Badlands Brewery celebrates second anniversary in community

Written By KIRA WRONSKA DORWARD

Badlands Brewery, Caledon's newest independent small brewer, had its second anniversary celebration on Saturday Aug. 17. The anniversary marks not the opening of the facility, located two blocks from the Cheltenham Badlands from which the brewery gets its name, but the moment in August 2017 when the brewery sold its first beer.

The self-funded brewery, actually started in 2015, is the brain child of Troy Baxter and his wife Grace, currently the brewery's only “unpaid” employees, who also have day jobs. Originally a home brewer of “hazy” or “New England” IPA, Troy decided to open his one-barrel operation to make more of the beer he wanted to have, which no other brewers were producing at the time. 

“We're a one-barrel brewery, which means that we generally make 120 litres at a time…it's a lot more work, but thankfully it allows us to make more varieties.” 

Badlands currently makes three varieties a week which can vary dramatically, but are mostly variations on the IPA. However, since opening, the brewery has made 112 different varieties of beer.

“It turned out to be a little bit harder than we expected, and took a little longer than we expected,” says Baxter, “but that's mostly because I couldn't get the beers that I wanted, so I decided to make them myself.”

Baxter describes his beer style as low bitterness, high aromatic, and high fruity flavours that come from the hops being used. With the new bottle shop opened in May, Baxter is gearing up to increase his business, with most of the beer being sold on site, with occasional restaurants picking up and serving Badlands. 

“I'd rather just focus on fulfilling the people who come to our bottle shop now,” comments Baxter. “We're only open five hours a week (Saturdays noon to 5 p.m.) at the moment, and that's really all we can manage.”

For the anniversary celebration, Badlands Brewery arranged for a falconer to come with a falcon and owl (the latter being the company's logo). Five beers, in collaboration with other small breweries, were served, and Brian Bracken performed live. 

For the future, Baxter promises there will be “a lot more beer.” Badlands is making three new beers a week, “with something totally new every week.”

“If you like one of our beers,” says Baxter, “you're probably going to like more beers. It's a very chill environment. Just come out and hang out at the farm for a few hours.”