practical way to reach the town’s breweries. Downtown Collingwood itself is walkable, and Side Launch’s waterfront location is a reasonable 10-15 minute walk from the main downtown strip if you want to combine a brewery stop with browsing the town’s shops.
Seasonal considerations
Winter (ski season, roughly December through March) is Collingwood’s busiest period, and its breweries see the heaviest traffic from the après-ski crowd in the late afternoon and early evening. Fall, particularly late September through October, brings a different but equally strong crowd drawn by Georgian Bay’s fall foliage. Summer is genuinely the calmest season here — a good time to visit if you want a quiet taproom experience, and it pairs well with Georgian Bay beach time or a Blue Mountain hiking trail before the leaves turn.
How Collingwood’s beer scene grew alongside Blue Mountain tourism
Collingwood’s transformation from a shipbuilding and grain-shipping port into a four-season resort town over the past few decades tracks closely with Blue Mountain’s growth as Ontario’s largest ski resort. As Blue Mountain Village expanded and drew a steadier stream of Toronto weekenders, downtown Collingwood’s food and drink scene grew alongside it, with Side Launch’s opening marking a turning point toward the town positioning itself as a genuine culinary and craft-beverage destination rather than purely a ski-and-golf stopover.
That history is part of why Side Launch leans so heavily into the town’s shipbuilding past in its branding — it’s a deliberate anchor to Collingwood’s identity before tourism reshaped the local economy, and it gives the taproom a sense of place that a generic craft brewery elsewhere might lack.
Extending a Collingwood brewery day into an overnight
Given the 2-hour drive from Toronto, many visitors extend a Collingwood brewery visit into an overnight stay rather than a same-day round trip, particularly in winter when driving mountain roads after dark and after drinking is neither safe nor advisable. Blue Mountain Village has the widest range of accommodation directly at the base of the ski hill, while downtown Collingwood offers more independent boutique hotels and B&Bs within walking distance of Side Launch and the town’s restaurant strip.
An overnight also opens up a second day for hiking the Niagara Escarpment trails that run through the area or visiting one of the region’s cideries, both worth building into a longer Blue Mountains itinerary rather than squeezing everything into a single day trip from Toronto.
Practical notes
- Designated driver: Essential if you’re combining breweries with a ski day — Ontario’s impaired driving laws are strictly enforced, and mountain roads around Blue Mountain aren’t forgiving in winter conditions.
- Hours: Most Collingwood breweries close earlier than downtown Toronto taprooms, typically by 9-10pm, reflecting the town’s smaller scale.
- Payment: Cards accepted everywhere; no particular cash requirement unlike some smaller Toronto vendors.
- Combining with cider: Several cideries operate in the same general Blue Mountain area, covered in our Ontario craft cider guide, worth considering as a variation on a brewery-focused day.
What to order at each brewery
At Side Launch, the year-round lager is the reliable starting point and the beer most likely to be on tap elsewhere in Ontario, making it a useful baseline before trying a rotating seasonal release specific to the taproom. Northwinds Brewhouse’s rotating tap list tends to lean toward fuller-bodied styles that pair well with its kitchen’s hearty menu — ask staff which current tap they’d recommend alongside whatever you’re ordering to eat, since the pairing suggestions here are generally thoughtful rather than an afterthought.
Collingwood Brewery’s smaller, more neighborhood-focused lineup is worth approaching with an open mind rather than a specific style in the request, since availability shifts more frequently at this scale of operation than at the two larger taprooms.
Comparing Collingwood’s scene to Toronto’s
If you’re deciding whether a Collingwood brewery detour is worth building into a Blue Mountain trip versus saving your beer time for the city, our best breweries in Toronto guide covers the much larger downtown scene for comparison. Neither replaces the other — Toronto for variety and volume, Collingwood for a relaxed, ski-town pace tied to the outdoor activity you’ve just come from.
Making it part of a longer Blue Mountains day
A brewery stop fits most naturally at the end of a day already built around skiing or hiking — see things to do in Blue Mountain for the full range of daytime options, or Blue Mountain day trip from Toronto if you’re planning the whole outing as a single day rather than an overnight.
Frequently asked questions about Collingwood breweries
Is Side Launch Brewing available outside Collingwood?
Yes, its beers are distributed to LCBO stores and select bars across Ontario, including Toronto, though visiting the Collingwood taproom directly gives access to small-batch and taproom-only releases not available elsewhere.
Do I need a car to visit Collingwood’s breweries?
Practically, yes. There’s no direct train service, and while downtown Collingwood itself is walkable, reaching the town from Toronto or getting between Collingwood and Blue Mountain Village requires a car, organized tour, or ride-share.
What’s the difference between visiting breweries in Collingwood versus Toronto?
Collingwood’s scene is smaller and calmer, with a ski-town or lake-town character rather than Toronto’s denser, more crowded west-end taproom scene. Both are worth visiting for different reasons — Toronto for variety and volume, Collingwood for a relaxed pace tied to outdoor activity.
Can I do a brewery tour without also skiing or hiking at Blue Mountain?
Yes, Collingwood’s breweries stand on their own as a destination, particularly combined with browsing downtown Collingwood’s shops and restaurants, though most visitors do pair the two given the short drive between them.
Are there breweries directly in Blue Mountain Village?
Fewer than in downtown Collingwood — most of the established breweries are a short drive away in Collingwood proper, though Blue Mountain Village has its own bars and restaurants serving local Ontario beer on tap.
What food pairs well with a Collingwood brewery visit?
Northwinds Brewhouse & Eatery’s own kitchen is the most straightforward option for a full meal on-site. Otherwise, downtown Collingwood’s restaurant strip, a short walk or drive from most breweries, has additional options for a fuller dinner.
Should I visit Collingwood’s breweries or Toronto’s if I only have time for one?
If beer variety and volume matter most, Toronto’s scene is larger and more diverse. If you’re already spending a day skiing or hiking at Blue Mountain, Collingwood’s breweries make more sense logistically and set a more relaxed tone for the evening.
Is a designated driver essential for a Collingwood brewery visit?
Yes, particularly in winter — mountain roads around Blue Mountain aren’t forgiving in icy conditions, and Ontario enforces impaired driving laws strictly. A guided tour or ride-share removes the issue entirely.
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