Dry January is becoming increasingly popular, as the mocktail and sobriety space gains traction in the city, the country and across the globe. However, for a long time, the world of non-alcoholic beer was untouched and, according to Steve Abrams, even laughed at. So, Abrams, alongside his friends (and fellow beer lovers) Rob Doyle and Mike Cuch, sought to change that. And, with that dream, Harmon’s Craft Brewing was born.
About Harmon’s Craft Brewing
Abrams, a pioneer in the beer industry, brought the GTA its first organic beer with the inception of the popular brewery Mill Street Organic. But, following its success, his entrepreneurial spirit connected him with brewmaster Rob Doyle and his high school best friend Mike Cuch and, together, the trio came up with an idea. A non-alcoholic beer that satisfied the taste buds, giving every single flavour profile a beer can, but without the alcohol. “We’re just trying to bring all the delicious craft flavours to this space,” Doyle says. “Historically, nonalcoholic beer and the category, in general, has been completely ignored, blacked out even. We’ve taken our lumps in the first two years that we’ve been around. I’m sure we’ll continue to take them.”
The idea came to Abrams in 2019, while on vacation. “I had stopped drinking for a while just to clean up. I’ve been in the beer business for a long time. It was long overdue. But, my wife sent me to the liquor store to grab some white wine and I went there and there on this wall were all these craft nonalcoholic beers that you could not get in Canada,” he explains.
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“So, of course, I’m grabbing one of each and heading back to our Airbnb. And I spent the rest of the vacation just trying all these great flavours and wondering, why can’t we do this in Canada? What’s the big idea? Then I contacted Rob and said you’ve got to try this stuff. And then I’m sending him different ones. And of course, he’s deconstructing them. How do they do it? Looking at it in the mix, it was a really interesting process as we developed.”
After two years of sampling, tasting, perfecting and expanding, the trio came up with Harmon’s three cornerstone beers (the Lunchbox, the Jack Pine and the Half-Day) that achieve the mission. “We’re big believers in what we do,” Doyle says. “We worked really hard to get where we’re at.” Now, after a period of perfecting the product, each of the company‘s brews offers a beer-like flavour, from the crisp Lunchbox to the citrusy Jack Pine to the Half-Day IPA, satisfying beer connoisseur’s preferences without the alcohol base. Harmon’s also offers a wide range of seasonal IPAs for those who choose not to consume alcohol beyond dry January.
But, the trio behind Harmon’s is also aware that staying true to the beer taste means the target market is, of course, beer lovers. The sweet spot, for them, is people who are looking to prolong a day watching football, who is the designated driver but still want to enjoy the taste of beer, or who have quit drinking. “If you don’t like beer, you’re not going to like our stuff,” Abrams says. “That’s not who we were designed for. This is for beer lovers only.”
While not available in the LCBO, Harmon’s craft brews are available in select bars and restaurants and are available for shipping on the website. Cases can also be found in grocery stores and bottle shops across the city.
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