MERIT Brewing Company

Our flagship IPA features El Dorado, Mosaic, and Amarillo hops and burst with flavours and aromas of stone fruit, papaya, mango, and pineapple. Young Rival pours a beautiful opaque gold due to the absence of crystal malt. This IPA's low bitterness amplifies it's high juiciness.

A hybrid of three styles, Chanan receives an addition of fresh orange peel and Indian coriander in the boil and is dry hopped with Amarillo, Mosaic, and Citra after fermenting with our house saison yeast. The nose of this beer is complex citrus with an underlying spice, a subtle bit to awaken the palette.

Using our French Saison yeast and a wallop of wheat, we created a beautiful, creamy, full-bodied baby Saison that some would refer to as a classic Grissette. We call it a table beer. Why you ask? Well, SVP is meant for just that. Sitting at a table amongst family and friends, putting life on pause for a glass or two, and just enjoying those around you. The beer is unpretentious and doesn’t need to be the star of the show, nor does it need to be the topic of discussion, however we’ll talk your ear off about it if you ask.

A collaboration with our friend Jen Nad from Dieu Du Ciel, this kettle soured saison is brewed with wheat, spelt, and barley and a healthy dose of Citra - the fun dip of hops. The result is a puckering tartness balanced with only and raspberry-like sweetness.

California Never Felt Like Home bursts with bright aromas reminiscent of Five Alive and a hint of fuzzy peach thanks to the addition of grapefruit, orange, and lemon zest alongside a massive dry hop. Juicy may be an overused word to describe IPAs but this IPA seriously is!

Made with cornflowers and Earl Grey tea from Monarch Tea Company, Tomorrows is brewed with oats, wheat, and barley. The addition of the cornflowers adds a vanilla sweetness that is balanced by the bergamot citrus character. Raise a glass tonight to future Tomorrows.

Apricot Gose with Lactose

Tripel with Leaning Post Pinot Noir skins and Wild Lees.

Citra, Mandarina Bavaria, Ariana & Simcoe hops

Kettle soured with Escarpment Yeast lactobacillus, this wheat bassed German style ale results in a lightly acidic citrus flavour. Beautiful aromas of strawberry and rhubarb with a very subtle saline character common to the style.

Froot Loop Milkshake IPA

Rye sour with Italian plums. Collab with Volo.

In another story from the universe of MERIT, This Is The Way IPA explodes with citrus, tropical melon, mango and passionfruit balanced by a creamy velvet texture. Brewed with El Dorado, Citra, Citra Cryo and Southern passion hops, this space juice dances playfully along the palette like a citrus celebration.

Key Lime Pie Sour

Tequila Barrel Aged Gose W. Salted Lime Skins

Milkshake IPA with grapefruit, orange, and lemon.

Weighted, Fruity Sour

Imperial Stout with Bourbon Soaked Vanilla Beans, Cinnamon, Cacao, Mexican Chiles

What a fantastic spot. We stopped here on the recommendation from our bartender at the mule, so glad we did. The staff were all so friendly and chill. The resturant itself had great vibes and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. You seat yourself and order at the bar. a decent amount of beers on tap. Also, the bacon mac and cheese was amazing.

Not a bad spot. You have to go to the bar to order so service is ok. The atmosphere was nothing impressive. Fries were good I would suggest ordering them. All beers were very strong.

UPDATE: Back again to meet up with our downtown kids! My ongoing passion for Merit's Waves continues. My companions had 'This is the way', 'Call me if you get lost' and Waves. To meet our dining needs, we went for "All the Sausages." The Andouille, Pozole, and Cheddar Smokie were fantastic. The side dishes are delicious - the garlic pickles and mixed pickles were devoured. December 5, 2024 M, S, C & J ORIGINAL REVIEW: Yet another great visit to Merit! Never disappointing, and always an upbeat positive vibe. I'm in a bit of a rut with Merit brews - only Waves and always Waves (but I do love both versions). My partner branches out more, and she had Young Rival. It was apparently very delicious. The staff are all so very friendly and welcoming! Thank you! January 13th, 2024 Cynthia and Jamie

There are a lot of good, some great, breweries in the GTA. To me, MERIT is the best of the best. They offer some more traditional tasting beers, but what I really love about them, is their experimental wine & beerbeers. Absolutely fantastic stuff, unlike anything I've had before. And, what really tips them over the edge for me, is their food selection. While most other breweries offer a sad bag of chips, or the weekend food truck, the food selection at MERIT is genuinely top tier. If you're looking for the best beer in Hamilton, or the GTA, look no further than MERIT.

Giving a two star review because the service was good and the staff was friendly. The food that we ordered, however, was absolutely atrocious. We ordered two sausages, and if you know anything about food/cooking, the way in which they're prepared defies all cooking skill. The sausage was crumbly (meaning the meat was not worked enough to create a classic sausage texture) and didn't have a good snap like a natural pork casing sausage should have. The sausage meat itself was also quite dry. The buns were toasted on the OUTSIDE rather than the inside, which were then smeared with wet ingredients. This left the buns to become a soggy, disastrous mess, splitting in half after the first couple of bites. The flavour overall was okay, but not worth the mess, and absolutely not worth $15 each. For this price, I'm expecting very high quality for something so simple. You can get a significantly better sausage eating experience at denningers, or, if you really want great value, head to your local Costco. The beer selection is good, and a lot of the beers offered are also good. Just do not go for the sausages, they were a massive disappointment.